Friday April 16
Gibbsy encouraged about ten or so guys to jump into cabs and head down to Glenelg on Friday afternoon. It might just be me, but I always associate Adelaide with being a really windy place, in particular at a place like Glenelg, but it was an outstanding afternoon down there.
We spent a couple of hours in Glenelg, went for a walk and had a coffee or two. It was good to get out of the hotel and just relax for a couple of hours.
We got back to the hotel just before 5pm and I spent a while up in my room before making my first attempt to head down for dinner.
Unfortunately the emergency smoke doors at the entrance to the lifts were closed and the lifts were out of action.
I later learnt that the hotel had experienced a few issues with their lifts, and that Heath Scotland and Setanta O’hAilpin were stuck in a lift for 15 minutes, before they eventually got out on the 13th floor and were forced to walk down the fire escape!
After dinner I went in and got some treatment off a couple of our medicos, then had a hit of table tennis. Before I headed back to my room to watch a bit of the West Coast v Essendon game I went down to the hotel lobby for a coffee with a couple of the guys.
Saturday April 17
With the game not starting until 2.40pm Adelaide time, we had a little bit of time up our sleeve before we had to leave for the match. I had breakfast and then went for a walk before heading back to my room to get ready for the game.
As we were flying straight out of Adelaide after the game we had to check out of our rooms before we boarded the bus for the game.
We got to the ground at 12.30pm, on arrival I went out and had a look at the under 18 curtain raiser match between Glenelg and Centrals. Glenelg are a very good side and ended up walking away with a 100 + point victory.
It was good to see Australian cricket coach, Tim Neilson in the rooms before the game. Our High Performance Manager, Justin Cordy worked with Tim when he was with Cricket Australia and he and his family are good Carlton supporters.
Brett Ratten with Australian cricket coach Tim Neilson
The boys’ really played well on Saturday. After an unacceptable effort last week, the intent was evident early and we hit the scoreboard which is vital, in particular when playing interstate.
The small forwards worked well and Gibbsy and co down back had control. I thought Simon White was very impressive in his first game and Kane Lucas also looked like he belonged out there.
It was great to walk away with the result and we can’t wait to take on the Cats at the MCG on Monday.
After the game we completed our recovery and media commitments before heading straight to the airport for our flight back to Melbourne.
As I said, it’s a massive game this week against the Cats on the ANZAC Day holiday, I am sure we will see a huge Carlton contingent at the G for just our second home game of the year.
GO BLUES
Marc Murphy
