From Kadina to South Beach, CAM SUTCLIFFE’s passions have been water and footy. Fremantle gives him the chance to do both.
Cam Sutcliffe doesn’t like the spotlight, he prefers to blend into a crowd rather than stand out in one. The serene setting of South Beach in Fremantle, where he resides, allows the 22-year-old the opportunity to walk around in his boardies and just watch the world go by.
The beach is an escape from the fast-paced world of AFL.
“I love getting down there during summer and mucking around on the pontoon,” Sutcliffe says.
One of the hobbies he’s acquired since moving to Western Australia in late 2011 has been surfing, introduced to him by former Freo Docker and keen surfer Jay van Berlo.
There isn’t much swell at South Beach, so Sutcliffe enjoys heading off to Trigg Beach to catch a wave or two. “Up until late last year I hadn’t bought a board,” he says.
“A mate forced me into it. I bought the board and went out every day for a week trying to improve my skills.”
Sutcliffe was born in Naracoorte, South Australia, the same town that produced Lachie Neale and former teammate Alex Forster.
The closest thing he had to an ocean was a small lake, which is one of the only things he still remembers from that period of his life.
“We used to go down there a fair bit and we thought it was a pretty big swim to go out onto the pontoon and jump off,” Sutcliffe says.
When he was seven, his family moved to Kadina, two hours north of Adelaide. Sutcliffe describes it as a ‘big country town’ and the hub of the York Peninsula where “all the big festivals happen”.
With the ocean close by, Sutcliffe grabbed every opportunity to be near the water.
“Dad always went for long runs along the ocean and he used to ask me if I wanted to go with him,” he says.
“I’d always jump at the opportunity. At that point in time he was a lot faster than me. Time might have changed that.”
While he loved the beach, football was his other passion, and playing in the AFL was his dream.
He lined up for the Kadina Bloodhounds until he was 17, when he moved to Adelaide to join SANFL side Woodville-West Torrens (WWT), the same club Matthew Pavlich came from.
Sutcliffe was left frustrated when he wasn’t selected for South Australia’s under 18’s side in 2010.
“I was pretty disappointed,” he says in a manner that suggests he thought he should have been picked.
“My final year in under 18’s I started the season very poorly.
“From halfway through the year I started playing better footy and I thought I was a chance to be drafted, but unfortunately I wasn’t.”
The doubts that he’d never make it to the AFL began to creep in.
“I suppose when you’re playing in the top under 18’s level, that’s when you get drafted, or that was the perception at least,” he says.
After Sutcliffe was overlooked in the Rookie Draft a few weeks later, he entered pre-season training with WWT determined to give himself the best chance of realising his dream.
“I just went out on the track and decided that I would train harder and give myself the best opportunity to play league football for Woodville- West Torrens,” he says.
Michael Godden, who is still their coach today, was an important figure in Sutcliffe’s development.
“I worked alongside Michael and he always gave me tips and ways to improve my football,” Sutcliffe says.
He helped progress my football from a one-way style to getting back in defence and helping out, that two-way ability that you need to play AFL.”
Sutcliffe played league in round one and throughout the year, but he missed out on their Grand Final-winning side at the end of the season. Seventy picks into the 2011 National Draft, Sutcliffe's thoughts were turning towards the upcoming Rookie Draft.
“I was at home with my mum and dad and step-mum and all my brothers and sisters, thinking I’d missed out again,” he says.
“The very next pick I was taken by Fremantle and it was pretty hectic from there on.”
Sutcliffe was soon on a plane bound for Perth, where Freo recruiter Neil Ross picked him up from the airport. The new Freo Docker’s destination was Scarborough and his first ‘host family’ – Matthew and Lauren Pavlich.
Sutcliffe admits his generation of players at WWT wasn’t overly aware of the Freo captain’s feats during his SANFL days.
“I knew he had played there, but we were a different generation,” he says.
“I was 10 years younger so he wasn’t widely spoken of around the club, how many games he’d played and so forth.”
“The first night I just sat down on the couch with him and Lauren, had a chat and got to know each other.
“He took me to training and showed me the ropes. We have a pretty good friendship now.”
Living with Pavlich made it clearer to Sutcliffe why he is considered an AFL great.
“From his diet to recovery, such as going for walks with the dog after dinner and going to the beach, I saw a lot of things he does that helps you become a better footballer when you’re not at the club,” Sutcliffe says.
Most of Sutcliffe’s early days at Freo were spent playing for East Fremantle in the WAFL, and when he did earn an AFL call-up it was usually as the newly-introduced substitute.
With Freo steaming towards September at the tail end of 2013, defender Garrick Ibbotson was a late withdrawal from the round 19 match against Carlton at Etihad Stadium, and he didn’t play again that season.
Sutcliffe, who had played his footy as a midfielder, was given a challenge.
“I had to come in fill a half back role because Garrick was playing there and doing very well,” he says.
Sutcliffe played every game from there right up until the Grand Final, and he’s been a regular member of the back six ever since.
“I got that opportunity against Carlton, it was a new role for me to fill, but I feel I‘ve progressed from there, knowing the role and what I need to do for the team.”
Interestingly, Hawthorn’s Brian Lake, who won the Norm Smith Medal in the Grand Final against Fremantle, was also drafted with the 71st pick and hailed from Woodville- West Torrens.
Sutcliffe lives with teammates Nat Fyfe and Alex Silvagni in a South Beach townhouse.
He shares a passion for surfing with Fyfe, but he also recognises the pair are starkly contrasting people.
Fyfe is the AFL superstar – well spoken and used to the constant gaze of the cameras.
Sutcliffe is shy and quiet and, by his own admission, not as experienced at public speaking.
He says living with Fyfe can be “difficult” at times, but it’s also helped him become a better footballer.
“Nat’s pretty demanding around the household,” Sutcliffe says.
“He likes to do extra recoveries and he’s always trying to force me out of the house to go for a walk or go for a surf. He’s similar to ‘Pav’ in that regard.
“He has a great football brain, ask him any question and he can help you out.”
As for renowned head banger Silvagni, Sutcliffe says he and Fyfe have learned to live with his dubious musical tastes.
“I come home and he’s listening to some blaring death metal music, so I just have to walk out or go hide in my room,” he says.
Whether he’s playing on the football field, walking around South Beach or riding a wave at Trigg, Cam Sutcliffe probably won’t be noticed by too many people. But he won’t care, that’s just the way he likes it.
View the full Final Siren Edition of DOCKER MAG here
