Milestones

As Matt Leppard walks onto Etihad tomorrow night in his 50th AFL game he is hoping they will not be playing the song by chumbawamba “I get knocked down” because the last time Essendon and the Bulldogs met at Etihad in 2012 Matt did indeed get knocked down; three times, by players coming out of a field bounce.  “Yeah I felt like I had a target on my back that night,” exclaimed Matt today.  “But it wasn’t as bad as the hit I received in my first year when I was really cleaned up in the Essendon v. WCE match and really didn’t know where I was for a while.”

Congratulations to Scott Jeffery, who has been appointed to officiate in his 250th match on Sunday 4th May, Geelong v Richmond at the MCG.

By the time you have amassed 150 AFL games including an AFL grand final, you could be excused for thinking that you had seen it and experienced it all.  Not so for Chelsea, her milestone match between St Kilda and Brisbane in Wellington, New Zealand threw up a number of firsts that add to the uniqueness of the event.

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.

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.