Sponsored BigFooty St.Kilda Board Player Sponsors - 1st event

[boydie]

Good morning all,

First event details as follows, you know the drill reply and state if your keen to attend, if we get more than 2 sponsors keen I will do raffle.
This preseason event is usually a good one to attend as most of the players are there and we usually jag some 1 on 1 time with Windy.

Cheers
Boydie

Player Sponsor Function



Date: Tuesday 5th March

Location: Moorabbin Lawn Bowls: 426 South Road Moorabbin

Time: 4.30pm – 6.00pm



Finger food and refreshments provided.

 

[sasaint]

Hi Boydie. I'll put my hand up for this one. Interesting that its not at the club.

 

[goodie23]

That's on my way home from work, might be a push but I'll go if no-one else can

 

[boydie]

IF YOUR in goodie23 , your in with sasaint
I can be backup if require

 

[sasaint]

Thanks Boydie. I'm still good to go.

 

[goodie23]

Report

Drove into the bowls club carpark at 4:15. Drove out again at 4:16. Drove into the Moorabbin carpark at 4:17. Decided against the few spots in the sun and drove out again at 4:18. Parked somewhat questionably on a nearby sidestreet and made my way inside pretty much bang on 4:30.

Joined a queue to get in, found my name tag and ran my finger over the seating chart to find my table. Myself and sasaint were sitting at table... blank. My name was there just fine, his name was there just fine, but we had not been allocated a table. Asked a girl who asked a guy who asked me which player, was told table 2. After getting a drink from the bar (not quite at genuine 1972 prices but decent enough) I was then directed to table 9. Sat down next to some sponsors of Matty Allison, the rest of the table were also Windy sponsors. Grabbed a party pie and a slider from the staff bringing food around, ran away from the vegetarian quiche.

Was catching up with Saint Watto when I spotted the boys making their way towards the bowls club. They filtered in and we went to go see our boy Windy. He must've spent the whole evening being asked about his hand, yes it's healing, he'll be back in full training Thursday, he's got a matching plate and Ross has banned him from future pre-season matches against Essendon. We were presently joined by sasaint and had a more general chat - he's working with Lenny and BJ predominately, he also got away to Cottosloe in WA during the offseason and went and played some golf with mates in Sydney. He's played with a few boys at the club but not my golfing buddy Sebby Ross (it was one round years ago but it still counts!). We paused to listen to a kind of welcome address announcement, but the only intelligible words were "lawn bowls".

After bending Marcus's ear for a while we let him go see the other sponsors and went in search of other players. sasaint had a chat to Jack Hayes but I didn't really catch much of that. Without big Maxy King in attendance (we're not sure why, he trained today) I followed Saint Watto to bend the ear of Rowan Marshall

19

Rowan Marshall

Age

28

Ht

201cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.4

4star

K

8.8

3star

HB

6.6

4star

CL

3.4

5star

HO

20.2

5star

D

12.9

3star

K

9.3

4star

HB

3.6

2star

CL

2.8

4star

HO

17.8

5star

D

10.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

4.8

4star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

7.8

5star

. He was at the back of the room somehow managing to blend in so we had a chat behind him until he could break free of his present conversation. In the meanwhile we just about tackled young Olli Hotton for a conversation. Could sense his frustration at having last year wiped out by back stress fractures but he's feeling fit and ready to press his case. He's also working with Lenny and eager to get into the midfield but recognises the competition. He also helped us put some names to some of the newer faces.

Rowan was still sitting and chatting away so we went to meet young Schoenmaker. After a brief awkward exchange we lined up to grab hot dogs and talk to Nas, who was too deep in conversation with Matty Allison to go beyond a greeting. So I headed towards the back and found sasaint having more success with Arie. Mostly we were trying to persuade him that he doesn't want to go back to Tassie.

Big Ro stood and was just about tackled to the ground as we pounced on him for conversation. First point of conversation was his neck, goes to show how physical the game on the weekend was.


I'd say I feel pretty, but mostly I felt short

He's feeling fit and recognises how much we depend on him - especially knowing what it'll be like up against a strong ruck combination. He was also quite tactful and wouldn't name his preferred starting midfield line-up, politely agreeing with my suggestion. He is looking forward to having Paddy Dow

15

Paddy Dow

Age

24

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

7.1

4star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.9

4star

CL

2.6

4star

D

7.0

1star

K

4.0

1star

HB

3.0

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

12.4

4star

K

5.8

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

2.8

5star

CL

2.6

5star

back, reckons he'll be a good addition. After a brief exchange though he was besieged by admirers wanting photos - partly because it was now after 6 and players had started to disappear.

Ro started to make his much interrupted exit, realising that being at the back of the room meant quite the gauntlet of photoseekers. And this is where the evening pretty much fizzled out, most players had gone and the few that were left were being surrounded like cannon fodder in The Walking Dead. Sincs, Seb and a few others were still going but I made an exit around the same time as Olli. I wished him luck as I headed back to my car.

Punchline: After the confusion about the table, I didn't sit there the rest of the evening.

 

[sasaint]

goodie23 did a great write up. Thanks. Here are my observations. I went around and caught up with some of the younger and new players.

#4 Lance Collard: Seems that RTB spoke to him that day and he has been told based on his training data he is AFL ready. Lance is fully expecting an early call up for a senior game. Wow!

#13 Ryan Byrnes

13

Ryan Byrnes

Age

22

Ht

181cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

5.0

1star

K

2.0

1star

HB

3.0

3star

M

0.0

1star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.0

1star

D

5.0

1star

K

2.0

1star

HB

3.0

2star

M

0.0

1star

T

2.0

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

5.0

1star

K

2.0

1star

HB

3.0

3star

M

0.0

1star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.0

1star

: After the breakout game on Sunday, he is really hoping for a senior role. He has stepped up and is ready.

#17 Isaac Keeler: Seems he has been told he is being trained to be a defender, and not doing the defender role as training for a future forward gig. He is over his injury worries from 2023 and is getting ready for a call up when the coaches think he is ready.

#18 Jack Hayes: Jack is really disappointed with his delayed return, and I felt he was pretty unhappy with how things have turned out, but he says he will be match ready by round 2. However, he doesn’t see that there is a spot for him in the seniors. Not surprising with Max, Membrey and Titanic now pretty much locked in there as the talls. I think he is probably the best available ruck cutout for Rowan and can be dangerous up forward, so there may still be a chance for him if he can stay fit. He will probably be playing a fair bit at Sandy this year.

#22 Darcy Wilson: He was with a bunch of fans and I think he was blown away by the attention he was getting after his Sunday performance. The other team members I spoke with were super impressed with him and I cannot believe that he is not a lock for round one. (See Pou’s comments below)

#25 Mattaes Phillipou: Matty is super focused on personally giving 100% over the opening rounds, particularly against the Cats and the Pies, as he thinks they are gettable. He will leave no stone unturned to get the Saints into the finals again. He sort of reminds me of Nick Riewoldt in being so serious about winning. He says he is really glad to have Darcy Wilson and Hugo Garcia training with him as he says they are both totally focused, like he is, on improving and giving 100%. Also said that his hip will not stop him being at the Cattery round 1.

#26 Josh Battle

26

Josh Battle

Age

25

Ht

193cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

9.0

3star

HB

3.9

3star

M

5.0

5star

T

2.4

4star

MG

196.8

3star

D

11.0

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.8

3star

MG

142.8

3star

D

10.8

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

4.6

4star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.0

4star

MG

175.6

3star

: He is ready for round 1 and is an automatic selection.

#27 Arie Schoenmaker: Arie is really hoping to get a round 1 gig, but I think he realises that that is a long shot. He was probably the most laid-back player I spoke with on the night and that’s OK as he was about the youngest too, but he has displayed the raw talent. He just needs to get the focus to win. As goodie23 said, we joked about he has a few years to decide if he prefers red-white and black to Green and yellow.

#34 Hugo Garcia: A bit like Darcy Wilson, a bit surprised by the attention he is getting, but also, he knows he has a good shot at a senior role and is ready if he gets a call up.

#36: Riley Bonner

36

Riley Bonner

Age

27

Ht

190cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.2

4star

K

12.1

4star

HB

5.2

4star

M

4.3

4star

T

1.4

3star

MG

279.8

4star

D

12.3

3star

K

10.3

4star

HB

2.0

1star

M

3.5

3star

T

1.3

2star

MG

279.8

4star

D

21.4

5star

K

14.0

5star

HB

7.4

5star

M

5.0

5star

T

2.0

4star

: A really great guy to talk with. A lock for round 1 after Sunday and he knows it, as he explained his role/positioning in detail. I won’t go into that. He is super happy to have been picked up by the Saints and is equally happy to be out of the Port Adelaide. He already has round 7 circled as, if he plays all opening rounds, it will be his 100th and he will play Port Adelaide at Adelaide oval and he can’t wait.

Great event and thanks to Boydie for arranging the sponsorship.

 

[George]

Great stuff guys, missed this