Player Sponsorship 2015 Nakia Cockatoo Sponsorship - PRIZE DRAW PUBLISHED

[SJ]

You're up next SquishyKitty.

 

[Hello Kitty]

You're up next SquishyKitty.

An inner sanctum experience with Cockatoo please SJ. Thank you + Jim Boy for all your efforts + arrangements.

 

[Hello Kitty]

I doubt they have as you were ment to be next in line to claim something.

Thanks for your help catstorm

 

[Hello Kitty]

Hey NSFB - talk about small things amusing small minds, hey?

 

[Hello Kitty]

Hey guys! I met Cockatoo today at Open Training in Sydney today! I'm totally over the Moon, way out to the edge of the Milky Way + I've been around the Sun so much I'm totally spun out!
Who wants the low down?

 

[David the Cat]

Be interested to hear Kitty……when you can.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Be interested to hear Kitty……when you can.

I need to calm down + stop talking in terms of 'he's so adorable I want to eat him up' etc.

Let me start by saying that he has an incredible presence about him, very charismatic + it's interesting to watch his mind tick over when you ask a question. He's very well rehearsed in typical 'Club + new player' type questions, but what I really liked was that when I was talking to him about different subjects he was extremely stylish in the way he drew breath + took advantage of the pause to collect himself. He's a terrific, old soul sort of character *yes red wine is talking*. Even with the 'Club line' responses he is refreshing + after a couple of minutes he relaxed.

I told him about BF sponsoring him + his face lit up! I asked him if I could give his sponsors a message + he took a breath + said "I don't know what to say, really. But it's awesome, tell them thank you!" + his gorgeous smile beamed + lit up his face!

I had to LOL, I was having coffee in the Lobby with my friends as the team arrived + I asked all the players to have pix with my friend's son, who's about 11. SJ + Cockatoo strolled into the hotel + I had such a giggle, jumped on them to ask for a photo + teased Cockatoo - "Did you choose Steve as your mentor?" The both laughed + Cockatoo said "Yes!" I replied "OMG!!! Just ensure you only take is playing tips, but ignore any advice to do with girls + 'love life', he'll get you into deep trouble!"

I might think of more later, but I'm just so excited!

 

[Teriyakicat]

I need to calm down + stop talking in terms of 'he's so adorable I want to eat him up' etc.

Let me start by saying that he has an incredible presence about him, very charismatic + it's interesting to watch his mind tick over when you ask a question. He's very well rehearsed in typical 'Club + new player' type questions, but what I really liked was that when I was talking to him about different subjects he was extremely stylish in the way he drew breath + took advantage of the pause to collect himself. He's a terrific, old soul sort of character *yes red wine is talking*. Even with the 'Club line' responses he is refreshing + after a couple of minutes he relaxed.

I told him about BF sponsoring him + his face lit up! I asked him if I could give his sponsors a message + he took a breath + said "I don't know what to say, really. But it's awesome, tell them thank you!" + his gorgeous smile beamed + lit up his face!

I had to LOL, I was having coffee in the Lobby with my friends as the team arrived + I asked all the players to have pix with my friend's son, who's about 11. SJ + Cockatoo strolled into the hotel + I had such a giggle, jumped on them to ask for a photo + teased Cockatoo - "Did you choose Steve as your mentor?" The both laughed + Cockatoo said "Yes!" I replied "OMG!!! Just ensure you only take is playing tips, but ignore any advice to do with girls + 'love life', he'll get you into deep trouble!"

I might think of more later, but I'm just so excited!

That's a good start, Kitty
Cockatoo seems like a lovely young kid- definitely has a cheeky glint in his eye (reminds me more of Motlop than any of the others, but yes, possibly a bit of SJ larrikin in him as well)

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I need to calm down + stop talking in terms of 'he's so adorable I want to eat him up' etc.

Let me start by saying that he has an incredible presence about him, very charismatic + it's interesting to watch his mind tick over when you ask a question. He's very well rehearsed in typical 'Club + new player' type questions, but what I really liked was that when I was talking to him about different subjects he was extremely stylish in the way he drew breath + took advantage of the pause to collect himself. He's a terrific, old soul sort of character *yes red wine is talking*. Even with the 'Club line' responses he is refreshing + after a couple of minutes he relaxed.

I told him about BF sponsoring him + his face lit up! I asked him if I could give his sponsors a message + he took a breath + said "I don't know what to say, really. But it's awesome, tell them thank you!" + his gorgeous smile beamed + lit up his face!

I had to LOL, I was having coffee in the Lobby with my friends as the team arrived + I asked all the players to have pix with my friend's son, who's about 11. SJ + Cockatoo strolled into the hotel + I had such a giggle, jumped on them to ask for a photo + teased Cockatoo - "Did you choose Steve as your mentor?" The both laughed + Cockatoo said "Yes!" I replied "OMG!!! Just ensure you only take is playing tips, but ignore any advice to do with girls + 'love life', he'll get you into deep trouble!"

I might think of more later, but I'm just so excited!

Appreciate the feedback.

 

[Hello Kitty]

That's a good start, Kitty
Cockatoo seems like a lovely young kid- definitely has a cheeky glint in his eye (reminds me more of Motlop than any of the others, but yes, possibly a bit of SJ larrikin in him as well)

Teri, he is such a lovely young guy! After the game last night I ran down the street after him + dragged him back to sign my guernsey lol He was so polite + I did ask him if I should wait until he returned, but he signed them straight away! + he is utterly delightful, terrific sense of humour, was orrrfly polite, + when he smiles or laughs his eyes light up his whole face. He cracking up when I teased him about SJ.
You know, Motlop was the surprise package! I expected him to be very cheeky, but he was so polite + respectful to me + I complimented him + he really blushed, then his whole face beamed. He's quite shy + very sweet. Might be my larger than life, over-excited gushing lol Stokes had no interest in the supporters at Open Training, snuck off. Tomahawk said how surprised he was at the size of the crowd "for Sydney". My friend + I had a bit of a giggle with him about us all being from NSW + that Tom Wills was a NSW'man - Open Training was at the Tom Wills Oval. Every time I see Tomahawk I am totally gobsmacked by how HUGE he is! But he's so gentle + came down to the kids' level to talk to them. My friend's son is about 11 + he chatted all the way from the Oval to the Hotel with Tomahawk, talking about their dogs, it meant the world to Liam! He's posted all his photos with every player + the coaches on Instagram + tagged all the players lol
Selwood is just *swoon* fabulous! Everyone wanted to have their photo with him + he was so generous + attentive to every single person. I really can't find fault with anything over the weekend. The Cats staff are terrific, they knew everyone's name + mingled. I know I've said it a million times over the years, but the Cats interstate events are super!

 

[dazbroncos]

So , had the pleasure of getting the pre game warm up for the Demons game.

I would luv to be able to post pics - but none are allowed.

It was a pretty short event - maybe 12 mins. We met our contact with the club and waited outside the rooms. Walked inside and up a staircase to the viewing gallery above the indoor training area. No photos allowed and only low talking.

Funniest thing was seeing one of the team medicos run thru the area before the players arrived with about 3 pies, a sandwich and a can of coke.

The players then filtered in doing their own thing. They were all very quiet and I wont try and describe the warm up activities other than to say lots of bumping with pads, short fast handball work and quick footwork.

To suggest that they are not focused when they leave is wrong. No team could be asleep after that kind of warm up.

It all might go pear shaped - but Sel has them ready and focused when they run out.

A great thx to SJ, the club and the people that made today possible.

A great experience that I would recommend all add to the Cats fan bucket list of things to see and experience. It might be short in duration but it got mre ready to run out there today.
Great experience and well worth it.

Go Catters

 

[manboob]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time there Darren do you think you will be able to tour a stadium tour before you fly back to the Lower 48?

 

[dazbroncos]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time there Darren do you think you will be able to tour a stadium tour before you fly back to the Lower 48?

Sadly no.. Save that for next time..

Go Catters

 

[Boxhead_31]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time there Darren do you think you will be able to tour a stadium tour before you fly back to the Lower 48?

Can't do it all in one trip MB need to have a reason for Daz to say to the trouble and strife to come back

 

[winty]

Guess someone better do a report of the Inner Sanctum experience, so I might as well do it.

I've posted a few things in other threads, so sue me if I repeat something.

At the start, we were escorted up into the social club where we were met by some of the hospitality staff. We firstly were informed about what will be happening in regards to Stage 4 of the stadium upgrade. All the stands between the Ford and Brownlow stands will be demolished in October this year. The club are thinking it will take 2 AFL seasons to get it completed, but are currently in discussions with the builders to shorten the construction time to just 1 AFL season, as the club estimates their revenue will be hit to the tune of $1.5 million a season due to the decrease in capacity, as well as hospitality and other areas such as gaming. They're aiming to have it look like an extension of the Premiership Stand in terms of the facade and roof structure and the likes. Once it's completed, it will house an expanded Cats Shop, which will actually be the biggest merchandise shop at a stadium in Australia when it's completed. The area that houses the football department will be increased from an area which is currently about 100 square metres to an area around 600 square metres. They're also looking at putting another big screen in for the benefit of those in the Hickey Stand who aren't able to see the ones they currently have.

Ben Waller, the VFL football manager, then gave us a run down of what the players would be doing for the week in terms of training, meetings and what not. The players were required at the club pretty much all day from Monday to Wednesday for things like team meetings, training, rehab, weights sessions and the like. We were told the players actually had to get to the club a lot earlier yesterday as they were required by the AFLPA to do a photo shoot in their match day kit for the upcoming AFL 2016 game. The AFLPA requires players to have one day off a week, which was Thursday this week. Tomorrow they'll be going to the club for a team meeting to watch footage of North and discuss what they do well and areas in which we could exploit them on Saturday night.

Troy Selwood then spoke and said that since we didn't have a game on the weekend, the Wednesday meeting which usually focuses on the previous week's game and things we could improve on, was spent looking ahead to the North game and they focused on certain plans we were to put in place to curtail North's running game, which was going to be the focus of the match simulation training we were going to watch later on. He then discussed the VFL side and how our run of injuries was affecting the VFL team. He told us that we'd been averaging about 8 AFL listed players a week in the VFL side, with only 5 lining up a few weeks ago. He then mentioned when those on the injury list are expected to filter back. The majority of players were mentioned within the next 3 weeks, with the likes of Vardy, McIntosh, Duncan and Delaney named to come back in three weeks. He mentioned that besides Stanley, the only player who they were uncertain about was McCarthy, until someone asked about Clark. He said Clark had a recurrence of his calf injury, and was floating between the group who would be available in 3 weeks and joining McCarthy on the "unknown return" list.

By this stage, the players had finished their team meeting, and were warming up on the ground, so we went down to the rooms to look around the locker room for a few minutes. After about 5-10 minutes in the rooms, we then went up to the board room where we were served lunch and were able to sit in the stand and watch training. Most of the session was focused on our attacking transition from different areas of the ground, with those not in the senior side attempting to defend our transition. Cam Delaney was mainly running laps. On the big screen they showed the GPS data of the players which showed how much effort they were putting in. At the end of this session the data changed to the distance covered by the players. Most players covered around 3km, while Delaney was up to 4km.

After they finished training, we were ushered down to the warm up area and waited for the players to come out and meet with their respective sponsors. After meeting up with the rest of the BigFooty crew, Nakia came out and was introduced to us. He then spent about 5-10 minutes just chatting to us, signing autographs and having photos taken with us. He was very personable and quite willing to answer our questions and whatever we asked of him. Several other players filtered out and were talking to their sponsors as well. Other players that were meeting with sponsors were Menzel, Hawkins, Jansen, Gregson, Selwood, Blicavs, Enright, Smedts and Thurlow. Had to laugh at one stage Blease came out to see if anyone was there for him, but after about 30 seconds of looking around, he disappeared back to the dressing room. Guess no-one loves the guy.

 

[manboob]

Thanks Winty-Pops that was a sweet read.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Guess someone better do a report of the Inner Sanctum experience, so I might as well do it.

I've posted a few things in other threads, so sue me if I repeat something.

At the start, we were escorted up into the social club where we were met by some of the hospitality staff. We firstly were informed about what will be happening in regards to Stage 4 of the stadium upgrade. All the stands between the Ford and Brownlow stands will be demolished in October this year. The club are thinking it will take 2 AFL seasons to get it completed, but are currently in discussions with the builders to shorten the construction time to just 1 AFL season, as the club estimates their revenue will be hit to the tune of $1.5 million a season due to the decrease in capacity, as well as hospitality and other areas such as gaming. They're aiming to have it look like an extension of the Premiership Stand in terms of the facade and roof structure and the likes. Once it's completed, it will house an expanded Cats Shop, which will actually be the biggest merchandise shop at a stadium in Australia when it's completed. The area that houses the football department will be increased from an area which is currently about 100 square metres to an area around 600 square metres. They're also looking at putting another big screen in for the benefit of those in the Hickey Stand who aren't able to see the ones they currently have.

Ben Waller, the VFL football manager, then gave us a run down of what the players would be doing for the week in terms of training, meetings and what not. The players were required at the club pretty much all day from Monday to Wednesday for things like team meetings, training, rehab, weights sessions and the like. We were told the players actually had to get to the club a lot earlier yesterday as they were required by the AFLPA to do a photo shoot in their match day kit for the upcoming AFL 2016 game. The AFLPA requires players to have one day off a week, which was Thursday this week. Tomorrow they'll be going to the club for a team meeting to watch footage of North and discuss what they do well and areas in which we could exploit them on Saturday night.

Troy Selwood then spoke and said that since we didn't have a game on the weekend, the Wednesday meeting which usually focuses on the previous week's game and things we could improve on, was spent looking ahead to the North game and they focused on certain plans we were to put in place to curtail North's running game, which was going to be the focus of the match simulation training we were going to watch later on. He then discussed the VFL side and how our run of injuries was affecting the VFL team. He told us that we'd been averaging about 8 AFL listed players a week in the VFL side, with only 5 lining up a few weeks ago. He then mentioned when those on the injury list are expected to filter back. The majority of players were mentioned within the next 3 weeks, with the likes of Vardy, McIntosh, Duncan and Delaney named to come back in three weeks. He mentioned that besides Stanley, the only player who they were uncertain about was McCarthy, until someone asked about Clark. He said Clark had a recurrence of his calf injury, and was floating between the group who would be available in 3 weeks and joining McCarthy on the "unknown return" list.

By this stage, the players had finished their team meeting, and were warming up on the ground, so we went down to the rooms to look around the locker room for a few minutes. After about 5-10 minutes in the rooms, we then went up to the board room where we were served lunch and were able to sit in the stand and watch training. Most of the session was focused on our attacking transition from different areas of the ground, with those not in the senior side attempting to defend our transition. Cam Delaney was mainly running laps. On the big screen they showed the GPS data of the players which showed how much effort they were putting in. At the end of this session the data changed to the distance covered by the players. Most players covered around 3km, while Delaney was up to 4km.

After they finished training, we were ushered down to the warm up area and waited for the players to come out and meet with their respective sponsors. After meeting up with the rest of the BigFooty crew, Nakia came out and was introduced to us. He then spent about 5-10 minutes just chatting to us, signing autographs and having photos taken with us. He was very personable and quite willing to answer our questions and whatever we asked of him. Several other players filtered out and were talking to their sponsors as well. Other players that were meeting with sponsors were Menzel, Hawkins, Jansen, Gregson, Selwood, Blicavs, Enright, Smedts and Thurlow. Had to laugh at one stage Blease came out to see if anyone was there for him, but after about 30 seconds of looking around, he disappeared back to the dressing room. Guess no-one loves the guy.

Thank you very much, winty! Hope you enjoyed your IS experience!!

Poor Blease. I bet that if Hell Kitty hadn't had her eyes gobbling up Nakia, her soft heart would have made her go over and invite Blease to join your group.

 

[BUSTER29]

Thank you very much, winty! Hope you enjoyed your IS experience!!

Poor Blease. I bet that if Hell Kitty hadn't had her eyes gobbling up Nakia, her soft heart would have made her go over and invite Blease to join your group.

Geez I'm glad you said 'Eyes ' there Teri,I nearly spat my coffee out on first read of your post!

 

[Teriyakicat]

Geez I'm glad you said 'Eyes ' there Teri,I nearly spat my coffee out on first read of your post!

Lol. Dirty minds have a lot of fun, don't they?

 

[Hello Kitty]

Thank you very much, winty! Hope you enjoyed your IS experience!!

Poor Blease. I bet that if Hell Kitty hadn't had her eyes gobbling up Nakia, her soft heart would have made her go over and invite Blease to join your group.

I would have pounced on Blease, but I didn't see him. I was too busy pouncing on Mitch Duncan, Jimmy Bartel, Corey Enright + Daniel Menzel

 

[Teriyakicat]

I would have pounced on Blease, but I didn't see him. I was too busy pouncing on Mitch Duncan, Jimmy Bartel, Corey Enright + Daniel Menzel

Hmmm... yes. Pouncing like a cougar? Heh heh.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Some pix from our Inner Sanctum experience - with my very old iPhone, so poor quality, I'm afraid -

Scott Selwood - looking very sleepy


Cockatoo's Locker with his sponsors' names


Boris has his name in Gold Lettering to honour his 300 games



⬆︎ The GPS data of players' efforts on the Scoreboard ⬇︎



Cockatoo with his Big Footy Sponsors

​

Edit: Obviously that is Troy Selwood, not Scooter. Many thanks Cat Attack08

 

[Hello Kitty]

Hmmm... yes. Pouncing like a cougar? Heh heh.

I think I'm what comes after cougar

In Scott Selwood's presentation, it was interesting to learn that they can't really account for the loss last week He did explain that the VFL team usually has a depth of 12 - 13 players for the AFL team, but with all the injuries, they only have about five players + they've been playing kids from the local area to make up the deficit. He added that it's been a great advantage for the local kids to play with the AFL players, especially Bartel.

Kelly was wearing a training guernsey with '70', so I went up to him + said "Are you a new player to Geelong?" + he burst out laughing. I added "Geez I hope you get some Premiership medals!" Kelly + kept laughing, then poked me in the ribs. He's such a crack up, his smile + laughter are contagious.

Also spoke to Enright + Duncan, boy are they utterly gorgeous!

The Club have trained the players' very well because each of them look you in the eyes when you're speaking + when they're speaking, which is a very engaging quality.

Cockatoo has a similar injury to Duncan, so they've been doing rehab + training together.

We had a terrific day, which was well worth the drive for me, from NSW to Geelong.

winty - that's a fantastic post about our experience.

 

[Boxhead_31]

I think I'm what comes after cougar

In Scott Selwood's presentation, it was interesting to learn that they can't really account for the loss last week He did explain that the VFL team usually has a depth of 12 - 13 players for the AFL team, but with all the injuries, they only have about five players + they've been playing kids from the local area to make up the deficit. He added that it's been a great advantage for the local kids to play with the AFL players, especially Bartel.

Kelly was wearing a training guernsey with '70', so I went up to him + said "Are you a new player to Geelong?" + he burst out laughing. I added "Geez I hope you get some Premiership medals!" Kelly + kept laughing, then poked me in the ribs. He's such a crack up, his smile + laughter are contagious.

Also spoke to Enright + Duncan, boy are they utterly gorgeous!

The Club have trained the players' very well because each of them look you in the eyes when you're speaking + when they're speaking, which is a very engaging quality.

Cockatoo has a similar injury to Duncan, so they've been doing rehab + training together.

We had a terrific day, which was well worth the drive for me, from NSW to Geelong.

winty - that's a fantastic post about our experience.

Letting the Cat out of the bag with that inside information Kitty? Scott is still playing for West Coast

 

[abet]

I would have pounced on Blease, but I didn't see him. I was too busy pouncing on Mitch Duncan, Jimmy Bartel, Corey Enright, Daniel Menzel, Rhys Stanley, Billie Smedts, Andrew Mackie, Nakia Cockatoo, Lincoln McCarthy, Harry Taylor, Jake Kolodjashnij, James Kelly, Darcy Lang, Tom Lonergan, Joel Selwood, Dean Gore, Dawson Simpson, Hamish McIntosh, Josh Cowan, Mitch Clark, Steve Johnson, Jordan Murdoch, Josh Caddy, Jed Bews, Jared Rivers, Tom Hawkins, Mathew Stokes, Cory Gregson, Cameron Guthrie, Nathan Vardy, Jordan Cunico, Steven Motlop, George Horlin-Smith, Josh Walker, Jarrad Jansen, Michael Luxford, Tom Read, Shane Kersten, Jackson Thurlow, Padraig Lucey, Zac Bates, Cameron Delaney, Mark Blicavs

FIFY