Jack heads back on his journey to 100 games

By ZAC MILBANK

Jack Firns had every reason to consider leaving Woodville-West Torrens at the end of the 2016 season.

Having graduated through the junior grades at Oval Avenue, the versatile utility had played two full seasons in the Reserves without a look-in at League level.

”I wasn’t going to be the guy who quit,” Firns told SANFL Radio as he prepares for his 100th Hostplus SANFL League game on Saturday, against Norwood at Maughan Thiem Kia Oval.

Fortunately for his beloved Eagles, Firns did anything but throw in the towel as he dug in to force his way into the League line-up in Round 10 of 2017.

Right from his first outing, the 29-year-old displayed the selfless attitude which would become a hallmark of his career, as he was tasked with tagging the Bays’ Jack Oatey Medallist in Matthew Snook.

Firns admitted he thrived on being thrown the stopping jobs by then coach Michael Godden, as he also put the clamps on fellow star midfielders such as Aidan Riley at Sturt and Panthers’ champion Joel Cross.

Since then, he has evolved into a third tall forward option, wingman and big-bodied midfielder who went on to play in the club’s back-to-back premierships of 2020 and 2021.

Having grown up as an Eagles fan, despite the best attempts of his grandmother to convert him to the Double Blues, Firns will never forget the emotion-charged atmosphere at the club following the 2021 flag.

It is why he cherishes every game he dons the yellow guernsey, now performing his role as a reliable defender under first-year coach Sam Jacobs.

The avid long-distance runner will continue to do whatever it takes for the team, just as he does with his brother and father in running the family staircase business, TopStairs.