Congratulations Pete

During his student days at St Virgil’s, Peter played in the 1st XVIII for two years and was runner-up in the Best & Fairest in 1986, and was captain and best and fairest the following year. He had three years with the 1st XI, was captain in 1987 and in that year won the batting & bowling averages.

Like his father before him, Peter continued with his cricket and football upon leaving the College. Having represented Tasmania as an underage footballer, he went on to play with the Sandy Bay Club. In 1988 he was drafted to Collingwood Bay. In 1991 Pete was the club’s leading vote-getter in the association best and fairest and was its leading goal kicker on two occasions. He would eventually be afforded life membership of Sandy Bay F C - the last player to gain such recognition prior to its demise in 1997 (having commenced in 1945).

On the cricket front, Peter was fine all-rounder. He represented Tasmania in the under 19 team and  was a key member of the successful North Hobart Club senior side for many years, where he played with his father and brother. In 1995 he moved to the Kingborough Cricket Club as captain/coach for five years, during which that club won its first district premiership in 25 years. He was a member of the Tasmanian Sheffield Shield squad and was the runner-up for the TCA Cricketer of the Year for the 1996-7 season. He was selected in the inaugural TCA Team of the Season 1998/99 and would be selected a further 3 times prior to his retirement in 2004. In 2003 he was selected as captain of a TCA representative team in an intrastate one day series.

Peter is one of only four players in the history of the TCA competition to have taken 400 wickets and scored over 8 000 runs. In all he played 308 games - 3rd on the all time games list - with a best bowling return of 7/35 and a highest score of 156.

Peter represented Italy in the second tier of the World Cup, and was head coach of Italian Cricket Academy in 2003-4. Peter proved to be an exceptional coach. Peter coached the Guilford Young College 1st XVIII to 2 State Premierships (2002 & 2003) and the Hutchins 1st XVIII to a premiership in 2006. In 1999 he was North Hobart Football Club assistant coach.

He coached St Virgil’s 1st XI in 1991 and the Guilford Young team 1999-2001. Upon moving to Melbourne, Peter was appointed coach of the Carlton Cricket Club. He was there for five years during which time the senior team won two ‘one day’ premierships (2007/08 and 2010/11).  The earlier one was the first senior title the club had won since the 1980/81 season when Keith Stackpole was coach. In 2014 Peter moved to Prahran Cricket Club where he is senior coach and has guided them to a narrow semi-final loss in 2015/16. The club has not won the flag since the 1983/84 season.

Melbourne Grammar School has also been the beneficiary of Peter’s talents. He has been Director of Coaching (cricket) since 2012. In the 2015-16 season, the school’s 1st XI won the premiership – only the second for the school in 40 years

Peter returned to Hobart in 2019 to take up the position of Sportsmaster at Guilford Young College and has facilitated considerable success with it numerous sporting endeavours.