{xtypo_dropcap}W{/xtypo_dropcap}here Are They Now? has cast a wide net in search of stories of not just the well known footballers of the past, but some of those not so well remembered.

Another group who should be featured in a series such as this are those who appeared set for a long and rewarding career, but, due to circumstances out of their control, were unable to reach the heights that were predicted.  

One of these was Swan Districts wingman, Milan Trifunovic.

An outstanding junior, Trifunovic had hardly tapped his potential in his forty nine games before injury cruelly brought an end to his career at the age of twenty three. There was no doubting his ability, with his numerous junior awards coupled with a  Chesson Medal he won for best player in the fourths competition, with a record votes tally and a record margin providing proof of this.  

A Wundowie junior, Trifunovic was also a promising soccer player, and would play both football and soccer each Saturday, before his family moved to Belmont, where he dominated the under sixteens and under eighteens competitions. Playing in the centre with Swan Districts fourths, he came under notice when he bacame only the club's second player to win the Chesson Medal, as fairest and best in that competition.

At five foot nine, Trifunovic was a tenacious in and under left footer, with good evasive skills, and pace.

The nineteen year old went straight from the colts into the league side as replacement for wingman, Peter Manning, who was away with the State side, in 1970. Playing on South Fremantle's Don Haddow, he showed enough for the selectors to keep him the following week, when he not only put in a solid performance on Subiaco and State star, George Young, but received three Sandover Medal votes for his efforts.

Trifunovic  had a taste of things to come in 1971, when his achilles tendon first went, accompanied by a knee injury, which severely  curtailed his season. 

 Two seasons of promise in 1972 and 3 made Trifunovic one of the shining lights for the battling Swan Districts, and he was identified as one of the players the club was looking to in it's plans for a future resurgence. But the world came crashing down for  the twenty three year old  in 1974, when a snapped achilles left him with no alternative but to retire.

After a six year hiatus, Trifunovic pulled on the boots again.

Playing for Metropolitans in the Sunday League after a gap of six years, Milan Trifunovic set the football world wondering what might have been by winning the Sunday Times Medal as fairest and best in the League in his only season at Metropolitans. Recruited to Dennis Cometti-coached Maddington the following year, he helped the side into the preliminary final before the achilles went again, pulling the curtain down on football for the final time.

A talented sportsman, Trifunovic played A Grade pennants for Bayswater-Morley Cricket Club, and was captain of Mt Lawley Golf Club.

He joked that his next door neighbour, Lou Milanko, would try and take marks over all and sundry, with “it's mine,” ringing out loud and clear.

Trifunovic regarded Perth's Greg Brehaut and Ross Millson as hardest to beat, and was another Swans player who recognised the greatness of Billy Walker as best team mate.

Director of Infrastructure at the Education Department, Milan and wife Linda have two girls, who are both mad Eagles fans.

Milan Trifunovic is a name forgotten by many football supporters but remembered by Swan Districts fans as a highly promising player tragically struck down before his career had really got under way.