Six players from the Sydney Swans came up to the Central Coast yesterday. Macca was meant to come with Ted as the senior players however, due to a family commitment he pulled out and the big KT came in his place.
The other players were Jed Lamb, Tim Membrey, Brandon Jack and Jake Lloyd.
Kurt and Brandon did the southern clinic whilst the others did the northern clinic.
It was funny watching Kurt running around with the kids. He is so tall and most of the kids in attendance were all Under 9's and Auskickers. After the session ended they both signed items and had photo's taken.
There was a about 60 kids at both camps. This is compared to last year when there was about 15 kids at one camp. So there has been a major impact with the Swans winning.
I've also noticed at Junior Clunb level that we have taken a number of new registrations from boys playing other codes this year. I won't know the final outcome for a few weeks yet but is does bode really well for Aussie Rules on the Central Coast.
So Clinic finished, Kurt was squeezed into the back seat of a hatchback and off to a Club for a dinner with local Club Presidents and School Ambassadors.
The other pleasing aspect of this was the number of representatives from Schools that turned up this year. There was more people there than local Junior Footy Club people. Another positive outcome.
Instead of a sit down meal as we had last year, this year it was a finger food platter type dinner which allowed the players and others to all mingle.
The first two I spoke to were Tim and Jake. What outstanding young guys. I'm sure Primmy will want to adopt both of them when she meets them.
Neither of them knew about RWO so I introduced them and then went on asking lots of questions. As mentioned briefly in another thread, Jake said his nickname is "Lloydy". Tim said it was either "Palm Tree" or "Mushroom" because of his hair styles.
Tim said that on draft day, he was sitting with his mate (another draftee hopeful) and their families with their fingers crossed as names were called. Tim said that when he was picked he didn't know what to do as his mate hadn't. They didn't have to wait long and at pick 55 his mate went to Carlton. So celebrations were on.
Jake said that on Rookie draft day he was home in Horsham. He found out at 11:30 am that the Swans had picked him. He was in Sydney by 8 pm the same night and started training with the Swans at 6:30 am the next morning.
They are really nice guys. They said the Swans were really working on solving their "fade out" problems for this season.
Brandon is a little bit on the quiet side and Jed was joking around. He hoped he would have a better run with injuries.
I did tell Jed that Big Al loves him and he said he loved Big Al too.
Kurt is a really relaxed type of guy and Ted is Ted.
Ted and Kurt stood up and took questions from everyone.
Ques on who won last Friday between Ted and KT
I asked Ted who he thought had won between the two of them after last Friday's intra-club game. He said he thought that he had until he read the paper the next day with the article "Tippett on fire". Everyone laughed. Kurt said that it was going to be his last game for a long time so he had to try harder.
Ques on Bombers situation:
Ted was asked about the Bombers situation. He said that he is still very close friends with Jobe and David Hille and he was really feeling for them and the amount of pressure they were under. Apparently, there have been more Bombers members signed this year than during the same period last year. So fans were right behind them. He said that friends from overseas that new nothing about the game were asking him if they were on drugs.
Question about Garry's rehab:
Ted said that it was a very slow process and he hadn't started sprinting yet. He then would have to start diagonal running and although Ted didn't guess when he would be back, you got the impression that Kurt would be playing before Gary was.
Ques to Kurt about his preparation for the first part of the season:
He said that the Swans were closely working with him on how he thought he could get the best out of himself. So he will do three training sessions per week plus the weights and other things. Game day simulation on weekends and then recovery as if he had played. He seemed really bright and positive about it.
Ques on Nick Davis and his role:
Ted said that Nick had always had a very strong relationship with John. So when they were running out of runners with injuries, Nick came on board. His role this year has been significantly upgraded and he would be working with all the new players. So I imagine that meant kicking with Kurt. Ted said it was great that things had changed and although he left the Club in not a very good way that that was being rectified now and he is playing an important contribution to the team.
Ques on how Monty was fitting in:
Ted said that he hadn't seen him yet as Amon's role was with the Swans Academy boys and not with the team. However after 3 non eventful years at Brisbane he imagined he would be loving being back with the Swans.
Ques on who was the most annoying person at the Club:
Both of them looked at each other as if they were doing a mental list. Ted said Hannerbury has his moments. The real pranksters of the Club are Grundy, Jetta and Rohan. I was surprised that Lewis was one but he would be very different with his team mates to what we see. Then both of them nearly at the same time said it would have to be Mummy. He's always bitching and complaining and a terrible trainer. Everyone laughed.
Ques to Kurt about fitting in to Sydney lifestyle:
He said that Adelaide was a very big fish bowl. A kids clinic would bring out 500 kids. Living in Sydney was not dissimilar to growing up in Queensland so he was really enjoying it.
Ques to Brandon about being in his brothers shadow:
He said that he didn't feel that way or being the son of a famous player. If anything it just showed him that if Kieren could get there via the rookie draft then so could he. So he was really looking forward to the challenge.
Ques on home sickness to the newbies:
Jake said that Jed had felt a bit homesick when he came to the Swans but was now loving living in Sydney. Both Tim and Jake weren't worried about it.
It was a really enjoyable evening. I have taken photo's but am having trouble uploading them to my computer so as soon as I do that I will post some photo's.
The guys were doing school visits today and then back to Sydney tonight.
That's about all I can remember as my memory is not in the Ugg class. There were other minor things that were discussed. I got a great photo of my kids School sports teachers and Jed, Tim and Jake. That was after he hid his beer for the school photo.
The guys happily posed for photo's with us oldies and it was a great night.
Bookmarks