Sixteen years in elite sport, maintaining a very high level of performance, balancing work and life are all the battles that Dan faces each week and indeed each year to keep his spot on the goal umpiring panel. Two hundred and fifty games is a mammoth games tally, indeed only 16 goal umpires have gone further than 250 games. Only one current umpire, Chris Appleton, 279 games has done more. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride is also a saying that Daniel can be labeled with. His career finals number eight, but his near misses are too numerous to note. Remember only eight goal umpires each year form the finals panel. Only six current goal umpires have umpired a grand final. Mention Dan’s name to anyone and he is regarded as one of the best. Well done Dan.
It was great to see our three 1st and 2nd year Queensland boundary umpires enjoy their game at the Gabba on Saturday night. In near perfect conditions, Adam Reardon (2nd year) Chris Delany (2nd year) and Nick Swanson (1st year) proved their worth with youngish veteran Matthew Konetschka who came up to replace injured veteran Drew Kowalski. Drew appears to have finally been given some positive news on the injury front and following some interesting hip and pelvic adjustments is on the road to recovery.
While on Brisbane, the Lions players, AFLW players and coaches signed up to umpire in the Brisbane juniors competition on Sunday morning as part of their community give back program at five different locations. I have it on good authority that Lions coach Chris Fagan lost control of an under 12 game, was abused by a player who wasn’t happy about a free kick he awarded and was seen later still remonstrating with the player at the end of the match. Welcome to our world Chris. Seriously, what a great effort on the Lions part to get involved in footy and more importantly have a go at umpiring to see just how tough it is.
Our FM MDE participant this weekend was Jess Gislingham. Jess assisted the umpires in the Richmond v Pt Adelaide game and was still seen wearing his umpiring gear later in the week. Thanks Jess for supporting our umpires.
Over in Alice Springs accommodation was tight with the AFL match, Speedway and Camel racing all on over the same weekend. Not sure that Chris Donlon wasn’t checking out the camels for a ride on Saturday night as a freelance jockey.