On an extremely windy Saturday at Kevin Walsh Oval, Jamberoo Superoos legend Jono Dallas ran out for the 350th time in the team’s red and green colours.

Playing in the number seven jersey on July 20, Dallas steered his team in a closely contested loss against the second placed Gerringong Lions. Even though he was proud to reach such an impressive milestone, Dallas never even expected to play at all in 2024.

“I had nothing to do with the preparations for this year, I pulled myself away from it because I didn’t want that temptation. I was even training to play rugby union … and then a week before round one I got a call from the coach and he said, Look we’ve lost a lot of players and we’ve got a good group of kids that are keen but have no experience in their spine,” says Dallas.

“There was never an expectation that we were going to win a lot of games, but I didn’t want to see them getting beat by 50 and 60. So the selling point was just to come back, bring a little bit of experience and make sure that the boys can compete,” says Dallas.

The 2024 Group 7 season marks Dallas’ 18th season playing grade for Jamberoo and as he reminisces on his career he says that after he had finally won a premiership with the club in 2017 he oddly began playing the best rugby league in his life.

“I was so committed to winning a first grade comp with them (Jamberoo). So up until 2017 I was so desperate to win that footy took up all of my time. And once I got past that I really let myself enjoy it a bit more so the five to six years after that were really the best where I was genuinely just playing footy with my friends,” says Dallas.

Dallas is adamant that, more than his dedication to win and the love of the game and Jamberoo, his main driving force in coming back year after year is getting to play with his mates. And he says he’s very lucky that he got to play so many years in a row with a similar group of players that are now his friends for life.

“Some of my best mates I've met because of footy,” says Dallas. “I was a groomsman at a bloke’s wedding that I wouldn’t have met if I didn’t bring him to Jamberoo. My wife met her best friends because they’re dating guys I've brought to the club. And yeah there’s money and you want to win comps, but really it's just playing with your mates. And it's made me realise how impactful being in a really good footy club can be.” 

Dallas had only missed one game for Jamberoo in the 17 seasons before this one, and he says that he would always play even if he wasn’t 100% fit because he humbly believes that his additions to the team were, a lot of the time, about how he led and managed the team throughout the match.

“I never thought of myself as a gun really, I’ve always thought of myself as a manager of footy. So, I could play in a dinner suit when I was injured. And I always just wanted to be reliable when I signed up to play footy, so I’d always show up even if I wasn’t 100%,” says Dallas.

Although the Superoos have only managed to win one game this season, they have rarely lost by more than 12 points which is very impressive for such a young squad. Captain Nathan Gallastegui says it's Dallas’ management qualities that have made them so competitive this year.

“In all honesty having his leadership and experience back this year has been a blessing, I have a ton of respect for the man he is and what he does for the club, on top of the love I have for him,” says Gallastegui.

“I think with his big ears, he heard we needed him back and he came running in, like a knight in shining armour,” jokes Gallastegui.

On the day of his 350th game Dallas was also given a life membership to the Jamberoo club, becoming the youngest player to do so.