This weekend two-time premiership player, Regan Pinker, plays his 150th open-age game for the Pennant Hills Demons.
Starting out as an Auskicker when only 5 years of age, Regan played his first game as a 6 year old in the Under 9s for the Kalamunda Tigers in Perth, WA. He recalls his dad telling him “… to run away from the ball if it came near me …” and Regan quips that nothing much has changed since that time? He ended up playing in three junior clubs in three states as his family travelled around the country … Kalamunda Tigers in Perth, Canterbury Cobras in Melbourne and Pennant Hills Juniors when the family finally settled in Sydney.
Regan played 7 seasons with the Pennant Hills Juniors (U10s to U16s), playing 118 games, and won “consecutive Under 14 Division 2 premierships coached by Glenn Gunstone in 2008 (playing with Adam Nixon, Jake Gunstone, Tim Acheson and Theo Moraitis) and David Pinker in the second year, 2009, (playing with Theo Moraitis and Mitchel DeVries).” Regan represented Sydney North in 2010. He was the Under 16 B&F and Player’s Player in 2011.
At age 16, Regan played one game in the Under 18s in 2011 and then played a total of 40 U18/U19 games over 4 seasons. Regan was Co-Captain (with Jesse Hare) of the Under 18 premiership side in 2013. This is the most recent flag won by the Demons in the under-age competition and the U18s Coach that year was again Regan’s father, David Pinker. In 2013, Regan and Matthew Vile were joint winners of the Ken MacRae Shield awarded to the Best First Year Local Players.
Regan made his first grade debut in Round 4 of 2013 against an under-manned Sydney University side at home ground Mike Kenny Oval. The Demons kicked 18 goals and won by 83 pts that day. The game was also notable because Uni failed to score any points in the first quarter and Penno’s lead was already 43 points at the first change.
After his first grade debut in 2013, Regan then played a mix of under-age and open-age footy and was set to establish himself as a first grade regular at the start of the 2015 season. However, in the opening minutes of the Round 1 match against St George Dragons under lights, Regan suffered a devastating break that shattered his ankle. The game was stopped while the ambulance attended and Regan’s season had ended before it had really even started and his dream of playing regular first grade footy was dashed! In spite of this, the Demons got the season off to a great start, winning the Round 1 match by 29 points. The team finished third after the H&A, then went on to win the Flag by defeating East Coast Eagles by 35 points in a Grand Final thriller at Henson Park; the Club’s 4th Premier Division flag at that time.
Regan’s rehabilitation took over 12 months and he returned to the field in 2016 playing for the Reserves and Third grade sides. He was R/U B&F for the 3rd grade side in 2016 (jointly with Jackson Preedy). Between 2017 and 2019 he played mainly in the Reserves and was a member of the 2018 Reserve grade premiership side under Coach Jason Clarke. For Regan, his career highlights include “… winning the Under 18s and Reserve Grade Premierships, getting picked in Premier Division for the first time as well as getting picked again in 2019, after a 4 ½ year dry spell since breaking my ankle in 2015.”
From 2019 Regan has played mostly in the Reserves, although he did get the opportunity to play in the top team on several occasions between 2019 and 2021 (9 games). He was a member of the 2019 Reserve Grade grand final team.
After finishing minor premiers (16 wins/2 Losses), Penno was seriously dabbling with the idea of back-to-back flags. However, the Grand Final opponents, St George Dragons, had scraped into the final five (12/6) after winning their last four H&A rounds. After the week off, Penno had a narrow win against 2nd placed UNSW in the 2nd semi-final and advanced straight to Grand Final and had another week off.
St George carried its good end-of-season form into the finals series. They were resurgent and in devastating form during the finals, beating North Shore, Sydney University and UNSW by 63 pts, 46 pts and 45 pts, respectively. Penno had played one game in four weeks and St George were riding the wave of success.
Penno had beaten the Dragons earlier in the season and were still confident of success in the GF. In a low-scoring scuffle, Penno led at the first change but from then on St George proved too good on the day, taking the lead in the 2nd quarter and then ground their way to victory by 28 pts. After such a great season the loss in the GF was massively deflating for the Penno players and another reserve grade flag had slipped through the fingers.
The loss in the 2019 GF was particularly disappointing for Regan as it was also the occasion of the 100th open-age game for Penno. Hoping to celebrate his milestone game with another flag, he and his teammates were devastated, having to settle for runners-up.
It’s a bit of an in-joke, but Regan reckons it’s a toss-up between the 2019 Phelan Medallist, Ranga Ediriwickrama, and a former junior team mate, Felix Tang, as to who is the best player Regan has ever played alongside. Reggie is a former Geelong recruit and is clearly a super star footballer. Felix was a funny chap from Regan’s junior days who didn’t like to train, couldn’t catch, kick or run but nonetheless played 87 games over 6 seasons, coming back year after year for reasons no one could ever fathom? Another junior team-mate, Adam Nixon, recalls he hand-spooned Felix his first ever goal in his 50th match for the Penno Juniors. So, whilst Reggie is the clear winner, suffice to say that some of the boys still have a soft spot for Felix!
It seems Regan was a little hesitant to go around again for another season in 2024 until he was reminded that he had only five games to play to reach his 150th milestone game, where he is today. He made his return in late May in the Round 7, played 3 games in the third grade side and last weekend he was promoted to Division One (reserves). He’s got his mojo back now and is looking forward to playing finals footy again.
Regan, known around the club as ‘Reegs’ or just “Pinks”, is one of the Good Guys, always has a smile on his face and is a popular personality at the Club. He has a quick, light frame body and good hands making him a versatile outside centre, wingman or half back flanker. He’s a right footer “… although he has always wished he was left footed!”
On behalf of everyone at Pennant Hills we wish Regan the best of luck for his milestone match and congratulate him on this magnificent achievement!
Go Penno!
