The first of the two 2019 AFL grand finals will be played in Adelaide this weekend between Adelaide and Carlton. Adelaide have been the flag favourites all season and Carlton has come from the clouds. The heated debate about conferences was parked on the weekend when Carlton beat favourites Geelong to steal a march into the GF.
Low scores, a couple of blowouts and a heap of warm and humid weather across the country didn’t stop AFL football from hitting our television screens for round one, across four days last week.
Umpires have a thankless task and are often the subject of criticism, but what goes unseen is the work they do to improve.
The phone will often ring in our office and among the many varied requests we get from community umpires include, “Where can I purchase goal flags?”
The merits of a conference system can be argued until you are blue in the face. What is indisputable is that two cut throat preliminary finals will be played this weekend that will determine the Grand Finalists for AFLW 3.
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.
There is one thing to get that much awaited phone call in early October to tell you that you’ve earned an AFL contract. The next exercise is to pick up your belongings and move to the other side of the country, establish your new work environment, ensure your partner is comfortable in her new environment, start training, fly around the country umpiring preseason JLT matches but to top it all off, selection in round one, now that’s special.
One of the stalwarts of our association Peter “Pedro” Taylor passed away peacefully over the weekend. Pedro was still an active participant in our X umpire luncheons at Mornington and always had a good story or two to tell.
When you reach retirement age, you may think that you would put your feet up and relax, but this was not the case for our next “Where are they now?” Umpire.