While his team is out of contention for the Kyabram District League trophy, Lancaster footballer and Walker Real Estate agent Steve Grima has gone two-for-two in the Free Press Footy Tipping competition.
Grima, in his second year with the real estate firm, is already building quite the reputation in the office for having good judgment when it comes to picking the winning teams.
Last year, Greg Motton, who has previously won the competition twice, handed the reins of representative tipster to Grima.
He said it was a way to get his face out to the community, but along the way he found he had quite the knack for tipping.
“It just comes to me – I look at who’s on the home side … or I remember who’s a bit of a bogey team to another team, and just go from there,” he said.
The footballer is also Hawthorn loyal, the side that particularly had a rocky beginning of their season, with five straight losses.
The tipster faced the biggest dilemma: head over heart.
“I used to pick (Hawthorn) every week … then I saw that if I did that, I would probably lose, so now I pick a bit more with my head,” he said.
The side did, of course, have a miraculous second half of their season which saw them charge into the finals, a possibility even the best tipster in Kyabram couldn’t predict.
“Tipping against them did bite me on the backside a couple of times — tipping for the opposition team … but I was happy for them anyway.”
The journey to the tipping trophy was not what Grima would describe as easy, in fact, he recalled having to claw his way back into contention for a few odd early season miscalls.
The competition went right down to the wire, with only one point between Grima and Michelle Sing from Luca Solutions, and judgment day was the St Kilda versus Carlton match in round 24.
Grima picked St Kilda, who in the dying seconds snapped a goal which won the side the game.
While it didn’t win the side a spot in the finals, it did win the real estate agent respect in the office the very next day.
The win saw Walker Real Estate come away with a $750 advertising voucher for the Free Press and Grima with gloating rights until next season, where he hopes to keep the streak going.
“I’m coming back for the three-peat,” he said.