Josh Dillon’s small stature has not stopped him being one of the key players for Kyabram.
Josh Dillon isn’t built to be a good footballer.
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But being small in stature hasn’t stopped him from being one of the key players in the current all-conquering Kyabram Goulburn Valley League team.
On Saturday against Shepparton United he played his 100th senior game with the Bombers, a milestone of sheer determination and fearlessness.
As a player Dillon knows no fear and if any of his teammates were needing assistance in the trenches in a wartime scenario there is a good chance most would pick him first to be by their side.
There was criticism not so long ago he may have been too slow for senior football at the top country level and that’s another thing he has had to overcome to be one of the Bombers’ most inspiring players.
At 26 he is currently enjoying arguably his best season with the club and his unofficial role of inspiring players with his unselfish and daring play should not be underestimated.
Dillon pulled another ace out of his bag of tricks in a recent game against Tatura when he kicked a career high six goals.
He hadn’t been a noted goal-kicker before that masterclass where he introduced a high-marking aspect to his game despite his lack of height.
But nobody was surprised because Dillon has defied the odds all his career.
Dillon is from the biggest family dynasties to represent Kyabram Football Club.
The James clan looms large on the side of his wife Karen’s father Ron, a premiership player in the Tony Bull-coached 1958 Kyabram side.
An uncle of Ron, Bubby James, won two Morrison medals in the 1930s and, another, Billy James, was a one-game Richmond premiership legend in 1920 in his one and only game with the club.
Josh Dillon pulled another ace out of his bag of tricks in a recent game against Tatura when he kicked a career high six goals.
The James brothers, farmers from Wyuna in the early part of last century, were prolific contributors to Kyabram Football Club.
In the past 70 years it’s been the Vicks and Cox families who have provided multiple Kyabram senior players.
But not quite as many as the Dillons.
The Dillon clan’s presence in Kyabram senior sides dates back to the late 1940s when Lindsay Dillon played his first game with the club and showed he was well above being an ordinary country footballer in a premiership year for the Bombers.
Lindsay was a brother of Josh’s grandfather, the late Bryan Dillon, who made his mark with the Bombers and left future family members to try and live up to a reputation of playing vigorously and without fear.
In the 1950s Nagambie had a legendary hard-nut player in Dick Moore, a talented player who could also intimidate players if they had a tendency to display any signs of uncertain braveness.
Every time the Bombers met Nagambie in those years Bryan was an automatic selection to pick up Moore and fight fire with fire — if he needed to.
The most gifted of the Dillon footballing clan is undoubtedly Ross Dillon, a Kyabram High School student and a nephew of Bryan’s who left his mark on the GVL and the VFL/AFL scene.
Ross is unfairly recognised for hitting the goal post in a hectic finish to the 1965 GVL grand final against the Tom Hafey-coached Shepparton which could have changed the result.
But at only 17 at the time and playing only his 19th senior game, Ross was quickly excused for his moment of agony, although he would be first to admit versions of it have varied considerably over the years.
And after his appearances with the Bombers at the end of the 1964 season as a schoolboy, he took it in his stride to go on to stellar careers with Melbourne Football Club and South Australia club Norwood in the late 1960s and 1970s, earning selection in both state representative teams.
Josh Dillon’s early junior football days were with the Kyabram’s St Augustine’s College, a noted breeding ground for quality players such as the legendary Garry Lyon, Shane Fitzsimmons, Maurie Wingate and Daryl Bourke who went on to play at the highest standard.
Apart from Ross none of the other Dillons have hit the big time, but sons of Bryan Dillon in Les and Mark Dillon played senior football with the Bombers.
Mark is also Josh’s father and two of his other sons, Sean and Liam, have also pulled on a senior jumper with Kyabram.
Les’ two sons, Locky, who played seniors, and Michael have also played with the Bombers in recent times along with Tom Warren from the Dillon clan who had to abandon a promising senior career with Kyabram before it had really started with a knee injury.
And the Dillon-James clans boast some individual league medallists.
After starting his career with his brothers at Kyabram in the late 1920s Bubby James won two Morrison medals playing with Shepparton.
One of Mark’s sons, Sean Dillon, claimed an Abikhair Medal in the GVL reserves, Ashley West won a thirds Pattison Medal, while Mooroopna’s Coby James, a son of Mark’s brother Glenn, a legend with the Kyabram District League club Undera, claimed a GVL under-16 medal.
Yes, the Dillons and James’ have been well represented at Kyabram Football Club for more than a century and Josh Dillon can proudly say he is one of those in these clans who has proudly continued this tradition.
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