Kurt Tippett will play his first AFL match on ‘home’ soil when he turns out for the Adelaide Crows against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba tomorrow night.
T he rising Crows ruckman/forward will complete a family double-header, with younger brother Joel, a second-year Lions rookie, to play for the Suncoast Lions against the Zillmere Eagles in the curtain-raiser.
But the boys’ parents Tony and Janet, who live on the Gold Coast, will not be on hand to watch – they are in France with daughter Gretel, who at 14 is a member of the Australian U19 women’s basketball team.
Kurt Tippett’s AFL Gabba debut will take him back to the scene of his emergence as an AFL talent.
The former basketballer, a product of the AFLQ Rookie Search Program, was playing just his second senior AFLQ game for Southport at the Gabba in 2005 when he came up against Lions ace Jamie Charman, who was returning from injury.
Tippett did exceptionally well against the 2003 AFL premiership ruckman, impressing with his athleticism and competitiveness, and won the AFLQ Rising Star nomination for that round.
It was the beginning of bigger and better things, and tomorrow night the second-round draftee of 2006 will post his 13th consecutive AFL game as the fourth-placed Crows take on the seventh-placed Lions in a game that will go a long way to determining the finals prospects of each side.
Tippett, the round 8 nomination for the NAB AFL Rising Star award, heads ‘home’ as the No.4 ranked Crows goal-kicker with 14 goals from 12 games – behind only Jason Porpylzia (21), Simon Goodwin (23) and Brett Burton (28).
Set to split his time between his customary role at full forward and a back-up ruck role following the loss of No.1 ruckman Jonathan Griffin, will be opposed to fellow Gold Coaster Daniel Merrett.
The pair are two of just four Gold Coasters who have played all 12 games this year. The others are Bulldogs ruckman Ben Hudson and Hawthorn midfielder Michael Osborne.
There will be an equal season-high nine Gold Coasters in action in Round 13 this weekend after Hawthorn ruckman Brent Renouf was retained for his second AFL outing.
St.Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt and Sam Gilbert will be in action tonight against Fremantle at the Telstra Dome, while Osborne and Renouf will face David Hale when the Hawks do battle with North Melbourne at the MCG tomorrow afternoon.
Richmond defender Luke McGuane will play his eighth game of the year and his third in a row when the Tigers take on Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
And on Sunday, Hudson will play for the Dogs against Collingwood at the Dome.
