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Evergreen field umpire, Shaun Ryan umpired his 250th AFL day game up on the Gold Coast last weekend.  Shaun, who is just loving his involvement back in the AFL, ran around with two young guns, David Harris and Brent Wallace who were in awe of his performance.  “Umpiring with Shaun is a great experience, he is so composed out there on the ground, I have learned so much,” reflected David when we caught up with Shaun during a small celebration after the game.  Shaun now sits 30th in order of all time number of games umpired by a field umpire.  However when it comes to number of finals he sits equal 12th (25) with two other current field umpires, Matt Stevic and Shane Mc Inernery, but equal 5th of all time when you include his 5 grand finals.

Dillon has followed his passions through two states to umpire AFL football. His first passion umpiring, began in Adelaide in his teenage years, before following his second passion, Eleni Glouftsis to Melbourne in 2015 while she works towards an AFL contract as the first female field umpire.

The AFL is now pondering whether to introduce the system in 2017 following the 18 game trial. Reactions have been mixed but one thing to come from the trial is that matches were not “over umpired” which was always one of the concerns when you add another dimension into the mix. Anecdotally, the umpires certainly felt fresher coming out of games and didn’t take as long to recover. The seven umpires who doubled up were all mentally fatigued by the end of their second matches. Now the AFL will crunch its numbers and deliver its verdict.

How do you know when the time is right to give it away?  That is the loaded question all great athletes must deal with and so too our own Darren Wilson.

Our Fiona McBurney match day participant, Brad stole the show after the game on Saturday at the “G” and according to his father, Glen, it wasn’t the first time! Get a look at Brad’s post match speech on our website. Brad misses no one, Dean Margetts, Ray Chamberlain, our goal umpires for not working hard enough. We wish Brad all the best as he is about to travel to Italy to represent Australia in the Down Syndrome Swimming titles.

When you grow up in a family that eats, drinks and lives footy, with a father, Noel, that played 57 games for Richmond between 1975 and 1979, then a further 6 for South Melbourne in the VFL it is all about being down the local park kicking a footy with your dad and brothers, going to every game and barracking for your dad’s team. Footy was always going to play a part in Matthew Jenkinson’s life!  His first major milestone, 100 games, makes Matt the 134th boundary umpire to reach that milestone.  He is now establishing a place inside the boundary fence that is his own.

The first true test of the four field umpire system was put into place over the weekend.  Trials have been conducted over many years in NAB challenge matches and during the last four rounds of last season.  However, that trial was confined to non finals teams and non finals umpires.

One of the first things that struck me about Tim Lougoon was his resilience and mental toughness.  Tim recalls that he got a call up from then AFL boundary umpire Technical Consultant, Keith Norman on the eve of his round one VFL game in 2014 and asked if he wanted an AFL contract.  “What do you think I said?” laughed Tim this afternoon.  Three more runs in the VFL, some intense coaching and Tim walked onto the MCG in round 5 to umpire Melbourne v Gold Coast.  Nothing seemed to phase him.  He just took everything in his stride.

His cheeky smile will disarm you, his layback nature and easy conversation draws you to him instantly.  Walk across the white line onto an AFL ground and it’s gloves off, concentration on and a relentless pursuit of excellence that consumes Jonathan Creasey until the final siren blows.  Then the switch is flicked and he returns to that mild mannered state.