IGGY Vallejo was just another promising junior from the St Mary's football family when he made his Premier League debut in a green and gold jumper midway through the 1996-97 NTFL season.
Two decades later he walked off the playing arena at TIO Stadium as one of Territory football's most decorated players.
A league record of 361 games, 10 premierships, the 2008-09 Nichols Medal and two club best and fairest awards were neatly stowed in the memory bank and his trophy cabinet when Vallejo called time on his playing days.
A representative career that embraced the NTFL representative side and NT Thunder's 2011 premiership side in the now defunct Brisbane based NEAFL, plus a brief stint with the Carlton reserves, completed his illustrious career.
But it was his long career in a Saints jumper that remains the most talked about phase of his days as a player of the highest note.
"Being a one-club man in 20 years as a league footballer is something I'm pretty proud of,'' Vallejo told the AFLNT website this week.
"St Mary's was a club I supported since I was a little boy and to watch the players Saints had back then and one day wanting to be like them, always drove me to play at the highest level.
"Winning a premiership in a green jumper was obviously the ultimate and to finally do it and be able to hold my head up high and say I'm a premiership player at the St Mary's footy club, was a pretty special feeling."
Vallejo smiled when asked if he envisaged a playing career that would run into 23 seasons when he first ran on to TIO Stadium as a wide-eyed 15-year-old utility almost 26 years ago.
"I didn't think about the future, it was all about playing that first game with my idols growing up. Cyril Rioli Jr and Mick Athanasiou were two players I wanted to emulate and to be playing footy with those two guys was unbelievable,'' he said.
But team success did not come easily as Vallejo was to find out when his Saints lost the 1997-98 and '98-99 grand finals to Southern Districts and Waratah.
"Losing those grand finals and being part of a Saints side that missed out on the finals for only the second time in their history weren't great memories,'' Vallejo recalled.
"But when Damian Hale took over the coaching and started winning flags after a rebuild (a hat-trick of flags from 2002-03 to 2004-05) that all changed."
Originally a pacy on-baller who could kick goals from a long way out, Vallejo made his name as a rebounding half back with runs out of defence and long kicks to position that played a major role in Saints' dominance until his retirement.
Vallejo played alongside Rioli - his favourite all-time Saint and the father of Hawthorn superstar Cyril "Junior Boy" Rioli - and Athanasiou in his formative years.
Big names like the Longs, Dunns and Ponters were there too, but Tommy Weetra, Brian Stanislaus, Jack and Devan Perry and Stuart Sceney also hold a special place in his heart.
"Those blokes weren't just fantastic footballers, they were great club people as well who don't get a lot of mentions and they deserve a place in St Mary's history," Vallejo said.
"The same thing applies to the many volunteers who are there every week, because they love the club and they're long-time St Mary's people.''
Vallejo has "worked'' for his brother and senior coach Anthony as the team runner in the last three seasons while helping out his brother-in-law and another former Saints great, John Anstess, in coaching the club's under-12 side.
Delivering crucial messages gave him time to observe a topsy turvy 2020-21 season for St Mary's, when off-field misdemeanours through the grades caused ripples that were most unlike the 69-year-old club.
But they were hiccups the club overcame by making it to the Premier League grand final, where they lost an unloseable premiership decider to Nightcliff after leading by three goals with as many minutes left on the time clock.
"That was disappointing, losing a grand final we should have won, but to lose like that to a quality outfit like Nightcliff was a fantastic effort by the boys and we're keen to make up for it this season," Vallejo said.
"From day one Chopper (Anthony Vallejo) reminds the boys how close a premiership was, but it's something they've definitely learned from and to lose two grand finals in a row means they are even more hungry for the ultimate team success.
''But it's going to be tough, any one of the top four can win the flag this season, so we have to put our best foot forward to secure a top three spot and the double chance going intp the finals."
