Cornelius tickled by honour to be 2022 Ball Legend

SWAN Districts Hall of Famer Joel Cornelius can't help but be quite tickled to be this year's Ball Legend as it gives him the chance reflect on a remarkable playing career where he'll always be proud to have got absolutely everything out of himself.

While Cornelius grew up in Bunbury and now lives in Port Hedland with wife Kristy and their two children, it's the Swan Districts Football Club and Bassendean Oval where a large chunk of heart will forever live.

Cornelius just couldn’t have possibly given more to the black-and-whites during his remarkable 221-game WAFL career. He played two games earlier in 1995, but once he came back in for Round 21, it was the start of a historic run of consecutive matches.

The tenacious half-back would play the next 219 games that Swan Districts took part in up until he retired following the 2006 season. Along the way, he was captain, a dual Swan Medallist and without question, one of the finest ever servants in the club's history.

That's why he was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year and why his face will be on the Burley footballs this year for each home game as the Ball Legend.

It's honours like this that still blow Cornelius away.

"It's pretty similar to the honour when I got accepted into the Hall of Fame last year for Swans. I'm just absolutely amazed to tell you the truth and it really does tickle my feathers a little," Cornelius said.

"You get a little bit excited and it's a good chance to reflect a little bit on the service and sacrifice that you gave towards the club. Just to be recognised for that is a massive honour especially with the calibre of players, coaches and support staff that the club has had. It really is a true honour."

While Cornelius spent so much of his formative years at Bassendean from 1995 to 2006, life has taken him to the north of WA where he runs Cornelius Constructions out of Port Hedland, he is so humbled to be remembered so fondly at Swan Districts.

Cornelius was blown away when inducted into the club's Hall of Fame last year. Now to be the 2022 Ball Legend is an honour he not only will always cherish, but that also makes him feel good knowing he's not forgotten and is appreciated for the remarkable service he gave the club.

"It really is nice because you do drift away sometimes with football especially when you move away. You still keep in touch with the scores and results, and who's playing and what not, but to actually be remembered and accepted is a really nice feeling," Cornelius said.

"Like last year when I went back for the Hall of Fame, it's just an outstanding moment. It can be a life changing experience to be acknowledged and remembered with a thing like this. It really is a heart-warming feeling.

"I spent most of my time from late teenage years to early 30s at that football club when I moved up from the country. That was my life and it was really my home. You were just treated like one of the pieces of furniture by everyone involved in the club and that was your family when I was living away from home.

"To now be remembered when you come back to the club and walking into the club rooms or changeroom, or up into the members area, people remember you and welcome you with open arms," Cornelius added.

"It really is a great feeling and now every time I come back to the club I make an effort to get back to a game and still be involved, and go to things like the Hall of Fame and things you get invited to. I make a real special effort now just because of that sense of feeling like you are remembered and thought of. It's a great feeling."

In the modern world, there's a feeling of comfort for anyone with Swan Districts in their blood to still head back to Steel Blue Oval.

Cornelius can't help but almost feel like he's stepping back in time to reconnect with so many old faces and to recall so many memories any time he gets back to Bassendean now.

"It's so funny because you walk back in there and you see the same people doing the same roles with the volunteers, bar staff and everyone else. It's such a great feeling seeing them all again and it's like being away from somewhere and going back there, you always walk away smiling," he said.

"The next day you reflect on how many memories you do have there and the great relationships you've formed by meeting those people. They never change and that's just that feeling of Swan Districts and Bassendean, and the people there.

"The people all just genuinely love the football club and that oval, and it's really a good thing to see and to be able to go back and for people to acknowledge you. It's a special feeling every time you go back there and you really do look forward to it every time."

Every player during their careers always say they are only focused on the now and won't reflect on what they have achieved in their careers until it's over.

Well Cornelius has had 15 years now to reflect and above everything else, what he is most proud about from his Swan Districts career is that he can rest easily knowing he gave his absolute all, and got the complete most out of himself.

"I look back on it and always say the same thing, I gave my all and feel like I got the best out of myself. That was my only ever goal," Cornelius said.

"I never aimed to play a certain amount of games or to win any awards, I was always a team guy and I can sit back now and know that I got absolutely everything out of myself that I absolutely could have. There's no regrets and I'm just happy with the career that I had, and I can sit back now and reflect and say that I did well.

"It is nice to have that feeling to be honest. You might have the odd thing here and there you might change, but once you have been giving that opportunity to do something, you have to remain positive about it and realise how lucky and fortunate you are to have done what I've done, to play as many games as I have and to now still be recognised all these years later.

"You've got to take the positives out of that and you do look back and think that it was a special time of my life. It's not until it's 15 years after that you sit back and realise how huge it was in your life."

One thing that is likely never to be taken away from Cornelius is his record of playing 219 consecutive matches in the WAFL. In fact, it might be hard for anyone to ever play that many games again let alone consecutively.

For him it all simply came back to not ever wanting to see his teammates play without being out there with them.

"I just had this huge will that I never wanted to miss a game. I just can't miss out on things and that's just more in the nature of myself. Even if I had a niggling injury, I just had to play through it," he said.

"I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t play and I don’t think I ever missed a game from juniors right through until I finished playing. I just had to play. There were times I was injured, but I made myself play through that and I just couldn’t imagine myself sitting on the sideline and missing a game.

"Sometimes you see other players who don’t mind doing that, but I was totally the opposite and I didn’t put in that much work to not play on a weekend. Being an apprentice carpenter during those early years really did help because it kept my body active and got me through all that.

"I was very fortunate to get through like I did and I just never wanted to miss out on anything. If we were playing, I had to be out there and I did everything I could to make sure I was."

Life is decidedly different now for Cornelius and his family to what it was when he finished his WAFL playing career, but he wouldn’t change a thing.

"I have a totally different lifestyle now to where I was at the end of my playing career. I live in the Pilbara now and we make the most of everything that it has to offer up here," Cornelius said.

"We've got a great friendship group up here, we have a great family life and we get around a lot doing a lot of camping, fishing and living a very active lifestyle. We avoid a lot of that Perth weather during the wintertime which is great, and we're very happy.

"The kids are growing up now and they are getting to that teenage stage now so that always keeps you busy with sport and everything. It's a really good life that we've built."