Shirl McCosker recalls a 2006 accident which left him hospitalised, with several injuries

AT A GLANCE

Born: Port Fairy Hospital on July 18, 1982.

Children: Louis and Ruby.

Parents: Norm and Kathleen. Sibling: Felicity.

Education: Dennington Primary School before going to Warrnambool College.

Sporting highlight: Would have to be walking into Flemington racecourse with Ciaron Maher when he trained Gold Trip to win the 2022 Melbourne Cup.

I'm probably like plenty of other people who have wondered how you got your first name Shirl. Is it after the late Shirley Strachan from the Skyhooks?

I was not named after Shirley Strachan. All my family have nicknames. My dad is called Norm but answers to Coogee while mum is Kathleen and she answers to Barney and my sister Felicity is known as Issy. I would have been about three years old and I had lots of blonde curls and mum started calling my Shirl after Shirley Temple and the nickname has stayed. My first name is really Ashley but not many people know that - they all call me Shirl.

I could tell you countless funny stories about being called Shirl. One of those was I had to attend a meeting with Moyne Shire about eight years regarding the Koroit Truck Show and they asked is Ashley McCosker present for the meeting. I put my hand up and said present. The next minute they asked is Shirl McCosker here and I said yes. The person from the Moyne Shire had a sort of bewildered look on their face after that answer.

Did you like school?

No. I didn't like it. I'll never forget I was 15 years old in 1997 and I went up to Midfield Meats and asked Colin McKenna for a job. Colin offered me a job washing down the cows. After a few weeks I went and saw Colin and said I wanted to earn more money. Colin said I would have to go and work on the kill floor to earn extra money. Two weeks later I was working on the kill floor.

Over the years Colin and Midfield have offered countless working opportunities to people to get started in life and I'm one of them and I've always been grateful for what they have done for me. The strange thing is it could have been all over in 2006.

What do you mean it could have been all over in 2006?

To be precise it was in April 2006. I was working in the Livestock Control Division at Midfield and I had to take a truck load of meat down to Melbourne. I was going up the Inverleigh hill and the next minute another truck came across in front of me. The truck rolled over and I was trapped in the cabin. It seemed like for hours I was trapped. I can remember hearing the sirens of the ambulances and police roaring in the background. There were SES people everywhere trying to cut me out of the cabin.

I'll never forget I was coming in-and-out of consciousness and the next minute I looked up and Colin McKenna was looking at me asking how I was going. I found out later Colin had rushed down to Inverleigh as they were told at Midfield my condition was not good.

What was the extent of your injuries after the truck accident?

I was air-lifted to The Alfred hospital and they found out I had lots of issues. I suffered a broken right femur. It was smashed out and I've got a rod there now. I fractured the C6 in my neck and they had to replace my right cheekbone with a bit of plastic. I had problems with my right eye socket and I broke my left leg.

I spent four months in The Alfred and was in a coma for just over two weeks before coming back to Warrnambool's St John Of God Hospital where I was for another three weeks. I came out on a walking stick but after a while I got up and going again.

Shirl, did you play any sport when you were young?

Yes. I played junior footy with Dennington before going to Warrnambool with Darcy and Sam Lewis to play in the under 16s. I ended up transferring to Merrivale and played in the reserves and seniors. I can remember I cost the Merrivale reserves premiership when I got the ball on the wing and ended up going down the ground with the ball before I stumped my foot into the goal square and the ball went over the line for a point. We were defeated by a point.

A group of Merrivale players including Luke Attrill, Matthew Gleeson, Barry Bermingham, Paul Ryan and myself went up to play for Noosa in 2002. We were supposed to have accommodation as part of our agreement but there was no house. We lived in the change-rooms and slept on the rub-down benches before our accommodation was sorted out.

Shirl, your sporting highlight relates back to the 2022 Melbourne Cup and Ciaron Maher. How many years have you been friends with Ciaron?

I'm not sure how long it is but it's a long time. I was milking cows at Ciaron's parents place when he started training horses. Ciaron only had a handful of horses in work but I can still remember riding them in trackwork on Port Fairy's East Beach a couple of mornings in the week. I worked for Ciaron when he won his first Group 1 race with Tears I Cry back in 2007.

Ciaron is normally an easy-going type of person but I can remember in 2010 we were preparing Al Garhood for the Grand Annual Steeplechase. Ciaron had just purchased a treadmill. It was only a couple of days out before the Grand Annual and I was to work Al Garhood on the machine. I misread the instructions and Al Garhood had done too much work on the treadmill. Ciaron went right of his head when he came back. The only good thing about it was Al Garhood went on to win the Grand Annual.

Do you still do much work for Ciaron now?

Yes. Just last week I transported 10 horses from Ciaron's Pakenham property up to the Bong Bong Farm which is in the New South Wales' Southern Highlands. I've done lots of different work including building tracks, helping sow paddocks and putting in fences at different properties that Ciaron has horses at.

Has it surprised you that Ciaron is now Australia's leading trainer?

Not really. Ciaron is a pretty focused sort of person. He appears to have a cool, calm attitude but his mind is ticking over all the time. I've noticed over the years Ciaron gets pretty toey before the big races and that is to be expected.

MORE SPORT

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: