The John Grljusich story is a tribute to the man’s determination and will to succeed, and is a lesson for any aspiring youngster.Younger brother of George, Tom, and Don, household names at South Fremantle, Grljusich overcame several barriers to eventually realise his dream. He went on to not only become a league footballer but to play in a premiership side.“At one stage I thought I’d never make it, but things go against you, you make the most of your opportunities,” he told us.A late developer, John Grljusich’s football as a teenager was limited to Primary and High School, where he was captain and played in the ruck, with a handful of games at Hilton Park juniors, and later Spearwood Saints, who were a social club at the time. Son of a market gardener, he and his brothers were initially too busy to contemplate league football and the dedication it required.A cartilage injury while with the Saints was a further setback for John’s ambitions.Rather than undergo the operation, he carried the injury for three years, during which time he was invited to train with South Fremantle’s league squad under Hassa Mann in 1969. The knee gave way in a scratch match, and the postponed operation was finally carried out. Grljusich returned to the action with the thirds, and was progressing well, but the advent of Malcolm Atwell as coach in 1972 was to provide further complications.When Atwell took over as South coach he immediately reviewed the playing personnel, and culled many of them, including several league regulars. East Fremantle coach Alan Joyce was quick to contact John, and he readily agreed to join the blue and whites. Despite having effectively cut him from their list, South Fremantle refused to clear Grljusich, and he bided his time playing with Sunday League club Cockburn-East Fremantle.Two seasons in East Fremantle’s reserves followed before Grljusich finally achieved his ambition to become the fourth of his family to play league football. The Grljusich’s joined the Danihers in the VFL as the only sets of four brothers to play senior football at that time. In more recent times they have been joined by the Selwoods.  “It was an important day for me,” said John. “It had been a long journey, but it turned out to be all the sweeter because of the barriers I had to overcome. I always had faith in my ability, and didn’t want to be the only brother not to play league football. It stirred me on.”Whether it was the exuberance of the occasion or not, John Grljusich found himself at the Protests and Disputes Board hearing the week after his first game. “I was playing on Stephen Heal, and got involved in a punchup with him. We were both reported but got off.” Grljusich wasn’t about to let his overdue opportunity slip, his fiery approach to the contest and the risks he took becoming a feature of his game, earning the nickname “crazy,”  but he wasn’t merely a tough nut. His many pickup games at Davilak Oval with his brothers and their mates, including John Gerovich, had developed his ball handling, kicking, and marking skills, and in 1974 Grljusich became a regular in what was to be a premiership combination.  “The intense pre season programme under Laurie Elliott contributed largely to our success in 74,” John said. “We chalked up many miles, running up and down the Swanbourne sandhills, golf courses, as well as long beach runs,  and were super fit.” John Grljusich was one of the WANFL’s leading defenders in that year, and was mentioned in some quarters as a State possibility. He maintained his form in the grand final, when named as one of East’s best as a back pocket player opposed to Perth’s mosquito fleet headed by the dangerous Rob Wiley. The Interstate Football Championship series, played between leading clubs from three States and a combined Tasmanian team,was played in Adelaide at the end of the season, and East Fremantle were runners up to Richmond.John began 1975 where he left off in 1974.He recalls a game against Perth at Lathlain Park that year.“We were a couple of points in front in the dying seconds. I took a mark in the back pocket and saw a lead upfield. The kick was a bit too high, and Chris Mitsopolous scooped the ball up and ran into an open goal. I naturally copped plenty from Toddy after the game.”“ Monday’s paper gave me best on ground.”“At training during the week after about three laps I said to Toddy: “Have you read the paper?”“It was the wrong thing to say.”   Looking forward to build on a satisfying first season, the fickle hand of luck struck once more. Ten games into the 1975 season an ankle injury forced him to the sidelines, but the crunch came a few weeks later, when the cartilage gave way in his remaining good knee. Despite the absence of a cartilege in either knee, Grljusich regained his place in the side and was among the best on ground in the preliminary final win over West Perth in 1977.  In a back pocket on  Murray Couper in the grand final a week later, the pair became embroiled in a goalsquare stoush, and both fronted the Tribunal, with each copping two weeks.  On this occasion Perth were clearly the better side, winning by fifty four points in the second semi and seventy three points in the decider. Constant knee problems forced Grljusich out of the game during the 1978 season. On the instigation of South Fremantle coach Mal Brown, he returned to play with South Fremantle the following season, but played with the reserves, and retired that year at the age of twenty seven.    John never strayed far from his market gardening roots, and after his football was over concentrated on flower growing, which he developed into a booming business.He later became involved in Local Government, was a Councilor with the City of Cockburn for sixteen years, including two as Mayor, and played golf until diagnosed with a cancer known as multiple myeloma. He still enjoys his football and is a keen follower of both local AFL sides. He and wife Marie have three lovely daughters, are happy in retirement, and enjoy yearly travel to all points in Western Australia. His highlight event is the annual Cycling Down Under in Adelaide. “I draw plenty of inspiration from world cyclist Lance Armstrong, who has conquered cancer,” John told us.Perth’s Robert Wiley heads the list of quality players Grljusich played on. “Wiley was a brilliant player,” John said. “One day I had him corralled in the forward pocket, the ball on the ground alongside the boundary and the left hand point post. He got his foot to it and it sailed right through the middle.”Asked about the best he played with, he said: “Every East Fremantle bloke I played with, especially the 1974 premiership side.”Of his on field duels with his siblings, he recalled the day at Fremantle Oval when he knocked Tom out in a solid clash. “It was a hip and shoulder,” he recalled. “I looked up and saw a dozen South players pelting toward me.”“Clenching my fists, next thing I saw was a dozen South players running away from me.”  When John went to Melbourne to watch the West Coast Eagles play Hawthorn in the 1991 grand final at Waverley, one of a crowd of eighty thousand, he got chatting with the bloke alongside him, who was from Adelaide and had come to watch South Australian John Platten in action for the Hawks. “We introduced ourselves, and when he heard the name: Grljusich, he said he was a trainer at Central Districts and rubbed Tom down many a time. It sure is a small world.”  John Grljusich played forty three league games, debuting at twenty three and retiring five years later. His comparatively short career was bookended by injury, but in 1974 he was one of East Fremantle’s best in a premiership season. The persistence and determination that enabled him to overcome adversity to play league football became a trademark of his game, and it was injury that spelt the end.  “I enjoyed myself at East Fremantle,” he said. “Toddy gave me my opportunity. I achieved beyond my wildest dreams.”