An unlikely leader of the Melbourne Victory, a DJ and a man whom the fans sing his name to the tune of AC/DC, Leigh Broxham is about to crack the 200 club.
Only one player in Victory’s history has played more games than ‘DJ Brox’, Archie Thompson (217). It wasn’t always a simple story for Broxham, starting off as kit man as well as enduring boos from his own fans along with speculation and conjecture to his future years ago.
Debuting in January 2007, Broxham now holds the role of vice-captain and has been involved in three league titles at the club.
The 28-year-old reflected on his achievement and conceded he didn’t see it coming on day one.
“I guess you don’t think about that type of stuff when you start a job or make a debut, I’ve had some wonderful memories over the past 10 years,” Broxham said.
“We’ve won some championships, I’ve met some great people and made some life-long friends. It’s been an amazing experience and I’m hoping it keeps going for a few more years to come.”
Broxham’s journey has been taxing at times. A club where expectation is high, where fans are expected to go past the turnstiles and where mediocre players are quickly disposed of.
In the 2015 A-League Grand Final, a game at AAMI Park which would live long in the memory between Victory and Sydney FC, Broxham scored the decider in a game where a 3-0 score-line didn’t reflect how tight the contest was.
He admitted there have been times of doubt in his time at the club, floating in and out of the team and having his future questioned each time the Victory would bring a marquee player into the team.
“I suppose it’s natural when you’re not playing (contemplate leaving), you work hard and some opportunities come up,” he said.
“It’s the way things have worked out that I’ve stayed here, and I’m very grateful for my time here and I’ve met so many great people and I look forward to what the future brings too.
“I’ve had to work hard at everything I’ve done this year and over my career. That being said, I think there’s a lot of people in my situation that have some sort of story on how they started.
“It’s been difficult at times but I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far and I think it’ll be something I’ll look back on when I’m finished but for the time being, I’m happy with how things are going and I’ll look back on it later on.”
Broxham also reflected on his relationship with coach and former teammate Kevin Muscat and said it was a bond which had matured over the seasons.
“I guess I’d have to answer it carefully,” he joked.
“We were good friends when we played and the relationship changed over the years when he became assistant coach and now he’s head coach.
“We still talk about some things but it’s a lot more of a professional relationship at the moment.”
Due to the unfortunate brain inflammation condition which has kept Carl Valeri out of the majority of season 2015-16, Broxham has been responsible in wearing the captain’s armband.
“Carl’s well respected at this club, you know he’s going through something difficult at the moment. Carl and I speak about a lot of things,” he said.
“We’re very close on stuff we need to talk about and I suppose it’s hard missing him at the moment, he’s still around the club and he’s looking better and he just needs to look after himself at the moment and we’ll see how he goes.”
Victory lock horns with Western Sydney at Etihad stadium on Saturday night and Broxham says it’ll be a stern test against the league front-runners.
Playing his 200th game, he believes he plays for the best club in Australia.
“Our goal is to finish as high as possible, we said at the start of the year we want to go back-to-back, there’s still a possibility and it’s in our control,” Broxham said.
“A result this weekend would kick-start that. It’s all very tight at the moment and these last games coming towards the end of the season will be very important and we’ve got a few more important games.
“You say it’s easy to say, but every game we play every week is a big game, sometimes you can say ‘we have a big crowd, it’s easy to play’ but it’s challenging, every week.
“Every team comes to Melbourne and they want to beat you. It’s been the same for the whole time I’ve been here, it’s difficult playing for the club sometimes, but they give us the best of everything available in Australia.”
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook
