Not quite the final Page in Guy’s chapter

By ZAC MILBANK

Dual Sturt premiership defender Guy Page never thought he would be in a position to play 200 Hostplus SANFL League games.

Overlooked by West Adelaide for its U16 program, Page was positioning himself to carve out a career locally with Edwardstown.

Speaking on SANFL Radio, the 30-year-old revealed it was loyal Sturt development coach Gary Mutton who invited him to Unley in 2011.

Since then, Page has developed into one of the Double Blues’ finest clubmen, displaying tremendous loyalty, commitment and courage to join SANFL’s illustrious 200 club against South Adelaide at Thomas Farms Oval on Sunday.

Making his League debut, at the weight of 63kg, in Round 1 of 2013, the reliable backman went on to play the next 123 in succession until he suffered a broken fibula in Round 2 of 2019.

Within this period, Sturt’s No.25 played a steady role in the club’s back-to-back flags of 2016 and 2017 but now he is hungry for more having missed out in last year’s loss to Glenelg in the title-decider.

Boasting a strong interest in coaching whenever he opts to retire, Page nominated Central’s Ian Callinan and Norwood’s Simon Phillips as the toughest small forwards he has had to quell in his career.

A qualified mechanical engineer, Page has also been a marriage celebrant for two of his Sturt captains in Zane Kirkwood and James Battersby.

But all of his off-field pursuits won’t be enabled to their full capacity until he has exhausted everything in his battle-hardened body to earn a third premiership medallion.