200th Hostplus Cup game for Guy Hamilton ✍🏼 Michael Nunn
Home can mean lots of different things, maybe it’s your favourite pub, or the bakery near your house for a sneaky treat or your mum’s driveway or it can be a football club. Guy Hamilton has taken the long way to 200 Hostplus Cup games, travelling through four clubs before eventually returning to the Gold Coast and finding his home at the Burleigh Bears.
When Hamilton runs out against the Townsville Blackhawks this week in week two of the Hostplus Cup finals, he will become just the 22nd player in the history of Queensland’s premier competition to reach the 200-game milestone.
For the Keebra Park alumni, there is something fitting about reaching such a significant milestone while playing for the Bears.
Hamilton made his Hostplus Cup debut for the Easts Tigers in 2016 against the Central Queensland Capras. The Tigers won 30-10, with Hamilton marking his first appearance by scoring a try.
He would play 13 games for Easts before moving north to the Sunshine Coast, where he added another 27 appearances for the Falcons appearing in his first Hostplus Grand Final.
Souths Logan was the next stop, with Hamilton playing 41 games for the Magpies and taking his career tally to 81.
But in 2021, the Gold Coast student came home.
Hamilton joined the Burleigh Bears and five years later his 119th appearance for the club will take him to 200 Hostplus Cup games.
“I went to school at Keebra and played one junior year at the Bears with my mates,” Hamilton said.”
“I take something from all the clubs I have been at during my career,
“It’s all part of the football journey and I have made great mates,
“200 Cup games is something I am proud of, when I hear young blokes making their debut I think gee, I am getting old.
“The Bears have been great to me, and I really found a home here, they have been so great for so long,
“I felt home here straight away, they accepted me for what I am.”
The highlights in the 200 games come thick and fast.
“The premiership last year, I lost two and to win one last year was awesome and to play with great Bears like Sam Coster,” Hamilton said.
“He’s our captain and leader; he’s my roomie on away trips we are very different but get on so well.”
It is a remarkable achievement, but the numbers also tell the story of a player who has continually earned his place in the competition.
His career has stretched across different clubs, teammates, coaches and eras of the competition, yet the path has ultimately brought him back to where he started.
Bears CEO Damian Driscoll has been Bears CEO since 2010 and has seen every Bear that has come through the door in an era of three premierships, and four Grand Finals and he knows what Hamilton has brought to the Bears.
“Guy brings a wealth of experience, leadership and a strong work ethic to the team,” Driscoll said.
“To play 200 Hostplus Cup games tells you plenty about his durability.
“Especially given the amount of attention he gets in defence.
“Beyond Guy’s football ability, his greatest asset is his personality- he loves having a good time and is one of the ultimate team players.”
Ultimate team player, bear and at home with 200 games.
