Damon Rowett and Judeland Antony in action at the 2025 Toyota AFL Open. Pictures: Brooke Sleep \/ Kiara Blake<\/p>\n
All Damon Rowett pictures: Brooke Sleep \/ @brookesleepmedia<\/a> THE BACK of Damon Rowett’s jumper features the No.5, like his idol, Sydney superstar Isaac Heeney.<\/p>\n Like Heeney, Rowett is versatile. He’s predominantly a forward, but if his team needs him, he can be thrown into the midfield.<\/p>\n And just like Heeney, Rowett strives to be the best he can be.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old, who represented the NSW\/ACT Rams in this year’s four-day Toyota AFL Open tournament for wheelchair players and footballers with an intellectual disability, feels that it’s important to choose your favourite players carefully.<\/p>\n Because, according to Rowett, if you choose role models who have achieved great things, then you in turn will achieve amazing things.<\/p>\n “He’s always been my favourite player,” Rowett said of Heeney.<\/p>\n “His accomplishments, his accolades.\u00a0If you’ve got a favourite player who has accolades, then you will get the same achievements as them.”<\/p>\n And it seems Rowett is on the right track.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both he and Heeney have been named three-time All-Australians, coincidentally in the same years, 2022, 2024 and this year in 2025.<\/p>\n There’s also another reason Rowett admires Heeney.<\/p>\n The pair grew up playing football at the same club, the Cardiff Hawks, about an hour west of Newcastle.<\/p>\n Rowett’s first sporting love was soccer, which he began playing at six, following in the footsteps of his grandfather John Pettigrew, who represented Australia at the 1956 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n But with mad Sydney supporters as parents, Rowett also fell in love with the Swans.<\/p>\n The family would venture down to the SCG from Newcastle, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive, to watch them play.<\/p>\n Rowett’s mum, Sharon, initially found that attending matches was tough for her son, who had been diagnosed with autism.<\/p>\n “He was diagnosed when he was about five, because he didn’t have speech,” Sharon said.<\/p>\n “As a child, he could not cope with noise at all. He used to go to the Swans and walk around with earmuffs on. It was a sensory thing.”<\/p>\n Rowett describes the feeling as having “screams in his head”.<\/p>\n “It was the loud noises from the crowd that really got me distracted, like getting some screams in my head,” Rowett said.<\/p>\n “I decided to use earplugs until I was probably like 10 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I’ve got used to it now and I’m really happy because I can get into the crowd’s energy and that’s why we love playing football and watching the game so much.”<\/p>\n Rowett played football all throughout his junior years at Cardiff, when in 2016 he discovered inclusion football.<\/p>\n “My old cricket coach sent me a text message saying that there were tryouts at Blacktown in the Giants facilities,” Rowett said.<\/p>\n “I didn’t know they had the state team in the inclusion carnival. I thought it was very interesting.”<\/p>\n Rowett has played in the National Inclusion Championships every year since, where he has become a leader, captaining the side since 2024.<\/p>\n Sharon can’t believe how much the championships have helped shape her son.<\/p>\n “It’s been unbelievable. I’m just so proud,” she said.<\/p>\n “His behaviour has changed as he’s got older, having to deal with a team.<\/p>\n “I was in tears last year when he actually got chosen in the All-Australian team.<\/p>\n “We’ve been to every carnival the last eight years. We’ve been to Tassie, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Tassie.<\/p>\n “We love it and we support him. Anything he wants to do, we’ve always done it.”<\/p>\n The family still makes it to as many Swans games as they can, with Rowett often catching Heeney before and after to say hello.<\/p>\n Like Rowett, wheelchair footballer Judeland Antony is also driven to be the best he can be.<\/p>\n He’s competitive, hard-working and thrives in a team environment.<\/p>\n With a smile on his face, Antony laughs when he also describes himself as “annoying”.<\/p>\n “I am a defender, I’m quick and I’m annoying,” said Antony.<\/p>\n “Defending is one of the hardest positions in the court \u2013 you have to have an eye on the player and on the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n “So the tactic is just keep moving, and just push as hard as you can when the ball comes into your lane.”<\/p>\n Antony was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Australia when he was 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n His family was fleeing a civil war that had put Antony himself in the line of fire.<\/p>\n “Back in 1996 when I was in Sri Lanka, we had a bomb blast,” said Antony.<\/p>\n “Sri Lanka itself had a civil war happening and I just got caught up in the crossfire.<\/p>\n “When I was 11 years old, I got hit by a bomb on my spine and it affected my nerves and so I was paraplegic, T12 incomplete, and since the injury I lost the ability to walk.”<\/p>\n Antony had an uncle living in Australia at the time, who sponsored his family’s move to Melbourne.<\/p>\n “Back in those days, I did not have much of a future in Sri Lanka, so it was a challenge for me and for my family as well,” Antony recalled<\/p>\n “We’re blessed that back then, my uncle was able to give us a future like this, which allowed us to play, and enjoy, and represent, and be valued in this country.”<\/p>\n When Antony moved to Australia, like many people from overseas, he thought that Australian football referred to soccer.<\/p>\n “When I came here, they would say football, and I was a bit confused,” Antony recalled.<\/p>\n “I was like, what is this sport they play? I thought it was rugby. Then I realised rugby is different, soccer is different, football is different, footy is different, so I tried to find the difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I figured out it was Aussie rules, which is AFL, which is only played in Australia, and it’s so important, like a religion for Australians, which is great that I’m being a part of that.”<\/p>\n Antony quickly fell in love with the game after being told about wheelchair football by a friend.<\/p>\n “It just gets your excitement levels high,” he explained.<\/p>\n “It’s something that if you play once, you’re never going to get away from it, you will keep coming back. It’s kind of like an addiction.”<\/p>\n Like Rowett, the 2025 Toyota AFL Open is also Antony’s eighth appearance.<\/p>\n Watching the Victorians play, it’s physical, hard and competitive \u2013 everything football should be.<\/p>\n “I’ve seen people break their feet, I’ve seen people injure their elbows, their hips,” Antony said.<\/p>\n “People do get injuries, but you can’t play Aussie rules softly.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We don’t want to take that aggression away from football just because we are playing in a different league. We don’t want people to look at it any other way.\u00a0<\/p>\n “So we want to make sure we keep footy as footy, respect what is involved in the court, and be mindful, and play to your maximum.”<\/p>\n
All Judeland Antony pictures: Kiara Blake \/ @sidelinestills_bykiarablake<\/a><\/p>\n