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Cooper Harmer's passion for footy started in the backyard. Now it is building a club. Picture by Les Smith
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From backyard footy to club leader: The passion driving Cooper Harmer

2 hours ago

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Harmer has done it all for the club, and he is only 23.

Cooper Harmer's passion for footy started in the backyard. Now it is building a club. Picture by Les Smith
Cooper Harmer's passion for footy started in the backyard. Now it is building a club. Picture by Les Smith

In partnership with Toyota.

At just 23 years of age, Cooper Harmer has already chalked up more than 100 senior games for his beloved Turvey Park in Wagga.

But to admire his playing career barely scratches the surface of Harmer's contribution to the club.

He has spent the last few years helping establish the club's fledgling women's program, first as assistant and then as head coach.

For the past two seasons he's also been a member of the committee, and whenever there's some spare time available he'll deploy it towards manning the canteen, stocking the bar or even umpiring.

It culminated in Harmer winning the Toyota NSW/ACT Young Leader of the Year award in 2025.

"Sitting around watching, I feel like I just need to get involved," Harmer said.

"If that's water running or boundary umpiring from a young age, now I'm on the committee. I could always sit there and watch the footy but I felt like I needed to do something just because I enjoy it."

His love for the sport flourished from a young age. Father Andrew played for the club, and from as early as he can remember Harmer would spend his waking hours outside kicking a footy.

"It might be weird but I was just that kid out in the yard just pretending there were goal posts," Harmer recalled.

"There was an old car port awning, we had a bit of acreage and I used to use that as goals. It had the posts that hold up the building, they were perfect AFL goals.

"I used to run around, kick to myself, pretend I was playing footy.

"I used to hate the real goals down the back in the paddock where there were bindies and stuff, I liked it closer to the house."

Cooper Harmer. Picture by Les Smith
Cooper Harmer. Picture by Les Smith

By five years old he had joined Auskick, and by 18 he had already graduated to the first grade senior side as a versatile tall who could play in the ruck or down back.

And unlike the majority of his teenage peers, Harmer was already heavily involved off the field. At 15 he won the Harry Cunningham Award for volunteering, and the same year received the Senior Ladies Auxiliary Award.

So when the opportunity came at the end of 2021 to form a women's side at Turvey Park, Harmer jumped at the chance to be involved.

"Our first year it was only a small competition, and the girls made finals and I'm pretty sure they could only get 12 to turn up for finals," Harmer said.

"Last year when I coached we had numbers of 25, 26 at one stage. It's grown massively.

"Back then there would've been five or six teams maybe, now there's 16. It's a joint [competition] between a few leagues around the area."

Harmer was assistant coach for the first two years before taking the reins in 2024.

"I loved every minute of it," Harmer said.

"Just trying to teach them and promote the love of the game, because I love football and that's why I do it. I just see a lot of development there,

"It makes you feel like you've achieved something after a season, when the girls go 'I had a great season, I'll be back next year', it makes you feel like you've achieved something."

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Jun 25, 2026 11:00 PM

2 hours ago