Spare a thought for second year field umpire, Alex Whetton who weighs 60kg ringing wet when he inadvertently collided with Lachie Schultz weighing in at 78kg running at full pace. Alex was knocked unconscious and had to be assisted from the field. While he did not show any immediate signs of concussion he did in the days following and his season has come to a premature end.
The positive from a negative was Daniel Johanson got his first taste of AFL football. There can be no better job interview, as two replacement AFL coaches have found recently. Daniel while very cognisant of Alex’s misfortune couldn’t believe the noise and the “big hits”.
Congratulations to Dan Field-Read who became the 373rd umpire to officiate in 100 AFL games. He is the 143rd boundary umpire to achieve the milestone. Poor Dan did have to travel to Melbourne for the game, but Dan was philosophical, especially if it gets him into the 2019 finals series.
What about two of our favourite ex goal umpires reinventing themselves in the Southern Football League as field umpires. Yep, that’s right, Luke Walker and Courtney Lai have been swanning around putting their experienced hands to work. However, last weekend, Luke reverted to goal umpiring in Courtney’s first senior match, at Jack Barker Oval. I wonder if the players from either of the competing teams, Cheltenham or St Paul’s, realised the AFL royalty they had officiating in their match?
Chris Donlon has delivered again on the first aid front. This time he helped out Brisbane player, Mitch Robinson when he cramped during the fourth quarter of the match against Geelong. This is the second time in three weeks Chris has stepped up to help an injured player in an AFL game.
Congratulations to our Fiona McBurney participant this weekend, Dylan McLean who assisted our umpires at the Carlton v St Kilda match. This brings to a close our 2019 program. Thanks to all who participated, and we look forward to running the program with a valuable ‘help team’ in 2020. The video of Dylan’s day is on our website.
With one round to go, enjoy the opportunity to finish off your season on a high if you have been lucky enough to be selected.