Hutton is the 'fabric of the club', says Evandale president
Meet Justin Hutton | Northern Tasmanian Local Legend
In partnership with Toyota.
If it were up to Justin Hutton, his record-breaking 344th senior appearance for Evandale would've passed with zero fanfare.
As it happened Hutton's milestone match clashed with his 40th birthday, and the much-loved Tasmanian football legend inadvertently contributed to what became a massive celebration.
"My missus and I arranged my 40th back in February, March, without even factoring any of this in, and it ended up being on that night," Hutton said.
"Coincidentally, I had my cousins and uncles and aunties from up the north west coast here for my 40th. It got all over Facebook that it was my record-breaking game, my old man was down from Victoria, so he came out.
"It ended up being a good little day, a few old teammates came out, they even got the bloody hats printed up with 'Hutto 344' written all over them.
"The coach threw me up forward and I managed to kick half a dozen. I've hardly ever played forward in my life to be honest."
Such humility has underpinned Hutton's senior football career, now into its 23rd season.
He joined the club as a 17-year-old and quickly established himself as a sturdy halfback flanker in the Northern Tasmania Football Association.
His 344th senior match in June broke the Evandale record previously held by Kevin Lewis, and gave Hutton a chance to reflect on a footy career spanning more than half a lifetime.
"The people you meet is probably the broader highlight," Hutton said.
"I've got good friends there - people over the different stages, from 20 through to 85, which is the beauty of a community football club.
"It might be people that have been to jail to people that go to church, you just have such a broad variety of people.
"I haven't won that flag. We got into two grand finals which we probably should've won on the day, we lost by less than 10 points on both occasions.
"From where I started, we were getting used to getting smashed. When we got to the first grand final in 2012, I almost felt like we were destined to win, which we didn't.
"I know it sounds ridiculous but there was so much excitement around the club, people you were close to were emotional just for getting in the grand final."
Evandale president Anthony Axton said Hutton was a rare commodity in country football.
"He was certainly a big part of the furniture when I got there and nothing's really changed, his contribution and loyalty is something you don't see very often any more," Axton said.
"He's been unreal really, you just don't get that sort of quality and contribution from a person any more. He's been the fabric of the football club for a long time.
"He's still going well enough, definitely in our best 22 each week, even though he doesn't think that most of the time. That's probably one of the really good attributes he's got, he's pretty much the whole package and great to have a supportive family that's allowed him to do it as well."
- This content has been produced in partnership with Toyota
