Jordan Cooper had quite the day out at Strauch Reserve, with the midfielder adding best on ground honours to his premiership medals — and achieving both accolades on his birthday.
The announcement of Cooper’s name as recipient of the coveted medal was met with affectionate celebrations from the gathered Lockington faithful.
Clearly a well-loved figure, the youngster played a critical role as the Cats stunned the Bulldogs, claiming the flag against a side that was unbeaten all year.
“It just overexcites me, and I’ve been looking forward to this from the start of the season, and we fought our way through it,” Cooper said.
“We never beat this team once until in the grand final, so couldn’t be any more proud.”
The work of Cooper and Henry Peris at stoppages stood out on the day, with their speed and savviness being a class above and key to the Cats making a strong start that saw them up by as much as 27 points in the second quarter.
Cooper joined the club from Wanderers FC in Darwin, with seniors player and under-18s coach Tyler Phillips being the key connection that brought him to LBU.
“T-bone (Phillips), he played in Darwin for Wanderers, the team I played for, and he got one of the [other] boys to come down, and then he asked me if I wanted to go with him,” Cooper said.
“I was like, ‘yeah, might as well change it up, go play for a different team, try something new’, and it’s just really fun.”
Upon being handed his best on ground medal, Cooper executed two back-flips in celebration, and told the excited crowd in his acceptance speech that he had also just won the honour on his 19th birthday.
“Best birthday ever, I reckon,” he said.
