Competitive? A handy side of Geelong discards.

I sat down on a Virgin flight to Adelaide, for the Geelong-Crows game, with every intention of putting in an hour and a half of solid, kid-free, uninterrupted, can-in-hand reading when a bloke in a sleeveless Cats jumper sat down next to me. He was very friendly; wouldn’t let me buy a beer. He was a fair dinkum fan and a classic all-round sports lover. He’d raised his bat at Commonwealth Golf Club the day before and went on to post a very healthy total (in tough conditions). His name: Gary Caulfield.

We talked a lot of Geelong and of his life in Indonesia and south-east Asia working in advertising.

We were both expecting an excellent game, and a solid performance from the Cats. (This was pre-Collingwood and pre-Carlton)

The highlight of the flight – apart from Gary – was the chuckle at seeing the Iron Maiden jumbo jet (one of those old ones with the bubble up the front) parked on the Adelaide tarmac. What a classic!

 

Gary went his way, I found P. Flynn and we proceeded to enjoy the Cats brilliant victory before catching up with Roger Wills and his mates at the Old Lion.

Who knows where Gary and his posse wound up – but they were in for a big one.

Soon after returning to Melbourne, this email turned up.

 

Dear John

As I was watching Mumford and Stevie J go to work on our beloved Cats recently (unfortunately), it struck me to assess just how many of our Boys are currently lining up against us at the moment

And here’s my findings below, which makes interesting reading.

So imagine this team which includes 10 premiership players ( exactly 50% ) :

B:        T. Hunt                  S. Thompson               Hamling

HB:       Kelly                     M. Brown                     Laidler

C:         Varcoe                   Simpkin                       Jansen

HF:      Stevie J                 Walker                          Chappy

F:           Stokes                  Pods                             West

R:            Mumford          Ablett                            Christensen

INT:     Simpson               Gore    (there may be others)

Gary

 

Yes, Gary, that is the nature of modern footy.