Alex Marklew on his Wangaratta Rovers career, finals prospects and 'Elmer Fudd' nickname

Since moving to Melbourne as a teenager, Alex Marklew has clocked up around 40,000km driving up and down the Hume Highway to keep playing for Wangaratta Rovers.

It's a labour of love with its roots in the family tree, given Marklew is a fourth-generation Hawk and fiercely proud of it.

"A lot of people ask how I've travelled for so long and whether I get sick of it but that sort of stuff has a lot to do with it," Marklew said.

"You forget about the travel, it's just more of a routine now and it doesn't worry me too much.

"I jump in the car Friday arvo, usually leave by 4pm, sit in traffic all the way out to Beveridge and then just kick back.

"My great-grandfather was the secretary back in the 1950s and Pa played 160-odd games, won a flag and Dad won three flags - a twos flag and a thirds flag as well - and I don't think many people have done that.

"The only reason I remember it is because he says it all the time!

"But he played in the last twos flag and the last seniors flag so I really want to continue that rich history we have with the family culture."

By the time he left home, Marklew already had three seasons of senior Ovens and Murray football under his belt.

The former Wangaratta Imperials junior kicked 82 goals in his first 46 games at the level and played finals in 2013 and 2014.

"When I first started at Rovers, I played a lot of good footy and and no-one really knew me," he said.

"I was playing with a lot of senior players like Karl Norman and Ross Hill so it was an easy side to come into.

"When I went down to Melbourne, I suppose it puts a lot more pressure on you to play VFL. I was with Essendon, who had a lot of AFL players, and it messes with your confidence a little bit, training VFL and then you don't get picked so you've got to go back and play with Rovers.

"That played on my mind a fair bit but I gave it a crack.

"Once I knew I was done, I started to come back and play Rovers and it's a lot easier training and playing with the one club because you're not worried about getting dropped."

Marklew made lifelong friends at Essendon but there was no place quite like home when it came to playing his best football.

After playing in the Rovers side which went winless in 2018, he spent a year with Werribee before kicking off his third spell with the Hawks under Daryn Cresswell.

"I was hoping to play a bit more mid that year," he admitted.

"I was fit, but still fairly skinny, so once I knew I was predominantly forward for Rovers, I decided to work a bit harder in the gym to nail that role and get a bit stronger."

Marklew kicked 21 goals in 2021, 57 in 2022 and reached 50 for the year with three in the win over North Albury last weekend.

"I'm always happy kicking goals," Marklew said.

"I've still missed a lot, which gets me a bit annoyed sometimes, when you have nine shots on goal but only kick four goals.

"I'm happy with 50, though, and it's thanks to the lads who put it down my throat. A lot of them look for me most of the time so it makes it a bit easier when the ball comes into good spots.

"A lot of hard work goes on outside footy, with recovery and gym three times a week as well as training twice with footy. There's a lot of little niggles I try to play through as well; every week I seem to cop a corky.

"When I did my ankle, that set me back and I probably should have had a couple of weeks off but I hate missing footy so I just wanted to play.

"There's always physios and massages and the week is pretty filled up by looking after the body to get it right for Saturday."

Sure enough, Marklew has been ever-present for Rovers and finished third behind Callum Moore and Leigh Williams in the race for the Doug Strang Medal.

"Every opportunity I get to have a shot, I feel like I need to kick it," Marklew said.

"We don't have a lot of other goal-kickers - Tom Boyd played forward and back and Prime Train's been in and out - so I probably feel more pressure to kick goals when I get the opportunity to make the most of it, more so for the team.

"It's always good to have that responsibility but I just want to play my role and kick goals when I can."

Marklew's next assignment is a big one - the elimination final against Wodonga at Norm Minns Oval on Sunday.

"When they played us a few weeks ago, they had to win to cement their spot and they did," Marklew said.

"They're going to be pretty hungry and eager to play some good footy and we're 1-1 (with them) this year.

"They've knocked off a couple of good sides - but so have we.

"We've upset Yarra and Wang but we also lost a couple of games to teams that aren't doing so great.

"It's a bit of a rollercoaster still.

"We like playing against better quality sides, where the skills are a bit better and the game pans out the way we want it to.

"We like playing a pretty fast brand of footy and sometimes the North Alburys and Wodonga Raiders are a lot more contested so they bring us down to a level where we play a lot more inside footy, where we like to play a bit more outside.

"But we had a good win last week and we've got a pretty fit side back now which will make things interesting."

But if you're at the ground or following the live broadcast, don't bother listening out for Alex Marklew's name.

Try 'Elmer Fudd' instead.

"When we were younger, we made up nicknames for each other with the first two letters of your first name and last name," Marklew explained.

"So for me, 'Alma' stuck for a few years.

"Then Dad said to me one day 'I'm going to call you Elmer Fudd because you're a bloody Looney Tune,' which is a pretty fitting nickname for me.

"A lot of people from the younger days call me Alma and a lot of people these days just call me Fudd or Fuddy."

"You can thank Rick for that."

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