Presentation Dinner

[sidswan]

Did anyone attend last night? Any news? Piccies?

[Swannette]

Yes, I was there and happy to report (no pics though):
- a much smaller crowd than in previous years, sign of the times I guess
- Mark Baretta was the MC - did a good job
- night opened with a song from a 12 yr old with the voice of a more mature blossoming opera singer - and she's a mad Swannie
- the traditional toast was delivered by the #1 ticket holder (well the male of the husband/wife duo equally ordained #1 for 09), Mal Binnie, not a polished corporate type just a regular guy - told his story from being introduced to the game to going through the tough years, to the joy of 05 etc, seemed to go down well with the audience
- the formalities were run by the leadership group with Roosy saying a few things as well (no speech by Richard Colless)
- in other years the players come up in number order, this year they did it differently - starting with rookies, then positional (defenders, forwards etc) then the new players to the club
- big cheer for Rhyce Shaw - he fills out a suit as well as he fills out a guernsey - and he seemed very pleased to be there
- Gerard Healy and Greg Williams handed out the guernseys to the guys as they came up
- laughter on a few occasions when the tall timbers stood between Gerard and Greg for the photo - particularly Jake Orreal and Daniel Currie - they are very tall young men
- speeches - Craig Bolton welcomed us - not as emotional and compelling as last year but a very good speech nonetheless - it was not the role of his speech this year to do that anyway - that came later - Craig is very articulate
- Kirky used a tiny bit of footage from Ants in his speech - all about the colony and everyone working together - he took the piss out of himself a bit re the wacky choice of themes for previous speeches - this one hit him while on the couch with his 4 yr old (Roosy joked that he has too much time on his hands at home)
- Goodesy - now that was a great speech - he closed the night essentially and spoke about family and community and culture and the role of stories and of being a custodian of stories in the Aboriginal culture and without needing to make too many statements to connect his words to the world of football, he connected and entwined them beautifully. At the end he spoke to his teammates and called upon them to be custodians etc etc. For me, the highlight of the formalities
- other - Roosy introduced the leadership group to the stage at the start and when he was talking about Ryan before announcing who it was (number x, name) he gave it away when he said something like "and he played a few tricks on me at the end of last season" - was very funny, and Ryan couldn't stop laughing when he got on stage. Nice.
Ok, enough detail. See what happens when you ask??? Cheers

[Primmy]

Thank you Swannette - that was great.

But Barlow at 41......no, I think the run has been broken. Did I mention Roosey was a 1 too?

[Swannette]

In fact the run is at lower odds than ever....he was #41, he's now #11

[AnnieH]

Thanks Swannette, short of a few beers, seemed like I was there.

[dimelb]

Thanks Swannette, nice wrap.

[connolly]

Thanks for that Swan Girl. Did the Bevanator say anything audible?

[Primmy]

Thanks for that Swan Girl. Did the Bevanator say anything audible?

HeHeHe, you tried to chat to him too have you. I think the word "reserved" is putting it mildly. Big Bad Footy player....not.

[sidswan]

Thank you very much for the wonderful report, I really wish I could have been there ....... now, thanks to you, I feel as if I was

[ugg]

Swans night truly inspirational | The Daily Telegraph

[connolly]

Beautiful knife job on the staggering ARL by Roosey. Twisted it at the end of the article as well. Hats off

[Swannette]

Ha, the usually quiet Bevonator stuck to his script with that almost-goofy (I said almost) little grin thingy the only sign that he was and is a happy fella. I was sure a few Connolly clones were there because at least a few voices (apart from ours) were giving the kid a cheer!!