On Friday last week I was lucky enough to go to Sydney for the first time in my life, mainly to watch the Blues play against the Swans that night (I have talked about that match in a separate story). During the day I went with my Mum & Dad to a special pre-match Carlton luncheon at the Royal Randwick Racecourse! Despite the terrible rainy weather that we had to walk through from our hotel to get there, we had a really great time all afternoon with past Carlton players.....
The first past Carlton champion we spoke to was Jimmy Buckley. He remembered meeting us at a Spirit Of Carlton function in Adelaide last year, the day that Kouta presented me with a plaque up on stage. He thought I’d grown a lot taller since then. This year as part of my membership with Carlton I received a Carlton autograph book, and Jimmy became the very first person to sign it for me. Then we spoke to Val Perovic, who was also at the Adelaide function - he signed my book as well. When our President, Sticks, came into the room, he signed my book and we had a little chat. Mummy took a photo of me with him - I stood on my tippy toes to try to be as tall as him! I'm certainly a lot taller than I was when he presented me with a Spirit Of Carlton Honorary Membership when I was a real little tacker back in 2008!
Ian Coutts was the MC for the day and he interviewed all of the past players on stage. Firstly he spoke to Sticks, who talked of the heartbreak of losing the final to Sydney up here last year. He said the players were really keen to start making amends for that loss. He also said he knows personally from Eddie McGuire that the Collingwood coaching staff really rated Carlton highly the night we played them this year, being the only team to have held them to less than 15 goals in the last ten months. Sticks reckons we’re not far off the mark, despite having a far lower average number of games per person than teams like Collingwood and Geelong.
Wow Jones - who has a fantastic moustache - was the next person to get up on stage for an interview. He talked of his playing days with Bruce Doull, who is renowned for his quietness off the field. I like Bruce Doull because of his nickname, The Flying Doormat! Anyway, Wow told us a funny story about the players all gathering at one of the quarter time breaks in an important match, eating their oranges, when Bruce tapped him on the shoulder. Wow was sure that with his five years’ experience, Doull would be seeking him out for advice, but instead he simply said “you’re stepping on my toe”!!
Ian invited Jim Buckley to come to the stage next, asking him about his original career aspiration of becoming a jockey - and said it’s obvious now that wouldn’t be able to happen as he’s a little bit heavy! Jimmy is really funny. He talked of ‘Dirty Des Dickson’ from the Bendigo league who later played for Hawthorn, and then of the rather unsettling time after the 1979 premiership when Jezza and George Harris left the club. After their departure David Parkin arrived to coach the team in 1980, and was horrified to realise that “I’m coaching a team of maniacs”!! Times were very different back then, but as Jimmy said, “we were GOOD maniacs!”
Val Perovic was the last to get up on stage, joining Jimmy up there. Val talked about leaving St Kilda, saying that he actually wanted to go and play for Geelong. But unbeknownst to him, St Kilda and Carlton did the deal, which meant he came to Carlton instead. He said that his time at Carlton ended up being the best six years of his life - that they are the “greatest football club in the world”! Both Bucks and Pera agreed that it’s been hard seeing Carlton down so much for a few years, but now they just want to see the club rise back up again. They talked about our exciting future, with one of the greatest players they’ve ever seen in Chris Judd now leading us, and that we’re on the right track to get back to where we belong.
Then it was time for two prints to be auctioned: one of the three number one draft picks, “The Chosen Ones”and the other of Chris Judd including a replica Brownlow Medal. I really liked the Juddy one (I reckon my Nan, a West Coast supporter, would like it too) - and Daddy even bid on it, but thankfully for our bank balance, he wasn't successful!
After this, I met a wonderful man called Syd Jackson. He wasn’t part of the official speeches, but he was the most exciting person for Mummy & me to meet. He is a dual-premiership player with the Blues, who until this year was Carlton’s leading Aboriginal goal-kicker. His goal-kicking record was recently surpassed by one of my favourite players, Eddie Betts, and I remembered seeing on TV a presentation in the change rooms that day by Syd to Eddie. We talked about me playing footy (I’m in my second year now of Under 9s) and the favourite position I liked to play - centre, like Juddy, I told him, and I even wear the #5. Syd very proudly told me that #5 was his number as well! Syd signed my autograph book, and I had my photo taken with him, which I will treasure.
So what a great day I had - and this was BEFORE the excitement of the footy match that evening! I was really pleased we drove all the way up to Sydney, not only for seeing some past Carlton greats, but also for making some new friends with Carlton supporters sitting at our table (Graeme, Rachel, Gerard). It's always nice to meet fellow Carlton fans, especially for us from South Australia, where so many people go for the Crows or Power. I really look forward to going to another Carlton function when the Blues travel to Adelaide to take on Port next month. Wouldn’t it be great if my namesake, Alex Jesaulenko, could be at that function? I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Until then,
Keep cheering!
Jesse (Jezza) Hanel
