NO ONE has a footy itinerary that reads like Cooper Trembath's in 2025. Blackburn, South Croydon and Rowville in April and May. Then Arden Street, Ikon Park and Mission Whitten Oval in winter. Now a stop at Manuka Oval with a trip to Hobart's Ninja Stadium scheduled this weekend.
When the 19-year-old started his season playing in the Eastern Football Netball League, Trembath was just aiming to make his debut for North Melbourne in the VFL this year. The AFL felt a long way away.
The Kangaroos tracked Trembath when he was playing for the Eastern Ranges in the Coates Talent League, but overlooked him in the 2023 AFL Draft. Instead, they added him to the VFL program at Arden Street that off-season.
Trembath didn't play a game for North Melbourne's reserves last year, but after putting his head down over the pre-season – and then turning heads for Blackburn – he got a chance against Brisbane in round seven. And he took it, kicking three goals on a Saturday afternoon in May.
North Melbourne recruiting boss Will Thursfield had scouted Trembath for years before the Kangaroos selected him at pick No.10 in the 2025 Mid-Season Rookie Draft, after selecting Werribee small forward Zac Banch eight picks earlier.
Last Sunday in Canberra, Trembath completed the rare feat of playing suburban, state league and AFL football all in the same season when he produced a debut to remember against Greater Western Sydney, kicking three goals in the nation's capital.
"I was pretty nervous going in. I just tried to keep calm. All the boys kept telling me I was there for a reason. But when Sam Taylor comes and matches up on you before the first centre bounce you think, jeez this is really real now. As soon as the ball is bounced, you forget all those nerves and play to your instinct," Trembath told AFL.com.au.
"I knew North Melbourne were interested in my draft year, but it didn't end up eventuating. I came here through 2024 and didn't play any games unfortunately because I was a bit injury ridden.
"The start of 2025 the list was super healthy, so it just meant I was kept out of the team. I played local footy because it was the highest level I could. An opportunity arose about round seven against Brisbane. I'd been training as a backman the whole of the pre-season but got swung forward on the game day and played off instinct and the rest is history."
When North Melbourne travelled to South Australia on Anzac Day to play Port Adelaide the following afternoon, Trembath played for Blackburn against South Croydon in the rain. Hawthorn great Liam Shiels was in the opposition that day and dominated, playing a rare game of local footy around his work as a recruiter for the Kangaroos.
"It was absolutely bucketing down raining and he had one of the best games I've ever seen him play. He was incredible," Trembath recalled.
After injuries restricted him to five Coates League games, five games for Blackburn and two appearances in the Young Guns series in 2024, North Melbourne VFL coach Tom Lynch didn't sugarcoat anything in Trembath's exit meeting last year. He needed to work harder. Much harder.
The message sunk in. Trembath set his alarm for 4am each weekday morning. The blast summoned him out of bed in the dark, down to the pool to swim laps or lift weights at Aquanation in Ringwood, before he started work as an apprentice plumber.
"The whole of the 2024 year I was little bit of overweight. When I didn't get picked up, I sort of lost my way a little bit," he admitted.
"I really knuckled down when in my exit interview with 'Lynchy' he said I needed to really focus on my body composition because that's the part of my game that was really letting me down. I knew it was always an issue, but when someone says it to you and you acknowledge it you start to home in on it.
"I was doing my plumbing apprenticeship but getting up at 4am to go for a swim or gym before work, then working a whole day and going to footy training later that night. They were some long days."
Without those changes, Trembath knows he would still be on the tools, slogging through another freezing cold day, instead of flying down to Hobart to face Richmond in Tasmania this weekend.
No matter what happens from here, last weekend will be hard to eclipse, especially for Trembath's nana. When Cooper was born, she made sure her grandson chose the Western Bulldogs over Richmond. They rarely missed a home game together. Caleb Daniel was always her favourite player, which is why she was thrilled to secure a photo with the 2016 premiership hero before the game on Sunday.
"Half of our family is Richmond and half of our family is Bulldogs. When my older brother was born my grandfather went to the hospital first and claimed Jake as a Richmond fan. So when my nana heard I was born she made sure she got to the hospital very early and claimed me a Bulldogs fan," he said.
"She is a 50-year Bulldogs member and I used to go to most games with her. We would train into Etihad and her favourite player was Caleb Daniel. When I ended up getting drafted to North she was super excited, but probably more excited that I would be playing with Caleb.
"We were all staying in the same hotel and I saw 'CD' in the lift and I said, 'You have to come and meet my grandma, she is your biggest fan'. Just before the game they met. He went and introduced himself, which was so great."
Trembath's family weren't the only ones from his inner circle that made it to Canberra on Sunday to watch him make his debut. A group of his mates woke up at 4am and made the seven-hour drive last Sunday, before turning the car around after the game and arriving back in Melbourne at 2am on Monday. It was certainly worth the trip.
