Stefan Okunbor received an early Birthday present on Saturday when he kicked his first goal in footy.

Turning 21 today, Okunbor followed up on an exchange of handballs before snapping on his left, with teammates running from across the ground to congratulate him.

“It was more of a case of getting the ball foot and it just managed to sneak its way in, so it felt good,” Okunbor said.

“It was quite overwhelming getting a few pats on the back.”


Born in Moldova to a Moldovan mother and Nigerian father, Stefan and his family moved to Ireland when he was three-years-old in search of a better life.

He picked up a Gaelic football to integrate with his peers and quickly excelled at the sport, catching the eye of Geelong recruiters and arriving at the club as a Category B rookie at the end of 2018.

It is a move that has paid off with Okunbor enjoying his time at the club so far.

“So far so good, can’t complain, great club, great culture and I am really settling in nicely.”

Okunbor produced arguably his best VFL game for the season in Geelong’s big 102-point win against North Melbourne.

He played an important role down back and put his body on the line on a number of occasions to help restrict the Roos to only five goals.

“We have tried to give it 100% for four quarters and I think we did that today pretty well,” he said.

The victory puts the Bendigo Bank Cats in a strong position with only two rounds remaining.

“(We) just need to keep doing what we have been doing in the past few games. We have been playing really well and gelling really well together nicely, so hopefully keep doing that and hopefully get to finals.”

The Cats will travel to Port Gellibrand to play Williamstown on Saturday at 11.40am.