Spare a thought...

[benny's buddy]

By Tim Watson in The Age

About 1.30pm on Saturday, less than an hour before his team took on a rampaging Brisbane, "Bomber" Thompson sat alone in the Geelong coach's box staring out over Skilled Stadium.

It was the one place at the packed stadium he could sit and gather his thoughts. In the rooms, his players were putting the finishing touches to their physical preparation. There was little more he could do for them, apart from revisit the tactics one last time and offer them words of encouragement.

Those who saw the solitary figure may have thought that here was a man not entirely sure about the quality of the men he was about to send into battle; a man perhaps preoccupied by match-ups.

In fact, Thompson was thinking neither of the Brisbane Lions nor the battle ahead. The one thought consuming him was the health of his great friend Gary Harrison, who lay motionless in a bed at the Austin Hospital. No matter how hard he tried to block out the vision of his mate battling to breathe, that horrible thought would consume him all afternoon.

Harro was badly injured when he tumbled head-first off a building he was inspecting in the city. The man who, only last week, told a good friend he'd never had a bad day in his life was taken straight to hospital and is in a serious condition.

News of the Cats' stirring win over the triple premiers sent Harro's heart racing but a long fight to walk again lies ahead of him.

At the weekend, he should have been sitting on the Geelong interchange bench taking instructions from Bomber, embellishing and editing the messages before passing them on to the waiting runners.

Years at the job had taught him how to soften the verbal blows and how to interpret the boss's words. Such is their relationship, Harro has been known to take a bit of licence over recent years.
Only a fortnight ago, Bomber watched from above as the runner headed for a chat with one of his players. The game was in the dying stages and the player, upon receiving his instructions, headed down back to reinforce the defensive group.

The coach picked up the phone to find out what had happened, but already knew the answer. Sensing the momentum of the game, Harro had taken it upon himself to send out the message. The phone rang again. This time the message was for Harro: "Don't you start coaching the side." The right-hand man had second-guessed the coach, an admission he made after the game when the two shared a laugh.

The pair have been sharing jokes for more than 15 years. They met on a building site when Bomber was a Bomber and still working as an electrician. Harro barracked for Essendon at the time.

It may have a contributing factor to the friendship but, over time, Harro has clearly demonstrated where his loyalties lay. When the former Essendon champ moved to Arden Street, Harro followed and became a Kangaroo fan and when he shifted to Geelong, his man on the bench became a Cat.

Along the way, he became a mentor and sounding board to Thompson, picking up the doubting young coach, painting pictures of optimism and hope in the bleakest of hours.

Ask anyone about Harro and the first thing you are hit with is a barrage of words describing one of life's most positive and endearing characters. The type of man great clubs are built upon.
His immediate absence will be felt in other areas of the Geelong Football Club, too.

Over recent years, he has become a guiding figure to many of the players - Gary Ablett jnr, in particular. Bomber encouraged the youngster to seek Harro's advice on issues outside football.
The mentor used his contacts in the building industry to help the young star source materials.

Harro was also single-handedly responsible for delivering the club Motorola as a sponsor. He had seen how National Football League coaches had the Motorola mouthpiece and decided he should do something along those lines. Bomber laughed when he told me how his dedicated assistant had organised the whole thing himself and how he had become friends with the Motorola guy.

Cruelly, one of footy's unsung heroes now finds himself in need of some of the positive help and energy he has so freely spread around.

 

[GeeCat]

Actually got the chance to meet Harrison at the Wiz Cup GF earlier in the year and must say he's one good down-to-earth bloke. Here's hoping he makes a swift and full recovery.