CHASING THE DREAM
Anthony Kiepe sets his sights on 300th test cap for Queensland
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lub Helensvale’s Anthony Kiepe, 36, is going for 300 games for Queensland in 2014.
With 287 rep games already on his scorecard, Kiepe has been invited back into the Queensland squad for 2014, and selected for Queensland’s first test for the year, against NSW at Port Macquarie later this month. If all goes to plan, by the end of January, Kiepe will be up to 290 games for Queensland. If he’s also selected for Super Six (he won silver in the singles last year) in the lead up to Australian Sides at South Burnie, Tasmania (March 31-April 3), it’s possible Kiepe will celebrate his 300th game for Queensland during the Australian Sides. “I’m really rapt about it, not too many make it to 300 games in our sport, for a variety of reasons,” Kiepe said. “I’ve worked very hard for this and had a lot of support, especially from my family, my mum (Bernice) and dad (Allan), my wife Kellie and our four children, Emma, Georgie, Kuga, and Nate.” State coach Bill Cornehls, formerly of Victoria, has played against Kiepe, and with him. Now also a state selector, Cornehls said Kiepe continued to be picked for Queensland because he was consistent and reliable. “He’s not a flamboyant player, he’s under the radar, well, I suppose he’s on the radar if he’s about to get his 300th game!” Cornehls said. “300 games in any code requires dedication, commitment and consistent form, over a long period of time. “Anthony has certainly had high and low points in his career, but he’s come back when he could have given up. “It takes a lot of sacrifices both on and off the green to reach that sort of milestone.” Kiepe’s count towards 300 for Queensland started 17 years ago.
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“I was 19, in my first game for Queensland against Fiji at Bribie Island in 1997,” Kiepe said. “It was the most exciting few days of my life, something I had worked very hard for and it was very satisfying to be selected.” Kiepe’s most memorable Australian Sides championship was his first. “It was Launceston, 1998, playing alongside the best bowlers in Australia at the time, Kelvin Kerkow, Steve Glasson and Jeff Twist, it was a huge thrill, and we actually won, a dream come true,” Kiepe said. “I was selected in the Australian U-25 squad that year, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my representative career.” Kiepe was born in Toowoomba in 1977 into a family of high achievers on the bowls green. He won Queensland’s Champion of Club Champions singles title at Maroochydore in 1997 and played third in the Kiepe family’s winning four, father Allan on lead, younger brother Shaun, second, and elder brother Chris, skip. “All of us have represented Queensland at some time, Shaun in under-18s, Chris in the men’s open side and dad in the over-60s,” Kiepe said. “We were told only one other family had won a State Champion of Club Champion fours title, when Trevor Morris played with his dad and brothers.” In the countdown to his 300th game for Queensland, Kiepe’s career tally for the state includes winning six out of a possible 15 Australian Sides Championship titles, from 1998 to 2013. The 36-year-old missed selection in 2012 and is determined not to be in that position again. “It was a huge relief to be selected again in 2013, I thought my representative career might have ended when I missed out in 2012,” he said. “Also to be selected to play Super Singles for Queensland last year in the Australian Super Series in Bendigo and winning a silver medal, that was a definite highlight.” Kiepe’s goal for 2014 is to keep playing as consistently as he has for the past 17 years. “I’ve kept a diary of my bowls since I started as a teenager, hopefully I’ll pass 300 games for Queensland this year, if I keep being selected,” Kiepe said. v37/1