Christian Triffitt became only the third Penrith Rams player to reach 250 games when he took the field for the club’s Div 3 clash against Holroyd-Parramatta last Saturday. He follows Jason Ware and Michael Walker in achieving the milestone for Penrith.
Despite hailing from Australian Football territory, Deloraine in Tasmania, Christian did not start playing the game competitively until he was in Sydney, when he and his brother Eden joined the fledgling St Clair senior club in 2001. He quickly established himself as a consistent player in that side, playing in St Clair’s losing grand final in his debut year.
“Triff” had his first involvement with the Rams when St Clair and Penrith formed a joint venture in 2003. In addition to the games he played with the joint venture side (Penrith-St Clair), he was always happy to double up and play for the Rams Senior and/or Reserve Grade sides if required. He also tasted his first award recognition in these years, winning the Penrith-St Clair Team Player award in 2003 and Best & Fairest award in 2004.
When the joint venture dissolved at the start of 2005, Christian made the decision to stay with the Rams and he played a significant part in the club’s Senior Grade side, which made a (then) rare appearance in the former SFA finals that year. He played a couple more seasons in Senior Grade before illness saw his football disrupted for the best part of two seasons, seeing him play only 15 games in 2008 and 2009 combined.
Upon his return to full fitness the club had started to prosper under the new division system and Christian became a constant in the club’s Reserve Grade side. He took out the Best & Fairest in 2010 and then captained a premiership in 2012 over Gosford, the Rams’ first ever Reserve Grade premiership. As he said:
“One of the highlights of my football career would have to be captaining the Ressies team in 2012 and getting to hold the cup up with Botts (Michael Bottrill, the coach) and the boys.”
Having played much of his football on the wing – where he won both his Best & Fairest awards - now in the twilight of his career Christian spends most of his time in the backline, repelling opposition attacking moves. It is a testament to his fitness, training and dedication that he is still performing to a consistently high level in Division 3 after such a long career.
Quiet and humble, Christian has seen, and been part of, the transition of the Rams over the years.
“I'm passionate about the football club and I think it's great how footy has grown since when I first started and how many players & teams we have now, there's so many people at training these nights and I think the women's team/s has just made the club stronger with the passion and enthusiasm that the ladies bring”, he said.
Christian is the ultimate clubman, always willing to help out where required on match day. And if he is not helping, he is indulging his other passion and contribution to the Penrith club – photography. He has taken literally thousands of photos of Rams matches, people and events since 2010, documenting the club’s achievements in pictures over the years with his trusty camera.
He has the fully deserved respect of everyone involved with the Penrith club. His significant contributions have been recognized in recent years, when he received the Clubperson of the Year award in 2014 and then again last year when he was given the ultimate club honour of Life Membership.
The Penrith Football Club congratulates Christian Triffitt on reaching this milestone and thanks him for the years of wonderful service he has given the club.
Last Modified on 18/10/2017 14:21