ImperialPurple
13 Sep 2006, 21:01
Onya Bellie. :thumbsu:
It appears that The Worst have taken off their bluenyella lenses and awarded Bellie with The West Australian footballer of the year, ahead of Cousins and Judd. Class shines through!
http://www.afl.com.au/cp2/c2/webi/article/124124ad.jpg
Well done that man! :D
dockers_bengals
13 Sep 2006, 23:12
Well deserved.250th game ,new car,a win on friday would cap of a good week.I'm sure they'll say Judd robbed of W.A footballer of the year:D
Well done Bellie. The last half of the year he has been in 2003 form or better IMO.
dockersfan
13 Sep 2006, 23:57
Bell focused on finals win; http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200609/s1740254.htm
Fremantle captain Peter Bell has been named Western Australia's footballer of the year for a second time but says he would trade the award for the club's first ever finals victory.
Bell beat out West Coast counterpart Chris Judd by a solitary vote, polling 23 to Judd's 22 in an award chosen by sports journalists from The West Australian newspaper.
Bell, who also won the award in 2003, says his focus is on victory over Melbourne in Friday night's elimination semi-final at Subiaco Oval.
"Everyone involved in the footy club is desperate to have success. I think that we've worked very hard for it," he said.
"They don't give you finals wins on a platter. So we're going to have to play our very best football against an opposition that were exceptional to fight back against St Kilda, who were a class act."
Coach Chris Connolly said the club set a goal earlier this year of a maiden finals victory and he would be extremely disappointed if they failed to achieve that.
"I certainly put that as a goal, we want to win a final. So we'd be disappointed, extremely, extremely disappointed, if that didn't happen," he said.
Connolly said the Dockers were not speculating about a possible preliminary final against Sydney should they beat the Demons.
"The focus for us is that there are different ways to skin a cat, and the cat's Melbourne for us and that's all we're looking at," he said.
voodoo_86
14 Sep 2006, 02:05
Laugh classic post. I'm surprised to be honest.
dockersfan
15 Sep 2006, 16:55
Bell- Best in the West
http://fremantlefc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=297582
dockersfan
15 Sep 2006, 17:59
Enjoy the game everyone - I'm off to have a few pints and put on my face warpaint :^) [reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Puddy puts on his "Demons" face warpaint]
On ya Bellie - great Freo captain, with spirit and a "never give in" attitude that flows onto his soliders - a worthy ball player!
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5246347,00.jpg
++++++++++++++++++
A GIANT OF THE GAME
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,20416609-948,00.html
Jenny McAsey - The Australian
September 15, 2006 01:00pm
SEASONS don't come any bigger than the one currently being enjoyed by Fremantle captain Peter Bell.
Tonight the Dockers will strive for the first finals win in their history - and a chance to play in their first preliminary final - while our Purple Prince celebrates his 250-game milestone.
And, writes Jenny McAsey, Bell will find the do-or-die final against Melbourne more nerve-racking than running out for his 250th game.
WHEN Peter Bell walked into the North Melbourne football club for the first time at the end of 1995, Brett Allison had one impression about his new team-mate.
``I thought, `I can't believe we've recruited a jockey'. I looked at him and thought, `gee he is very short' but we soon worked out it wasn't as disadvantageous as you might have believed because his drive and will to succeed were second to none,'' said Allison, who played in the 1996 and 1999 Kangaroos' premiership-winning sides with Bell.
At that point, Bell needed every gram of determination in his 175cm body because there were also other obstacles to conquer.
``He is your typical bloke who wasn't meant to succeed in this game. He can't kick over a jam tin, too small, too slow,'' said Allison, who is now the runner for Sydney.
``Everyone had a knock on him for almost everything yet he's overcome the whole lot.''
Bell's football journey had started on a short-lived high. At 18 he was recruited to Fremantle as the fledgling AFL club's first signing, but finished the 1995 season with just two games to his credit and a wave goodbye.
The Kangaroos came to the rescue. Then-coach Denis Pagan gave him a chance and a year later Bell was a premiership player.
From little things, big things grow. Tonight in the semi-final against Melbourne at Subiaco Oval, 12 years on from that shaky start, Bell will lead the Dockers on to the field for his 250th game feted as one of the AFL's most celebrated and respected players.
A year after winning his second premiership with the Kangaroos, Bell, who had developed into a hard-running midfielder who could go all day, was welcomed back to the Dockers as a long lost son. He can now count himself a dual premiership player, twice All-Australian, four-time best and fairest winner and the Dockers' captain since 2002.
The son of a Korean mother and American serviceman father, Bell was adopted when he was three days old by an Australian couple working at a local Catholic mission.
Allison said his survival instincts probably started back then. ``He just won't lay down, he won't roll over for anyone,'' he said.
But Bell, renowned for his quick wit and sense of humour, has always been happy to take the mickey out of himself.
Allison recalls hearing how Bell broke the ice when the Dockers invited the then-Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who has Japanese heritage and bears a strong resemblance to Bell, to speak at the club.
``Peter asked one of the first questions, and he said, `is it true that you have been doing Peter Bell impersonations'?'' Allison said.
``That is the sort of bloke he is, straight off the cuff, very humorous.''
Bell was at it early this week, when asked to pick a highlight or a possession that stood out from his decorated career, say a 60-metre goal.
``I kicked a 33-metre goal once, got on to a big torpy (torpedo) and it went 33metres. And there was the day I did jump on (team-mate) Justin Longmuir's head,'' he said in jest.
No doubt his humour and intelligence have helped him deal with the highs and lows, the purple patches and black days, that have been Freo's lot.
Tonight the Dockers will strive for the first finals win in their history and a chance to play in their first preliminary final.
Bell said that would make him nervous, not the 250-game milestone.
``When you play for two clubs there seems to be a milestone every other week. I'll be nervous because it is a finals game and not at all because it is a milestone game,'' he said.
Bell has a track record of playing well in the big games. In the 1999 grand final he kicked four goals and was close to winning the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground.
``He remembers that, because he told me he reckons he was ripped off for the Norm Smith,'' joked long-time friend and Dockers team-mate Shaun McManus this week. On the serious side,
McManus praised Bell as a great leader and ``a terrific bloke''. ``Stop there,'' Bell said as he sat next to McManus in the Dockers' board room.
But McManus had more to say. ``As a leader I've never experienced anyone better ... he leads by example all the time. He is a perfect role model for people outside of football, and someone who gives his heart and soul,'' he said.