Jesse's Breakfast with the Legends
What a huge, fun day I had on Saturday.  The day ended rather sadly for us, because the Blues lost, and we need a little while to get over it so I won't talk about that yet, but the morning was just fantastic at the pre-match Spirit Of Carlton function!  I had been looking forward to it for ages, and Mummy had been telling me all about the past Carlton players who were going to be there.  Before we went I even made up a special card for Sticks - his real name is Stephen Kernahan and he is the longest-serving captain of any AFL side.  He was a great player for Carlton and Mummy and Daddy saw him play lots of times.  Mum showed me some pictures of Sticks when he was playing, and she also showed me some footage on the Carlton website of Sticks talking on CFC TV so I could see just how deep his voice is before meeting him.  My card was to say I wish that I had seen him play footy, and on the inside I drew a picture of my three favourite players playing footy - they are Fev, Juddy and Murph.  We took the card along to give to Sticks at the function.

We left home at 7.30 am to give us enough time to get to Glenelg Football Club by 9 am when the function started.  Glenelg is the home club of Stephen Kernahan, Andrew McKay, Bryce Gibbs and Mark Austin who all went on to play footy for Carlton.  Everyone attending was given a special white Spririt Of Carlton cap.  I was amazed to see all the tables in the room set up with blue and white napkins and blue and white balloons floating high above each table (all tied to heavy silver bases with blue and silver ribbons).  It looked very nice and I asked Mum straight away if I'd be able to take some balloons home afterwards.  We met the people on our table, some of whom we already knew.  Mum got her photo taken with three other mad keen Carlton supporters who she knows through a Carlton supporters website - Adrian, Kevin and Paul.  The photo was taken in front of a large framed print of Sticks lining up for a shot at goal - this was to be one of the items auctioned off later.  Adrian and Paul had come over from Melbourne for the weekend and were both sitting on our table.

I decided to get the signatures of all the Carlton past players on my cap so I visited them at their tables.  They were Craig Bradley, Jim Buckley, Peter Motley, Alex Marcou, Wayne Harmes, Geoff Southby and Mark Naley.  I got my photo taken with all of them except for Mark, because I'd had my photo taken with him at the Rob Roy Hotel only two weeks earlier when we went to watch the Swans game there on the big screen with many other SA Carlton supporters.  They were all very nice to me.  Peter Motley was really funny - he shook my hand and then kept saying to me "let go! let go!" as if I was not letting go of his hand, but really, it was HIM not letting go of MY hand!  Alex Marcou signed the number 34 when he wrote his name on my cap and Mum commented that because Simon Wiggins played his 100th game last week he would now get his name on the same locker that Alex Marcou's name is on (you have to play 100 games for Carlton before getting your name up on your number's locker) and Alex told us that he rang up Simon Wiggins last Friday to wish him luck for that game.  I drew a border around every person's signature on my cap - they all wrote a few words to me as well as signed their name.

The MC for the day was Terry McAuliffe, who is a SA horse racing identity and Carlton supporter and has a lot to do with the Glenelg Footy Club.  He asked Chris McDermott (ex-Glenelg and then Adelaide player) to come up the front with his old mate Craig Bradley (past Carlton captain and current assistant coach) and they were interviewed.  They asked Chris if it was really true that Carlton had been interested in getting him to play for them, and he said he knows it was only because they wanted Stephen Kernahan and Craig Bradley to come over and he was their mate!  Both Chris and Craig talked about the Adelaide and Carlton game that was coming up, and how each team would win.  They both predicted Carlton to win (which is what we thought would happen too).

Then it was time for the first auction item to be brought forward - a huge framed print of Craig Bradley in his playing days for the Blues.  Geoff Southby and Alex Marcou carried it up on the stage, and it was auctioned for $1,500.  Next was a Carlton footy jumper signed by all of the 2008 players and it went for $700.  After that a framed Carlton footy jumper signed by Chris Judd and Brett Ratten was actioned for $1,700.  All that money!!

And then finally Sticks arrived in the room.  He had been up in the Barossa Valley with sponsors the day and night before and it took him a while to get up and about that morning.  I should have told him that I'm from the Barossa and I was able to be up bright and early to be there by 9 am!  When he arrived I got him to sign my cap too, and then he had to go straight up on stage to be interviewed so I didn't have time to give him the card I'd made him.  Terry McAuliffe stood up on a chair to do the interview because Sticks is so tall - good idea, I thought, as that made Terry the tallest!

Sticks said he was late to the function because he had been with sponsors at the Barossa Valley and they had all returned to Adelaide after breakfast together so he was unable to get away early (like I had done).  He said he loved being back at the Glenelg club where he started his footy playing days, and that because he had been determined to win a premiership with Glenelg before going over to Carlton he only started playing for the Blues at the age of 22, much later than they first wanted him over there.  He spoke about Richard Pratt and the way the Carlton Footy Club was getting back on its feet off the field, and that on the field things are looking good too.  Fevola re-signing his contract was a big winner - lots of cheers in the room - and Kernahan said that the signing of him and Austin and Grigg during the week were real positives for our club.  There are exciting times ahead, he reckons.  Then the big framed print of Sticks was auctioned, reaching $2,000.  He's very popular, not only having been a champion player for our club but also because he is now our Interim President.

And you'll never guess what happened after that!  Sticks called up me, Jesse Hanel, for a special presentation he had to make!!  He picked me up and presented me with a framed certificate to say I am an official honorary member of the Spirit Of Carlton Past & Present which means I "represent the Spirit Of Carlton and all it means to be a true supporter".  It was signed by Sticks and then while Sticks and I had our photo taken, the MC announced that I had open heart surgery soon after I was born and that I write for the Carlton website (sssssh don't tell him that really it's Mummy who writes my stories for me) and that I'm a mad Carlton supporter and that they were really pleased to have me there at the function.  Everybody in the room clapped for me - it was a little bit scary being up there in front of almost 250 people!  We didn't know this was going to happen so Mum and Dad weren't ready to get my photo taken while I was up on the stage, but Daddy did get a quick shot of me and Sticks as he put me back down and we shared a laugh together.

While the people on stage had a break, I then quickly went back to our table to get the special card I'd made for Sticks, and Mum went up with me to give it to him.  I think he really liked it - I showed him the picture I'd drawn on the inside, and that on the back I'd written 'Love from Jesse'.  He thought I was pretty clever with my writing.  And then we posed properly for a photo together with my certificate.

After that, Mark Naley got Geoff Southby, Alex Marcou, Wayne Harmes and Jim Buckley up on stage to talk about their playing days for the Blues.  They said how the Spirit Of Carlton formed and how important it's been for the past players to still get together and relive their memories.  They told some funny stories - Alex Marcou told us how Warren Jones got his name Wow, Geoff Southby said some funny things about Sticks, Harmesy told us that his Grandpa used to coach Richmond and so he was a Tigers supporter as a kid and still has a soft spot for the Tigers and Jim Buckley spoke about the club's exciting training facility developments and had plenty of digs at Collingwood.  And then much to everyone's delight, Peter Motley came up on the stage with his Dad.  Mummy had told me that Mots had been probably the most talented SA player out of he, Sticks and Braddles when they all went over to Melbourne from Adelaide but that very early on in his career he had a car accident that almost cost him his life and he never played again.  He is a very nice man and he told some really silly stories about Sticks (The King at golf) and Braddles who he still sees a lot.  Peter's Dad Geoff then spoke about what the Carlton Football Club meant to them personally, and all the things the club did for them at the time of the accident.  He made special mention of John Elliott who spent countless hours at the hospital with them, and who was a great support.  Ian Collins was mentioned also for the same reason.  He said that this might explain why Peter's "unbelievably, undeniably one-eyed for Carlton - embarrassingly so!"  Peter received rousing applause at the end of their talk.

And then all the past players led everyone else in the room singing the Carlton song very, very loudly!  We all sang it with great gusto and were hoping we'd be singing it again at the end of the day after the match against the Crows.  And that was the end of the function.

Many of the past players then came over to me to see my certificate properly and say they thought it was pretty good I'd been given it.  Wayne Harmes was especially nice, and said that it was things like me getting made an honorary member that made him really happy to be back at the club after having been away from Carlton for a while.  Daddy showed him his two football memberships, with both Carlton and Richmond, and Wayne couldn't believe it - as just like Daddy he mainly supports Carlton but still also go for Richmond. Harmesy quite liked having someone else in the room like him!

Then it was time for everyone to leave and go to Footy Park for the big game.  Even though we lost, I still had a great time so I will tell you about it soon!

From Jesse.