Evan "The Wiz" Orzirny

The Wiz weaves his usual magic as he takes a takes amagnificent mark to set up his 50th possession for the game

…it’s 5.a.m on a Sunday morning in a frigid field just a few kilometers away from Melville, just south of Yorkton in Saskatchewan. It’s January 22nd and the temperature has just dropped to minus 20 degrees (minus 40 degrees with the windchill). Yet while most people are fast asleep dreaming away merrily with their heaters pumping overtime, a lone figure is busy pacing out laps on a snow covered wheat field….the man thousands of mad and loyal Aussie rules football fans once knew as… the Wizard of Oz.

14 years earlier, in a farmhouse not far from that very field, was where Evan Ozirny first came in contact with the great game of Australian Rules Football. Recalls Evan… "it was late November in 1989 on yet another f*&$in cold day in the prairies. I was down in the basement with my old man trying desperately to pick up the Grey Cup final on our old ham radio. My beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing in the final for the first time in 13 years and the game was going down to the wire in the second half."

"All of a sudden we had a power surge as one of the huge freighter trains from the nearby rail line rattled through town on it’s way to Winnipeg. The radio started picking up signals from radio stations all over the world – Japanese, French, German, you name it. Then all of the sudden it got stuck on 3LO in Melbourne, Australia. I’ll never forget it. They were replaying the call of some game that had happened earlier in the year. I remember the first words that came crackling out…Ohhhh - Winmar takes a SCCCCCCRRRRRRRREEEEEEMMMMMERR. He plays on and handballs to Burke, he takes a bounce, launches long to Plugggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr. This will be his 10th goal for the game, he’s a freak…"

"I was in awe. I listened to the station for the next 2 hours straight. I even missed the fact that the Roughriders had won a 43 – 40 thriller. I was too scared to change the channel in case I lost it. For the next year I sat transfixed in front of the old ham radio on Saturday morning’s as they called the games. Right from the start I felt a great loyalty to the Sainters. Before 1989, the Roughriders last Premiership was in 1966, so I knew I’d have to adopt St.Kilda as my team. Sure they were crap, but I was a loyal supporter, and nothing was going to change my mind.

I became obsessed with the game. We didn’t have the internet in those days, so I wrote to Channel 7 down there in Melbourne and requested Beta tape after Beta tape of games they’d shown. After each game I’d head out the Paddock and kick a Gridiron ball around (I didn’t have a footy then). I’d set up my own tacking drills with the cattle, and set up running drills in and amongst the wheat field’s."

Indeed his commitment to the game could not be questioned. Local farmer Billy Ray Bob remembers those early days in Evan’s career well. "I used to drive by the Ozirny farm on the tractor whereby I’d see this strange kid kicking a gridiron ball through these two trees… he’d then run between the trees, turn around and stick two fingers out with this big smile on his face. I didn’t know what the hell he was up to. He looked good doing it though."

His commitment soon turned to obsession. One of his early love interests, Mary Sue Willowker remembers the drills all to well, "He became obsessed with trying to kick his football over a wheat silo when he’d heard some guy called Billy Brownless had done it in Australia. He was mad. He did get his picture in the local paper for it though…"

Sun Cartoonist, Jeff Hook's view of the importance of the "Wizard of Oz" to St.Kilda in the lead up to the 1997 finals.

The news of Evan’s startling progress spread rapidly and it wasn’t long before word had made it all the way to Australia. New Sainters coach Stan Alves was desperate to make an impact at Morrabbin and dispatched a scout to Canada in the summer of 1995. It was the "Coup of the Century" quotes Sainters recruitment manager Johnny Fisher. "Only god knows how we got the tip about Evan,…actually, it may have had something to do with the 2 page letter Evan wrote to us telling us how good he was…anyway, when I saw him play, I was in awe of his raw talent and love of the game. I’d never seen someone with such a commitment to master the game. I’d booked his ticket to Oz within 2 hours, and before I left I gave him a few extra pointers on the finer aspects of the game just to brush up on his already freakish skill base.."

Two weeks later, Evan almost missed that flight down to Morrabbin after a wild going away party at the Queensbury Downs Casino in Regina. At the time, young Evan was nicknamed "Owhatchyano" or "he who can tip like no other" by the local natives. The local Casino’s knew it too, and after taking heavy losses time and time again at the tables by Evan’s supernatural ability to pick a winning hand of cards, or numbers at the Roulette table, banned him from a number of casino’s including the Golden Eagle in North Battlefield, and the Emerald and the Marquis Downs in Saskatoon. Within an hour of his arrival he had already racked up an extraordinary amount of cash at the Queensbury and security was brought in to turf the youngster out. A scuffle naturally ensued and Evan was keen to put his newly learnt "hip and shoulder" skills to practice. Unfortunately for Evan, the two bouncers assigned to him were both 300+ pound linebackers from the Saskatchewan Huskies Gridiron team and didn’t take to kindly to Evan’s perfectly executed hip and shoulder. So the next morning as Evan bordered his 747 bound for Morrabbin, he carefully nursed a broken jaw courtesy of the side of one of Regina’s hardest dumpster’s.

Despite being completely unknown in Australia when he set foot off the plane, the time was ripe for the then 28 year old. He fit right in to the line up, and despite completely missing the pre-season, Alvesy was confident that his fitness would be up to scratch to play in the Sainter’s side.
So in early February of 1996, Evan was thrust into the side straight in time for Round 1 of the Ansett Cup. With the tragic departure of Plugger at the end of the 1995 season, the Saints needed a new hero, and after only one game, that hero became the wonder boy from Canada. In his first game (a victory that stunned even the most loyal of Sainter supporters), Evan starred in his position off the back flank and racked up a whopping 45 possessions. The fans went crazy.

"Everyone claimed it was one of the coldest days at VFL Park ever, and that evidently was saying something, but to me it was like mid-summer, I mean it was 5 degrees. I could have played in a pair of speedo’s and still felt comfortable."

Right from the start it was obvious Evan was at home in the vast paddock type expanses of VFL Park and took to it like a duck to water. It wasn’t long before he was dishing out the same type of performance week in, week out. It may have been the pre-season competition, but he was delivering the goods.

The Cheersquad were his most ardent supporters, and they knew from the start they needed a catchy name for this "legend-to-be", and they needed one fast. So on a late Friday night as half the squad was racking their brains trying to decide between witty banner headers such as "Saints, Saints, please give us a win, prevent me from throwing my membership in the bin" and "..Oh I want to be at that game, when the Saints finally go marching to a win.." the other half of the squad was trying to pool their collective brainpower to come up with an appropriate nickname. So after a good 4 hours, and a dinner break consisting of 23 refreshing Tab cola’s, a couple of packets of Twisties, some dodgy chiko rolls and a few dimsims the squad was still torn between "The Saskatchewan Sainter", and the "Charismatic Canadian". Eventually both were thrown out when half the squad couldn’t say Saskatchewan (as it was more than two syllables), whilst the rest didn’t know where Canada was. Then out of nowhere it came…

Quotes senior cheer squad member Davo Johnson, " It was inspiroackional,… I mean it was just inpured,...mmmmnn, it was just Super. Out of nowhere Jacko asked if any one actually knew Evan’s last name. When Johnno said it was Ozirny, almost straight away I said – what about "The Wizard of Oz". It went down as a treat. As a result, I get to be the one to hold the largest pom-pom this week…I’m chuffed…."

The Wiz was so dominant, he was almost singlehandly responsible for the 96 Ansett Cup victory. It was humungous for the long serving Saints supporters. Many fans thought this was about as close as they’d ever get to a real premiership, having gone 30 years since that famous Barry Breen point to win the 1966 premiership. "The fans went ballistic. I had barely gotten off the podium from getting my man of the match award when the fans mobbed me. They absolutely stripped me naked. They even got my lucky Canadian jocks I wear under my footyshorts. I was devastated,...my mum had given me those. She’d picked them up in a 2 for 1 sale at Cosco. I actually had to run back to the change rooms in the buff."

Thankfully, after a heart felt plea to the fans during the wake the next day at Morrabbin, a reluctant Beryl Johnson, 63, returned the lucky jocks in time for game one of the regular season. "Sure I felt a touch of disappointment giving them back. I had to fight off 3 young buxom high school girls for this. Still the Wiz gave me one of his socks as a replacement. I tell you what, if I was 25 again, I’d be all over that young hunk."

His performance in that Ansett Cup final is still regarded as possibly the greatest game of football ever played by anyone who has ever graced a footy field at any level... EVER! As testament to his impact on football, not only at St.Kilda, but on the game itself, in 2002 as Ansett began to crumble and with no immediate sponsor for it's pre-season competition, the League voted unanimously to re-name the Ansett Cup - the Wizard Cup, in honor of the Wiz, a name that still remains today.

Whilst the rest of 96 turned into yet another let down for the fans, The Wiz continued his dominance into the next season where an amazing run saw the Saints climb all the way to the regular season Grand Final, largely due to game after game of inspirational play by the Wiz. Said former Sainters teammate and now coincidently current Cougars teammate Rob "The Guru" Edmonds, "We formed a dynamic duo in the backline during those tumultuous days in the mid-nineties, the Wiz and I. I was know as the Guru, but he was always the Wiz who could conjure up the magic. I always thought I was the better player technically, but there could be no denying The Wiz’s commitment to the hard ball. On more than one occasion I remember the Wiz sweeping up a loose ball after I’d dropped yet another easy overhead mark."

Said Sainters Legend Nicky Winmar, "Before the Wiz, I was the one who conjured up the Black Magic for the side, but it wasn’t long before the Wiz’s magic took over. Initially I was a bit jealous, but I was soon quite happy to pass the torch to such a legend."

A despondent Wiz reluctantly joins in the celebrations for his "partner in magic" - Nicky Winmar's 200th game, after only moments earlier suffering what turned out to be the career ending knee injury.

Still, despite a 50 possession game, the Sainters were no match for Adelaide in the Grand Final. The crushing loss shattered the Sainters and the Wiz in particular. "I won’t lie, I took it very hard. It wasn’t long before I was drawn into the web that is the Crown Casino and pissed away the off-season on beer and the roulette tables. That is of course until they banned me from winning to often in the Oak Room."

The infamous poster issued to Crown Casino employees, which has now become a collectors item amongst Saints supporters.

The Wiz was never the same. A crushing knee injury in Round one of the 1998 season ended his season and prevented any chance of the Sainters had of getting back to the Grand Final. The Wiz was distraught, so much so that despite the many pleas of his loving fans, he returned to the comforts of life in Canada after only 2 full seasons in the AFL.

"I loved footy, but I just couldn’t handle not being in a position to perform at my ultimate best. The injury crushed me and I felt it best to come home and recuperate. Unfortunately, I just never made it back there."

The formation of the Vancouver Cougars in 2001 and a newly installed metallic kneecap rejuvenated the mighty Wiz, and that niggling desire to once again lace on the boots for the game he loves got to him.

..and so as he headed into his second season as a Cougar, whilst the rest of his teammates were spending the winter break hitting the slopes of Whistler, or bludging in front of the TV watching sport, there was The Wiz, cutting a lonely figure as he pounds lap after lap around that cold field in Saskatchewan.