East Fremantle have had their fair share of Victorian players looking for a change of scenery.  It is Western Australia’s most successful on field club, and recruits are invariably assured of playing in a more than competitive environment with premiership prospects high.

When the long kicking, high marking Damian Condon made the move in 1991 it was anything but that, and he must have wondered what the hell he’d gotten into early in the piece.  Losing margins of seventy three points to Perth, forty two to South Fremantle, fifty six to Subiaco, followed by a fifty nine point defeat by West Perth in the first month of the season triggered the departure of coach Ron Wilcox, temporary mentor Tony Micale filled in for a week before Ken Judge took the reins in round six, and it would be fair to say that first impressions for a new recruit weren’t rosy.   

The fact that he’d preferred the Sharks to Claremont, who had also approached him, with the Tigers duly sailing to a premiership that year didn’t exactly help the situation either.

The tide turned, however, East finished the year with nine wins, missing the four, but the groundwork had been established for a return to the premiership podium in 1992.

Originally from Warragul, where he attended Assumption College, a cradle of Victorian AFL/VFL football, having produced over a hundred and sixty players who went on to reach the top level, Condon spent three years on Hawthorn’s list before playing in the VFA with Camberwell under Sam Kekovich, and later at Port Melbourne.

It was his association with Clinton Browning at the Hawks that led to an offer from the West Australian club, followed quickly by communication from Claremont. The blue and whites won  out, and Damian was at Moss Street in 1991.

At the end of the 1991 season, Condon informed Judge of his intentions to travel. “You weak bastard,” retorted the coach. “We reckon we’ll win it next year and want you to be part of it.” Damian stayed, and the Sharks won the premiership.

It was during the 1992 grand final that Condon found himself in the middle of a controversial situation. “At quarter time we had a lead after kicking into the wind,  the siren went and as we were making our way to the huddles, which were ridiculously close to each other, Steve Bilcich and Wally Matera got into a stouch,” Damian recalled. “Neil Lester-Smith moved in to break it up, and Mal Brown (coach of South) kicked Neil in the leg. I pushed Brownie out of the way and he swung a left hook which I harmlessly caught in midair.”

“This was all going on in the middle of South Fremantle’s huddle, and that was a concern.”

Condon made his State debut in 1993. Coming off the interchange bench, he slotted two goals in Western Australia’s upset win over South Australia at the WACA ground in May of that year, and was among his side’s best in another victory over the Croweaters twelve months later when he was at full back and blanketed star sneak Scott Hodges.

Disappointing  in 1993, East Fremantle won another flag in 1994, and  as a result of his continued good form Condon was asked to train with Fremantle in their initial pre season. “After doing the hard yards I was told I was too old,” he recalled. “I was only a few weeks older than I’d been when they asked me to train with them, which I found interesting.”    

Damian Condon returned to Victoria after sharing in a second flag with East Fremantle, spending a season at Wodonga, where he made a big impact with a club fairest and best. “Damian Condon was one of the best” was a tribute he received later on the retirement of club legend Brad Thompson in 2010. Condon’s name on the fairest and best honour board at Wodonga is accompanied by a couple of others familiar to West Australians, particularly West Perth fans: Darren Harris(1991) and Jeff Gieschen(1986)

East Fremantle were obviously keeping track of their prodigal son, and they persuaded him to re appear with them as a thirty year old in 1997, when they reached another grand final, but this derby wasn’t a winning one.

“The 1998 East Fremantle side was the best I played in,” Damian told us. The Sharks swept to a premiership that year with two convincing wins over West Perth in the finals. In 1999 Condon became a runner with Fremantle Dockers, and the following season he was appointed assistant coach at Subiaco and played nineteen games with the Lions. He then spent a season at Donnybrook. “That was one of the most enjoyable years of my football life,” he commented.

A busy business broker, Damian is now Managing Director of Southern Cross Broker Network, who offer a wide range of financial services, including home and investment loans, commercial loans, and other financial services.

He is involved in Masters football, runs( to keep fit), organises corporate golf days (so that he can get into good sides) and he and partner Meaghan travel wherever and whenever they can. 

Former Claremont, West Coast, Sydney, and North Melbourne player Mark Hepburn was one that gave Condon some trouble mainly because of his height, while he gave kudos to team mates Martin Melody, Paul Abbot, Adrian Bromage, Justin Sanders, and Earl Spalding as best he played with.

Damian Condon was an important player for East Fremantle, playing in three premiership sides, and proved to be one of their most consistent performers over six seasons. His versatility was a feature of his play, and the fact that he played four grand finals, each in a different position (full back, centre half back, centre half forward, and full forward), among the best on each occasion, is testament to the value to the Sharks of the boy from Warragul.