May 15, 2021.
This day at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve will forever live in the memory of livewire Euroa forward Jett Trotter, as it changed the trajectory of his blooming football career.
After booting three goals in what ended up being a tough loss for the Magpies, Trotter would be involved in an on field incident, with the result being a broken leg.
The diagnosis from his doctors would be an 18-month recovery period, ruling him out of the remainder of the 2021 and seemingly all of the 2022 season.
However, for the football-crazed Trotter, missing so much time wasn’t an option.
Putting together an intense rehabilitation program, the star forward went to work, dedicating his entire summer to proving the medical advice wrong and getting up for round one.
And as they say, the rest is history, 11 months after succumbing to the traumatic injury he found himself lining up for Euroa in its round one clash against Mansfield at Memorial Oval.
“When I did it (broke my leg) it was supposed to be an 18-month injury,” Trotter said.
“But I got a good program going, worked hard and managed to get a place where I could get back out on the park and play with the boys from round one.
“Being a pretty serious injury the first few weeks I was just trying to build that confidence in my body and now I’m feeling really good.
“It’s a good time of the year to be feeling great.”
Feeling good is somewhat of an understatement, with Trotter producing a stunning return.
Playing in all 21 of the Magpies’ games this season, the class forward showcased his prodigious talent, booting 52 goals to be sitting third on the league’s goal-kicking tally and help lead his team into big dance.
And if anybody has seen Trotter play, they’d know he is somebody built for the big stage.
“I am super proud of the boys (to get to this point), there is an awesome feeling around the club at the moment and I just can’t believe we are finally there,” he said.
“We’re a really tight group and you can tell the way we play our game style we all love each other and play for each other, so it is great to be playing in a grand final together.
“Personally I’m just super excited to get out on that field next week, the grand final stage is going to be electric and you never know what can happen, so we’ll be hoping to give it a good shake.”
As for how much a premiership victory would mean, Trotter said he would love nothing more than to be part of the group that brought the much-awaited flag back to the long-suffering band of Euroa supporters.
“It has been a long time coming and that’s the thing too, the whole town gets behind us and supports us,” he said.
“Whenever we play the town is super quiet, the people just love their footy and the club.
“And it’s that support that gets you over the line in big finals and hopefully we can bring our fans some joy on Sunday.”