Elite sportsmen and women are driven by many factors. They are all high achievers hungry for sustained success, to prove that their first victory or moment was not a fluke. Some like David Dixon are also driven by a fear of failure.
Mark’s smile and quiet nature can be quite disarming and belies the real strength of character that lies beneath a warm engaging man. “You never coast in life in anything you do………getting over the line in that January fitness test after spending weeks in hospital, recovering from severe burns and skin grafts gives you an inner strength.”
AFL goal umpire, Mark Canning becomes only the sixth goal umpire in VFL/AFL history to be appointed to 300 games. Mark is looking forward to walking out onto the Etihad surface at the traditional time of 2.10pm Saturday afternoon when North Melbourne plays Hawthorn in what could be a shoot out.
“Jack” as he is affectionally known by his mates, stood proud today as the AFL recognised the feat of one of its best officials as he reaches 400 AFL games this Saturday. He then announced that he was hanging up his whistle at the end of the season.
AFL Boundary umpire, Darren Wilson just keeps racking up the milestones. Darren umpired his 350th AFL game in the 35th and closest SA derby. Darren’s total includes 47 finals and 12 grand finals.
It is not very often that you come across a man in this day and age who is simply prepared to let his performances do the talking. However, for the past 10 seasons that is exactly what the gentle giant, Justin Bennison has done. He seeks feedback from his coaches, works hard on the training track and then gets the best out of himself in games. Otherwise you just don’t hear too much from him.
Umpiring stalwart, Bryan Sheehan was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame at a gala evening at Parliament House in Canberra last night.
Two great umpires achieved their 200 game milestone over the Queen’s Birthday weekend.
Goal umpire, Chris Appleton, notched up his 150th AFL appearance in Darwin on Saturday night. Chris, a stalwart of the goal umpiring brigade has umpired in some out of the way places this year, including Darwin and Wellington in New Zealand on Anzac Day.