Tom Wilson set to earn VFL life membership when he plays 175th game

It started in 2011, when he wore the No. 78 jumper for the Northern Blues (now Northern Bullants) and initially didn’t get a game in the old Development League.

But perhaps the most frustrating part of it has come this season.

He began it at Collingwood on 170 games, five short of the mark that automatically earns a player life membership of the competition.

But he hurt a calf muscle against Footscray Bulldogs in Round 6 and then reinjured it as he prepared for a return.

“It’s all time. When the footy season gets in season, games go quickly, the weeks go quickly,’’ Wilson says.

The waiting is almost over: he will be back this Saturday, when Collingwood plays Port Melbourne in the final round.

His 175th match will be another accolade in a career that has taken in five best and fairests and the captaincy of the Northern Blues/Northern Bullants, two team-of-the-year selections and a Victorian jumper.

But rather than accept it as an individual honour, Wilson, 33, says he will take it as a “reflection of your support network … family, friends, the coaches who have seen something worthwhile investing in’’.

“Yes, from a personal point of view it will be relief, but it’s more recognition of the people who have been in my corner over time as well,’’ he says.

His partner, Ruby, and their 15-month-old twin daughters Harriet and Romy are the cornerstones of his network. “Having them in my life has been unbelievable,’’ he says. “I feel really lucky.’’

Wilson would have achieved the 175-game mark a lot earlier if not for an ACL in 2019, the Covid wipe-out of 2020, the half-season of 2021 and this year’s injury.

Now he’s there.

“How good?’’ fellow Northern best and fairest Adam Marcon says when told of Wilson’s milestone.

“He’s showed persistence and great resilience — obviously he’s had significant injuries to overcome — and I think he embodies what it means to be a VFL player. He’s stuck at it and made great sacrifices in terms of training after hours and his personal life. Given the person he is, it’s no surprise he’s got to this level.’’

Wilson joined the Northern Blues (aligned with Carlton) from the Eastern Ranges, arriving late in the pre-season after spending most of it training with Box Hill Hawks.

Unsure of his standing at the Hawks, he went to Northern for a practice match and was quickly offered a contract.

In the meantime the Hawks had decided to give him their last list spot. With two contracts to sign, he went to the club he believed would give him the best chance of playing senior football.

The Blues overlooked him for early Development League matches, with coach Darren Harris preferring to pick players who had been on the training track all summer. But by the end of the season he had played at three levels of football: locally with Vermont, in the Development League and then Northern’s senior team.

By 2013 he was a senior regular.

By 2014 he was the club best and fairest (he defeated a young Carlton player by the name of Patrick Cripps for the award).

By 2016 he was club captain.

“He was always a good player, Tommy,’’ Marcon says.

“So neat and tidy. We had a good crew down there and he spent a little bit of time in the Development. But once his opportunities came he took them. He was always pretty skilful and he was always a hard worker. He gave so much to the Bullants and a lot of that was through pretty challenging times as well. I know he moved on and it was unfortunate but he well and truly gave his all to the Bullants, that’s for sure.’’

Following Ants coach Josh Fraser, Wilson switched to Collingwood after the 2022 season, when he won his fifth best and fairest.

It was a heavy blow for the Bullants and a tough decision for Wilson to leave Cramer St.

He says now that he and the club were “going in different directions’’.

“I thought I’d given them everything I possibly could … I felt like it was the right time.

“I left there with no real certainty of what was next. I spoke to ‘Frase’ (Fraser) more as a mentor and he said, ‘If you’re not doing anything, let’s have a chat’. One thing led to another. I ended up at the Pies.’’

Former Northern Blues GM Garry O’Sullivan signed Wilson in 2011 and saw a hungry young footballer and “terrific young man’’.

“He never took anything for granted. He was rapt to be given an opportunity, and once he got going … he probably didn’t have those physical attributes of the elite type of players … but by god he won his own ball and he got heaps of it,’’ O’Sullivan says.

“It didn’t take him too long to work his way into the system and become a bloody outstanding player at that level.’’

O’Sullivan says it was understandable Wilson went elsewhere in search of some success; he had given the Blues/Bullants “absolutely everything, so much loyal service’’.

The move to Collingwood has given him more than a platform to play in the VFL.

Last year he resigned from teaching at teacher at Aquinas College in Ringwood to become the Magpies’ AFLW head of development; the young hopeful who showed up at the Norhtern Blues just before the 2022 season is now a full-time coach.

It’s a busy week for Wilson.

Collingwood kicks off the AFLW season on Thursday.

And two days later he finally ticks off his VFL life-membership game, another accolade in a career brimming with them.