Young’s Golden Boy Tom Giles has signed back on with the Cherrypickers for 2025 after leading the 1st Grade side to their first Premiership in more than 30 years this season.
The man mountain with a footballing strategic mind said, “I’ve re-signed with the Cherrypickers, so back ready to go again.
“The boys were talking about it around finals time and I said to them that everything was going good, but I will let the finals series play out as it did, so it didn’t interrupt anything and that I would be here next year and we can get something done after the season is finished.
The Cherrypickers recently held their AGM with long term President Josh Powderly stepping down, but remaining on the committee.
“Andrew Smith is the new person in the role. He’s Greg’s brother. Josh will still be around to help him out and guide him around.
“He put a lot of effort in for the last couple of years and we got the job done for him last year, he will still be around the Club on the committee helping out which is great.
“There’s a good scene of local juniors around the joint and there will be a bit of turnover next year with blokes retiring, which I was aware of.
“We will bleed some more local juniors through and some more young kids who are going to be up for it. It will be pretty exciting.
“I said to someone this week that as long as I’m there we are not going to be rebuilding and use that as an excuse for losing games, I will get to and sign a few players and put our best team on paper and try and win at the end of the day.
“The local juniors and the town itself is a big reason why I wanted to come back.
“I’ve just moved back home now for a little while as I went away but I’m back in Sydney and will be coming back to Young at the start of December at this stage to start pre-season back up again.
At just 24, Giles already has the mindset and patience to continue leading Young towards another premiership next year.
“In the grand final there was a few injuries, so I played the whole game. I was pretty tired towards the back end, but there was a few injuries and things didn’t go to plan.
“Hoges, who plays 13, and I stayed out there for the eighty minutes.
“People probably say it’s a grand final and you get that feeling with the crowd and the energy, but it was tough and Jayke would have said the same thing.
“There was a period there just after half time where I normally come off for 10-15 minutes and someone else comes on, but our backrower went down injured and a few others and I couldn’t do that so just pushed through. I got to stage where I said to myself that I will take a hit up every now and then when I can, but my job is to tackle and make big tackles where I can. It was definitely tough.
Giles has had a distinguished career in Sydney before making the move to the bush.
“Footy has always been fun for me. I was at the Roosters when I first played Harold Matts. And we were coming last and I was still enjoying it. I enjoyed it all the way through and at Cronulla and at school I loved it and then at Souths I loved it the first year, we finished 8th or 9th and then last year I was playing at Souths in Reserve Grade and were playing TV games and it was just a weird feeling. We were winning games but I really wasn’t having fun. I was going to training three or four times a week which I had been doing since I was 14 and then I got a call from one of the boys at Young and the rest is history.
“Last year I was looking forward to going back to Young and enjoy my footy and see what happens. It was to see if I enjoyed my footy for one year in Young and then see what happens back in Sydney, but I loved it so much in Young that I did what I did and signed. I’m glad that I did it now. I can see myself going to other places, but I can’t see myself ever going back into that full time system, I just don’t think it’s for me.
“Workwise in Young I was doing a little bit here and there with a few of my players but at the end of this year I’m going back to work at the Club on the door, it’s not a bad role.
Some of Tom’s team mates have been trying to sort him out with a partner so that he is tied to the town for good.
There’s worse places in the world than the cherry capital and if Tom finds love his team mates might get their wish.