Collingwood should have known it was in for a good night when it met Hawthorn at Launceston’s Aurora Stadium last Thursday.

After all, former Magpie hero Chris Tarrant has made the ground his home away from home while making occasional appearances for Tasmanian State League club North Launceston during his retirement.

Tarrant, who closed his career on 268 games in 2012, is now an ambassador for Australian Organic and still keeps a close eye on how his old teammates are performing.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: We understand you are still playing football in local and country leagues around Australia. Tell us a bit about that experience.
Chris Tarrant: It’s not really locally around Melbourne but I did play a handful of games in Tassie last year for North Launceston, who’s home ground is where the Pies had a win last week, Aurora Stadium. The facilities were fantastic and it’s obviously a really nice surface. It was really good fun and just looking at going back to play down there again this year. I’m in discussions with them at the moment so that’s just a bit of fun down there, they’re really nice people.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: Tell us what you’ve been up to since you retired? How did you get involved as an ambassador with the organic industry?
Chris Tarrant: I have always been quite keen on organic food and the industry. What I mean by that is I’m quite aware of what I eat and what I put into my body, I always have been.

I have started up my own products and from there I’ve gone on to be an Australian ambassador for the organic industry, which is fantastic. It’s about trying to create awareness of the organic industry and what you are putting in your body, that’s probably the biggest thing out of it, as well as trying to spread the word.

I think in today’s age in the supermarkets they’re now stocking a lot more organic and natural products and trying to stay away from preservatives and all those types of things, which are in a lot of foods, so I’m trying to eat as clean and as healthy as possible. It’s not possible to be eating like that all the time, if you’re at restaurants or if you’re having dinner with friends and so forth but it’s a matter of just trying to do the best that you can and the majority of the time you’re not going to skip your meal because it’s not organic.

It’s just being mindful and being as aware as possible.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: What was the dietary education like during your early days at Collingwood?
Chris Tarrant: I’ve always been quite lucky, I suppose, where I’ve always eaten well. My skinfolds were always pretty low, so I was actually trying to put on weight, because I was quite a thin kid.

For the majority of my career I did take it upon myself to source and to look at the best options available to get the best out of myself, so that’s something I do enjoy.

It’s not hard work for me because I do enjoy eating good foods and cooking at home and just enjoying fresh produce and organic produce where possible.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: Are you still in touch with many of your ex-teammates? As an attendee at last year’s Collingwood Forever event, who did you catch up with?
Chris Tarrant: Collingwood Forever was great. It was a fantastic initiative by the football club to put something like that on. I went along and had a fantastic night with teammates that I still keep in touch with and also past teammates who I haven’t seen for a while. I think everyone there really got something out of it in some shape or form. It was great to talk to ex-players who you don’t cross paths with any more through distance and other things going on in our lives. It was a really good night.

I crossed paths with guys like Matthew Lokan, James Wasley, Dale Baynes, and Cameron Venables, all these guys who started off at a similar age as me in my early years. Seeing those guys was really good and even a few of the older guys as well when I first started around was fantastic as well, such as guys like Gavin Crosisca, Paul Williams and Shane Watson who were then when I first got drafted. It was good to run into some older heads as well.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: Given you retired at the end of 2012, are you still in touch with many of the current players?
Chris Tarrant: You try to as much as you possibly can but it’s quite hard, especially at this time of the year. I certainly know how hard pre-seasons are and generally you train, you go home and you’re pretty buggered from the day’s training.

It’s always good to catch up with friends through the footy club and go back there every now and then and see everyone.

I love getting back to the club; a lot of players feel sometimes that it can be quite difficult, I suppose, in terms of heading back.

It’s hard to explain but I think Collingwood do a fantastic job in that you might not have been back for a while but it’s great in terms of making you feel like it’s still your club.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: How is your body holding up now that you’re more than two years into retirement?
Chris Tarrant: My body’s still pretty good. I left in pretty good shape, not for AFL standards but in terms of being able to play and have a run around. You are a long time retired so I certainly enjoy having a kick while I still can.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: What has life post-footy allowed you to do that you weren’t able to achieve during your career?
Chris Tarrant: I think travelling’s the biggest one. You can always travel at the end of the year but that’s the biggest thing, being able to spend that June-July summer period overseas where you get that really nice warm weather. It’s just a different experience than travelling after the season. I love travelling. It’s one of my biggest passions, so I’ll be heading back overseas again at some stage this year.

Collingwoodfc.com.au: What’s your take on how your old teammates will perform this season?
Chris Tarrant: I’m a Pies supporter, and I will be for the rest of my life, so I keep a keen interest in them. I do enjoy watching my Robbie, brother, play for North Melbourne for obvious reasons – not that he’s played a whole lot due to injuries but hopefully this year he will play a few more games.

It’s hard because a lot of players have changed over so much in the last three years since I’ve gone, so I’m looking from the outside in and it’s quite hard to judge.

I think it looks like they’ve got some great young players with potential down there who should be pushing up and playing some good footy over the next couple of years.

I actually have no idea where they will finish, but there’s every chance they could get to the point where they could play in the second half of the finals. That would be a fantastic result, with the transition the list has gone through.

If the majority of the key experienced players around the club can have really good seasons, stay on the park and remain injury free, that’s the biggest thing when you’re having that sort of change over. Having those core senior players playing regularly means the younger players jump on and they follow.

It’ll be an interesting ride. It’ll be good to watch this year.