AFL List Finalised
The AFL Umpiring Department finalised all lists last Thursday with Tristan Burgess from Victoria filling the last field umpire vacancy. Player to Umpire Pathway umpire, Leigh Fisher, became the 33rd listed umpire and follows in the footsteps of Jordan Bannister who was promoted to the main list in November 2012.
Tristan, aged 27, umpired the 2012 VFL Grand Final and was a supplementary listed umpire in 2012, umpiring one AFL match when he came on as an emergency umpire after an injury forced Stefan Grun from the field. Tristan has umpired 100 senior VFL games.
Leigh who played 55 games with St. Kilda, began umpiring two years ago and spent last season on the VFL senior panel.
Five field umpires are supplementary listed for the first time, Ben Lehner from Tasmania, Curtis Deboy from South Australia, Aaron Hall from Queensland, Andrew Talbot from Victoria and Brent Pawley from NSW. They join the remaining six umpires who have maintained their supplementary list status for 2013. They are Shaun Gleeson, Scott McPhee, Justin Orr, Leigh Haussen, Andrew Stephens and Nathan Elsworthy.
NAB Cup Grand Final
The last time Jordan Bannister ran onto a field in a NAB Cup grand final it was as a player for Carlton in 2005. When we caught up with Jordan prior to last Friday nights game he vividly remembered that occasion because Carlton won and it was the only piece of silverware that came his way during his AFL playing career. Jordan teamed with Scott Jeffery, Dean Margetts and Shane Stewart rotating through the game to umpire three quarters each.
Western Australia was well represented indeed in the grand final. Along with Dean, boundary umpire Jace Collingridge and goal umpire Brett Rogers were appointed. Appointments to the grand final indicate that each umpire had a very good season in 2012 and had continued that form into the 2013 preseason.
Back to back NAB Cup grand final appointments came the way of Stephen Williams in the goals. He was partnered by Daniel Wilson and Brett Rogers.
Michael Saunders continues his push for higher season honours umpiring his second NAB Cup grand final with Gerard Large and Drew Kowalski.
Pre season births
Look out Chelsea. Three of our members have become fathers over the preseason Jacob Mollison, Rob Findlay and Chris Kamolins and their partners became proud parents of girls. Father – son combinations have been very rare in umpiring circles, so perhaps it’s time for the girls to take a stand. Keep an eye on the list in 2033!