To Mum

Hi mum.

It’s been a year today since you left us.

Not a day goes by where I haven’t thought about you.  To be honest your memory is so fresh in my mind it seems like you were just here. Alas, time goes on, and time goes too fast.

A few months after you grew your wings and left for the next life I was driving along Roe Highway, and an Ed Sheeran song came on the radio.

I had my finger on the button to change the station because as you are aware I’m not a devout Ed man like someone we both know, but I paused for a moment to listen to the lyrics.

“I wish that heaven had visiting hours. So I could show up and bring the news.”

I can’t visit unfortunately, as much as I would like to. And I would have plenty of news. But it was in that moment last year that I felt compelled, inspired even to write this letter to you.

It’s cold again now. We get rain some days, just cold dry days for the most part like the day you left us. In the weeks after you passed, it rained seemingly every day and the sun felt like it never came up.

The house flooded the day after your funeral, I like to think it was the weather gods shedding the tears I sometimes could not.

You always loved a little bit of drama too, even though you would never admit it. So, the house flooding would have been right up your alley!

That house is no longer ours. We sold it last month and Rachael and I have both bought houses of our own. I know deep down that’s what you would have wanted us to do, as much as it was hard to say goodbye to a childhood and young adulthood home of 15 years.

We had the best life there and I’ll always be so grateful for the sacrifices you made over time to make sure we could live in that house.

I write this from my new house in Canning Vale. I know you would like it. It’s big enough, easy to maintain and is in a lovely area. I’m very happy with my purchase, even though I wish it was in better circumstances and wish I could show it to you.

As I write I can see a photo of both of us from another lifetime- you a young mum watching over me all of two years old with bright white hair. The memories endure, and I know you’re still watching over me.

Mum and I in the early 1990’s.

I’ve got to be honest mum, I’ve dreaded this date ever since it became your last with us.

This year, and every year that ticks by will bring back memories of that day. This one is particularly tough as it’s the first anniversary of your passing. The date of June 17 will always stay with me.

I think about our last conversation, the last time I spoke to you. I replay that conversation at least once every week in my mind. I wish I could have convinced you to go to the doctor and wonder what might have been different if we went.

I’ll always tell myself your death was preventable, that it wasn’t your time to go. You had many more years to live and those have been snatched away from us.

People who know better than me told me your final moments were quick and painless, which is what we always hope for when our time is up. That gives me some comfort.

The emotions in the days afterwards varied. I remember waking up the morning after you left us and walking past your room and seeing the door open and having to accept that you would not only never be in that room again, but never in that house or in our lives. It hurt then; it hurts now.

At times I felt lost, numb, and sad. I had great people around supporting me and I’m so grateful that I did. I know you would take comfort in that.

The messages of support were plentiful, and each of them were appreciated. I made sure to respond and say thanks for all of them, as you would have liked me to do.

I mentioned the rain last winter- we had a covid lockdown in the days after your passing and we were all stuck inside looking at rain fall down.

The day of your funeral was the only day in three weeks we didn’t have rain, just as the restrictions were eased to allow a proper farewell, the one you deserved.

Me with cousin Alec behind mum’s hearse last year.

All your favourite people were there, and we paid tribute to your incredible contribution to life in a way you would have loved. In a time of great pain and sorrow, the weather gods let you have your final curtain the way you would have wanted it.

Writing and then reading your eulogy was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and something I wasn’t emotionally prepared for.

I know what you would have said. You talk for a living and know everyone here so it can’t be that hard. But it was.

I spoke about your courage, to overcome so many obstacles to live the life you wanted and the lives we wanted as kids. It was important to me that people knew the person you were, and it’s one of the reasons I write this too.

We picked a spot you would love as your final resting place, and only two weeks ago on the first day of this month your headstone arrived.

It’s a very special headstone for me because I want people for the rest of time to stop and look at that headstone, acknowledge you left us far too soon but also look at the photo of your smiling face and read all the people who’s lives you touched mentioned on the headstone underneath. Now you’re more than just a name on a plaque in a cemetery full of them.

Mum’s headstone.

There has been so many times in the past year I wish I could call you, or just get your advice and guidance on something.

Tell you something about my day, share a funny story or a meaningless statistic about sport that you would either really appreciate or at least pretend to.

I miss your checklist of things I needed to bring with me before I made my way to football to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I miss your perspective on things happening in my life as someone who had already lived this mid to late 20’s phase.

I know you went through this, losing your own mum many years ago at a similar age to what I am now.

You always talked about the struggle to let go and the sadness that came with every birthday, every Christmas, every death anniversary that ticked by. I now know that only too well.

Mum’s early years.

Death is inevitable. We can’t run away from it, we can’t avoid it. Some would say we should accept it as part of our lives.

I struggle every day to accept that you’re dead, snatched away from the world at 54. Life isn’t fair and we learn that all the way along in life. But this feels like an injustice of the highest order.

Does time numb sadness? Probably. Some days are easier than others, some days I remember the things about you that make me smile, others I just want your smiling face back in my life.

A photo from mum’s childhood- She’s on the right smiling in the sunshine.

I don’t think you ever get over losing someone so suddenly, but you learn to accept that it’s happened and ultimately have no choice but to move on and try and life your life.

The way you want to live life, the way I know you would want to me to live it.

I’ve continued to forge ahead in the last year, despite the obstacles along the way. Some days you want to sit in bed and feel sorry for yourself, but you get up and get in your car and keep going. That’s how life is.

I’ve been able to do some incredible things that you would have loved so much in the last year mum.

Melbourne won their first premiership since 1964, when your dad was there at a similar age to me now. Through a remarkable set of circumstances, the game was played right here in Perth and I was exceptionally privileged to broadcast it. Your daughter, sisters as well as your nieces and nephews were all there on the night in the crowd to witness something extremely special.

Post AFL Grand Final Day (or night) 2021

It was one of the great days of life. Something I wished I could have shared with you, but in a way I feel like I did.

It involved so many of your most loved and cherished people celebrating something that seemed so incomprehensible only a few months beforehand.

I like to think you delivered it as a gift to all of us, not just me. A way of saying I’m okay up here, and I’m still with you in spirit.

None of us know what happens when we pass on, and I guess I’m sceptical myself. But you and I always agreed that someone’s spirit can live on, and so much of your spirit was with me that day. I’ll never forget it.

The Eagles have been horrible since your man JK kicked that match winner. 3 wins in a year? Unheard of for our mob. Thrashed too many times to count, bottom of the ladder.

I don’t know if you had a window to see what was coming when you left, but I’m glad you don’t have to watch what we’re dishing up!

Mum and family at a classic Hungry Jack’s party from yesteryear.

Footy was such a big part of our connection as a mother and son.

You being the oldest daughter of a football loving dad who had no sons to take to the footy, so you got dragged along instead and fell in love with the game yourself. Your sisters duly followed suit.

A generation later so did I.

I’ll always remember you taking me to my first game of football at Lathlain Park when I was nine years of age, sitting behind the goals and taking it all in. My love of football grew from that day and you fostered it.

Two days after you died I was back at that ground, looking very different some two decades later.

My mind couldn’t have been further from that venue, or the two teams playing Perth and East Fremantle. Truth be told I shouldn’t have been there.

But I know you would have wanted me to be there, doing what I loved. Doing what made you happy because it made me happy. I have absolutely no idea how I got through that game, but I did because of all the resolve and determination you had instilled in me as a human.  

The Sharks got up, but the result didn’t matter. I was doing what you took so much joy out of me doing.

A family photo- mum is second from right, sisters Kristel (left) and Mia (front) with her mother (far left) and dad (far right)

Back at home the family had the radio on while they went about their day cleaning up the house. It stayed on from before the bounce to the time the broadcast wrapped up. Just like it would have if you were sitting there listening like the proud parent you always were. That still warms the heart.

You should be mighty proud of your sisters. Kristel was such a pillar of strength in the weeks after you left, staying for a month and reconnecting with so many people from her previous Perth life.

I see so much of her in you, and she continues your legacy as do all of us. I’ll always remember how giving and caring she was at such a difficult time for so many, particularly me.

Mia also spent so much time at our place, helping out in so many different ways and being another shoulder to cry on, another voice there when needed.

She also organised half of the family to wear red and blue to your funeral. She always has been the most passionate Demons supporter of the lot!

She organised my birthday a couple of months back to make sure it was the best of days, just as you would have.

A Photo from mum’s wedding day- dunno where dad was but this is mum’s pet dog Gizmo!

I know you didn’t talk as much as you would have liked in the last few years, but I know you two loved each other very much as all sisters do. Their connection is as strong as ever and I know how proud you would be of that.

My sister’s pretty cool too. Rachael is stronger than me, built a life of her own and never had anything easy. She misses you terribly. She is raising an incredible young lady of her own and I know you would be so proud of her.

Your granddaughter Peyton will always know how special you were to all of us and how proud you were to be a nanna to a such a sweet, energetic, and beautiful little girl.

Mum with Peyton in 2021

One of the hardest things to do on the day you left us was call Poppa and tell him his eldest daughter had gone. No parent should have to bury their child, and to make that phone call broke my heart, as much as I knew I had to.

Part of our final conversation that fateful day was you asking for your phone, as you always called Poppa between 4-5 on a Thursday.

When the paramedics handed your phone back to me, it had a missed call from him. I’ll always shed a tear knowing you didn’t get to have one last phone conversation with your dad who meant the world to you.

A photo from Rachael’s wedding day in 2018.

When we lose someone so important from our lives, we inevitably end up re-assessing our own.

I always would say hello to Poppa from the next room or pass on my best on my way out the door for cricket training but would always let you have the detailed phone conversation rather than grab the phone and call myself.

From something tragic as your passing I realised we need to fully appreciate our loved ones while they are still here, and I’m chuffed to say I’ve picked up your Thursday phone call with your dad.

We talk about all the stuff you did, and we tell stories about you that make us laugh and make us smile. I know he appreciates it, and I greatly enjoy talking to him. He reminds me so much of you.

I’m so glad I kept your tradition going, I’m just so sorry it took something like this to realise the importance of our loved ones.

From mum’s funeral service- she loved that signed photo!

I’ve lost some important people from my life in the past year and been to too many funerals. Those good people are on your side now, and I know they’re at peace.

Our pet cat Salem even said goodbye after 21 amazing years. I shed tears that day even though I said I never would for that animal.

As always, you were right in saying I would be sad the day her last one rolled around.

I still have the best job in the world, one you took so much pleasure in seeing me thrive in.

You and dad both said you will never work a day in your life if you love what you do. It still rings true.

Dad is still the good man you have always said he is, another pillar of strength through every challenge.

I wasn’t a perfect son, I know that even though you would have never thought it. But you always raised me to be the best person I could be with good manners, values, and ideals.

I like to think that is reflected in the person I am writing to you today.

A tribute to mum last Christmas.

Mum, I finish this letter by saying sorry.

I’m sorry that I didn’t acknowledge the pain you were in, mentally and physically in the final few years. I know they weren’t easy for you. I did then, and I do now.

The truth is, I never wanted to believe that the strongest woman I knew could be in any sort of pain at all. You were my rock, my guidance and inspiration all rolled in to one.

You fought a great battle, and I should have supported you more. Thank you for always supporting me.

For as long time goes on, I’ll always be heartbroken by the fact I never got one last chance to say goodbye. One last chance hug you and say how much I love you.

For everything achieved in the past year, the next year or all my years on this planet, I would trade it back in an instant just for that. But I can’t. So all I can do is write it.

I love you mum. I still love you still with all my heart. I’m so proud to be your son and I will always tell people that.

I’m going okay down here and will fight on to live my best life until my time comes too.

I know I’ll see you again one day. Until then, I’ll continue to make you proud.

Love Jacob,

Your one and only son. xx

APRIL JOY GILBERT

09-04-67 – 17-06-21

A treasured family photo from the 1990’s.

Shaun Marsh: A Cricketing Enigma

It’s a typically warm late November day in Brisbane. Shaun Marsh sashays down the wicket to the part time off spin of Matt Renshaw and works the ball to mid-on, almost immediately setting off for the single that gives him a hundred in the Marsh One Day Cup Final.

Moments later, teammate Ashton Agar strikes the winning blow. Western Australia win the Marsh One Day Cup for 2019/20, defeating Queensland by four wickets. The Western Australian veteran nicknamed ‘SOS’ (son of Swampy) was fittingly man of the match in a tournament that adorns his surname. Some headlines write themselves.

Marsh is a surname that is synonymous with Australian cricket. First it was Rod Marsh, an old school wicketkeeper with a fierce competitive streak and sharp tongue to match. Then came Geoff Marsh, the gutsy, patient opening batsman who hailed from country Western Australia and defied some of the world’s finest bowling attacks.

Keeping It In The Family: Former Australian Test opener Geoff Marsh (centre) with sons Mitch (left) and Shaun (right). SOURCE: The Australian. 

19 years after his final Test match came the debut of his oldest son Shaun, a left hander with an easy on the eye technique. A hundred arrived immediately on Test debut in Pallekelle, a town in the East of Sri Lanka many miles away from the comforts of home in Perth.

Australian cricket fans rejoiced. The hundred had come batting at number three while Ricky Ponting was absent due to the birth of his second child. With one of Australia’s finest ever batsmen in the twilight of his career, a replacement had been unearthed. Then 28, a long career beckoned for Marsh at Test level.

A Memorable Start: Shaun Marsh after scoring a century on debut in Sri Lanka in 2011. SOURCE: ABC. 

What followed would become symptomatic of Marsh’s career. On a tour of South Africa two months later, he suffered a back spasm caused from a Dale Steyn delivery that hit him in the unmentionables. He limped out to the middle in Australia’s infamous second innings in Cape Town, to record his first Test duck at the hands of a rampant Vernon Philander.

A five-week layoff followed, one of several injuries that have plagued his career. He returned with a classy unbeaten 99 in the Big Bash for the Perth Scorchers against the Renegades, immediately recalled to the Australian side for the series against India.

The selectors were seduced by his strokeplay. It’s hard not to be.

Elegant on both sides of the wicket and capable of hitting the ball so gracefully, able to go through different gears when required. A Shaun Marsh cover drive is a thing of beauty. If you check the Macquarie Dictionary, I’m sure a photo of a Marsh drive would appear alongside the word majestic.

The problem was and always has been his ability to go from world beater to a struggling state cricketer in the space of a few innings. In the India series that marked his return to Test cricket he registered 17 runs from six innings at an average of 2.83 with three ducks. Every other Australian batsman in the top six averaged over 35 in the series.

A Tough Series: Shaun Marsh edges to second slip at the WACA during a forgettable India series in 2011-12. 

Nine months later he was dropped from the Western Australian state team, his cricket career in limbo after a series of off-field misdemeanours and continued run of poor form.

The difference between his best and worst has always been light years apart. He recovered his place in the team with help from his former state captain and new coach Justin Langer, and within two years was back in the Australian set up.

Again, the lows and highs were there. Called up at the last minute to tour South Africa in 2014 he walked straight in to the first Test side two days after getting off a plane to make a sublime 148 at Centurion, a Proteas bowling attack that featured Steyn, Philander and Morkel.

A Mighty Return: Shaun Marsh reaches a century on return to the Australian Test team in February 2014 against South Africa. SOURCE: BBC. 

That was followed by a pair of ducks at Port Elizabeth, dropped again by the third Test.

By now, the Australian cricketing public was fed up. Time to move on from Shaun Marsh, pick someone younger, more consistent.

Each time Marsh returned to state ranks, and piled up centuries that caught the eye of the selection panel. Because how could a Shaun Marsh hundred not catch your eye?

Over the next three years, Shaun Marsh was selected and subsequently dropped another five times. Stints as opener, stints in the middle order, batting as low as number six. The high was an Ashes series to remember in 2017/18, two centuries and two fifties racked up as well as a memorable partnership with younger brother Mitch at the SCG.

Brotherly Love: Shaun Marsh celebrates a century against England at the SCG with brother Mitch at the non-strikers end. SOURCE: Fox Sports. 

Each Marsh recall was met with groaning disapproval by Australian cricket fans. Then the gushing but somewhat begrudging praise after an aesthetically pleasing century against the Poms. Okay, maybe the selectors were right after all, this Marsh guy can play.

7, 7, 0, 3, 4, 2. No, that’s not the start of a telephone number. They were the scores Marsh made in Test cricket from March to October 2018 in consecutive innings, the start of that sequence just weeks after becoming an Ashes hero.

Run of Outs: Shaun Marsh after another single figure in the UAE in 2018. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

Shaun Marsh is a cricketing enigma. No one can quite work him out. Like the good looking but crazy girl you liked at school.

Last summer I sat in the broadcast boxes of the Adelaide Oval and watched Marsh hit 163 not out in the fourth innings of a first-class match against South Australia. Western Australia won the game, Marsh didn’t give a chance nor look like getting out on a wicket that every other batsman struggled on.

He was a class above everyone else on the pitch, looking every bit a Test player. Two months later, his Test career was in freefall once again, dropped after a series loss at home to India.

Then came a Marsh century in white ball cricket at the Adelaide Oval against the same opponent just weeks later. How could this guy dominate in coloured clothing but look so feeble in whites?

The answer probably lies in that sentence. Shaun Marsh has always been a magnificent white ball cricketer. He averages 40 in ODI’s, slightly less than the 44 he averages in List A cricket. In t20 domestic cricket, he averages a stunning 38 in a format renowned for its lack of consistency.

In truth, Marsh should have played many more ODI’s and T20I’s for Australia and far fewer Test matches.

Shaun Marsh has played 38 Tests. He’s unlikely to play another. But when you go to the WACA and watch him bat, you will sit and watch every ball he’s at the crease. Any day Shaun Marsh bats and goes on with the job is a good day.

A Star in Coloured Clothing: Shaun Marsh makes a century at the Adelaide Oval against India earlier this year. SOURCE: 9WWOS. 

The frustration from cricket fans stems from the lack of consistency. The injuries, the form slumps. The stunning knocks against world class attacks. That cover drive. The ease of it all, followed by the single figure scores and scrap for every run. Doctor Jekyll, to Mr Hyde.

Shaun Marsh is 36. He debuted in first class cricket as a teenage prodigy in the summer of 2000/01. He’s now in the twilight of a career and is closing in on twenty seasons of domestic cricket. You can make a solid argument that he hasn’t fulfilled his potential at the highest level.

Then you watch him compile a domestic one-day final masterpiece against Queensland on a wicket that offered the bowlers plenty. The regal drives, the powerful cuts. The brutal pulls. A hundred to savour in a Western Australian triumph.

This might be the last summer of Shaun Marsh’s career. The jury will always be out on his cricketing journey, but we’ll remember his good days as much as his bad, and we should enjoy his batting mastery while we still have it.

Shaun Marsh, a cricketing enigma.

A Hundred to Savour: Shaun Marsh after reaching his century in the Marsh One Day Cup Final against Queensland. SOURCE: Fox Sports. 

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a Sports Broadcaster with 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. Follow him on Twitter @jlandsme_93

Spud’s Legacy: Why Mental Health is Now the biggest Issue in the AFL and Society

“The landscape we now operate in as an industry is more challenging than ever, for players, administrators, boards and coaches. This is leading to a wide range of issues around contentment. I hope in the future we can find a better balance in how we view the game; regardless of result otherwise I do fear for people’s genuine love of the game.”

A quote from departing Adelaide coach Don Pyke at a press conference on September 12^th of this year.

To hear those words from someone who just a month ago was at the helm of an AFL club gives you an idea of the current football climate, for all of those who have a stake in the game.

The comment came just three days after the tragic death of former AFL player, coach, administrator and media personality Danny Frawley in a car crash in country Victoria.

Frawley’s death sent shockwaves through not only the football fraternity but more broadly through society, the former St Kilda captain and Richmond coach killed when his car hit a tree outside of Ballarat on Monday September 9^th, a day after his 56^th birthday.

His death has not been added to the Victorian road toll, subject to a coronial inquest.

Affectionately known by all and sundry as ‘Spud’ after growing up on a potato farm in Bungaree, Frawley was in his later years a star on our television screens on the Fox Footy program ‘Bounce’ a light heated family entertainment program that put a smile on our faces at the end of a weekend of football.

Always A Saint: Danny Frawley played 240 games for St Kilda, captaining the club in 177 of those. SOURCE: Players Voice website. 

It was just the tonic people needed heading in to a new working week, whether it was his jostling with long-time colleague and former adversary Jason Dunstall, the ‘Golden Fist’ award to recognise defenders efforts in the round, or the famed dribble kicks that would rile ‘Chief’ so much. He looked happy; we were in turn left feeling happy.

Underneath the smile Frawley was battling his own mental demons that stemmed from his time in the game coaching and then as CEO of the Coaches Association.

It was hard to understand how someone who was feeling so blue could make us all smile so regularly. But that’s the thing; mental health doesn’t discriminate, and often masks itself behind a glowing smile.

Frawley had been open in discussing his battles with his mental health in recent years, even fronting his own radio show on Melbourne radio station 1116 SEN in 2018 titled ‘You Never Walk Alone’ where he implored men (and women) to be more open about their mental health struggles in order to seek the appropriate help.

Dynamic Duo: Jason Dunstall and Danny Frawley pose for a photo to celebrate their 350th episode earlier this year. SOURCE: Fox Sports Website. 

‘Mental health’ is an expression that we now commonly identify with. It is treated rightfully as an illness that requires treatment, rather than in a previous era it might have been seen as a sign of weakness.

Anxiety and depression are two of the most oft-identified factors with one’s mental health, and can often lead to erratic behaviour, mood swings and sleep deprivation.

In the past few seasons of AFL football more and more players have taken time away from the game to focus on their own mental health and wellbeing, Jack Steven, Dayne Beams and Aaron Hall just some of the high profile players battling their own demons.

Social media has seen the game explode as a product in recent years, but also made it far easier for internet trolls to attack players without fear of punishment. Players have now taken to pointing out these trolls on various social media channels, but for the most part it doesn’t deter those who are willing to take pot shots at stars of the game, not caring for the emotional toll it might take.

Another season of AFL concluded last weekend. For all of the issues around the state of the game, low scoring, rule changes and draft concessions, mental health is now the biggest issue in the sport, and more broadly in society.

The pain felt in the aftermath of Danny Frawley’s death was palpable. Sadly so many of us know the pain of losing someone close to us in such a fashion. Sometimes it’s not even someone we know.

Life of a Coach: Danny Frawley in the final year of his coaching tenure at Richmond in 2004. SOURCE: Fox Sports website. 

Never has a celebrity death hit me harder than Robin Williams in 2014. One of the funniest, freewheeling characters on the planet that made us all laugh, a comedic genius with an incredible gift took his own life after battling depression. Yet another example that mental illness doesn’t discriminate.

“We live in a world that expects men to be tough, to be strong, to be stoic, resilient but also unemotional. A world that judges, criticises, labels. Men who show vulnerability, sensitivity, insecurity and their emotions. Being emotional as a man is often seen as weak or soft. That somehow you’re not a man, you’re not man enough, or even good enough. The male mantra harden up, suck it up, man up has been handed down from generation to generation like it’s some sort of badge of honour that teaches us from a very early age that to be a man, a real man you need to be tough, you don’t cry, talk or show your emotions. These messages are damaging and destructive, and in my opinion are leading to a growing number of males, from young boys to older men across our great country who are in pain, hurting and are perhaps paralysed by the suffocating fear of being judged, seen as weak, or losing respect. Some of us choose to stay silent. Because of fear. The fear of losing everything, even if that means it’s at the expense of your own health and wellbeing. It’s time to challenge the old way, a narrative that no longer serves us. It’s not about blame or shame; it’s about responsibility and opportunity. To quote Danny, manning up in the past was to suffer in silence, manning up now is to put your hand up. Fellas it’s ok to be in pain. It’s ok to be sad. But it’s no longer okay to suffer in silence.”

A small snippet of Wayne Schwass’ emotionally poignant speech at Danny’s funeral.

A star footballer who battled with his own demons during his playing career and subsequently afterward, Schwass is now doing great things in helping remove the stigma surrounding mental health.

The modern world has more stresses and strains than ever before. Social media has created a dangerous and ultimately inaccurate conception of reality and for all the good that it does in keeping you connected with family and friends it can be a dangerous tool that spreads as much hate as it does love.

In my opinion more resources are needed from the federal government in regards to mental health, and it needs to be the number priority for all employers in every profession in this country. More and more is being done to address people’s mental health, but we can still do more.

Always the Funny Man: Frawley and Dunstall during one of their infamous ‘Yesterdays Heroes’ challenges. SOURCE: Fox Sports Website. 

We need more doctors, more clinical help for those who need it. Employers need to be more willing to listen to their employees and more receptive to help should it be required.

As devastating as Spud’s passing has been for the football community and those close to him, it may help those who are struggling reach out for help and get better.

Danny’s death was just three days before ‘R U OK’ Day, a day where people are encouraged to send people who might be doing it tough a message to reach out.

Every day should be ‘R U OK’ Day. Check on your mates, check on your family members. Care for others and be there if they need you, as you would expect from them.

Final Farewell: Danny Frawley’s casket leaves Moorabbin one final time. SOURCE: Fox Sports Website.

It’s going to be a tough day next footy season when we have ‘Bounce’ back on our screens and Spud isn’t there with the Golden Fist, or some ridiculous costume that has us all in stitches. The show will go on, as it must. But we will all feel the sadness his departure has left, and hopefully his tragic death will encourage those to seek help should they need it.

Vale Spud, we’ll miss you, but you won’t ever be forgotten. And your work surrounding mental health will forever be trail blazing. Rest easy, mate.

A Footy Tribute: West Coast players observe a minutes silence to honour the life of Danny Frawley ahead of week two of the AFL finals. SOURCE: Fox Sports Website.

 

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By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports broadcaster on 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. He blogs here at zombiecrowscricket. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93

Australian Rules Football; The Best Reality Television on Earth

Over the summer months we have been subjected to some horrendous television. Prime time slots are now filled by mundane, overly dramatic reality TV.

From My Kitchen Rules, which is basically a soap opera that occurs in a restaurant, to ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here’ which is watching so called ‘celebrities’ lose 20 kilos and eat snails and snake skin for six weeks in the middle of an African jungle so they can ‘find themselves’ (and buy bigger houses upon return home).

But the most abhorrent of the lot is ‘Married at First Sight’ better known under it’s acronym of MAFS for all of the social media junkies out there.

The program is based around couples matched by ‘relationship experts’ (how on earth do you get that title?) who agree to marry each other when they first meet.

What unfolds is vomit worthy drama that inevitably occurs when strangers tie the knot knowing very little about one another.

With more switches than an international call centre the program takes all sorts of twists and turns, these ‘couples’ changing their mind on who they love each night on our screens.

Recently a rumour made it in to the media that many of the MAFS contestants are paid actors; something that becomes more believable each time you watch. All that’s missing is the director walking in front of the camera screaming cut and yelling at the ‘couples’ for a lack of passion.

So in need to watch something of quality on my television set again, I sat down and re-watched the 2018 AFL Grand Final from start to finish last weekend.

After all, the best reality television is live sport.

Some memories fade over the summer months and six month off-season, but some of it stays with you.

The feeling of despair when the score line read 31-2 in Collingwood’s favour late in the first quarter; to the anxiousness of seeing scores level at the final break.

The thrillingness of the final quarter, seeing both teams trade blows and have periods of dominance but unable to put it on the scoreboard. Then that moment.

We all remember the now famous passage that started with a Jeremy McGovern intercept mark, West Coast moving the ball from half back to the forward pocket without Collingwood getting their hands on the sherrin.

Dom Sheed takes the mark in the forward pocket, 35 metres out from goal. With less than two minutes on the clock and the Grand Final result on his boot, he nervelessly slots a left foot drop punt that soars directly between the goalposts.

A 23 year old that grew up in the West Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie, Sheed is a premiership hero in an instant.

In the biggest moment of his life, he stares glory square in the face and lives out a childhood dream in front of 100,000 people.

ICONIC: Dom Sheed celebrates the premiership clinching goal against Collingwood in last year’s AFL Grand Final.

As a viewer, the game gave you everything you wanted. Excitement, drama, suspense. Heroes. Villains. Great stories.

From Mason Cox, the American born basketball convert who learnt the game from scratch to star in a Collingwood preliminary final win against Richmond and threatened to win the Grand Final late, to West Coast’s Liam Ryan, a 21 year old from Western Australia’s North who was playing his first game on the MCG in a Grand Final.

Each player had a real, genuine story that defined how they got to the MCG on the final Saturday in September.

Those individual stories added to the premiership narrative for West Coast, while it adds another chapter to the stories of Collingwood players if they can get there again this year.

One of the great Grand Finals, decided by less than a goal with millions of people watching on television who will talk about the game for years to come.

That’s reality television.

It was an incredible finish to a season that overall had been underwhelming until the final two weeks of September.

Richmond were cruising towards back to back premierships before a lanky yank inspired the Pies to a famous preliminary final win, while West Coast had defied the doubters all year in a stunning season that saw them finish second on the ladder, the new Perth Stadium becoming an intimidating fortress.

The Eagles finally conquered their MCG demons, winning all three games at the home of football for the season as the different dimensions of their new venue mirrored that of the mecca.

It culminated in a breathtaking Grand Final that has been talked about all summer long. Either side of debates about the legality of MAFS.

Collingwood led for 115 minutes, West Coast led for 8. But as the saying goes, the Eagles now lead for eternity.

PREMIERS: West Coast players celebrate their 2018 premiership triumph. SOURCE: Herald Sun

As the 2019 season approaches, we all wonder how the season will take shape. We pose the questions that will define the season.

Does Tom Lynch make Richmond more of a dominant force? Can Collingwood avenge the Grand Final defeat? Does Dylan Shiel’s recruitment make the Bombers a premiership fancy? Is this the Demons year?

Over the next 23 weeks we will get those answers as it all unfolds in front of our very eyes, on our television screens. The reality television we crave, with a difference. It’s real, and it consumes us every weekend in winter.

Adelaide was one of the great disappointments of 2018. After a Grand Final loss in 2017, an off-season camp fraught with controversy destroyed the campaign before it had a chance to begin. Only the players know exactly what happened, but last season was a write off for Don Pyke’s men.

The squad has remained largely the same, but the West Lakes based club will hope for more luck on the injury front having lost Brad Crouch for the entirety of the year, new co-captain Rory Sloane and star forward Eddie Betts for a chunk of it and 2014 All Australian Brodie Smith for all but two games after a serious knee injury in the 2017 qualifying final.

Expect a quick bounce back from the Crows in 2019, who are tough to beat at the Adelaide Oval and received a favourable draw after their underwhelming 2018.

LEADERS: Crows co-captains Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane will lead the side in 2019. SOURCE: Adelaide FC.

Brisbane endured a season that couldn’t be defined by numbers. A 5-17 win-loss record was identical to their wooden spoon season of 2017, but they lost 5 games by 7 points or less in 2018 as a young group showed genuine improvement but struggled to close it out on the scoreboard.

It was perhaps best exhibited by the plight of number one draft pick Cameron Rayner, who twice botched chances to win games against Gold Coast in round 5 and North Melbourne in round 20.

Both times coach Chris Fagan put a sympathetic arm around his shattered young superstar, who appears ready to take the competition by storm in his second season.

Having added former Docker Lachie Neale, ex-Cat Lincoln McCarthy, Bulldogs defender Marcus Adams and ex Adelaide and Gold Coast midfielder Jarryd Lyons and a young list profile with significant upside, expect the Lions to continue their upward curve this season and push for finals.

YOUNG GUN: Cameron Rayner is set to take the competition by storm again in 2019. SOURCE: Fraser Coast Chronicle. 

Carlton hadn’t ‘won’ a wooden spoon at the start of this millennium. Now they have five. 2018 was the club’s annus horribilis, having won just two games in the year from hell.

Coach Brendon Bolton kept his job, but wins will be his currency as this year progresses. Sam Walsh looks a star in the making, while Patrick Cripps is primed to become one of the top tier superstars of the competition.

Add names like Alex Fasolo, Mitch McGovern, Will Setterfield and Nic Newman who have joined from other clubs in the off-season and you can sell a bit more hope for the beleaguered Bluebaggers.

But anything more than 8 wins would be a bonus.

LONE WARRIOR: Patrick Cripps fought a lone hand in 2018 but is now set to become one of the superstars of the game. SOURCE: 1116 SEN.

Collingwood did so much right in a superb 2018 season. But they let a lead slip through their fingertips in an effort the RSPCA would’ve frowned upon in the decider against the Eagles.

The addition of former premiership player Dayne Beams gives Collingwood an abundance of talent in midfield, and Bulldog Jordan Roughead adds depth in defence and as another ruck option.

But can they get the same output from players who stood up exceptionally in 2018? Will Jordan De Goey maintain his status as one of the rising stars in the game? Can an undersized back six contain teams with imposing key forwards?

If Nathan Buckley’s men have luck on the injury front, they should be close to the top four and therefore on the path to redemption after a shattering finish to last year’s Grand Final.

BACK IN BLACK (AND WHITE): Dayne Beams returns to Collingwood after a four year stint with the Lions.

The time has come for Essendon. In a tumultuous decade for one of the most successful clubs, the final year of the 2010’s should be seen as the opportunity to launch in to next.

A sluggish start to last season cost the Bombers dearly come the end of it, missing finals by a game and percentage.

John Worsfold needs to take his team back to September football, and breaking a finals winning drought that extends back to 2004.

No doubt the addition of ex-Giants midfielder Dylan Shiel helps that cause, but the jury is still out on this playing group and their ability to contend with the best teams of the competition.

Their best is very good, as they showed on a cold Thursday night in June against the Eagles at Perth Stadium when they literally ran the eventual premiers off their feet.

The Dons need a better start to the season and a clean run on the injury front in order to make finals; anything less will be seen as a failure and put Worsfold under pressure to keep his job.

They will be a team constantly under the microscope in 2019.

BOOM RECRUIT: The recruitment of Dylan Shiel was a major coup in last year’s trade period for Essendon. SOURCE: Herald Sun.

Fremantle have told us for years they are in a rebuild.

The floor fell out from underneath them in 2016 when they won four games after a minor premiership the year before, and the past two years has seen a major list turnover and consecutive eight win seasons.

Ross Lyon is a man under pressure, with early season games against a weakened North Melbourne side, Gold Coast and St Kilda presenting an opportunity to start strongly and build momentum, a lot like their cross town rivals did early in 2018.

Jesse Hogan is a superstar addition up forward, while Rory Lobb, Reece Conca and Travis Colyer are all handy additions without being in the same class as the hulking ex-Demon forward.

A pre-season soft tissue injury curse has swept through the club, and one wonders whether they have enough depth in midfield should injuries continue to strike.

Expect another season without finals football for Dockers fans, but moments of joy along the way.

LOBBING IN AT COCKBURN: Former Giant Rory Lobb will be vital to Fremantle’s fortunes in 2019. 

Geelong is one of the great unknowns of the new football season.

They finished eighth last year and never really got going, despite having a strong list and a superstar midfield that featured Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett, as well as one of the finds of the season in Tim Kelly.

They only made finals because luck of the draw saw them play Gold Coast in round 23; one wonders if they had played a stronger opponent whether their infamous Mad Monday celebrations may have been pushed forward a week.

Premiership Bulldog Luke Dahlhaus and former Sydney Swan Gary Rohan will add some speed to the Cats side, but one wonders whether they have enough ruck depth and support up forward for spearhead Tom Hawkins.

Chris Scott’s team have proven the doubters wrong time and time again, and having missed finals just once since 2006 you would be brave to tip against them missing the eight when it comes to the crunch late in the year.

BITTER END: Geelong players leave the field after last year’s elimination final loss to Melbourne. SOURCE: Geelong Advertiser.

Gold Coast are the short priced favourites for this year’s wooden spoon.

Having lost star players Tom Lynch, Steven May, Jarryd Lyons, Aaron Hall and young guns Jack Scrimshaw and Kade Kolodjashnij to other clubs, one feels like 2019 will be a year about small spurts of growth for Stuart Dew’s men rather than being judged on wins.

When you add in pre-season knee injuries to key defenders Harrison Wigg and Rory Thompson, there could be some heavy defeats incoming in the months ahead.

But some young talent will excite the small fan base in the sunshine state, with names like Jack Lukosious, Izak Rankine and Ben King all set to get opportunities to impress in their first season.

Fringe players from other clubs like Anthony Miles, George Horlin-Smith, Jordan Murdoch and Corey Ellis will help those young players as they begin their journeys, but unless you are a Suns fan it might be best just to catch the match highlights in news bulletins this year.

OVER-DEW FOR SOME LUCK: Gold Coast Stuart Dew is facing a tough season at the helm of the Suns. SOURCE: Zimbio.

Greater Western Sydney defied injuries to make a semi-final last year.

One could say it was almost their finest season in their short history, despite dropping back from consecutive preliminary final appearances in 2016 and 2017.

At round 10 they had won just four and a half games and had been hit hard by injuries to key players. But they picked themselves up to make finals and knocked off their cross town rivals Sydney in an elimination final before going down in gallant fashion to eventual Grand Finalists Collingwood.

It’s hard to know where their list is at this season, with salary cap pressures forcing names like Dylan Shiel, Tom Scully and Rory Lobb out of the club.

Shane Mumford returns from retirement to lead the ruck after pulling the pin at the end of 2017 due to injury, but will miss the opening two rounds due to a suspension he incurred for a video that surfaced during the off-season of him snorting a white powdery substance.

The Giants are well led by Callan Ward and Phil Davis, and Toby Greene and Jeremy Cameron are bona fide stars up forward even with exceptionally poor on-field disciplinary records.

Expect the boys from Sydney’s West to be around the mark again this year. Their top end talent is too good for them not to be there when the whips are cracking.

DOING PLENTY RIGHT: Giants coach Leon Cameron has taken his side to three consecutive finals appearances. SOURCE: TLA Worldwide.

Hawthorn’s 2019 season appeared shattered with Tom Mitchell’s broken leg in January; but you can never underestimate a team coached by Alastair Clarkson.

After all they were given no hope by the punters leading in to 2018; and despite a straight sets exit they won 15 games last year. Long story short, they did a lot right.

Losing the reigning Brownlow medallist hurts, but they still have a number of premiership stars from their three-peat earlier this decade still available at their disposal, with Ben Stratton taking over as captain from Jarryd Roughead.

Grant Birchall could be like a new recruit if his knee holds up after playing just five games in the past two seasons and none in 2018, while the pressure now falls on Jaeger O’Meara to lead the midfield in Mitchell’s absence. Look out for Chad Wingard too.

Trust ‘Clarko’ to have an ace or two up his sleeve, the coach of his generation will still guide the Hawks to more wins than losses this year for me. But finals might be asking too much for the strongest club of this decade.

FRESH START: Chad Wingard is now at his second club after joining the Hawks. SOURCE: DT Talk.

Melbourne’s horror preliminary final exit has been dissected and discussed at length over the summer. What went wrong in the West? Why did they succumb so meekly to the Eagles pressure?

What shouldn’t be overlooked as how much they did right to get there. To win two finals after not playing in September for eleven years previous, 2018 was a year of joy for Demons fans.

But now that they’ve tasted some finals success, those in the red and blue are getting impatient; 2019 must be the year that the premiership drought of 54 years ends.

The list is full of blossoming young talent, Simon Goodwin is one of the best up and coming coaches in the competition with the world at his feet.

But can the Demons handle the pressure of anticipation that comes with winning finals and making it to the penultimate Saturday of the season?

Jesse Hogan’s loss is a big one, offset somewhat by the addition of Steven May down back that will free up Tom McDonald to play exclusively forward after a 53 goal season last year.

The Dees will get plenty of time in the spotlight this year, for good or for bad. Keep your eye on the red and the blue.

DEE-MORALISING END: Melbourne players walk off Perth Stadium after being thrashed by 66 points in last year’s preliminary final. SOURCE: Herald Sun.

North Melbourne was tipped by many this time last year to win the wooden spoon.

With a young list they were seen some way off competing for finals, and when they lost to the Suns in round one most people thought things were going according to script.

What unfolded was a far more positive season, with a ninth placed finish and 12 wins for Brad Scott’s men.

Had they not lost in a surprise result to the Western Bulldogs in round 21, Brad might have had bragging rights at the family dinner table over twin Brother Chris in a result that would’ve likely seen the Roos and the Cats swap places on the ladder at the end of the home and away season.

Pre-season injuries will make things tough early in the season, and should they fall off the pace early they may struggle to make up the ground needed to make finals.

Dom Tyson, Aaron Hall, Jasper Pittard and Jared Polec are all handy additions, but again the boys from Arden Street failed to secure the big fish they have been chasing, Andrew Gaff another to slip through the net.

Don’t factor North Melbourne in to finals calculations for me, but Ben Brown will cement himself as one of the genuine star forwards in the game, and the youngsters will continue to improve.

GREAT SCOTT: North Melbourne coach Brad Scott got the best out of his playing group in 2018. SOURCE: Pedestrian TV.

Port Adelaide is one of the most frustrating teams in the competition. Despite showing flashes of brilliance when it comes to the crunch they lack the mental fortitude required to win the crunch games.

The Showdown loss to Adelaide and the heartbreaking loss to West Coast after the siren in round 21 ultimately proved to be the backbreaker for the Power’s season, the latter providing a painful eerie resemblance to the club’s loss to the same club in the epic 2017 elimination final.

Key forward Charlie Dixon faces a delayed start to the season, but the club has recruited Eagles premiership ruckman Scott Lycett to ease the burden on Paddy Ryder, and Tom Rockliff looks set for a big year after injuries hampered his first campaign in silver, teal and black and white.

Zak Butters, Xavier Duursma and Connor Rozee all look set to debut in round one, all three selected in the 2018 draft.

The talent is there, but the results need to start to add up for Ken Hinkley’s men, or the popular coach could face the axe if the club fails to move up the ladder in 2019.

LYCETT TO SOAR AT ALBERTON: West Coast Eagles premiership ruckman Scott Lycett is back home after landing at the Power in last year’s free agency period. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

Richmond’s premiership defence was seamless until preliminary final night.

They hadn’t lost on the MCG all season, only producing the occasional poor performance on the road when they left their famed defensive pressure at Tullamarine Airport.

Then Collingwood produced an inspired opening half when they beat the Tigers at their own game, and the dream of back to back flags was over a week early.

We’ll find out whether they can channel the pain of that disappointment in the new season, Tom Lynch a massive addition up forward to complement Jack Riewoldt and the famed mosquito fleet around him.

The top end talent is still there, Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin, Alex Rance and Riewoldt himself all quality players for the Tigers.

But the true challenge will be of the club’s depth, which has been largely untested in the past two years that have netted 37 wins from their past two seasons including the drought breaking 2017 flag.

This season will be driven by the pain of one off night when it truly counted. The Tigers will be back with a mighty roar in 2019.

SURPRISE END: Captain Trent Cotchin leads Tigers players off the field after the preliminary final loss to Collingwood. SOURCE: Herald Sun.

St Kilda was expected to make finals in 2018. Instead they won four and a half games and finished 16^th in a year from hell. Far from ideal for a team known as the Saints.

Alan Richardson enters 2019 as the coach under the most pressure, and pre-season injuries to Jake Carlisle and boom recruit Dan Hannebery haven’t helped.

They lack a genuine presence up forward, and while their midfield is okay they don’t have enough x-factor. Look out for former South Fremantle player Matthew Parker, who has freakish skills and a leap to match.

It’s looking like another bleak year though unless everything goes right for the Moorabbin based club, and players like Jack Billings, Jack Newnes, Luke Dunstan, Blake Acres and Paddy McCartin can take the next step.

One of the good guys in footy could be looking for a new gig. Sorry Richo not sold on your Saints.

UNDER PRESSURE: Saints coach faces an uphill battle to keep his job after a poor 2018 season. SOURCE: The Australian.

It’s strange to say Sydney endured an underwhelming year when they finished 6^th and won 14 games despite injuries striking down key personnel late in the season.

But they limped in to finals and were promptly smashed by their cross town rivals in an embarrassing elimination final loss on their home ground.

The SCG used to be a fortress for the Swans, who won just five of their twelve games at the venue last year.

It’s hard to know where to place them heading in to a new year, particularly with their ability to get the best out of their squad year in and year out. Plus you never discount a team that has Lance Franklin in it.

The club has missed finals just once since 2002 in a remarkable achievement, but the past two seasons have shown signs that the Sydney ship has a few creeks in it as it sails past the Harbour Bridge.

Some of the Swans stars are starting to get on in age, and one feels like this might be the start of a decline. However it would surprise no one if they defy all of us so called ‘experts’ and play finals again in 2019.

STILL A STAR: Lance Franklin will be a key part of the Swans fortunes in 2019. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

West Coast overcame every obstacle to secure a memorable premiership triumph in 2018.

No one tipped them to be anywhere near the last Saturday in September, yet there they were on the premiership dais holding up the premiership cup after one of the great Grand Finals.

How do they go defending their crown in 2019? Round one against Brisbane looms as a fascinating test for both clubs, but West Coast’s home dominance is likely to see them pushing again for top four.

When you think the Eagles were without Nic Naitanui, Brad Shepperd and Andrew Gaff in last year’s Grand Final, it’s a scary thought to think what West Coast might be capable of this time around.

Young players like Oscar Allen, Jarrod Brander and Jack Petruccelle seem set for more opportunity this year, and plenty of players including premiership hero Dom Sheed showing signs they are ready for a breakout season.

If Adam Simpson’s men can keep up their impeccable road form of last season, they will be one of the teams to beat again in 2019.

PAYING FOR HIS GAFF: Andrew Gaff will strengthen the Eagles midfield on his return from suspension in round three, having missed last year’s finals series for his hit on Andrew Brayshaw. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

What exactly has gone wrong at the Western Bulldogs?

Two and a half years since they won a fairy tale premiership, they have won just 19 of their past 44 games and farewelled six of their premiership heroes, the latest Luke Dahlhaus and Jordan Roughead.

Now it very much feels like the club is in a rebuild, and a fair way off returning to the dizzying heights of that magical finals campaign of 2016.

Some of the stars of that triumph remain, while others remain but as shadows of their former selves. Liam Picken hasn’t played since 2017 due to lingering concussion symptoms, while Tom Boyd could miss a large chunk of the season with a back injury.

The club won just one game between round 9 and 19 last season, and had Harry Taylor not shanked his kick after the siren in round 15 it could’ve been a winless three month stretch.

Tom Liberatore is essentially a new recruit for the Dogs, while ex-Tiger Sam Lloyd will give them some firepower up forward.

Lachie Hunter, Jackson Macrae and Marcus Bontempelli can win the ball in midfield and Norm Smith Medallist Jason Johannisen is a classy player, but overall the Dogs lack class and depth.

2019 will be a tough one for the Dogs. Don’t expect much more than a yelp from this litter.

BACK FROM INJURY: Tom Liberatore will add depth to the Bulldogs midfield having played all of ten minutes in the 2019 season. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

LADDER

1. Richmond
2. Collingwood
3. Adelaide Crows
4. West Coast
5. Melbourne
6. Essendon
7. Greater Western Sydney
8. Geelong
9. Sydney
10. Hawthorn
11. Port Adelaide
12. Brisbane Lions
13. Fremantle
14. North Melbourne
15. St Kilda
16. Carlton
17. Western Bulldogs
18. Gold Coast

Premier: Richmond

Wooden Spoon: Gold Coast

Coleman Medal: Ben Brown (North Melbourne)

Brownlow Medal: Rory Sloane (Adelaide)

Rising Star: Jordan Clark (Geelong)

PREMIERSHIP SUCCESS: West Coast players on the premiership dais last year. SOURCE: Wimmera Mail Times.

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports broadcaster on 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. He blogs here at zombiecrowscricket. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93

 

2018: A Year in Reflection

Another year has come and gone. It’s quickly you find yourself scrambling to remember what happened when.

But here we are, farewelling another twelve months and looking ahead to 2019, hoping that the New Year will be even better, and bring us everything we desire.

Inevitably after a few weeks of goodwill and sunshine our best laid plans and resolutions often fall by the wayside.

We all had the same plans, intentions and resolutions this time last year. As the calendar year reaches it’s crescendo we reflect on the past twelve months, what we’ve achieved and how we’ve progressed as people.

As we consign the year 2018 to the annals of time, I reflected on some of the moments that I’ll remember from a year that I managed to fit a fair bit in to. Take a read.

Calling Roger: The Fed Express Rolls in to Perth

I’ve always wanted to watch Roger Federer play live. One of the great modern sportsmen, now winner of 20 Grand Slams and one of the most likeable people in any sport to go with it.

When the opportunity came up in late 2017 to broadcast the 2018 edition of the Hopman Cup, a staple of a sporting summer in Perth, I was never going to say no.

The crowds turned out in huge numbers. ‘Fed’ got on a ferry and went to Rottnest Island for a day. A selfie with a native ‘quokka’ quickly went viral on Instagram, raking in 540,000 likes in 24 hours and sparking mass interest in the holiday spot. That’s the power of the man.

His first match was the night session on the opening day of the tournament, against a little known Japanese player Yuichi Sugita.

As we were leaving our broadcast box at the end of the day session mid-afternoon, out strode Federer on to Perth Arena to have a practice session. I paused and watched for 2-3 minutes, and Federer didn’t mishit a ball.

Every ball went exactly where he wanted it to. The control of shot, the natural hand eye ability and smooth swing of the racquet, honed through years of practice and then dominance right around the world.

Sure enough Federer won that first match that night, which was expected and seemed a certainty from the moment he stepped out on to court for that practice session.

The crowd was in raptures with every incredible passing shot, every stunning winner and of course, that one handed backhand. I found myself in awe of the man’s ability to find winners from any position on the court, and get the ball back over the net.

INTERVIEWING ROYALTY: Attending a Roger Federer press conference at the Hopman Cup in January.

While I would like to think that professionalism took over and I called it without any fanfare or added enthusiasm, I’m sure a little bit of fan boy syndrome snuck in.

He would go on to win the tournament in partnership with Swiss compatriot Belinda Bencic, defeating German pair Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber in the final. Of course, he went on to win the Australian Open three weeks later.

The 30^th edition of the Hopman Cup was declared the best ever, won by the best ever. Doesn’t get much better than that.

It topped off a pretty special first week of 2018, my first crack at broadcasting Tennis.

It was a long but enjoyable week, spent working with some great people in Joe Sasero, Brett and Darren Patten and James Sekulov. I’ll remember it for a while yet.

Our commentary team for the Hopman Cup, with myself on the left with Joe Sarsero, Brett and Darren Patten. 

Skipper Goes Down with the Ship: My Year as a Cricket Captain

I always wanted to captain a cricket team from a young age. I love the game of cricket and have played it nearly every weekend in summer since I was nine.

But my want to have a laugh and have fun put pay to captaining my junior side, and I was the youngest in the team for the first few years of senior cricket so it was never in the realms of possibility.

Then in early 2017 the opportunity to captain for a handful of games at my cricket club the Willetton Crows came up. We had a dearth of experience and leadership in our second XI, and I put my hand up.

As stand in skipper we won just one of our last five games, hardly a flattering record but I enjoyed it all the same. When the new season came round in October, I was elected to captain the 2^nd XI on a permanent basis.

Let me preface this by saying it was the wrong decision to put my hand up to skipper. While I felt I was the best man for the job I couldn’t properly commit to the position with work commitments and devote enough time to training and man management.

With a very young team we reached Christmas 2017 with a record of 0-7. Good in most games but let down by poor batting performances. A win felt like it might not ever come.

Then in early January, we got that elusive first victory in round 9 against Thornlie, and celebrated like we had won a premiership! Boy the head was sore the next day. But when you are made to earn something, you need to savour the success when it comes.

After 8 losses, we finally got a win in January against Thornlie!

Captaincy has many challenges. Your first thought is always about the team and what is best for any given situation. Your involvement in the match is almost an afterthought.

Take that day for example; I batted at number 9 and didn’t bowl. Classic park cricketer. I’m just glad my dad wasn’t there. (See ‘The Grade Cricketer’ on social media for the reference.)

The year was taking its toll on all involved. We all hated cricket, and wondered why we gave up our Saturdays to play it.

But one of the things I was most proud of was how we kept a brave face and had a laugh about our poor performance, rather than let it affect us.

We were one win and ten losses at the end of January, six weeks left in the summer with finals a distant and unattainable dream.

The prospect of captaining a team with a 1-10 record isn’t high on anyone’s agenda.

I’d tried every pep talk I could think of, the need to bat time and value our wicket and bowl and field well, only to see the same thing happen time and time again. I think that falls under the definition of insanity.

Then came round eleven against Hilton-Palmyra. The most enjoyable win of my career, but one of the most bizarre games of suburban cricket ever played.

We were struggling to put a team out on the park, with teams in lower grades than us at the club likely to feature in finals given first opportunity to pick a squad.

In what can only be described as a move of desperation as well as the opportunity for great humorous banter I asked my Sport FM colleague and mate Jarryd Marrell to play, as well as his good mate Ryan Dallimore.

 

Then at the eleventh hour we had a late withdrawal, which left me scrambling to find a replacement.

The options were a club veteran, a bloke in a moon boot, naming the late scratching and hoping he would show or playing with ten.

Of course being the master captain that I am (not) I chose to pick the bloke who was in a moon boot, Liam Pennington.

Keen as mustard to play (although later he admitted he put his hand up while hungover and almost immediately regretted it) ‘Penno’ as we call him rocked up on crutches, much to the bewilderment of our opposition.

That was after I’d rocked up 35 minutes late with new team mate Jarryd in tow wondering what he’d got himself in for having shared a ride with a stressed out captain driving madly around the southern suburbs.

The pre-game warm up began with the team helping the skipper get the gear out of his car as I apologised repeatedly.

Meanwhile our opposition were happily warming up, knowing the team they were playing was bottom of the table and their captain was running around like a headless chook.

We won the toss and batted, and of course to continue the theme of the day and season we got rolled for 86.

I top scored with a mere 18, Jarryd got 17 as the SportsDrive team shared a telling 9 run partnership that ended when yours truly slapped a wide half tracker to cover. Sakes.

But by stumps our bowlers had taken five wickets and Hilton had crawled to 5-25, and a win seemed like a genuine possibility.

‘Penno’ took a catch at second slip, still wearing his moonboot to give  Jarryd’s mate ‘Dal’ his first wicket for the Crows.

Back we came for the second week, and sure enough we rolled the home side for 57 to win an incredible game of cricket.

The SportsDrive team en route to week two v Hilton!

We tried our hardest to get beaten outright by slumping to 3-10 batting again, but thankfully we steadied and saw out the day.

The madness of the pre-game on the first week was now a great starting point for a story with a happy ending, and the beers went down a treat once again.

All of a sudden not only did ‘The Two J’s’ have a great tale to share with the listeners on SportsDrive on Monday afternoon, but a great story to tell for years to come.

We finished the year in very good fashion, narrowly losing to finalists Cockburn and then winning our last game against Jandakot Park.

With the job all but done heading in to the second and final week of the game and our last match of the season, more than half the team went for a night out in Fremantle.

We were 2-90 chasing 130; surely we’d be right we thought. A few drinks and a hangover later we were heading to Jandakot wondering how we would be able to strap the pads on and get out there and play some cricket.

Pre-game featured half the team down on the floor with their caps over their eyes, the other half wondering what on earth had happened to cause us to be in that state. Classic suburban cricket life.

Sure enough we all sobered up to win the match and finished a long year with our third victory. We also sadly won the wooden spoon, and I finished my captaincy career in the process.

A photo of the four skippers for the 2017-18 season, Alvin Fong (left), me, Evan Pappas and Aiden Sloan (right). 

Sport is pretty much my life, I’m lucky enough to talk about it for a living and have been able to play sports I love socially.

It’s great for bringing people together and making lifelong friendships, and while we struggled through the year we never once threw in the towel and gave up, and were rewarded with two great late wins.

That was the most pleasing part of my year as captain of my cricket club. Yes we finished last, yes we got beaten convincingly a bunch of times but we managed to have a laugh and stay together as a group and make some great memories. I’ll choose to remember it fondly.

A Few Days with ‘Fev’- Brendan Fevola comes to town

In mid-May I was lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to MC five functions with former Carlton and Brisbane full-forward Brendan Fevola.

A strongly built old fashioned lead-mark-kick spearhead who won two Coleman Medals and kicked over 500 goals for the Blues over more than decade before an ill-fated season with Brisbane in 2011, Fevola was remembered as much for his off-field antics as he was on it, landing himself in hot water on several occasions after nights on the drink, notably at the Brownlow Medal in 2009 that saw him sacked by Carlton and traded up North.

He turned his life around by going on the reality television show ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here’ a couple of years ago, winning the program and viewers over with his friendly and honest approach.

He arrived back in Australia as a reformed man, and his since reconciled with his ex-wife and became a father for the fourth time this year. He now works on both Melbourne breakfast radio and was a part of the Footy Show in 2018.

And then in May I was shaking hands and interviewing a former AFL footballer at various sporting clubs, hearing about his life and career first hand as he entertained crowds’ right across the Perth metro area, from Secret Harbour in the South to Hamersley-Carine in the North.

Interviewing Fev in front of 100 or so people at the Globe Bar in Perth in May.

What struck me most about Fev was that he was genuine. What you saw was what you got. No playing it up for anybody, he was exactly as you would expect.

He might rub some people up the wrong way but he was in his element at these amateur footy clubs talking to a bunch of suburban footballers about how he liked a drink or two and of course ‘kicked a few snags’ on a Saturday in front of 80,000 at the MCG.

What you realise more than anything when you speak to any so called ‘celebrity’ is that they are just as human as you are. Sure we put them up on a pedestal because of the life they have and the life they have lived but they are no different to your or I.

It was a busy few days but I got to share a few laughs with a great player and great character of a game that so many of us Australians love. And yep, Fev took the mickey out of me a few times for good measure.

Fev with promoter Josh Atkinson me after the final show in May.

The first time he did it I reckon I was shaking, by the end I realised it was all good natured banter. He came back for one more show in September and shook my hand and asked how I’d been.

After some well publicised troubles in life he’s in a good place now and it was great to meet him and share a few yarns with some good natured people. Big thanks to Josh Atkinson for the opportunity.

As sports commentator Gerard Whateley once said famously on radio; ‘It’s the Brendan Fevola Show; starring Brendan Fevola.’ I was just happy to be there to introduce it.

Two J’s Becomes One: SportsDrive

For 18 months, Sport FM listeners drove home listening to the two J’s. Monday to Thursday, 3 till 6. It was the most fun you could have on air without being kicked off it.

Every day was a joy to go to work. It honestly felt like two mates just having a laugh and chatting about sport, and in reality that’s probably what it was. With some lame puns and horrible banter thrown in there for good measure too.

However; all good things must come to an end, and in July Jarryd handed in his resignation after five years at Sport FM, to pursue a career in teaching.

It was inevitable, it’s something Jarryd had wanted to do for a while and I had no interest in talking him out of it. While I didn’t want Sports Drive to end, I wouldn’t have been any sort of a friend if I tried to make him reconsider.

What started out as an on air partnership on a West Coast Eagles supporters show Toast the Coast in 2014 became a great friendship that will hopefully exist well beyond our time on radio.

We shared many great on air memories, both on Drive, Toast the Coast and later calling the WAFL for two seasons.

Broadcasting can take you to some great places, and across the 18 months we did the show together we went to Mandurah, O’Connor, even spent a day out on the Swan River (which we both rated as one of our broadcasting highlights) and of course day after day to the Sport FM studios in Hamilton Hill, often carpooling there as we live around the corner from one another.

It was always such a relief in an industry that is often known for being volatile that I was working with someone who had your back and was your mate rather than just an ordinary colleague.

It made the tough days easier, and there were some in the latter months and weeks of the show but we managed to get through.

Thankfully the listeners warmed to the two of us on air and we had so many loyal listeners who would call and text in regularly.

While the show was always about sport and the sporting topics of the day we managed to inject some of our personality in to it as well, which the listeners also seemed to enjoy.

The banter was always plentiful, whether it be about my inability to dance or my freakish skill of picking up an injury in bizarre fashion, to Jarryd’s love of Ed Sheeran, looking like a 12 year old and spending too much time in front of a mirror. The listeners got on board with all that too.

 

It’s always hard to say goodbye and start a new chapter, and while the last show on July 26^th was an emotional one for both of us it was also a celebration of the product we were able to produce and enjoyed putting together so much.

I’ll always remember and cherish the memories of Sports Drive with the two J’s. I hope those who listened will too.

JM and I at the 2018 Sandover Medal, which we were lucky enough to broadcast for a second straight year. 

Sheed from the Boundary: The Day the Eagles Won the Flag

‘Sheed from the Boundary. Needs to be inch perfect… he is! Sheed’s kicked the most impossible goal!’

‘They’ve got a brand new stadium, a big one. And they’re going to put a big flag up there in a moment, because the eagle has landed, they’re the premiers, for 2018!’

Those two lines of commentary, from Brian Taylor and Bruce McAvaney will live long in the memory bank for every West Coast Eagles fan.

The 2018 premiership triumph by the Eagles over Collingwood by five points was one of the great Grand Finals, and one of the great premierships.

West Coast headed in to season 2018 expected to finish well off the pace, some experts predicting a bottom four finish.

But after a first up loss at their new home venue Perth Stadium, the Eagles won their next ten games to head in to their bye to be top of the ladder.

While injuries to key players and the season ending suspension of Andrew Gaff in the second half of the season hurt the club no end, they did enough to finish in second spot and earn two home finals.

A thrilling qualifying final win over the Pies in a game I was lucky enough to witness first hand gave them a preliminary final at home against Melbourne, who were brushed aside with ruthless and brutal ease to book a spot in the big dance.

Then it seemed like it was all for nothing. After 22 minutes, the score read 30-1. Josh Kennedy missed a sitter in the first minute; the Pies kicked the next five.

It was 2015 all over again. Watching it at a mates place, it was like a funeral for those first 20 minutes, talking about how good it had once been but now it had all come to an end far too soon.

Late goals to Willie Rioli and Kennedy made the scoreboard look more respectable, but teams just don’t win Grand Finals after being down by 5 goals. Particularly without stars Nic Naitanui, Brad Shepperd and Gaff.

I left to watch the rest of the game at the cricket club. The second quarter was a real arm wrestle, by far more of a genuine contest. Two goals the difference at the half. Again, you can’t give a five goal head start.

Then came the third quarter. The man who epitomised the Eagles change in fortunes in 2018 was Jack Darling. For so long a finals flopper, he had one kick to half time.

Then in the third term he sprung to life, took six marks and kicked a goal. She was all square at three quarter time. All of a sudden it was doable.

Then hearts sank again in less than a minute of the last. Collingwood kicked two quick goals and pushed out to a 12 point lead. But West Coast had never given up all season, and proceeded to quickly regain the momentum.

By now every kick, mark, handball and bump, every bounce of the ball was being ridden by everyone in the room, everyone in the state. Everyone in the country.

West Coast were squandering their chances in front of goal. But dominating field position. Surely the winning goal would come.

Five minutes left, Pies in front. Four minutes left, Pies in front. Three minutes. Then came the moment.

Adam Treloar kicks Collingwood inside 50. Jeremy McGovern, playing with injuries so severe he shouldn’t be out there, takes a superb intercept mark.

He turns and kicks quickly without a moment to pause and consider and hits Nathan Vardy, the replacement in the team for Naitanui on the chest.

He swings around and kicks the ball to a two on two contest at half forward. Liam Ryan, a spring heeled small forward who twelve months earlier we had been calling in the WAFL, leaps in from the side to pluck an extraordinary grab.

The Eagles have numbers forward. The clock is ticking. The crowd is roaring, the room is screaming. You can’t hear yourself think, I can only imagine what was going through Ryan’s mind.

Ryan plays on and kicks the ball in to the right forward pocket, where Willie Rioli blocks Brayden Maynard to allow Dom Sheed to take the mark. The mark stands, despite protestations from Maynard and the Pies fans in the crowd.

Sheed is just inside the boundary, 35 metres from goal. It’s a tough kick on any day, let alone with less than two minutes left in a Grand Final when you’re trailing by less than a kick.

Sheed goes back quickly, so that if he misses he gives his team time to mount another scoring challenge. The moment of his life, the moment we all dream about as kids in the backyard with your siblings.

He stares it down, and kicks one of the great Grand Final goals. The room goes dead silent as the ball leaves his boot, eyes fixated on the ball as the drop punt soars towards goal. Then an almighty roar erupts, and it hits us. The Eagles are in front with a minute and a half to go.

ICONIC: Dom Sheed celebrates the premiership clinching goal at the MCG in September.

West Coast get the clearance and get it forward, eventual Norm Smith medallist Luke Shuey kicks the ball long to the goal square. Jack Darling is there, on his own. A chance to put the exclamation mark on the game and his own season.

Of course, we all know what happened next. What sticks in the memory is that a long time cricket team mate of mine leapt in to my arms as he thought Darling had marked he ball, the game about to be won.

My eyes never wavered from the television, and I sadly informed him that the mark had been dropped and it was a ball up at the top of the square instead. I’ll always remember that with a chuckle.

No one in the room heard the siren when it sounded. We saw the clock disappear and the celebrations began in earnest.

I was 13 when the Eagles won in 2006. I thought another premiership would come in a year or two. It took twelve. I will savour this one even more.

One of the great Grand Finals, and one of the most incredible premiership triumphs. The Eagles were the kings of the competition again, by far their greatest flag.

Kings of the Big Game: West Coast celebrate their 4th AFL premiership at the MCG. 

Remembering Grandad

Death is an inevitable but sad part of life. But in my 25 years on this planet, I’ve thankfully had very little death in my life to deal with.

My Grandmother on my mother’s side passed when I was very young, and one or two other people I knew well have passed away, but that’s about it.

In October, I lost my Grandad. He had been unwell for a lengthy period of time, and sadly at 78 years of age a bad illness often means the end is near.

Born in South Australia on the 26^th January 1940, Ian Philip Landsmeer moved to Perth with his wife Kay and young family in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s, where they built and established a life in the wheat belt town of Bencubbin.

Eventually they moved closer to the big smoke, an hour out of Perth in Northam after both Gran and Grandad retired.

Sadly Grandad’s illness meant he needed to be closer to a medical facility, so the decision was made to move to Midland in his final few months to give him the best chance of recovery.

He was always a big figure in my life, there for advice and with a sharp wicked sense of humour when the opportunity presented itself.

While Gran always did most of the talking much to Grandad’s displeasure at different times, you sat up and listened when Grandad had something to say.

He survived a massive heart attack in his 60’s, recovered sufficiently and was then able to travel around various parts of Australia and even abroad to New Zealand in his later years.

We visited him on Australia Day this year, for his 78^th and ultimately final birthday. It was a great day with nearly the entire family, our cousin Joel joining us via Skype from Switzerland.

Grandad had a huge smile on his face and loved the fact all of his family were there to wish him a happy birthday. That’s the memory that I’ll keep close, a healthier Grandad enjoying the company of his family.

He went in to hospital in late September with a viral infection, which became worse and worse to the point where the doctors said he would not recover. We all visited him in hospital during his final days, and had our chance to say goodbye.

He passed away at twenty past three on Monday October 1^st. I was on air when he left the world, having said my final goodbyes the previous afternoon. It was tough, but you knew he was in pain and he was ready to move on to whatever comes next.

I was able to pay tribute to Grandad the following day on air at the end of the show, something the family chose to replay at his funeral. It was harder to hear it a second time than it was to broadcast originally.

It was a sombre but fitting farewell, for a man who loved his family and friends, enjoyed a drink or two in his younger days and loved his model trains in his latter ones.

At my sister’s wedding in November we left a seat for him next to Gran, with his cane in tow. He was there with us all in spirit.

Wherever you are now, we love and miss you Grandad.

A Family Photo from a few years back- Grandad is on the right next to me and Gran. 

Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne: Calling Cricket on the Road

When I first started at Sport FM in 2017 I was asked what my broadcasting goals were. I said as a starting point I would love to call the WAFL on Saturday’s in winter, and call the Sheffield Shield cricket during the summer months.

I ticked those goals off far earlier than I anticipated within a month of one another and it was a dream come true.

I called one Shield game at the end of the 2016-17 summer, and then last season called the five games WA played at home at the WACA.

However, I hadn’t yet been lucky enough to call the games interstate and experience broadcasting cricket around Australia at many venues that host Test match cricket.

Having expressed my interest I was granted the opportunity to call home and away games for the Western Warriors in 2018-19, travelling to call interstate games alongside former Australian Test fast bowler and Sheffield Shield winning coach Wayne Clark.

After two home games to start the season we headed to Queensland and Allan Border Field in Brisbane for my first interstate assignment.

People probably wonder what the difference is between calling games interstate as opposed to at home, and while it’s still a game of cricket played on 22 yards it certainly has a different feel to it.

You’re in a foreign environment, out of your comfort zone a little bit staying in a hotel and not sleeping in your own bed while in a different time zone.

I was also calling all day on my own with Wayne as expert comments, rather than doing the regular 20 minute stints with a changeover. You have 30 seconds respite during the ad breaks, then you’re back in to it.

The first game in Brisbane, my first trip to that part of the world was played on a very flat wicket in hot and humid conditions, but I loved every minute of it.

The game seemed destined for a draw from it’s early stages, and there is only so much serious straight talking you can do when you are on air for six hours a day so we found ourselves talking about all sorts of things, from the national drone racing championships to horse racing at Sandown.

Dunny and I after the first interstate trip- not the tidiest workspace!

But it was an incredible experience and a wonderful challenge for a broadcaster in his early days of calling cricket on the road.

What I didn’t like about calling at Allan Border Field was that we had to walk down a hill from our hotel to get there, and in the humidity I was knackered and sweating bullets before I got to the ground!

To top it off we got invited in to the rooms for a beer afterwards, and went out for dinner with Adam Voges and Geoff Marsh during the match.

It was great just to sit there and listen to three former Aussie cricketers talk about the game, with the same passion and enthusiasm they had when they played. Some of the best conversations are had over a quiet beer when no microphones are present.

Two weeks later we were in Adelaide, which out of the three interstate trips was my favourite so far.

WA chased down over 300 in the fourth innings to win, and I got to broadcast a Shaun Marsh master class from the Adelaide Oval, which is every bit as good a ground as people say it is.

On the morning of the fourth day I was lucky enough to be invited up inside the Adelaide Oval scoreboard, an iconic part of the famous venue. It was a superb experience and the guys up there do a great job, working long hours on hot days to keep a bit of tradition alive.

At the Adelaide Oval in November, my favourite interstate trip so far.

One bloke told me he was a Port Adelaide supporter and got to watch his team play every second week without paying for a membership, but it gets tense and not much is said when he’s working with his mate on Showdowns, who is a Crows fan!

The view inside of the Adelaide Oval scoreboard.

Then just a few weeks ago one of my career highlights so far occurred when I got to broadcast at the MCG, which has been a long held goal of mine. While you realise it is just another stadium, it’s an incredible place and so many iconic sporting moments have occurred there.

On the first morning before play began I found myself sitting outside in the MCC members area, watching the last two minutes of the 2018 AFL Grand Final on my phone as I looked out on to the hallowed turf trying to imagine it all over again.

As Wayne (Dunny as he’s known) told me I’d reached peak nuffie status, but that’s just me I guess!

While the match was a tame draw, I ticked another item off my bucket list. I would love to be back in the years to come to broadcast a Boxing Day Test, or a big AFL game in front of a huge crowd. But this was still a mighty fine experience for me.

Entry to the MCG Media Centre, named after Victorian media identity Ron Casey.

Dunny is a ripping bloke who has been a great deal of help to me already. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and is always keen to have a laugh, particularly at my expense.

I wondered whether the generational gap might be a concern when it came to on air chemistry, but those fears were soon extinguished. You certainly get to learn a fair bit about someone when you go away on trips like these!

I’ll round out the first season of interstate calling in February/March by heading to Sydney and Hobart, and while it’s a fair break before the Sheffield Shield resumes I can’t wait.

Sitting in the broadcast box at the MCG in December.

One Last Reflection

At the start of the year I wondered whether 2018 could surpass 2017. While it probably didn’t, it’s come pretty close and I’ve loved the opportunities that have come my way. I have a great job and get to work with some great people.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have some down times.

In April I gave up drinking for the best part of three months, not because I felt like I had an alcohol problem but because it was leaving me feeling really blue, really flat the following day. Not just a hangover, but feeling pretty down about everything.

It played a part in me behaving in a way I was not proud of and lashing out at some people that I really care about. I was ashamed of my behaviour in hindsight.

I don’t feel like I desperately need a beer and wouldn’t call myself anything close to an alcoholic, but like many young Australian males I like a few beers with my mates in a social setting. However for a while it became too much and I made the call to have a break from it.

I never seriously contemplated giving up drinking and I’ve returned to having a few beers and I feel fine. But I’m glad I was strong enough to say enough is enough and have a break for a while.

I went through a pretty rough patch in June and July but thankfully came through the worst of that and hopefully those times are behind me now. The cold and dark of winter can leave you feeling very isolated and alone sometimes and it felt like the walls were closing in but I came out the other side of that a stronger person.

Thankfully we live in a world now where you can admit to feeling a little down and not being in a good place and not be judged poorly for it. I encourage all other people to do the same with people you love and care about. Ask people if they are okay and be prepared to listen and help those in need. That’s what friends and family are for.

A Photo from the Landsmeer Family Christmas Party.

2019

So what might 2019 hold? Who knows? At first it will be more of the same, but hopefully I will continue to give myself the best chance at a long and successful career in a job that I love so much.

A couple of weeks off have been good to recharge the batteries, catching up with friends and family. I’m looking forward to getting back in to it and attacking the New Year with vigour.

I’m 26 in April so it might be time to start being a little bit more of a mature adult and think more intently about the next stage of life. I swear I just turned 21, but the joint that I had my 21^st at has been gone for nearly five years!

I’ve got a great support network and some great mates who I know will always be there at a time of need.

I know everyone says: ‘this will be my year’ but I’m really hopeful that 2019 will be mine.

May 2019 be the best year yet for all of you. Thanks for reading, and hope you continue to listen in on the wireless.

JL 🙂

Stand by Bangers: Why Cameron Bancroft Deserves a Second Chance

The events of the past week in Australian cricket has rocked the country like few sporting scandals before it. Every Tom, Peter and Harry has had their say on it, and I can’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said.

The ball tampering saga that occurred in the third Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town has cast a shadow over our national cricket team. Players reputations have been ruined, some irreparably so.

The leadership group’s decision from Steve Smith down to alter the condition of the ball by illegal means using sandpaper has been nationally condemned from the Prime Minister down.

It simply cannot be defended. Ball tampering is illegal in cricket. It is cheating. Cheating in sport is not something Australians stand for from their sportspeople.

SHATTERED: Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith speak to the media after news of the ball tampering saga broke during the third Test in Cape Town. SOURCE: The Australian.

Cricket is a national pastime. It is our national sport, the sport that we use as a measuring stick for where our country is at. Right now, it is at rock bottom.

The sport has produced some our country’s greatest heroes.

From Don Bradman, to Dennis Lillee, Allan Border, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting. Even in women’s cricket with Belinda Clark, Karen Rolton and Elyse Perry.

These are names that our nation relate and rejoice to. Cricket is part of the identity of our great land.

Right now, we have villains rather than heroes.

Skipper Steve Smith, revered around the country throughout the summer and hailed as the best batsman since Bradman after leading the team to Ashes glory is now forever tainted as a cricketer and captain for instigating this ball tampering saga.

Vice-captain David Warner has revolutionised cricket in this country. Once pigeon holed as a twenty20 specialist, Warner had become one of the most marketable figures in the game who plays in all three formats, now with 21 Test centuries to his name.

A ringleader in this scandal, he may now never add another run or another Test to his career.

RINGLEADERS: David Warner and Steve Smith are at the forefront of the ball tampering saga, along with Cameron Bancroft. SOURCE: Hindu Times.

Coach Darren Lehmann led Australia out of the cricketing abyss in 2013. Taking over from the sacked Mickey Arthur just weeks out from an Ashes series in England, some six months later he was at the helm of an Aussie side that defeated the Poms 5-0 in a golden summer for Australian cricket.

A World Cup triumph followed twelve months later, as the man universally known as ‘Boof’ introduced a more relaxed environment back to the Australian change room.

Homework was out; having beers with the boys was back in. It was at the very heart of Australian culture, something people all around the land could relate to. And now it’s all come crashing down.

The man at the forefront of this controversy is 25 year old West Australian Cameron Bancroft. Asked to carry out a plan by his two leaders, he was put in a position where his integrity was compromised.

We are all put in situations in life where we have to make choices between what is right and what is wrong. Cameron was put in one of those situations.

In just his eighth Test match and very much making his way in the Test match game, Bancroft as the youngest and least experienced member of the team was asked to carry out the deed by his captain and vice-captain.

It’s easy to say Bancroft should have turned down his leaders’ request. He and his team’s integrity was at stake. He had a choice, and he chose the wrong option.

CAUGHT: Cameron Bancroft chats to umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong after being caught tampering with the ball in the third Test in Cape Town. SOURCE: Hindu Times. 

Cameron Bancroft’s name is now forever linked with this ball tampering saga. Just five months ago the boy from Willetton had the Australian and British media in stitches as he used his unique, dry sense of humour to explain the head butting saga that involved him and Englishman Jonny Bairstow.

Now those same media pundits are broadcasting and writing stories of condemnation.

Let me provide a personal perspective on Cameron. I’ve known him since he was 14 years of age. I don’t know him as well as others, but I know him well enough to have an idea of his character.

He has been one of the most dedicated, driven and determined people I have ever encountered from day dot. His sole goal since he first picked up a cricket bat was to represent his country in the sport.

While others were out drinking and partying their teenage years away, Cameron was in the nets, in the gym, interstate. Playing cricket and striving to get better every day.

HAPPIER TIMES: Cameron Bancroft poses for a photo at the Gabba before his Test debut last November. SOURCE: cricket.com.au.

Rather unsurprisingly he did. He rose through the ranks, debuting for Willetton in first grade cricket at age 15. He opened the batting in a 1st Grade Grand Final at 18, making a composed 60 against future Australian cricketers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff.

He played for the Australian Under 19’s, then his state. He made hundreds, he made double hundreds. He went to the UK to play county cricket. He had success, he had some failure too. It’s part of sport, it’s part of life.

Last November, he got the call he had dreamed of for a lifetime. He would be making his Test debut against England at the Gabba, getting to wear the Baggy Green for the first time.

Like so many who know him I was delighted for him. I spoke to his father Frank on Perth radio station 91.3 Sport FM after Cameron’s selection in the squad, who told of a young kid who dreamt of being Brett Lee but had to settle for being an opening batsman instead.

This was all he ever wanted, and now he had it. Then he made 86 not out on debut in his second Test innings. It was all falling in to place.

Test cricket is a tough game. It’s easy to be critical from the couch, or from the bar. So many of us play the game, and feel we know it well enough to cast judgement on it. But only 451 people have ever been good enough to play for our country in Test cricket, and Cameron is one of those.

Some failures with the bat followed in the Ashes, a duck in the final Test in Sydney leading some people to call for his axing. The selectors persisted for the tour of South Africa, Bancroft making scores of 53 (Durban) and 77 in the Cape Town Test that will now be forever tainted.

IN HOT WATER: Cameron Bancroft is facing the prospect of never representing his country again after the ball tampering saga in Cape Town. SOURCE: The Australian.

Just as he seemed to be securing his spot in the side, he was asked to help carry out a plan that would rock Australian cricket, have us labelled cheats by those here in Australia and abroad. He should have said no. He didn’t.

I’m not for one moment excusing his actions, but this is a guy who would do anything to keep his spot in the Australian Test team. This is all he has ever strived for.

If Steve Smith and David Warner, the two biggest names in Australian cricket come to you and ask you to help the team carry out a plan, how on earth do you say no, illegal or not?

This is an opinion piece, and this is my opinion. Cameron would never try and cheat the game of his own accord. He loves the game as much as anyone in this country does.

Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft in a net session earlier in the South Africa tour. SOURCE: cricket.com.au

He comes from a superb upbringing, is a multi-talented sportsperson and has the brains to match his sporting talent. That’s what makes this incident so hard to understand.

Sadly, Cameron may never play another Test for his country. Because two of Australia’s greatest modern players decided to concoct and carry out a plan using the easily influenced new kid on the block.

I feel the Australian public’s anger towards the Australian cricket team, towards Smith, towards Warner, towards Bancroft. But as a 25 year old with 8 Tests to his name he doesn’t deserve to be thrown on the cricketing scrapheap forever.

He deserves to be punished, but not as severely as his two senior colleagues who weren’t gutsy enough to carry out their own plan using their own two hands.

Ultimately it’s the Australian Cricket Team who will be punished. They will be without their two finest batsmen and leaders for the foreseeable future, perhaps never to be seen again in Australian colours.

SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS: Cameron Bancfort and Steve Smith at the press conference that rocked Australian cricket. SOURCE: Perth Now.

New heroes will emerge. Tim Paine will make a fine Captain in the most difficult of circumstances. While the scars of this controversy will never dissipate, they will somewhat heal over time.

The anger will subside. Life will go on. The sun will come up tomorrow.

Cameron Bancroft is still a young man, in the prime of his life with his best years still ahead of him, on and off a cricket field.

He’s made a horrible mistake, a horrible error in judgement that he will have to live with forever.

He deserves a second chance to right his wrongs. Everyone deserves a second chance in life. I just hope he gets his.

HAPPIER TIMES: Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith last November talking about the Jonny Bairstow head butt saga. SOURCE: news.com.au

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports broadcaster on 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. He blogs here at zombiecrowscricket. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93

 

 

When the King Comes To Town: A Week of Watching the Fed Express

Sealed with an ace. 17 years to the day, Roger Federer rounded out an almost flawless week by claiming his second Hopman Cup title.

Much has changed for ‘Fed’ since his first. 19 Grand Slams are now in his keeping for one, and he is arguably the most worshiped and universally admired sportsperson on the planet.

The Burswood Dome the venue for his 2001 title alongside Martina Hingis now no longer exists, the tournament moved to the modernised Perth Arena in the heart of the CBD.

A NEW HOME: The Perth Arena has been the home of the Hopman Cup since 2013. 

Then just 19 years of age, he was yet to win a singles title when he first played in the West. Now he has won 95 of them, including Wimbledon a record eight times.

Federer returned for the tournament in 2017, missing out on a spot in the final after losing to eventual champions France.

On the comeback trail after a six month injury layoff, he was understandably rusty before finding more fluency as the tournament went on, crowds flocking to watch the great man in action.

More than six thousand people watched him in a practice session before the tournament began, massive crowds filing in to watch the ‘Swiss Maestro’ in ties against Great Britain, Germany and France.

Most people probably expected it to be the last time they would see Federer play in these parts.

At 35 going on 36 and with his body starting to show signs of wear and tear, some pundits thought the end might be near. Of course people didn’t know then what they know now.

The mixed doubles tournament served as a launching pad for an unbelievable Australian Federer renaissance, as he stunned those same punters that put a line through his name by winning the Australian Open in a five set epic against long-time rival Rafael Nadal.

SUCCESS DOWN UNDER: Roger Federer with his Australian Open title (right) alongside Australian Tennis legend Rod Laver and runner up Rafael Nadal. SOURCE: The Australian. 

This was a man who was meant to be on the way out. He’d had his time in the sun. He’d spent six months out of the game. The next generation of players, the Dimitrov’s, the Zverev’s and the Thiem’s were meant to be pressing for Grand Slam titles.

After skipping the clay court season (because let’s be honest, who beats Rafael Nadal on clay?) Federer set his sights on an eighth Wimbledon title. He had blown previous chances to go past Pete Sampras’ seven titles, having last won the most coveted tennis tournament on the calendar in 2012.

After losses to Novak Djokovic in 2014 and 2015 and a semi-final exit brought on by a knee injury against Milos Raonic in five sets in 2016 it seemed as though the Wimbledon ship had sailed.

Someone forget to tell Federer though, who brushed aside his opponents with a brutal efficiency that reminded us of the ‘Fed Express’ in his pomp.

He won the tournament without dropping a set, becoming just the second man after Bjorn Borg (1976) to achieve that feat at Wimbledon.

To prove that age is just a number he also became the oldest male player to win at the All England Club, moving back to world number 3 in the men’s rankings in the process.

HISTORY MAKER: Roger Federer won a record 8th Wimbledon title in 2017. SOURCE: Indian Express. 

By the time the year was out he would win seven singles titles including the two Grand Slams and his home tournament the Swiss Indoors in Basel for a record eighth time.

Only injury would stop him from finishing 2017 as world number one, a position he held for 237 consecutive weeks from 2004-2008.

Mid-year it was confirmed that Federer would return to Perth for the 2018 Hopman Cup, generating mass interest in the event for the second consecutive year.

FLASHBACK: Me standing next to an image of Roger Federer and Martina Hingis in action during their 2001 Hopman Cup title. 

Having been unable to attend any of his matches the year previous due to work commitments; I was ultra-keen to make sure I saw him live in the flesh this time around.

Not for one second did I think that that opportunity would come in a professional capacity, but that’s how it worked out.

91.3 Sport FM had broadcast several editions of the tournament in years gone past, and we were organised to do so again in 2018.

Asked if I was keen to be part of the broadcast team, I jumped at the opportunity. What better place to witness Roger Federer strutting his stuff on a tennis court than from the commentary box?

A huge crowd again turned up to watch him practice with Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis on the eve of the tournament, a prelude of what was to come.

The achievements of the previous twelve months had only added to the Federer legend, and added to the appeal of seeing him play live.

Having been a sporting idol of mine (and millions of others) since I was a kid, the date 30th December was locked in the diary well out from the tournament.

MUG SHOT: My media pass for the 2018 Hopman Cup. 

With a squeaky clean image, well-spoken and without the hint of an ego, Federer is the perfect role model. What he has done for the sport can’t truly be measured in numbers.

Along with Rafael Nadal and in recent years Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the ‘fab four’ have kept tennis in the sporting limelight for all the right reasons for more than a decade.

And just like that, here I was at the Perth Arena, witnessing the greatest player in the history of the sport take to the court.

A warm Perth Saturday night, fans flock through the turnstiles to watch Federer. 85% of the crowd have miniature Swiss flags, ready to wave at every opportunity.

Federer’s opponent is 29 year old Japanese player Yuichi Sugita, who himself had enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2017, rising from world number 112 to number 40 by the end of the ATP tennis season.

Most people in the Arena wouldn’t have known that. Most wouldn’t have even known his name before entrance to the venue. They hadn’t come to watch Sugita strut his stuff. They had come to watch the man down the other end of the court.

Even in warm ups, the class of Federer is evident. He eases the ball back over the net, yet generates so much power.

He glides across the court, making impossible returns seem easy. He never seems rushed, and seems to have more time to position his shots than his opponent.

THE MAIN EVENT: Roger Federer serves during his match against Yuichi Sugita on night one. SOURCE: Hopman Cup.

Sugita doesn’t play horribly, but simply doesn’t have the class to match it with the King. The iconic, infamous single handed backhand makes an early appearance, sending the crowd in to raptures.

Broadcasting the first set, professionalism takes over and you become immersed in each point, and the players just become names as you describe the action.

The hysteria of calling a legendary player leaves you somewhat, but certain shots remind you of who you are lucky enough to be witnessing with your own eyes.

Sugita holds his own for most of the first set, but one break of serve is all Federer needs to take the first set 6-4.

Taking a seat outside for the second set, the atmosphere is incredible. Every point Federer wins is cheered, the noise deafening for a long rally that ends with a clean Federer winner.

In just over an hour the match is over, Federer winning in straight sets 6-4 6-3. The crowd rises as one to applaud, as Federer turns to every section of the arena to take in the adulation, reciprocating the applause with his racket.

I head quickly downstairs to attend his post match media conference, the local media pack flocking to get some quotes from the Swiss great.

So here I am, face to face with an all-time great sportsperson asking the first question of the conference. “Roger, how was that? Good to dust off the cobwebs?” I asked, trying my hardest not to sound nervous as I did so.

Despite been slightly taken aback by the Aussie expression referring to having a month off the sport he has dominated for so long, he answered the question in detail, looking me in the eye as he did so.

His understanding of the English language is exceptional for a man who grew up in Switzerland speaking Swiss-German, and he answers each question without even a slight stumble. Just as graceful in front of a microphone as he is on a tennis court.

Switzerland clean swept the tie against Japan 3-0, Federer returning to action a couple of nights later early in the New Year against young up and coming Russian Karen Khachanov, nicknamed the ‘Russian Rocket’ due to his serving power and tall frame, standing at 198 cm.

Number 45 in the world, Khachanov produces some blinding winners in Federer’s opening service game, securing an early break of serve.

Sometimes it’s not the greatest idea to poke the bear. Like a red rag to a bull, Federer responds immediately by breaking back, as if sparked in to action by his opponent’s impressive start.

Playing almost exclusively from the baseline and trying to utilise his serve from a great height, Khachanov’s strengths are turned in to weaknesses by Federer, who plays more of a serve and volley game to bring his opponent in towards the net where he is less comfortable.

 

ALL SMILES: In commentary with Brett Patten (left) and Brett Patten (centre) during the 2018 Hopman Cup. 

 

His ability to return serve is part of what makes Federer so great. Time and time again he has come up against big servers who can hurl the ball down at more than 200 kilometres per hour, and he just finds a way to get the ball back across the net on return and ask questions of his opponent.

There is a certain element of premeditation in his ability to return serve, guessing correctly where his opponent’s serve is going to go, whether it be straight up the middle of the court or the wide serve swinging away. He seems to do it so easily.

More often than not his opponent succumbs, and Khachanov does on this occasion, going down in the first set 6-3.

More than 13,000 people are in the house for the Switzerland-Russia tie, and the noise is incredible. Khachanov doesn’t back down, the 21 year old taking it up to Federer in a brilliant second set, the latter taking it out in a tie break 10-8 in a set that lasts an hour.

 

FULL HOUSE: Fans take in the Russia v Switzerland tie at Perth Arena.

 

The young upstart leaves the arena to a large round of applause. The crowd had appreciated his efforts, and recognised a man who had been gallant in defeat. He simply didn’t have the class to match it with the best that’s ever been.

Another Switzerland clean sweep set up an all deciding tie with perennial Hopman Cup favourites USA for a place in the final.

World number 8 Jack Sock was Federer’s opponent, a charismatic and entertaining player who loves to engage with the crowd.

This tie had been sold out for months, two players in the top ten going head to head on a Thursday night at the business end of the tournament.

Sock had suffered an injury two days earlier that had forced him to retire from the tie against Japan, but here he came out swinging.

Heading in to the match, the numbers were not good for Sock. In four previous meetings, the 25 year old from Kentucky had failed to win even a set against Federer.

In front of a record crowd at the venue, the two play out an entertaining tussle, Sock continuing to engage with the crowd and Federer reciprocating.

Sock throws absolutely everything he’s got at the world number two, but Federer is up to the task, producing some clutch points.

He wins in straight sets, by far the most entertaining match of the tournament. With another clean sweep of their opponents, Switzerland are through to the final.

Tournament director Paul Kilderry had his wish. Another sell out guaranteed with Switzerland and Federer in the final.

After an epic Friday night tie between Australia and Germany that came down to the third set of the fast four mixed doubles, the pairing of Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber set up a dream final against the Swiss the following day.

14,008 people pack in to the Arena for the Saturday evening showpiece event of the tournament. As has been the case for the entire week, Federer is up on court first, with the television broadcast beaming in to the Eastern States during prime time hours.

It’s a high quality match up on paper. The greatest of all time and current world number two against up and coming star world number four Alexander ‘Sascha’ Zverev, tipped by many to be a future world number one and multiple Grand Slam winner.

It certainly lives up to its billing in the first set, Zverev dictating terms. For once Federer looks rushed and a little frazzled, the tall German’s serve causing him trouble. Unforced errors creep in to his game the longer the opening set goes on, Zverev taking it in a tie break.

The crowd take an audible breath. Zverev is a good player, and beat Federer in the 2017 edition of the tournament. But this is meant to be Roger’s night. His Hopman Cup. And now he is down a set.

FORMIDABLE OPPONENTS: Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev finished runners up representing Germany in the 2018 Hopman Cup. SOURCE: Bein Sports. 

After a moment to pause and refresh, Federer comes out and blitzes Zverev in the second set, taking it 6-0 in just 24 minutes. The first set struggles are long forgotten, sparked in to action by conceding it to his opponent 16 years his junior. It was breathtaking to watch.

Again he glides across the court, making difficult shots look so easy. The ball makes an impeccable sound off his racket. Some players seem to muscle it back over the net, Federer eases it to where his opponent least wants it to go. Precision beats power.

Now it’s Zverev who looks lost for answers, Federer making the running and controlling the match. Once you give Federer an inch, he makes it a mile.

In a stunning turnaround, Federer closes it out for a 6-7 6-0 6-2 victory, his best performance yet in the tournament.

If anyone wondered about his hunger or desire ahead of another tennis season, this served as a stark warning to his opponents. I’m still here, and I’m still the best. A statement of intent.

STARSTRUCK: Asking a question of Roger Federer at the press conference on the opening night of the 2018 Hopman Cup. 

Germany’s Angelique Kerber levels the tie at one match apiece with a dominant win over Belinda Bencic, who had been one of the stories of the tournament in her own right on the comeback trail from injury that ruined her 2017 season.

It all comes down to the mixed doubles, both countries chasing their third Hopman Cup title. It’s Bencic who is the unsung hero, her volleying up to the net a highlight.

Unusually Federer is reduced a support role, although his clutch serving helps snuff out any chance Germany might have had to break back in either set.

Fittingly Federer closes it out on his serve, Switzerland taking the mixed doubles match in straight sets 4-3 4-2.

17 years to the day after he held it aloft for the first time, the Swiss Maestro was holding up the Hopman Cup again. Not one crowd member had left. They had come to see the king, and they hadn’t been disappointed.

It was quite an incredible week to witness, both as a broadcaster and fan. The people of Perth literally came to see one man. It was rockstar like. Everywhere you looked there was a Swiss flag, a Federer poster, hat or shirt.

Federer fever had gripped the state, from the moment he landed to holding up the cup. A trip to Rottnest Island and the now infamous Quokka selfie has done wonders for tourism in these parts. The WA Government paid Federer 2 million dollars to come here. It was worth every cent.

 

WINNERS ARE GRINNERS: Swiss pair Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic celebrate their 2018 Hopman Cup triumph. SOURCE: Perfect Tennis. 

 

 

As for me, it was a bucket list item ticked off. I had seen the great man play; I had broadcast all four of his singles matches. I was lucky enough to be behind the microphone for the winning point. I got to ask a question or two at him at a press conference.

Perhaps the only person who enjoyed the week long tournament more than Federer was me. We will find out in time whether he returns for the 2019 tournament, but we will always have the memories of Hopman Cup week 2018.

The week me and thousands of West Aussies saw the best that’s ever been. Long live the King.

 

GREAT TEAM: The Sport FM commentary team of Myself, Joe Sasero, Brett and Darren Patten after the 2018 Hopman Cup final. 

 

 

 

AFL Grand Final Preview: Crows and Tigers Battle it Out for Premiership Glory

What a year of AFL football it has been. Upsets aplenty, thriller after thriller and intrigue right till the final minute of the home and away season, and now we have reached the big dance. The 2017 AFL Grand Final.

Adelaide and Richmond have shown themselves to be the best two teams of the season when it truly counts, the Crows minor premiers and the Tigers climbing from third to secure their first Grand Final appearance since 1982. Don’t remember that decider? Two words. Helen D’amico.

In the first Grand Final not to feature neither Hawthorn or Sydney since 2011, both clubs have the chance to break long standing premiership droughts, the Crows last flag coming in 1998 and the Tigers all the way back in 1980.

While the Crows have had their time in the sun and played in 4 preliminary finals, Richmond have endured a barren period that has seen them play finals in just five of the past 28 seasons. Numerous coach sackings, ninth placed finishes and Richmond memberships being sacrificed to microwaves later, the boys from Punt Road are back in the big dance.

Their long suffering supporters have been out in force throughout September, riding the wave of success of Damien Hardwick’s team after so many barren years. The atmosphere for both the qualifying and preliminary finals have been electric, with the Tiger army making their presence felt.

 

OH WHERE FROM TIGERLAND: Richmond stars Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt celebrate their team’s preliminary final win over Greater Western Sydney last Saturday. SOURCE: The New Daily. 

 

While the Crows will be well supported, with many loyal Adelaide fans making the trek across the nullabor to see their team in a Grand Final. Tellingly, Don Pyke’s men are yet to lose an AFL decider, having won premierships in both 1997 and 1998.

It promises to be a fast paced, exciting game, both teams playing eye catching brands of football throughout the season. Richmond has built itself in to a premiership contender without a second tall forward/ruck option, a bevy of small forwards causing opponents constant headaches.

The likes of Rioli, Castagna, Butler, Caddy and Townsend have been constant threats inside forward 50 all season, joining Jack Riewoldt as a viable forward target for the boys in yellow and black.

Adelaide are the most potent scoring side in the competition in 2017, averaging 109 points per game. With the likes of Walker, Jenkins, Betts, Cameron and Lynch always a threat inside forward 50, Richmond’s defence led by Alex Rance will have their work cut out.

It should be a fitting climax to what has been one of the brilliant seasons of AFL football. Here is a preview of the 2017 AFL Grand Final.

 

SO CLOSE THEY CAN TOUCH IT: Adelaide players walk past the premiership cup after their preliminary final win over Geelong last Friday. SOURCE: ABC. 

 

GRAND FINAL

ADELAIDE v RICHMOND

SATURDAY, 2:30 PM EST, MCG.

TEAM CHANGES

Adelaide

Unchanged

Richmond

Unchanged

SEASON RECORD

Adelaide: Played 24, Won 17, Drawn 1, Lost 6

Richmond: Played 24, Won 17, Lost 7

LEADING GOALKICKERS

Adelaide: Eddie Betts (54)

Richmond: Jack Riewoldt (52)

LAST TIME THEY MET

Adelaide 21.14 (140) defeated Richmond 10.4 (64), Round 6, 2017, Adelaide Oval.

 

STAR OF THE PRELIM: Charlie Cameron boots one of his 5 goals last week. SOURCE: ABC.

 

PREVIEW

What were the odds on these two clubs making the Grand Final at the start of the year? Adelaide maybe, but Richmond were a long shot at best to make the big dance. Having failed to win a premiership since 1980 and without a Grand Final appearance since 1982, the Tigers weren’t expected to qualify for finals let alone feature in the last Saturday in September.

After a 13^th placed 8 win season in 2016, the pressure was on Damien Hardwick and his team to perform at the start of this year. 5 consecutive wins to start the season gave them momentum, that run brought to an abrupt end by (as luck would have it) Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval in round 6.

A run of heartbreaking losses left the Tigers in danger of blowing their fantastic start to the season, losing three consecutive games by under a goal to fall back to the pack. But they regained their mojo mid-year, minus one horrid night against St Kilda in round 16 to finish inside the top four, a third placed finish their best in a home and away season since 1995.

While it’s easy to put the entire success of the year down to one individual, there is no doubt that Dustin Martin’s individual season in 2017 is one of the greatest had by any player in the history of the game. He was duly rewarded with the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, an astounding 11 best on ground games for one of the most popular footballers in the game.

 

STAR OF THE GAME: Dustin Martin with his Brownlow Medal on Monday night. SOURCE: Sunshine Coast Daily.

 

But Richmond lacked midfield depth in 2016, with Martin and skipper Trent Cotchin the only A grade midfielders part of the Tigers side. The addition of Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy has done wonders for the boys from Punt Road, allowing Martin and Cotchin a little bit more reign in the middle of the ground.

The midfield depth has also allowed Martin to go forward with devastating effect, kicking 35 goals for the season to be Richmond’s second leading goal scorer after  Jack Riewoldt.

The Tigers have been heavily reliant on the two time Coleman Medallist in recent seasons, but a more even spread of goal kickers has helped make the forward line more potent for the boys in yellow and black.

The mosquito fleet of Jason Castagna, Dan Butler, Daniel Rioli and Josh Caddy has been a deadly combination for the Tigers, with the late addition of former GWS Giant Jacob Townsend adding more potency up front.

The Richmond defence has been a major factor in the 2017 resurgence, unheralded characters such as David Astbury, Dylan Grimes, Kamdyn McIntosh and Nick Vlaustin partnering All-Australian captain Alex Rance.

It has been a remarkable, largely unforseen rise for Richmond, and good luck stopping their mighty Tiger army now.

Tragedy is an over used word in sport. We talk about tragedy after a close loss, a near miss, the heartbreak of defeat. But the tragedy that befell the Adelaide Football Club in July 2015 was the very definition of the word. And even then it probably doesn’t even do it justice.

The death of Phil Walsh was the saddest day in Australian football. It rocked the Adelaide football club, it rocked the AFL and larger sporting world. But most of all, it rocked the every day common man and woman.

A man in the prime of his life, murdered by his own son on a cold early July Friday morning in Somerton Park, in his own bed. The Crows lost their coach, a family lost their husband and father. It struck at the very core of Australian society.

 

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Phil Walsh’s death in 2015 hit hard with the entire AFL community. SOURCE: Herald Sun.

 

It could have broken a football club, and a bunch of young men who lost a father like figure from their lives. It didn’t. It made them closer, tougher and stronger. The Crows made the finals in that 2015 season, again last year.

They bandied together, getting through the toughest and most emotional circumstances as one. After all, the Crows motto is, and always will be ‘We fly as one’.  Never has a motto seemed so fitting for a football club.

It’s not the only tragedy the club has had to deal with. In 2014 the club lost popular assistant coach Dean Bailey to cancer, more grief for a club that has lost numerous star players to other clubs. Nathan Bock, Phil Davis, Jack Gunston, Kurt Tippett and Patrick Dangerfield are just some of the names, all outstanding players in their prime at the club.

Perhaps Phil Walsh’s biggest lasting legacy will be the decision to appoint Taylor Walker captain at the end of 2014, a decision that surprised many at the time but has been vindicated since. Now voted in consecutive years as the AFLPA Captain of the Year, he is the figurehead of this proud club.

 

UNFORGETTABLE VICTORY: Crows players celebrate after their 2015 elimination final win over Western Bulldogs at the MCG. SOURCE: SEN.

 

Their evenness across the ground makes them so hard to beat, but their midfield has been outstanding in the past two years in covering the absence of superstar Patrick Dangerfield, now a spectator for Geelong on Grand Final day after moving to the Cattery at the end of 2015.

The Crouch brothers Matt and Brad have been sensational, as has Rory Sloane. Rory Atkins has stood up, Rory Laird has continued his meteoric rise in to one of the starts of the competition, Richard Douglas has been dependable as ever and David Mackay has provided pace and run off a wing.

They possess a full back every bit as good as Alex Rance in Daniel Talia, while Jake Kelly, Jake Lever and Luke Brown have all been frugal. Spare a thought for Brodie Smith, almost his team’s best player in the regular season who tore his ACL in the 2017 qualifying final.

Their forward line is the best in the competition. Taylor Walker is a constant presence, Josh Jenkins does some heavy lifting, Tom Lynch is the vital link man, Charlie Cameron is exciting and Eddie Betts is perhaps the most loveable character in the game.

A big day on the biggest stage of all could be enough to seal Betts’ legacy in the game, already one of the great small forwards to have played the sport.

Both teams remain unchanged going in to the game, with former basketballer Hugh Greenwood (Adelaide) and mature age player Kane Lambert (Richmond) the only two players really in doubt for the game.

Mitch McGovern was ruled out of the Grand Final on Wednesday for the Crows, while talk persists about Wayne Milera coming in as a late inclusion to add some pace up front for the visitors.

Richmond will wear their clash strip in a story that has persisted all week, but to quote Damien Hardwick they would happily wear a hessian sack if they are to win this match, and end a long suffering drought.

It promises to be a cracking Grand Final, a wonderful story for the winner regardless of who emerges victorious.

 

MISSING IN ACTION: Mitch McGovern has failed to recover in time to take his place in the Crows side for the 2017 AFL Grand Final. SOURCE: SEN.

 

MATCH UPS

Daniel Talia v Jack Riewoldt

One of the best full backs in the game, against one of the most consistent forwards in the game. Having kicked more than 40 goals every season since 2010, Riewoldt will be the one team mates look to for inspiration in this decider.

While one on one match ups these days are rare, it would be great to see these two scrapping it out in the goal square at a pivotal time in the game with everything on the line.

Team defence is the order of the day, but Talia winning this battle helps his team go a long way to being the premiership team on the day.

Matt Crouch v Trent Cotchin

This is a speculative match up, but it would be great to see two hard nuts go at it. Could easily be Brad Crouch who goes to the Tigers skipper, but either way I expect one of the Crouch brothers to be assigned to Cotchin on the day.

While some may say he is lucky to be playing, Cotchin has been playing like a man possessed in this year’s finals series, his will and desire to win the football almost unparalleled. He will be hard to stop, but if you can’t stop him beat him at his own game. That may be Don Pyke’s message to his midfield tyros for this decider.

 

LEADING FROM THE FRONT: Trent Cotchin has been inspirational for the Tigers in the 2017 Finals series. SOURCE: AFLPA.

 

Tom Lynch v Kamdyn McIntosh

This matchup is crucial. Both players may seem somewhat unobtrusive from the outside, but Tom Lynch is almost the most vital to the Crows side, the link man between defence and attack. While 31 goals in 22 games is a solid season, the former Saint sets up so many goals for his team mates further up the field.

McIntosh is a run and gun defender from Pinjarra South of Perth, bursting on to the scene in 2015 by playing every game in a team that made finals. Like his side he struggled in 2016, playing just six games, his season at AFL level over after round 7.

He has missed just one game in 2017 and provided spark off half back, averaging 15 disposals. If he can nullify Lynch’s impact, Richmond will be confident of breaking their premiership drought.

Taylor Walker v Alex Rance

A mouthwatering match up. ‘Tex’ vs the All Australian captain. A gun full forward against a star full back. A throwback to the 1980’s-90’s. But will it happen?

While the logical match up is for Rance to go to the bulkier Josh Jenkins, this would be one of the highlights of the Grand Final should it occur. One captain trying to take his team to the promised land, one star defender trying to win the game from the last line.

Walker kicked 5 goals when the teams met in round 6, his side victorious by 76 points. It’s too easy to say stop the skipper win the game, but if you cut the snake off at the head…

Rance is an attacking defender and looks to get involved in the play further up field, while Walker runs hard both ways to set up his team mates for a goal scoring opportunity.

Don, Damien, I beg you. Let two stars go head to head. For footy. For destiny.

 

GREAT BATTLE: Taylor Walker and Alex Rance could go head to head on Saturday. SOURCE: The Mercury.

 

Eddie Betts v Nick Vlaustin

Okay, straight out I’ll admit it. I love Eddie Betts. I loved him at Carlton, but the man love has gone to another level since he went to the Crows. The smiling assassin who can kick a goal from anywhere, every bit as good as Peter Daicos before him.

He smiles, you smile. He brings people through the gate, he can do the unbelievable, he can do the unselfish things. A great Grand Final equals AFL footballing immortality. His legacy would be sealed.

Nick Vlaustin is the man most likely to have the unenviable task on the former Blue of 184 games, with Betts only kicking one goal in the round six contest.

Vlaustin is a reliable defender who has found his spot in defence, and has the discipline required to do the job. But geez I hope he doesn’t. WE LOVE EDDIE!

 

HEDGE YOUR BETTS ON EDDIE: Eddie Betts has been a human highlight reel again in 2017. SOURCE: The Advertiser.

 

 

Rory Atkins v Dustin Martin

If this match up eventuates, Rory Atkins won’t sleep Friday night. Guaranteed. How do you stop Dusty is the millon dollar question, but one wonders if it is truly possible. You might be able to limit him, but completely stop him? I doubt it.

Atkins is a capable ball winner himself, and could hurt Martin the other way. Sure he can’t fend off half a team and kick incredible goals, but he has his own strengths that could hurt the 2017 Brownlow Medallist.

Averaging 21 disposals after playing every game in 2017 is a solid season for the young Crow, but can he match a man who has kicked 35 goals and averaged 29 disposals per match? Probably not, but Grand Finals are littered with tales of players who have lifted on a big day and played blinders.

I reckon Atkins can do just that, and while Martin will still have his moments, I think the man in number 21 for the Crows can play a blinder.

Sam Jacobs v Toby Nankervis

A crucial match up. Sam Jacobs has stood up in big games, winning 3 Showdown Medals. He is also playing for his late older brother Aaron, who passed away in August due to illness. No doubt he will be with him in spirit on Saturday, and the man known as ‘Sauce’ will be hard to stop.

Toby Nankervis’ story is just as incredible. An emergency in last year’s Grand Final for Sydney, Nankervis went to Richmond seeking more opportunities. I doubt even in his wildest dreams he anticipated playing in a Grand Final himself 12 months later.

He has played all bar one match in 2017, averaging 14 disposals and 24 hitouts per game. Jacobs was perhaps unlucky not to be the All-Australian ruckman, also averaging 14 disposals but 39 hitouts per match. Jacobs had 26 disposals and 50 hitouts in round six, and his around the ground work will be pivotal.

If Nankervis can hurt Jacobs by getting forward and kicking a goal, it may prove to be the difference.

 

CRUCIAL CONTEST: Toby Nankervis’ and Sam Jacobs’ battle could well decide the outcome of the 2017 AFL Grand Final. SOURCE: AFL.com.au

 

THE COACHES

Don Pyke

What a role to walk in to. A club that has gone through unparalleled heartbreak, the club needed a strong, no frills character. A two time premiership player at West Coast renowned for his no nonsense approach, he was just the man the team from West Lakes needed.

He has managed to keep his team up in the toughest of times, taking them to a semi-final in his first year at the helm, followed by a minor premiership in 2017. If not for a round 23 slip up to the side he once played for last year, the Crows may have been in a second successive Grand Final.

His coaching approach is simple, and effective. Like most teams nowadays the Crows game plan is based on effort, and getting the most out of all 22 players.

While no doubt the late Phil Walsh will be praised in the event of an Adelaide premiership, Pyke deserves a lot of credit too. He has got the most out of his players, and now he asks for one last effort from his team. You reckon he will get it.

 

IS DON, IS GOOD: Don Pyke could become a premiership coach on Saturday after two flags as a player at West Coast. SOURCE: The Advertiser.

 

Damien Hardwick

What a coaching performance. Written off at the end of 2016 and ahead of the 2017 campaign, Hardwick was announced as the Coach of the Year last week, and could well be a premiership coach come Saturday evening.

A premiership player with Essendon and Port Adelaide as well as being an assistant coach at Hawthorn in their 2008 flag triumph, like his counterpart Don Pyke he knows what it takes to win on the biggest day on the AFL calendar.

A deep period of self-reflection has led Hardwick and his side back to the big dance, their thrilling running style and manic pressure suffocating many a team during their brilliant season. Now he needs just one last effort, and he is a Richmond immortal.

Good luck, Dimma. It’s already an incredible story.

 

FIGHT LIKE A TIGER: Damien Hardwick has endured a rags to riches season at the helm of Richmond. SOURCE: The Age.

 

THE VERDICT

Like everyone, I want a great Grand Final. In what has been a melodramatic finals series so far, the 2017 season deserves a great finish. The Tigers will come to play early, but they won’t be able to maintain it against a side riding the wave of emotion. The Crows will do it for their former coach.

Adelaide by 19 points.

Norm Smith Medal: Rory Atkins (Adelaide)

 

WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF: Captains Taylor Walker and Trent Cotchin hold the premiership cup aloft at the Grand Final parade. SOURCE: ABC.

 

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports broadcaster on 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. He blogs here at zombiecrowscricket. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93

September Sundays at Subi: An Ode to the WAFL Grand Final at Subiaco Oval

Phil Read is bouncing the ball across half back, in acres of space. He has not a worry in the world.

Having played AFL football for both West Coast and Melbourne, he is now playing his part in a star studded Subiaco line-up that has lost just one game in the 2008 season, flying towards a third successive premiership.

It’s a mild, overcast late September day, and Read is gallivanting out of his defensive 50 in the second quarter, venturing along the Roberts Road side of Subiaco Oval. The outer wing is his. Or so he thinks.

Having had a 20 metre head start on his nearest Swan Districts opponent, he is breathtakingly run down by a scrawny Fijian teenager, hair flying in every which direction in the process.

The crowd gasp with astonishment, then cheer. Rarely has a rundown chase seemed so thrilling. How was was this 18 year old kid able to catch a former AFL player unawares? Did I mention he was a ruckman?

You know his name now, you might not have then. Nic Naitanui announced himself to the footballing world with that chase for Swan Districts in the 2008 WAFL Grand Final, eventually snapped up with pick 2 by West Coast in the AFL draft later that year.

Subiaco went on to win the game comfortably, champion full forward Brad Smith doing what he did almost without peer in the WAFL, kicking six majors as the Lions strolled to a 57 point victory.

FLASHBACK: East Perth players celebrate their thrilling 2 point win in the 1978 WAFL Grand Final. SOURCE: WA Football Golden Era.

It was very much a predictable finish to what had been a dominant season for Scott Watters’ team, and while as far as Grand Final’s go it was far from memorable, it certainly was for me.

Having watched WAFL Grand Finals on television since I was a wide eyed nine year old, the 2008 decider was the first Grand Final I had experienced firsthand.

I had been to Subiaco Oval for AFL games, but there was something different about this game. As soon as you mention the words ‘Grand Final’, everything carries more significance.

I sat on the half forward flank with my mates on the Subiaco Road side of the ground toward the three tier stand end, legendary former Australian opening batsman Justin Langer supporting his beloved Lions just a few rows behind.

Swans were massive underdogs, but all week there was talk of the ‘crowd factor’ which I couldn’t quite work out, considering that Subiaco were playing at a ground which had previously been their home venue for nearly 100 years. Early in to the game though, I certainly knew what the pundits meant.

Swan Districts have a loud, passionate supporter base that turn up in their droves, and they certainly did this day, helping the Black Ducks to an early lead.

Having decided just to take in the game as a neutral fan to begin with, I found myself hooting and hollering for the black and whites by quarter time, cult figure Brett Wolfenden becoming my favourite player.

Subiaco took control by halfway through the third term and were celebrating another premiership before we knew it, and my first WAFL Grand Final experience was done.

I remember looking up to the media boxes and corporate suites upon entry and exit to the ground, thinking how good it would be one day to be up there broadcasting a WAFL Grand Final myself.

For a squeaky voiced 15 year old it certainly was a pipe dream, but the seeds of hope had been planted.

MEDIA STREET VIEW: The view of Subiaco Oval from the broadcast facilities at the venue.

“Can I barrack for the umpires?”

Those were my words upon entering the same venue a year later in 2009, Subiaco taking on South Fremantle. The Lions were going for four premierships in a row, WAFL fans now fed up with the success of the Leederville based club.

My other option was to support South Fremantle, which was like a red rag to a bull for an East Fremantle supporter like me.

My Sharks had secured one of the greatest victories in recent WAFL history on Foundation Day, beating the premiership favourites by a solitary point in a magnificent Fremantle derby.

From early in the match the red and whites showed themselves to be the stronger team, both sides possessing numerous players with AFL experience.

The Bulldogs called on Peter Bell, Jeff Farmer, Daniel Gilmore and Jaymie Graham, while Subiaco had West Coast premiership players Daniel Chick, Chad Fletcher and Tyson Stenglein part of their line-up.

It was a great spectacle, with more than 22,000 in attendance. South Fremantle kicked away in the premiership quarter (the 3^rd) and were home and hosed with plenty of time to spare, the Lions kicking some goals in junk time while South Fremantle players began celebrations on the bench.

Chad Fletcher slotted a goal that was barely recognised, such little influence did it have on the overall result. The siren sounded as the goal umpire gave his signal, South Fremantle fans jumping to their feet to celebrate a 13^th premiership for the Port based club.

Callum Wilson snagged 5 goals in a dominant showing at full forward, while smallest man on the ground Ashton Hams won the Simpson medal, a performance that would see him given an AFL opportunity with the West Coast Eagles come draft time later that year.

Having seen 30 goals shared between the two teams and a high quality game of football, I walked away with the intention of making attending the WAFL Grand Final an annual ritual. The Lions era of dominance was over, and the competition seemed as close as ever.

BULLDOG BLITZ: South Fremantle players celebrate their 2009 premiership triumph over Subiaco. SOURCE: Perth Now. 

“Krakouer!”

One word to summate the 2010 WAFL Grand Final. I wasn’t lucky enough to attend this one in person, and of course it just had to the one of the greatest games of WAFL football ever played.

On a gloriously warm and sunny day Claremont hosted Swan Districts at the home of WA football, more than 24,000 fans packing in to see the best two teams of 2010 go head to head.

The Tigers had won the second semi-final by 50 points a fortnight earlier and went in to the game heavy favourites.

Swans had the best player of the competition in their ranks, Andrew Krakouer awarded the Sandover Medal earlier in the week for a stunning season, having been previously imprisoned for an assault that ended his AFL career with Richmond.

Claremont started the better kicking 3.3 to a wasteful Swans 1.6 in the opening term, but the game evened up over the next two quarters as Swan Districts found their range in front of goal.

When Claremont’s David Crawford took a big pack mark and goaled from his subsequent set shot at the 30 minute mark of the final quarter, the Tigers had a five point lead and seemingly the game won.

Enter Krakouer. Having been the dominant player on the ground all day with three goals and nearly 40 disposals, the stage was set for one last piece of Krakouer magic. After all, it’s in the surname.

A kick by Wayde Twomey inside forward 50 for Swans saw three Claremont defenders overcommit to the contest, the subsequent spillage seeing the ball fall in to Krakouer’s hands, cooly snapping the match winner on his right boot from 30 metres out.

In a last quarter that seemingly went on forever, the siren eventually sounded at the 36 minute mark, the ball on the outer wing.

In a glorious image, Swans fans jump to their feet in unison as the siren sounds, arms to the heavens to emulate the players out on the ground, celebrating the most thrilling of premierships.

It ended a 20 year premiership drought for the boys from Bassendean, a magical day for the club and the larger WAFL competition. As shattering as it was for Claremont fans, they would win the premiership in 2011 and 2012 to make up for the defeat.

Krakouer won the Simpson Medal for best afield, finishing with 40 disposals and 4 goals, eventually re-drafted by Collingwood for the 2011 season.

No one who was there that day will ever forget it. And guess who was out playing a meaningless cricket practice match instead?

EPIC PREMIERSHIP: Swan Districts players celebrate their 2010 WAFL premiership triumph, winning by a solitary point over Claremont. SOURCE: Perth Now. 

“We couldn’t win this? Could we?”

It seemed all over after 30 minutes. Claremont had jumped us. The occasion had got to the Sharks.

People were already muttering about the similarities to the year 2000 before the 2012 WAFL Grand Final had even got underway, East Fremantle having lost all 3 grades that year. With the Colts and Reserves both going down earlier in the day, I guess it was hard not to.

SCENE OF THE CRIME: Subiaco Oval looking a treat ahead of the 2012 WAFL Grand Final. 

The bar was looking like an appealing option at quarter time, with Claremont absolutely pulverising the Sharks in the opening stanza, kicking 8.6 to 1.1. While old Easts worked hard to get back in to the game in the second term, they still trailed by 30 points at the half.

Then came a blue and white tidal wave. It was very much a Shark attack at Subiaco Oval. When Jon Griffin knocked the ball the throat of Jacob Brennan (son of club legend and Eagles premiership player Michael ‘Monkey’ Brennan) who ran in to an open goal, it seemed like the Sharks had all the momentum.

Rob Young kicked a goal on the three quarter time siren, and Claremont’s lead was just 7 points at the last change.

It was my third WAFL Grand Final, by far the most emotionally charged of the three. My Sharks were (and sadly still are) without a premiership since 1998, and having seemingly had our hopes dashed in a quarter, here we were within 7 points of the Tigers.

Brock O’Brien lines up, a handful of minutes in to the last term. A left footer, one of the most reliable kicks at the club. A goal and the Sharks are within a kick. He’s 35 metres out, and he pushes his shot to the right.

Sitting with a bunch of my East Fremantle supporting mates, we slump back to our seats, having prepared ourselves to jump to our feet and let out a primal roar should O’Brien have slotted the major.

EMOTIONAL TIMES: Me (far left in the blue jacket and light blue cap) celebrating an East Fremantle goal as the 2012 WAFL Grand Final heats up. 

Instead the behind deflates not only the supporters but seemingly the team, Claremont regaining the ascendency and kicking away. The gallant Sharks had spent their petrol tickets in trying to get back, and the Tigers would run out comfortable enough 26 point winners.

Former Docker and Magpie Paul Medhurst kicked 6 goals to be best afield for the premiers, shattered Sharks fans lamenting what might have been as they headed for the turnstiles.

Having had all 3 grades in the big dance, at least one premiership was expected; instead it was boiled lollies for the boys from Moss Street, left to ponder when the next premiership chance might come.

The walk out of the ground seemed to go in slow motion for me and fellow Sharks fans, the sun beaming down on what had been a glorious day weather wise. Fair to say it was an inglorious one for me and many other long suffering Easts fans.

“We hate them, they hate us. It’s the perfect rivalry.”

An East Perth fan mutters to his clearly unaware mate in the line in front of me at the 2013 WAFL Grand Final. The weather is horrible, the wind icy beyond belief for this time of year. It doesn’t deter fans of East and West Perth for this decider, who turn out in droves for the first ‘all-Perth’ Grand Final since 2002.

The Royals have the presence of 5 West Coast Eagles players for this Grand Final, most people anticipating an East Perth victory. Minor premiers Claremont were ousted in straight sets a week earlier by the Royals, coached by former Swan Districts premiership coach Brian Dawson.

Both teams have periods of dominance in the opening half, the strong winds and often heavy bands of rain making skills difficult. Sheltered right up the back of the grandstand protected from the worst of the weather, the game is an enjoyable enough spectacle.

The atmosphere is tense, the bitter rivalry between the clubs obvious to even the most passive of supporters.

West Perth eventually crack the game open late in the third term, turning for home with an 11 point lead before overrunning the Royals in the final term with seven goals to one, each major accompanied by an almighty roar from the red and blue faithful.

Rohan Kerr starred with 5 goals for the Falcons, but the best on ground honours went to Mark Hutchings with 28 disposals and 3 majors.

PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS: The final score in the 2013 WAFL Grand Final. SOURCE: Scoreboard Pressure.

Interviewed post match, Hutchings was asked about the prospect of wearing an East Perth jumper in 2014, a forced move due to the West Coast Eagles alignment with the Royals. “It will take a little while to getting used to” was his honest response.

It was a horrific day weather wise, but again a brilliant spectacle attended by more than 20,000 people, a win for the ‘Cardies’ to savour over their arch rivals.

A FALCON DAY: West Perth players celebrate their 2013 premiership triumph. SOURCE: Perth Now.

“Subiaco have got this.”

It’s rained all day. Heavy at times, if not steady rain from dawn to late afternoon. It’s cold, wet and miserable. But it’s beginning to rain goals for the Lions.

Just 11,987 people attended the 2014 WAFL Grand Final, and I was one of them. I sat behind the goals at the three tier stand end of the ground with my mate, thankfully sheltered from the worst of the weather.

Subiaco Oval ahead of the 2014 WAFL Grand Final as the wet weather closes back in. 

The reserves Grand Final saw just 8 goals kicked for the match, and it seemed the league match was set to follow a similar narrative. The Royals this time had 11 Eagles players at their disposal, again heavy favourites despite their failure the year before.

Four goals each at half time, the Lions pulled away in the all-important third quarter, kicking six majors to the Royals two. Chris Phelan, Kyal Horsley and eventual best on ground Jason Bristow all popped up with clutch goals, their want and desire around the contest a class above East Perth.

REIGNING SUPREME IN THE RAIN: Simpson Medallist Jason Bristow celebrates a goal against East Perth in the 2014 WAFL Grand Final. SOURCE: Perth Now. 

The lights have taken full effect by this point, this afternoon Grand Final as close to a night game as you can imagine. The expression ‘gloomy’ probably doesn’t even cut it. A 28 point three quarter time lead proved enough for Jarrad Schofield’s team, who recorded a memorable premiership triumph having missed the finals in 2012 and 2013.

Rather fittingly the rain continued to fall during the celebrations and presentations. Players’ courage and skill were tested on the wettest of afternoons, Subiaco emerging worthy winners.

I couldn’t help but wonder what might have been though, with my Sharks kicking themselves out of a Grand Final berth by kicking 7.26 in the preliminary final against the Lions the previous week.

Subiaco made it back to back premierships in warmer, drier conditions the following year over West Perth, having re-established themselves as the powerhouse of the competition over the course of that season.

Again I was present as a spectator, my sixth WAFL Grand Final in eight seasons.

Some seven years after seeing my first Grand Final at the venue, I was now a somewhat mature 22 year old watching the Lions secure yet another premiership, this time with a refreshing ale in hand on what was a stifling hot Perth afternoon.

OOBIE DOOBIE: Subiaco players and coach Jarrad Schofield celebrate back to back premierships in 2015 over West Perth. SOURCE: Perth Now. 

“Alex, how does it feel? You’re a premiership player with Peel Thunder.”

I’m on Subiaco Oval. The full time siren has just gone to end the 2016 WAFL Grand Final. I’m running out on the ground, looking for any player I can find for a post-match chat.

No, I’m not a law breaking spectator eager for 2 minutes of fame. I have a microphone in hand, boundary riding for 91.3 Sport FM.

I’ve set my sights on Alex Silvagni, the popular then Fremantle defender who held Subiaco full-forward Hamish Shepheard to just two kicks for the afternoon. He’s on the far side of the ground, as that’s where the ball finished when the siren sounded to seal Peel Thunder’s maiden WAFL premiership.

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE: Jarryd Marrell and I before the 2016 WAFL Grand Final. 

I bolt from my seat boundary side, competing with far bigger television and radio counterparts for a post-match interview. A quick tap on the shoulder and a nod from Alex, and we’re in to things.

I barely remember any of his answers, as it struck me halfway through the interview that I was standing on the hallowed turf of Subiaco Oval after a WAFL Grand Final. It was a dream come true just to be a part of a broadcast team for such a big occasion, and here I was talking to an AFL listed player out on the ground.

I interviewed Jonathon Griffin and Rory O’Brien among others too, delighted for both as ex-East Fremantle players who went through the pain and disappointment of a loss just like me as a supporter in 2012.

THUNDEROUS PERFORMANCE: Peel captain Gerald Ugle celebrates a goal with team mates Josh Deluca, Rory O’Brien and Blair Bell in last year’s Grand Final. SOURCE: Perth Now.

The 2016 WAFL Grand Final and subsequent Peel Thunder premiership will always be marred by the fact Peel Thunder had 17 Fremantle listed players in their side, but for me it’s a pretty special day.

To be able to play a small but important role in a broadcast left me feeling optimistic about what might be to come, having largely wasted my year in 2016.

Earlier in the day before making my way boundary side I had wandered the hallways of the broadcast facilities upstairs at Subiaco Oval, named after former WAFL player and media identity Frank Sparrow.

WHERE YOU WANT TO BE: The Frank Sparrow Media Facilities at Subiaco Oval.

The commentary boxes, the media facilities, the names and photos of prominent media identities on the wall. They all left their mark on me. Having looked up at those same boxes in 2008 with the dream of one day being up there in a working capacity, there I was.

The dream seemed closer, but I was only a boundary rider. Our commentary team was well established at Sport FM, and I was a last minute ring in to do some interviews and give an update on Joe Bloggs’ hamstring if required.

THE SET UP: Our broadcast gear for Sunday’s WAFL Grand Final.

It was almost a tease in a way. I was close enough I could touch it, but couldn’t have it.

As enjoyable as the day was, a dose of reality hit on the train on the way home. I was yet to call a game of WAFL football, let alone a WAFL Grand Final. The dream would have to wait.

“Good Friday footy. Battle of the co-tenants. McInnes and Delahunty, Delahunty on the way down got hands to it…”

Those were my first words as a WAFL broadcaster. The dream that seemed so far away some seven months earlier had suddenly come true. I was calling a game of WAFL football for 91.3 Sport FM. The date is April 14^th 2017, a date I will forever treasure.

The round 5 match between East Perth and Subiaco at Leederville Oval was far from an all-time classic, but it’s a game that will always carry significance for me. The dream that started as a 14 year old boy had come true some 10 years later. I was calling footy on the radio.

I called once again for the station in round 6 at my beloved East Fremantle Oval, before heading back to the boundary the following week, now a permanent member of the Sport FM WAFL team after my efforts the previous September.

LUCKY MAN: Me with the Sport FM commentary team, Jarryd Marrell, Tony Micale and Chris Mitsopolous back in May. 

Boundary riding was a fantastic experience for me and I loved just being a part of a team, but having experienced the thrill of calling a WAFL game I was yearning for another opportunity upstairs.

A couple more games popped up through May and June, before I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to call on a permanent basis following the WA Day match between East Fremantle and South Fremantle, the Bulldogs winning by no less than 145 points. Yep, that was a tough day.

I’ve now called 19 games of WAFL football. Each one has been a joy and a privilege. But my 20^th game behind the microphone will be the most special of them all.

The 2017 WAFL Grand Final between Peel Thunder and Subiaco is the 133^rd decider in WA Football history. It’s the last at Subiaco Oval, and I’m delighted beyond words (written or spoken) to say it will be my first WAFL Grand Final as a broadcaster.

On Sunday I will be back in those broadcast boxes at Subiaco Oval, the same ones I looked up at as a hopeful 15 year old in 2008, harbouring a distant dream of one day being up there in a professional capacity, calling a WAFL Grand Final myself. This Sunday, that dream comes true. It will be one of the great days of my life.

Having watched so many great players grace the hallowed turf of Subiaco Oval in WAFL Grand Finals, I will be one of a select few who gets to broadcast the final 44 players to set foot on the ground before Western Australian sport moves to the new Perth Stadium in early 2018.

Home of so many iconic WA footballing moments, it will be sad to say goodbye to a ground loved and revered by many. But the time has come to move on to bigger and better things.

PRIVLIGED POSITION: Myself, Tony Micale, Jarryd Marrell and Colin Minson interviewing 2017 Sandover Medallist Haiden Schloithe at Crown Ballroom last Monday night. 

So early afternoon on Sunday 24^th September I will take my seat to live out that childhood dream of some 10 years, alongside colleague and good friend Jarryd Marrell and a legend of the WAFL in Tony Micale.

Will it be Peel Thunder securing their second successive flag, or can the Lions fittingly send off a ground they called home for so long with a third premiership in four years?

 

GAME FACES ON: Subiaco’s Kyal Horsley and Jarrad Schofield and Peel’s Cam Shepherd and Gerald Ugle pose for photos after the 2017 WAFL Grand Final press conference. 

 

Either way, I’m a privileged to be a part of it and will enjoy every minute. Life is fleeting, and you never how long the good times will last.

This week I have already been lucky enough to attend a Sandover Medal count and a WAFL Grand Final press conference. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself and realise how blessed you are.

 

BIG WEEK: Subiaco coach Jarrad Schofield speaks to the Sports Breakfast team at Kennards Hire in Balcatta ahead of the 2017 WAFL Grand Final.

 

Get along and see football at Subiaco Oval one last time. Because if you have been lucky enough to see a WAFL Grand Final like me, you know how good they are.

And this one may just be the most special of them all.

 

Jarryd and I with the premiership cup at Kennards Hire Balcatta on Friday.

 

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports broadcaster on 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. He blogs here at zombiecrowscricket. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93

 

AFL Finals Week 3 Preview: Tigers Out to Break Grand Final Drought as Part of Enthralling Preliminary Final Weekend

After such a dramatic home and away season, the 2017 AFL finals series is in danger of being a major let down.

Just one close final in the opening two weeks of September has left fans frustrated at the lack of quality finals football, yearning for a genuinely bruising contest that is hard fought from start to finish.

And with so much on the line being preliminary final weekend, surely all four sides competing will lift for the occasion? We can only hope.

Geelong stunned the football world last Friday night with an outstanding performance against Sydney, dismantling the most in form team of the competition in less than a half of football.

The question is now whether Chris Scott’s men can back it up on the road against a fresh Adelaide outfit, in front of 50,000 Crows fans in a pressurised preliminary final.

Want to talk about pressure? What about the pressure of playing in front of 95,000 fans and having roughly 1000 of your own?

That’s the scenario facing Greater Western Sydney if they are to qualify for their first AFL Grand Final, facing a rampant Richmond and their delirious Tiger army, desperate for September success having failed to win a premiership since 1982.

Four teams remain in the 2017 AFL season, but only two can progress to the big dance Saturday week.

While the Crows and Tigers are well placed, preliminary finals are often the best and most brutal games of football you can witness. We certainly hope that is the case this weekend.

Here is a preview of week three of the 2017 finals series, preliminary final weekend in the AFL.

 

HEADLINE ACTS: Patrick Dangerfield and Rory Sloane are expected to feature prominently in the first preliminary final on Friday night. SOURCE: Adelaide Advertiser.

 

Adelaide v Geelong

Geelong aren’t dead yet. Most people were uttering the words ‘straight sets’ as soon as the siren sounded to end their qualifying encounter against Richmond, an in form Sydney awaiting them in a semi-final.

Rarely though do the Cats play back to back shockers, and with everything on the line they were simply too good for a flat Swans outfit, sending one of the premiership favourites packing from the finals with a 59 point victory.

They kept the visitors to just 5 goals in a brilliant defensive effort, Coleman medallist Lance Franklin held goalless despite the late withdrawal of star defender Tom Lonergan.

Geelong coach Chris Scott had an ace up his sleeve, throwing 2016 Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield forward with immediate effect, the former Crow snaring four first half goals.

 

UNSTOPPABLE: Patrick Dangerfield was at his brilliant best in the semi final against Sydney last Friday night. SOURCE: Geelong Cats FC.

 

Up by an even 6 goals at half time, the damage have had been done. Now Dangerfield and his team head to his old stomping ground in an enthralling match up in a preliminary final match up, Adelaide fresh after a week off and a trip to the Gold Coast following their win over Greater Western Sydney a fortnight ago.

Light hearted comments from Dangerfield’s former team mate Josh Jenkins have added some extra spice to this encounter, Jenkins suggesting that ‘Danger’ would be part of a Crows premiership team in 2017 if he was still in the city of churches.

While no doubt it will provide the Cats with some extra motivation, none should really be needed with a Grand Final berth on offer for the winner, no doubt two former team mates just having some banter in the lead up to such a big match.

The Crows have two significant outs for a do or die preliminary final, Brodie Smith sadly injuring an ACL early in the qualifying final victory over Greater Western Sydney, while forward Mitch McGovern has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Don Pyke’s men do welcome back A-grade midfielder Rory Sloane from an appendix complaint that caused him to miss the Giants clash, while Andy Otten gets a chance to stamp his claim for a Grand Final spot as the replacement for McGovern. Otten has kicked 19 goals in 2017, playing largely as a forward after starting his career in defence.

 

BIG LOSS: Mitch McGovern will miss the preliminary final clash with Geelong due to a hamstring injury. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

 

The Cats are able to call on the experience of Tom Lonergan for such a huge contest, having been a late withdrawal against the Swans due to food poisoning.

A dodgy sausage roll is believed to be the culprit, and the 2011 premiership player would have been delighted that his team was victorious, as a loss would have ended his AFL career on 208 games.

He and long-time team mate Andrew Mackie now have the chance to extend their careers by a week and play in another Grand Final, speedster Nakia Cockatoo also back in to the side for his first match since round 19, his season dogged by hamstring injuries.

Youngsters James Parsons and Zach Guthrie lose their places, leaving the visitors with a far more experienced side than seen in the opening two finals matches of 2017.

The game will of course be won and lost in the midfield, but the ability for the Cats defence to stymie the potent Crows forward line will be crucial to the result. Hopefully be a close hardly fought game, in what has been a horribly underwhelming finals series to date.

The Crows have struggled in preliminary finals, having failed to win one since their last premiership year in 1998. They have lost four prelims since, although 3 of those have been interstate finals.

I’m backing them to qualify for the big dance here, which is ominous for either Richmond or Greater Western Sydney, with the Crows having a flawless record in AFL Grand Finals. Adelaide by 15 points.

 

HEDGE YOUR BETTS: Eddie Betts looms as a pivotal player for Geelong to curtail in Friday night’s preliminary final at Adelaide Oval. SOURCE: The Advertiser. 

 

Richmond v Greater Western Sydney

How are the nerves Tigers fans? Some may have started drinking the day after their qualifying final win over Geelong and not stopped since, celebratory drinks becoming a way to relieve stress by the start of last week.

There will be no shortage of support for the boys from Punt Road for this preliminary final, with a lopsided fan base in the Tigers favour anticipated. 95,000 tickets have been sold for Richmond’s first preliminary final at the MCG since 1973, about 93,000 of those Richmond supporters.

While the crowd can’t go out there and win the game for the Tigers, no doubt it can play a major part in getting Richmond over the line. Their beleaguered opponent Greater Western Sydney will certainly feel like they are in enemy territory come bouncedown, but may thrive on being the major underdogs in such a high intensity final.

 

TIGER TIME: Richmond players Trent Cotchin and Shaun Grigg celebrate yet another Dustin Martin goal, this time in St Kilda in round 23. SOURCE: Fox Sports. 

 

The Giants were clinical in disposing of West Coast last weekend, winning by the best part of 12 goals against a side that clearly ran out of petrol tickets after a physically and emotionally draining win over Port Adelaide a week earlier.

Leon Cameron’s men were back to their hard running, clinical best at Spotless Stadium in the semi final, Steve Johnson the star with 6 goals on return, having been left out against of the team that faced the Crows in the first qualifying final.

While Shane Mumford and Jeremy Cameron are done for the season, Rory Lobb and Jonathon Patton have the ability to stand up both in the ruck and up forward, the AFL’s newest expansion club looking to qualify for their first Grand Final.

No doubt last year’s preliminary final defeat at the hands of the Western Bulldogs still burns for the Giants, who have a chance at redemption at the earliest opportunity 12 months later.

They have named an unchanged line up, backing the same 22 that brushed the Eagles aside with ruthless ease. Johnson is in some doubt with his troublesome knee ailment, but is expected to get up for his 26^th AFL final of a glittering career.

 

ALL THE WAY WITH STEVIE J: Steve Johnson celebrates one of his six goals against West Coast in last Saturday’s semi final. SOURCE: Yahoo7 Sport.

 

Former Tiger and number one draft pick Brett Deledio plays his 250th match against his old club, his first finals victory coming just a week after his old side broke a long standing duck of their own.

Richmond have also stuck with the same side that outworked, outmuscled and out pressured Geelong a fortnight ago, and they will need to bring that same frenzied intensity if they are to beat the Giants and qualify for their first Grand Final since their 1982 premiership triumph over Carlton.

Dustin Martin will again be the most crucial player on the ground, having been best afield against Geelong, standing up in the big moments. Toby Nankervis will sense a massive opportunity to dominate the ruck in the absence of Shane Mumford, and can his partnership with Martin at the stoppages will be vital to the outcome of this game.

Richmond managed to handle the pressure of the qualifying final and breaking their long finals drought a fortnight ago, but this is on another level altogether.

Backing the boys in yellow and black to make the big dance, because if they don’t their supporters may burn the joint to the ground. Richmond by 16 points.

 

LONG TIME COMING: Brett Deledio kicks a goal in his first finals victory over West Coast last week. The former Tiger notches his 250th game against his old side in Saturday’s preliminary final. SOURCE: Zimbio. 

 

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports broadcaster on 91.3 Sport FM in Perth. He blogs here at zombiecrowscricket. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93