Player Sponsorship 2019 Richmond Board Player Sponsorship

Can confirm -
1 - I am a ripper bloke - get ****ed tugga and _Wang_
2 - @micheals and rfctiger74 great fellas.
3 - I can't confirm or deny any bowling statements made.
I appreciated the opportunity last night. It was good fun.
 
Can confirm -
1 - I am a ripper bloke - get ****** tugga and _Wang_
2 - @micheals and rfctiger74 great fellas.
3 - I can't confirm or deny any bowling statements made.
I appreciated the opportunity last night. It was good fun.
You left too early. Was looking forward to the catch up.

Haere Ra
 
You left too early. Was looking forward to the catch up.

Haere Ra

Hi mate, I actually went for a look to find you, however no one could spot you unfortunately. I promise, next time we will. I had a 2 hour drive home, so i left at a sensible time after a long day at work.


Sent from my iPad using righteous Bhodi manpower
 
Hi mate, I actually went for a look to find you, however no one could spot you unfortunately. I promise, next time we will. I had a 2 hour drive home, so i left at a sensible time after a long day at work.


Sent from my iPad using righteous Bhodi manpower
Very sensible. Sorry I missed you and catch up at the next one.

I was out the back at first aid after daring to challenge Nank and getting buried into the rink.

Haere Ra
 
Very sensible. Sorry I missed you and catch up at the next one.

I was out the back at first aid after daring to challenge Nank and getting buried into the rink.

Haere Ra

Of all the blokes to challenge! It’s all good. There’s always a next time.


Sent from my iPad using righteous Bhodi manpower
 
I tonight received the invite for the next sponsorship event

Player Sponsor Dinnner.jpg


Over the next couple of days i will be giving the wheel a spin again to try and find our three lucky winners. As with last time i'll contact you via PM and if you cant go we will keep on spinning until we find our 3 invitees.

Michaels
 
Congrats to TerraTiger , Dr Tigris and thedreamisreal who have been drawn out to attend the Player Sponsor Dinner. Looking forward to hearing all about the event fellas.

Enjoy!
 
Bump.

Off to work crown this Friday night for the players sponsors dinner.

Hope we get to see the whole list turn up.
 
Very sensible. Sorry I missed you and catch up at the next one.

I was out the back at first aid after daring to challenge Nank and getting buried into the rink.

Haere Ra

You in Melbourne this Friday night?
 
Had the pleasure of attending the player sponsor dinner last night. Below are a few notes so others can get some idea of the experience

The night started off a bit weird when for whatever reason the club only had 2 BF folk registered so, despite originally being paired with Bachar then Marlion (when it was known before the event Houli was an apology), all guests were allocated a table bar myself. Anyway, club sorted and I ended up on a table with Dave Astbury and Callum Moore. Sat next to Astbury.

There were 20 or so tables each with 2 players and approx. 6-8 sponsors.

Jack and Rance MC'ed the night. Both were really great with a steady stream of jokes.

After 10 - 15 minutes of pre-dinner drinks and nibbles with players standing chatting to sponsors Jack and Rance requested everyone take their allocated seats at their tables. Once settled Jack enquired as to anyone who wasn't with their sponsored player. After a few rumblings from the crowd it become apparent Marbs and Shai were missing. Jack made a formal apology for Cotch and Houli but suggested Marbs and Shai would certainly be together somewhere and both should be at the event. Rance then introduced a highlights package from the first part of the year. Once that was done a sheepish Marbs and Shai turned up. Rance gave them the obligatory stick upon entering the room asking Marbs what happened. Marbs made some gag that Shai had to buy shoes, which Shai went along with, so perhaps true.

There was then time to chat at tables with sponsor players. Dave was great. Some details below. Callum was opposite side of the table so I didn't talk to him other than to say hello. This chat time was broken up a little with a quiz where each table formed a team and a series of multiple choice questions were displayed on the AV screens. With quiz done, Jack and Rance requested selected players come to the stage where they proceeded to be put in pairs with one having headphones with loud music playing while the players partner had to say a sentence for the other partner to guess what was being said - Chinese whispers. Kamdyn was paired with Jack Graham, Tom Lynch with Liam Baker. Was pretty funny. Phrases such as 'Higgo sings in the shower', and others were understood with varying degrees of accuracy. Baker was really getting into it and seemed very competitive, Lynch was terrible at guessing it, and Kamdyn didn't seem to care too much, smiling his way though it. Jack asked each of the 4 players a couple of questions with the biggest laugh reserved for Lynch proclaiming his best memory of this time at the gold coast was the 'plane trip out of there'.

Jack and Rance continued to crack gags which were really good. They also got Pat Naish, Shorty and Oleg to the stage for a bit more chit-chat and questions. Was good too.

Dinner was nice. Great red and white wine on offer, plenty drinking beer too. Main course of beef and desert (maybe panna cotta - not 100% I'm not a sweets guy) was tasty. Coffee and/or tea after.

About 9:30pm night wound up and players and sponsors left. While there was some mingling opportunity during the breaks in MC and the main course didn't seem to be too much of folk talking to players outside of the players they directly sponsor. In particular, I walked out of the event with Caddy, Stack, Dion and a few others.

My chats with Dave Astbury
Dave was really accommodating. While I wanted to respect that he had personal sponsors at the table and wanted to ensure they had enough airtime for their chats to him, their conversation topics seemed pretty superficial. Like 'you've been at the club while now Dave', he was polite in his answers and all, but after this type of stuff went on, I wanted to ask some deeper stuff and we started having a really good natter. He seemed to appreciate that type of conversation and ended up asking me quite a few things - which I was really impressed with. A few take outs below.

I asked him about the GF win being the pinnacle for him as a player (and us as supporters) and how he found the experience. Included in his response (we chatted about it a bit), 'yeah, sometimes he finds himself thinking about it in disbelief - was really great/crazy...all sorts of things'. Said while he catches himself thinking about it, he tries not to else to forget that they have an opportunity to add others and really needs to be sharp in focusing on the now.

We chatted about injuries and how it's really hurt us. He mentioned the injuries have been huge (we all know that) and he (the club) is actually pretty happy to be ahead on wins and losses atm. He was very, very bullish on the number of players coming back soon. Said he trained that yesterday which went well and would be looking to be back for next game. I chatted to him about the opportunity injuries have presented the likes of Balta, Shai, Naishy, Stack etc etc. He agreed it's a silver lining, but seemed to be back on the time for him and the players of his vintage is now (for further flags).

I didn't want to bring up last years prelim but someone at the table did. He confirmed he was really crook in the lead-up. When he asked if was gastro, said was way worse than normal gastro. Was in hospital the night before. Pumped full of stuff to get him up and felt really good before game. Game didn't work out, was disappointing.

I chatted to him about family and he mentioned he loves getting back to where we grew up. Has a hobby farm with 40 odd cattle on it. Really loves it there (Arrart way). Sister lives in Northcott loves to come to games. Seems they are close.

Presently doing his Masters at Swinburne. Finished commerce degree a while back. Liking the masters but no idea how he'll apply it once done. He was genuinely interested in my business and we chatted about that too.



If anyone's still reading, congrats. I didn't intend this to be so long. I'll sign off now. Great night, Dave was a champ. Thanks to our board for providing me with the option to attend.

Cheers.
TerraTiger
 
Had the pleasure of attending the player sponsor dinner last night. Below are a few notes so others can get some idea of the experience

The night started off a bit weird when for whatever reason the club only had 2 BF folk registered so, despite originally being paired with Bachar then Marlion (when it was known before the event Houli was an apology), all guests were allocated a table bar myself. Anyway, club sorted and I ended up on a table with Dave Astbury and Callum Moore. Sat next to Astbury.

There were 20 or so tables each with 2 players and approx. 6-8 sponsors.

Jack and Rance MC'ed the night. Both were really great with a steady stream of jokes.

After 10 - 15 minutes of pre-dinner drinks and nibbles with players standing chatting to sponsors Jack and Rance requested everyone take their allocated seats at their tables. Once settled Jack enquired as to anyone who wasn't with their sponsored player. After a few rumblings from the crowd it become apparent Marbs and Shai were missing. Jack made a formal apology for Cotch and Houli but suggested Marbs and Shai would certainly be together somewhere and both should be at the event. Rance then introduced a highlights package from the first part of the year. Once that was done a sheepish Marbs and Shai turned up. Rance gave them the obligatory stick upon entering the room asking Marbs what happened. Marbs made some gag that Shai had to buy shoes, which Shai went along with, so perhaps true.

There was then time to chat at tables with sponsor players. Dave was great. Some details below. Callum was opposite side of the table so I didn't talk to him other than to say hello. This chat time was broken up a little with a quiz where each table formed a team and a series of multiple choice questions were displayed on the AV screens. With quiz done, Jack and Rance requested selected players come to the stage where they proceeded to be put in pairs with one having headphones with loud music playing while the players partner had to say a sentence for the other partner to guess what was being said - Chinese whispers. Kamdyn was paired with Jack Graham, Tom Lynch with Liam Baker. Was pretty funny. Phrases such as 'Higgo sings in the shower', and others were understood with varying degrees of accuracy. Baker was really getting into it and seemed very competitive, Lynch was terrible at guessing it, and Kamdyn didn't seem to care too much, smiling his way though it. Jack asked each of the 4 players a couple of questions with the biggest laugh reserved for Lynch proclaiming his best memory of this time at the gold coast was the 'plane trip out of there'.

Jack and Rance continued to crack gags which were really good. They also got Pat Naish, Shorty and Oleg to the stage for a bit more chit-chat and questions. Was good too.

Dinner was nice. Great red and white wine on offer, plenty drinking beer too. Main course of beef and desert (maybe panna cotta - not 100% I'm not a sweets guy) was tasty. Coffee and/or tea after.

About 9:30pm night wound up and players and sponsors left. While there was some mingling opportunity during the breaks in MC and the main course didn't seem to be too much of folk talking to players outside of the players they directly sponsor. In particular, I walked out of the event with Caddy, Stack, Dion and a few others.

My chats with Dave Astbury
Dave was really accommodating. While I wanted to respect that he had personal sponsors at the table and wanted to ensure they had enough airtime for their chats to him, their conversation topics seemed pretty superficial. Like 'you've been at the club while now Dave', he was polite in his answers and all, but after this type of stuff went on, I wanted to ask some deeper stuff and we started having a really good natter. He seemed to appreciate that type of conversation and ended up asking me quite a few things - which I was really impressed with. A few take outs below.

I asked him about the GF win being the pinnacle for him as a player (and us as supporters) and how he found the experience. Included in his response (we chatted about it a bit), 'yeah, sometimes he finds himself thinking about it in disbelief - was really great/crazy...all sorts of things'. Said while he catches himself thinking about it, he tries not to else to forget that they have an opportunity to add others and really needs to be sharp in focusing on the now.

We chatted about injuries and how it's really hurt us. He mentioned the injuries have been huge (we all know that) and he (the club) is actually pretty happy to be ahead on wins and losses atm. He was very, very bullish on the number of players coming back soon. Said he trained that yesterday which went well and would be looking to be back for next game. I chatted to him about the opportunity injuries have presented the likes of Balta, Shai, Naishy, Stack etc etc. He agreed it's a silver lining, but seemed to be back on the time for him and the players of his vintage is now (for further flags).

I didn't want to bring up last years prelim but someone at the table did. He confirmed he was really crook in the lead-up. When he asked if was gastro, said was way worse than normal gastro. Was in hospital the night before. Pumped full of stuff to get him up and felt really good before game. Game didn't work out, was disappointing.

I chatted to him about family and he mentioned he loves getting back to where we grew up. Has a hobby farm with 40 odd cattle on it. Really loves it there (Arrart way). Sister lives in Northcott loves to come to games. Seems they are close.

Presently doing his Masters at Swinburne. Finished commerce degree a while back. Liking the masters but no idea how he'll apply it once done. He was genuinely interested in my business and we chatted about that too.



If anyone's still reading, congrats. I didn't intend this to be so long. I'll sign off now. Great night, Dave was a champ. Thanks to our board for providing me with the option to attend.

Cheers.
TerraTiger

Thanks for the insight Terra. Sounded like an enjoyable night once they got it sorted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Had the pleasure of attending the player sponsor dinner last night. Below are a few notes so others can get some idea of the experience

The night started off a bit weird when for whatever reason the club only had 2 BF folk registered so, despite originally being paired with Bachar then Marlion (when it was known before the event Houli was an apology), all guests were allocated a table bar myself. Anyway, club sorted and I ended up on a table with Dave Astbury and Callum Moore. Sat next to Astbury.

There were 20 or so tables each with 2 players and approx. 6-8 sponsors.

Jack and Rance MC'ed the night. Both were really great with a steady stream of jokes.

After 10 - 15 minutes of pre-dinner drinks and nibbles with players standing chatting to sponsors Jack and Rance requested everyone take their allocated seats at their tables. Once settled Jack enquired as to anyone who wasn't with their sponsored player. After a few rumblings from the crowd it become apparent Marbs and Shai were missing. Jack made a formal apology for Cotch and Houli but suggested Marbs and Shai would certainly be together somewhere and both should be at the event. Rance then introduced a highlights package from the first part of the year. Once that was done a sheepish Marbs and Shai turned up. Rance gave them the obligatory stick upon entering the room asking Marbs what happened. Marbs made some gag that Shai had to buy shoes, which Shai went along with, so perhaps true.

There was then time to chat at tables with sponsor players. Dave was great. Some details below. Callum was opposite side of the table so I didn't talk to him other than to say hello. This chat time was broken up a little with a quiz where each table formed a team and a series of multiple choice questions were displayed on the AV screens. With quiz done, Jack and Rance requested selected players come to the stage where they proceeded to be put in pairs with one having headphones with loud music playing while the players partner had to say a sentence for the other partner to guess what was being said - Chinese whispers. Kamdyn was paired with Jack Graham, Tom Lynch with Liam Baker. Was pretty funny. Phrases such as 'Higgo sings in the shower', and others were understood with varying degrees of accuracy. Baker was really getting into it and seemed very competitive, Lynch was terrible at guessing it, and Kamdyn didn't seem to care too much, smiling his way though it. Jack asked each of the 4 players a couple of questions with the biggest laugh reserved for Lynch proclaiming his best memory of this time at the gold coast was the 'plane trip out of there'.

Jack and Rance continued to crack gags which were really good. They also got Pat Naish, Shorty and Oleg to the stage for a bit more chit-chat and questions. Was good too.

Dinner was nice. Great red and white wine on offer, plenty drinking beer too. Main course of beef and desert (maybe panna cotta - not 100% I'm not a sweets guy) was tasty. Coffee and/or tea after.

About 9:30pm night wound up and players and sponsors left. While there was some mingling opportunity during the breaks in MC and the main course didn't seem to be too much of folk talking to players outside of the players they directly sponsor. In particular, I walked out of the event with Caddy, Stack, Dion and a few others.

My chats with Dave Astbury
Dave was really accommodating. While I wanted to respect that he had personal sponsors at the table and wanted to ensure they had enough airtime for their chats to him, their conversation topics seemed pretty superficial. Like 'you've been at the club while now Dave', he was polite in his answers and all, but after this type of stuff went on, I wanted to ask some deeper stuff and we started having a really good natter. He seemed to appreciate that type of conversation and ended up asking me quite a few things - which I was really impressed with. A few take outs below.

I asked him about the GF win being the pinnacle for him as a player (and us as supporters) and how he found the experience. Included in his response (we chatted about it a bit), 'yeah, sometimes he finds himself thinking about it in disbelief - was really great/crazy...all sorts of things'. Said while he catches himself thinking about it, he tries not to else to forget that they have an opportunity to add others and really needs to be sharp in focusing on the now.

We chatted about injuries and how it's really hurt us. He mentioned the injuries have been huge (we all know that) and he (the club) is actually pretty happy to be ahead on wins and losses atm. He was very, very bullish on the number of players coming back soon. Said he trained that yesterday which went well and would be looking to be back for next game. I chatted to him about the opportunity injuries have presented the likes of Balta, Shai, Naishy, Stack etc etc. He agreed it's a silver lining, but seemed to be back on the time for him and the players of his vintage is now (for further flags).

I didn't want to bring up last years prelim but someone at the table did. He confirmed he was really crook in the lead-up. When he asked if was gastro, said was way worse than normal gastro. Was in hospital the night before. Pumped full of stuff to get him up and felt really good before game. Game didn't work out, was disappointing.

I chatted to him about family and he mentioned he loves getting back to where we grew up. Has a hobby farm with 40 odd cattle on it. Really loves it there (Arrart way). Sister lives in Northcott loves to come to games. Seems they are close.

Presently doing his Masters at Swinburne. Finished commerce degree a while back. Liking the masters but no idea how he'll apply it once done. He was genuinely interested in my business and we chatted about that too.



If anyone's still reading, congrats. I didn't intend this to be so long. I'll sign off now. Great night, Dave was a champ. Thanks to our board for providing me with the option to attend.

Cheers.
TerraTiger
Great report Terra......well done. Bloody envious.

Sounds similar to the Members Cocktail nite the club held at Crown very year until the club inexplicably pulled the pin on the event few years ago .
Astbury comes across as a very focused and determined person trying his utmost for the team.
Good to hear.
 
I was also lucky enough to attend on Friday night (thanks Michaels & Wacky Tiger). Excellent summary of the night from TerraTiger so I'll just expand on it a bit with my memories of the night.
The night started off a bit weird when for whatever reason the club only had 2 BF folk registered so, despite originally being paired with Bachar then Marlion (when it was known before the event Houli was an apology), all guests were allocated a table bar myself. Anyway, club sorted and I ended up on a table with Dave Astbury and Callum Moore. Sat next to Astbury.

There were 20 or so tables each with 2 players and approx. 6-8 sponsors.
Glad to hear you got seated okay, I was a bit reluctant too as they didn't have my name on the list and didn't seem quite sure what to do with me. I told her I was with Kamdyn so she just sent me upstairs and I followed my nose to table 17. Small hiccup with us aside, the Richmond staff did a fantastic job of organizing sponsors and players and making sure the night ran smoothly. My seat was between Broad on the far right, a young bloke directly to my right, an older lady to my left and Kamdyn second-to-my-left.

698640


After a few rumblings from the crowd it become apparent Marbs and Shai were missing. Jack made a formal apology for Cotch and Houli but suggested Marbs and Shai would certainly be together somewhere and both should be at the event. Rance then introduced a highlights package from the first part of the year. Once that was done a sheepish Marbs and Shai turned up. Rance gave them the obligatory stick upon entering the room asking Marbs what happened. Marbs made some gag that Shai had to buy shoes, which Shai went along with, so perhaps true.
The young bloke next to me was Cotch's sponsor and has been since he was drafted - apparently Cotch was still on his break in Bondi. After a couple inquiries I was told that Houli "is just good at getting out of these types of things". The older lady to my left has been part of the program since the start and sponsors both Graham and Kamdyn. Bolton (according to Chol) picked his new shoes up at Big W. Rance remarked later in the night that we're hoping for a big "W" next weekend (not his best).
There was then time to chat at tables with sponsor players. Dave was great. Some details below. Callum was opposite side of the table so I didn't talk to him other than to say hello. This chat time was broken up a little with a quiz where each table formed a team and a series of multiple choice questions were displayed on the AV screens.
The second part to this quiz tasked us with watching clips from the last couple of years. The clips were cut off just before a funny moment and we had to guess what happened next. I.e. Dusty falling over, McIntosh pushing over an opponent before the bounce, Townsend missing it out on the full v. North (yeah real funny :rolleyes:). They showed that footage of Nank burning Roaming Brian which the playing group absolutely loved.
With quiz done, Jack and Rance requested selected players come to the stage where they proceeded to be put in pairs with one having headphones with loud music playing while the players partner had to say a sentence for the other partner to guess what was being said - Chinese whispers. Kamdyn was paired with Jack Graham, Tom Lynch with Liam Baker. Was pretty funny. Phrases such as 'Higgo sings in the shower', and others were understood with varying degrees of accuracy.
Rance introduced them as the four players with the lowest IQ as they made their way to the stage. He also revealed that Lynch has the smallest nipples he's ever seen. The four of them continued to cop it, but they gave a bit back. The Chinese whispers highlight would have to be Graham's confident response of "Towner's got a hairy arse!". All eyes turned to Towner's table and he confirmed that he does, in fact, have a hairy arse.
Jack and Rance continued to crack gags which were really good. They also got Pat Naish, Shorty and Oleg to the stage for a bit more chit-chat and questions. Was good too.
This is where Rance told the room he was inviting the club's "barometers" to the stage. At my table Broad guessed at Naish, Short and Higgins. He was right on 2/3 but George was called up in place of Higgins. Jack & Rance asked George to call up the "real" barometer and he picked Oleg. In stark contrast to the first group, these three were quick-witted and enthusiastic about the game. They played a Jeopardy-style game where they wrote down teammates' names in response to questions of Rance and Jack. Two highlights as follows:

"Who is the best barrister at the club?" - Naish: "Towner". Rance remarked that Towner gets the most practice because all the media girls hang out in a spot near the coffee machine. The theme of Towner being a creep continued through the game. He clearly is not but it was hilarious banter nonetheless. "Who is the last TM you'd want to marry your daughter?" - all: "Towner". And a great moment; "who would you MOST want to marry your daughter" - Short: "BROADA!!!".
Dinner was nice. Great red and white wine on offer, plenty drinking beer too. Main course of beef and desert (maybe panna cotta - not 100% I'm not a sweets guy) was tasty. Coffee and/or tea after.
Can confirm the food was fantastic and the drinks were flowing!
About 9:30pm night wound up and players and sponsors left. While there was some mingling opportunity during the breaks in MC and the main course didn't seem to be too much of folk talking to players outside of the players they directly sponsor.
I definitely noticed this too, some of the sponsors even seemed a tad protective of their players. I suppose it's understandable as they'd be keen to get their money's worth. Having said that though, I did hear of a few mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationships between players and sponsors which was great.
Dave was really accommodating. While I wanted to respect that he had personal sponsors at the table and wanted to ensure they had enough airtime for their chats to him, their conversation topics seemed pretty superficial. Like 'you've been at the club while now Dave'
It was a bit the same with Kamdyn's, though honestly I think the sponsors have done this that many times that they'd just run out of things to say. I was very conscious of the fact that I was a blow-in and didn't really feel deserving of the players' time, but no one was talking to Kamdyn so good for me!

My chat with Kamdyn was great. We both grew up in Perth so we spoke about how shite it was supporting a Victorian club in WA - sorry guys but he was (is?!) a Carlton supporter. We reminisced about his 2015 debut where he dominated his old team, nabbed a Rising Star nom and a Tissot watch for Man of the Match. Jeez, that feels like a decade ago now. He's done a builders course for his "life after footy" but he's putting it to good use on an art deco joint that he's gutting and renovating in his spare time. He'd actually met a few builders and trades at these sponsor do's that are helping him out. We shared a few anecdotes about the 2017 prelim. I congratulated him on an awesome year which he didn't really want to hear about due to recent team performances. He too, like all the players, was bullish about the second half of the year and they're clearly happy with where they sit.

He showed genuine interest in my work, my life, my new house (apparently I live near Shedda now :D:thumbsu: look out). What struck me most was that he doesn't talk about the game like it's a job - he's just a bloke that loves playing footy on the weekend and going to training with his mates. At the end of the night he was trying to get out but people were bailing him up left, right and center. He took it all in his stride though and seemed genuinely happy to be there and chat to the fans.

Again, great night and an experience that I'll never forget.
 
I was also lucky enough to attend on Friday night (thanks Michaels & Wacky Tiger). Excellent summary of the night from TerraTiger so I'll just expand on it a bit with my memories of the night.

Glad to hear you got seated okay, I was a bit reluctant too as they didn't have my name on the list and didn't seem quite sure what to do with me. I told her I was with Kamdyn so she just sent me upstairs and I followed my nose to table 17. Small hiccup with us aside, the Richmond staff did a fantastic job of organizing sponsors and players and making sure the night ran smoothly. My seat was between Broad on the far right, a young bloke directly to my right, an older lady to my left and Kamdyn second-to-my-left.

View attachment 698640


The young bloke next to me was Cotch's sponsor and has been since he was drafted - apparently Cotch was still on his break in Bondi. After a couple inquiries I was told that Houli "is just good at getting out of these types of things". The older lady to my left has been part of the program since the start and sponsors both Graham and Kamdyn. Bolton (according to Chol) picked his new shoes up at Big W. Rance remarked later in the night that we're hoping for a big "W" next weekend (not his best).

The second part to this quiz tasked us with watching clips from the last couple of years. The clips were cut off just before a funny moment and we had to guess what happened next. I.e. Dusty falling over, McIntosh pushing over an opponent before the bounce, Townsend missing it out on the full v. North (yeah real funny :rolleyes:). They showed that footage of Nank burning Roaming Brian which the playing group absolutely loved.

Rance introduced them as the four players with the lowest IQ as they made their way to the stage. He also revealed that Lynch has the smallest nipples he's ever seen. The four of them continued to cop it, but they gave a bit back. The Chinese whispers highlight would have to be Graham's confident response of "Towner's got a hairy arse!". All eyes turned to Towner's table and he confirmed that he does, in fact, have a hairy arse.

This is where Rance told the room he was inviting the club's "barometers" to the stage. At my table Broad guessed at Naish, Short and Higgins. He was right on 2/3 but George was called up in place of Higgins. Jack & Rance asked George to call up the "real" barometer and he picked Oleg. In stark contrast to the first group, these three were quick-witted and enthusiastic about the game. They played a Jeopardy-style game where they wrote down teammates' names in response to questions of Rance and Jack. Two highlights as follows:

"Who is the best barrister at the club?" - Naish: "Towner". Rance remarked that Towner gets the most practice because all the media girls hang out in a spot near the coffee machine. The theme of Towner being a creep continued through the game. He clearly is not but it was hilarious banter nonetheless. "Who is the last TM you'd want to marry your daughter?" - all: "Towner". And a great moment; "who would you MOST want to marry your daughter" - Short: "BROADA!!!".

Can confirm the food was fantastic and the drinks were flowing!

I definitely noticed this too, some of the sponsors even seemed a tad protective of their players. I suppose it's understandable as they'd be keen to get their money's worth. Having said that though, I did hear of a few mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationships between players and sponsors which was great.

It was a bit the same with Kamdyn's, though honestly I think the sponsors have done this that many times that they'd just run out of things to say. I was very conscious of the fact that I was a blow-in and didn't really feel deserving of the players' time, but no one was talking to Kamdyn so good for me!

My chat with Kamdyn was great. We both grew up in Perth so we spoke about how ****e it was supporting a Victorian club in WA - sorry guys but he was (is?!) a Carlton supporter. We reminisced about his 2015 debut where he dominated his old team, nabbed a Rising Star nom and a Tissot watch for Man of the Match. Jeez, that feels like a decade ago now. He's done a builders course for his "life after footy" but he's putting it to good use on an art deco joint that he's gutting and renovating in his spare time. He'd actually met a few builders and trades at these sponsor do's that are helping him out. We shared a few anecdotes about the 2017 prelim. I congratulated him on an awesome year which he didn't really want to hear about due to recent team performances. He too, like all the players, was bullish about the second half of the year and they're clearly happy with where they sit.

He showed genuine interest in my work, my life, my new house (apparently I live near Shedda now :D:thumbsu: look out). What struck me most was that he doesn't talk about the game like it's a job - he's just a bloke that loves playing footy on the weekend and going to training with his mates. At the end of the night he was trying to get out but people were bailing him up left, right and center. He took it all in his stride though and seemed genuinely happy to be there and chat to the fans.

Again, great night and an experience that I'll never forget.
Thanks for the breakdown mate. Apologies for the confusion with seating and whatnot. They had this weird RSVP link and think they may have had a few issues with it. Also cause our participants change each event as opposed to other sponsors they may have had some mix ups with that.

Great to hear you enjoyed yourself though.
 
Hey Guys,

So just a heads up we have the next event coming up

Player sponsor event:

Our next player sponsorship event will occur on Saturday August 10th, from 10am-12pm. This will involve watching the boys train from the boardroom and balcony with morning tea provided, an update from Neil Balme, and an opposition analysis of our clash against Carlton by Damien Hardwick.

I'll be spinning the wheel and sending out PM's shortly to see if the lucky winners can attend.

When i have all the attendees set i'll post the lucky names in here

Cheers

Wacky
 
Player sponsor lunch with Bachar Houli - Wed 14th Aug

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Hi all, just back from the player sponsor lunch with Bachar Houli. I believe this was a make-up session because Bachar (and I for that matter) couldn't make another event. Many thanks to Wacky Tiger and the mod team for coordinating the event with the club.

The lunch was a sit down affair in the Maurice Rioli room, quite an intimate affair with less than 50 people in the room. The players were only scheduled to attend for 45 minutes, so the whole thing was done in the blink of an eye. There were 6 tables, each with one or two players and about six sponsors. Our table had Mav Weller as well as Bachar. The other sponsors seemed to be regulars whom they knew well and were good company. The other players in attendance were Jack, Trent, Dave Astbury, Ivan Soldo and Lynchy.

For those interested, lunch consisted of a nicely presented grilled chicken breast on a salad with a few other salads on the table to share. There was no alcohol served (not that I wanted any Wednesday lunchtime). Bachar had an individual vegetarian meal. Mav chowed down with gusto!

Bachar was 10 minutes late as he had been at a meeting at AFL house, but typically stayed at least 20 minutes after the event was due to end. He was as charming and engaging as I have previously found him to be, clearly very much at ease with himself as a player and comfortable to talk on a variety of topics. It was quiet enough that the whole table could be involved a lot of the time.

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Some of the things covered
  • Bachar was late because he had been at a meeting at AFL House to flesh out an updated vilification policy. He has an official cultural awareness role with the AFL, and has been asked to participate in the revision of the current document which is over 20 years old. It will cover race, gender, sexuality etc and sounds a bit more considered than the disastrous 'behavioural police' from early this season. [Incidentally the cheer squad member who was suspended for 3 weeks was also in attendance. Apparently his ejection and suspension occurred after he called an umpire a 'green m***ot' which was misheard by security as 'green f***ot'. The AFL requested his membership be cancelled and a one year ban, which required the club to respond to correct the misunderstanding and achieve a more reasonable outcome. This info came from another guest before BH arrived].
  • A lot of discussion about how this is statistically Bachar's best season. He's clearly not concerned about his stats or giving a lot of thought to how long he will play or whether he will get a contract extension (I think he is only contracted to this year). He's happy to play his role, enjoying the season, pleased with what he has achieved and will happily move on to other things when the club calls time. He said that he will still be based at the Swinburne Centre when his playing days are finished to continue to work with the Bachar Houli Academy. http://community.afl/multicultural/programs/bachar-houli-academy He's a great speaker and sees the game so well that you couldn't rule out a coaching role too.
  • Asked about who plays a role most like his, and who would be being developed to play the link man. He singled out Derek Eggmolesse-Smith as a possible gun in this role, but mentioned a few others including Connor Medadue and Oleg Markov.
  • Discussed the two-edged sword of wet-weather football. Bachar sees himself as a dry weather specialist and thinks the game becomes too predictable in the wet (up and down the lines). He's able to use his skills to best advantage on cleaner days. Acknowledged that while the recent wet games suited the club, it does have an impact on player fatigue which has been discussed internally. However, the club are great as monitoring individual needs and running modified training. A number of players are having a lighter week in preparation for the Eagles.
  • His parents were not keen for the boys in the family to get involved with football, as they thought that academic pursuits should be the focus. The boys successfully argued that balance was important in life, and so Bachar was able to follow his older brothers on a path to club football. His Mum has now gone full circle and tells him what he is doing wrong after each game! One older brother Nezor did become a surgeon, and Bachar says that saving lives was a much greater achievement than kicking a ball around. I pointed out that his brother could only make one patient at a time happy - Bachar can make over 100000 people happy at once!
  • Mav Weller, who is built like a brick s**thouse, was a confident young man. Some interesting insights into how to preserve energy for burst efforts through the match while still being able to run distances within yourself to get to contests.
That's about all I remember. There were individual photos with the players and their sponsors at the end before they had to rush off to their next scheduled activity. I'll pop the photo up when it arrives - I didn't take any others inside. All-in-all it was a brief event but well worth taking the day off. Bachar is a terrific guy and really has the knack of giving his time generously - you can't help but like him.

726507
 
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Mav had just two sponsors there, one guy and his 10-ish kid. He was largely in conversation with them, and Bachar was way too interesting to cut in!
 
Attended the Opposition Analysis event last Saturday morning at Maurice Rioli Room and also caught up with the great Muddiemoose.

Morning refreshments were fantastic and listening to Balmey as always was riveting.
Admitted that Caracella was offered more money to join Bumbers but a few family concerns also compelled him to leave.
Said they'd likely seek someone of similar experience to fill his position and that club would likely to be quiet again this draft season due to Cap reasons.

We then all headed down to watch players have a very casual session in the rain, which mainly involved shots at goal (Graham couldn't miss any from the boundary......showed the next day!!)
We then headed into GR auditorium Room to listen to Dimma tell us No.4 wasn't playing due to soreness. Never heard so many people groan so loudly!
He then provided detailed analysis of Carltons game plan, which mainly revolved around deep F30 entries and reliance on Simpson to run the ball out of defence. He soon after showed us the teams training schedule during the week simulating game situations based on how Carlton played.

I've always wondered just how much work and detail does a club put into preparing for each game.
Well, after seeing and hearing Dimma for 30 mins I can tell everyone he is as thorough and detailed as anyone can be in a professional environment.
This club is in a GREAT space.

Also just like to thank Wacky Tiger and Michaels for co coordinating the event and was great to catch up with the famous Muddie.

Eat 'em Alive!!
 
Great to hear all these great stories :thumbsu:

Next up i'll be receiving the 3 x signed Guernseys soon so stay tuned to see if you name gets drawn out
 
So the final items up were the signed 2019 guernseys and the following winners have been notified

Tigerpagz won the Bachar Houli signed guernsey

Elton Johns Wig won the Kamdyn McIntosh signed guernsey

TheLoungeLizard won the Luke English signed guernsey

So as far as i can see thats it for the season 2019 sponsorship goodies. If the club invite us or announce anything else i'll keep this thread updated.

Otherwise congratulations to all the prize winners for 2019, a massive thanks to all of you that donated and supported the 2019 Richmond Board Player Sponsorship program. As I am i'm sure you're all proud of what the club have achieved so far this season with all the setbacks we have and and look forward to a fierce finals series. Fingers crossed we have some 2017 like success.

Cheers from Wacky and the Mods
 
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