Boggy Roos skipper Matt Gillham honours his dad Richard

In Richard Gillham, Matt has the blueprint of the man he strives to be. And now, the father he hopes he is.

Matt, the Boggabri Kangaroos captain, and his partner, Caitlyn Dewar, recently welcomed their first child. Charlotte Elaine Gillham was born at Tamworth hospital. She came a couple of weeks early.

Read more: 'Exciting but a bit daunting': Gillham's transformative arrival

On leaving hospital, Charlotte was brought to the Gillham family's cattle, sheep and cropping property outside of Boggabri. She is being raised in the sprawling homestead that used to be occupied by Matt's grandparents.

Charlotte's grandparents, Richard and Joanna, live in another house on the farm.

Matt is a chip off the old block. "Some people probably say that I'm very much him," he said of his father. Richard Gillham was "a big kid", the eldest of his two boys said.

"And even within the footy club and whatnot, he's always just been a big kid," Matt added. "So he's always been up for fun.

"Ever since I can remember, he's just been playing around with the kids wherever we were. Yeah, just very involved with everything."

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"So I'm sure Charlotte will be no different," he added, in reference to his father's relationship with his little girl.

Matt said he owed his parents "everything". They had instilled in their four children a strong work ethic.

"They haven't gifted us everything in life; they've showed us how to work for it and earn what you want," said Matt, who juggles farm duties with his work as a fitter and turner.

His mother, the 27-year-old continued, was "very much in love" with her grandchildren.

"As soon as she gets around them, she can't get enough of them."

That is how Matt feels about his daughter, you suspect.

"It's going good," the Gunnedah High graduate said of parenthood. "No complaints here. She just eats and sleeps and sh*ts, and that's about it."

Come next year, however, Charlotte will be sideline when her old man leads Boggabri in another campaign. The Roos' joint best and fairest first-grader this year said it would be "nice" to have his daughter at games.

"She probably won't have a choice: she'll have to watch."

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