{xtypo_dropcap}T{/xtypo_dropcap}here have been many footballers over the years to have tried out with WAFL clubs but unable to impress enough to make the league side, then to return from whence they came. These players often star in a lower standard of competition for the rest of their careers, lamenting their failure to crack the bigtime. Show me a country footy club and I’ll show you a player in it that the town says should have played league.

The story of Ross Prunster is the tale of a player who wouldn’t accept a league club’s verdict on him as a footballer, and stuck around to prove them wrong. It is a story of perseverance and of a man’s dedication to a dream.

After initially trying out with West Perth as a sixteen year old, Prunster had been at the club for three seasons without impressing enough to get within cooee of a league berth. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t even a regular in the reserves.

As a kid, Ross would hang out with Stephen Smeath and Alan Watling at Leederville Oval kicking a little three inch long football at the goalsticks. “The small, slippery footy was a great aid in learning ball handling skills,” Prunster said.

Ross Prunster was a waterboy for West Perth when they won the 1971 grand final, beating East Perth, and he said to Watling, who was playing for the Cardinals, “It must be fantastic to be playing in a grand final.” Watling replied: “If you really want to, you can do it too.”

It was the following year’s grand final, between East Perth and Claremont that fired the young Prunster’s imagination. “I watched that game, and I said to myself: I want to play in a grand final,” Ross recalled.

He knuckled down and worked extra hard during the 1973 pre season, training twice a day,with the result that he was selected in the West Perth league line up for the opening fixture of the year, against East Perth.

It was a lifeline he gratefully accepted. Playing every game of the season, Prunster found a niche as a ruck rover, and so it was that the 1971 West Perth waterboy who had a dream at the 1972 grand final ,played on Subiaco Oval in the 1973 grand final. The dream wasn’t completely realised because his side lost, but two years later fulfilment came with West Perth’s crushing win over South Fremantle to take out the 1975 premiership. He also received recognition from the Daily News, with the Rookie of the Year Award.

Ross Prunster was a player capable of holding down most positions on the ground. He knew how to find the ball, had a sure pair of hands, and his disposal to accommodate a team mate was a feature of his game. He was a man who hated to be beaten, and as a result of the early disappointments in his career, worked hard on his fitness.

1979 was a milestone year for Prunster, making his State debut against South Australia as a centreman, being judged the Sunday Independent- Metro Motors Footballer of the Year, and winning the West Perth fairest and best award. Much to the surprise and dismay of the Cardinals, Prunster then accepted an offer from Perth, and became a Demon in 1980.

“I had won the fairest and best in 79, which normally resulted in a pay increase, but there was a “club’s discretion” clause in my contract, and the club at that time had a hardnosed approach to players’ salary, so I took the Perth offer,” Prunster said. At that time, there wasn’t a lot of money in the game, so it was a consideration for all players.

The move to the Demons in 1980 was initially disastrous for Prunster, suffering a broken leg early in the season. He recovered, and his subsequent form with his new club was rewarded with State selection on a half back flank twice in that season.

It was in 1982 that a career threatening Achilles injury put Prunster on the sidelines for many weeks. He managed to recover from the serious setback to play a few more times in 1984, but after 38 appearances for Perth to add to his West Perth tally of 159, together with four for Western Australia, he retired from league football.

“The Achilles strife had cut my pace down too much to continue,” Ross explained.

He joined another Perth player,Mick Rea, at Collie Mines Rovers in the 1985 season, losing the grand final to Bunbury, and ended his playing days with a few Amateur appearances for Whitfords. He was an assistant coach to John Dimmer for West Perth’s 1995 flag.

Ross regarded Swans Ron Boucher as an outstanding opponent. “Ron was hard and tough,” he said, while naming the champ Bill Dempsey as his best team mate.

These days Ross Prunster is still involved in a couple of businesses, enjoys getting to Eagles and West Perth matches when he can, and loves doing some skindiving as often as possible.

Ross Prunster played 201 games at the top level,winning a premiership medal, plus a fairest and best award, after struggling for three years trying to hold a spot in the reserves.

The Ross Prunster story is a good lesson for any young aspiring league footballers.