Milestones

As Craig so eloquently put it, his journey with the AFL has been a pretty wild one with some amazing highs and significant lows.  From making the list after 26 state league games, injuries, overseas study trips, delisting, returning to the AFL list, finals panel selection, a lot has happened in the last six years.  The one thing that remains with every one of Craig’s 100 games is the thrill of living out the dream of umpiring AFL football.

This weekend is a big one for Angus McKenzie-Wills who not only will be officiating his 50thAFL game on Sunday but will be keeping a close eye on the results from the NSW election, wondering if he’ll have a job at the end of it.

Most of us are fairly grumpy when starting work on a Monday morning but spare a thought for Matt Jenkinson who was waiting for his phone to ring for two reasons (1) was he appointed to the 2018 finals panel or (2) was his wife going into labour with their second child.  Hardly a productive morning could be expected.

Congratulations to Jason on officiating in his 100thAFL match (Adelaide v North Melbourne) at Adelaide Oval last weekend.

The Queensland football scene has changed significantly since Tristan’s arrival to AFL football.  He was first appointed to the AFL panel in 2007.  At first, it was tough going to get a game with four goal umpires based in Queensland and Brisbane Lions the only AFL team in town.  In his first year, Tristan only umpired 4 AFL games.

Field umpire Jacob Mollison had to travel 16,100 kilometres (return trip) to reach his 200 game milestone.  Further than any other person in the history of the game has had to travel to achieve it. “It was a great experience, we had an awesome crew, all we had to do was turn up at the designated time and everything was taken care of,” reflected Jacob as he spoke about his trip to China for his 200th AFL game.

Damien Cusack recently officiated in his 100thAFL game at the Melbourne v Collingwood game at the MCG.  It only seems like yesterday that Damien arrived on the AFL scene.

Rob Findlay returned to the ground where his career started this weekend, when he officiated in his 200thAFL match between Melbourne and Collingwood in the Queen’s Birthday classic at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of a huge crowd.  Sitting in the crowd were his proud parents, wife and three children, all cheering for #23!

For Matt, it only seems like yesterday that he walked into his first AFL training session alongside Chris Esler and Matt Jenkinson but last Saturday Matt Tomkins officiated his 150thAFL game.