aker39
17-03-2010, 11:22 AM
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/will-powerless-as-car-dogs-it-20100316-qckl.html
LIKE so much in the wonderful world of Will Minson, it's hard to know where to begin. It all started on Saturday evening when Minson stopped off to pick up his Western Bulldogs rucking partner Ben Hudson enroute to the NAB Cup grand final. ''Bill Hudson, Ben's father, had hopped in the car and we were sitting out the front waiting for 'the Beard' when the car just stopped,'' Minson recalled yesterday. ''I'm not very good with cars - as long as they've got a coffee cup holder and a seat warmer to keep the hammys happy in winter, that's pretty much all that matters - but I do know it's not common for an automatic car to just stop running when it's in park.'' Hudson takes up the story: ''Will 'I'm An Engineer' Minson has no #@$! idea when it comes to basic motor mechanics. We had to push the pride of German automotive engineering to the side of the road then hail a cab to the big game. The only saving grace was I made him pay the fare.'' Settling into his role in this footballing odd couple, Minson leapt to the defence of his Saab. ''It's actually Scandinavian, which shows what I'm dealing with here. I once drove a Peugeot and they all used to say, 'Ooh, look at Will in his stupid German car!' It's French, of course.''
Going, going … gone
MINSON points out that the logical solution had seemed to be for Hudson's wife Rita to drive them to Docklands, but Rita was getting ready for a party and having none of it (Hudson says he would never comment as he lives by the mantra, ''Happy wife, happy life''). Hudson's 1958 FC Holden was another option, but had been gathering dust out the front all summer and wasn't to be trusted (''It needs a service,'' Minson said, ''any interested mechanics can contact the club''). By Sunday morning, a premiership secured, all was well again, and even Big Will's car was back on the road. ''It spent Saturday night head-first in a parallel park in North Carlton and didn't even get a ticket, then it started first time the next morning,'' says Minson, who had no hesitation pointing the Saab north for Castlemaine on Monday for the Dogs' country clinic. Which went beautifully under the direction of local Auskick stalwart Mick Grant, until Minson, Tom Williams and Brodie Moles climbed in for the return journey. ''It wouldn't start again.'' In hindsight, Minson admits anyone who thinks it strange that he would decide that a car that wasn't working a day earlier was fit to drive 120 kilometres into the bush and back might well be onto something. Saab's catchcry, ''Move your mind'', would normally appeal to the cerebral Dog, but at this point he would have been happy just to move his car.
Good samaritans
THANK goodness for Mark Shannon and his eight-year-old son Michael, whose already ripping day among the Bulldogs suddenly got a whole lot better. ''We looked over and I thought, 'They look they've got a bit of car trouble','' Shannon said yesterday. When the RACV couldn't resurrect the Saab, Shannon did what he says any Doggie would do. ''We were planning to duck out to go fishing if I could escape the wife, but we had a trip to Melbourne instead.'' After swapping his ute for his wife's Commodore, and with Michael squeezed between Williams and Moles in the back seat (''I think he was a bit overawed,'' Shannon says), they headed down the Calder discussing engineering (Shannon's profession, as well as Minson's brother), and directional drilling, which Minson's father was involved in. ''They reassured me they were going to win the flag this year too, which was nice to hear.''
Just the ticket
SHANNON returns to Western Australia this morning for his 13 days on/eight days off job at the Savannah Nickel Mine. He has a good story to tell, but also a reward for his good-samaritan act. ''I was saying to Will, 'I've gotta get off me bum and get the family membership happening'. ''I've been saying it for years, just hadn't got around to it.'' Minson was straight on the phone, and Shannon took out his credit card and asked him to read the number down the line. ''He said, 'No need for that,'' Shannon recalled, chuffed that the family is now back on the Bulldog books. ''I was really surprised, just out of the blue. It's a great gesture from the guys and the club. Will I be signing up again next year? My oath I will.''
LIKE so much in the wonderful world of Will Minson, it's hard to know where to begin. It all started on Saturday evening when Minson stopped off to pick up his Western Bulldogs rucking partner Ben Hudson enroute to the NAB Cup grand final. ''Bill Hudson, Ben's father, had hopped in the car and we were sitting out the front waiting for 'the Beard' when the car just stopped,'' Minson recalled yesterday. ''I'm not very good with cars - as long as they've got a coffee cup holder and a seat warmer to keep the hammys happy in winter, that's pretty much all that matters - but I do know it's not common for an automatic car to just stop running when it's in park.'' Hudson takes up the story: ''Will 'I'm An Engineer' Minson has no #@$! idea when it comes to basic motor mechanics. We had to push the pride of German automotive engineering to the side of the road then hail a cab to the big game. The only saving grace was I made him pay the fare.'' Settling into his role in this footballing odd couple, Minson leapt to the defence of his Saab. ''It's actually Scandinavian, which shows what I'm dealing with here. I once drove a Peugeot and they all used to say, 'Ooh, look at Will in his stupid German car!' It's French, of course.''
Going, going … gone
MINSON points out that the logical solution had seemed to be for Hudson's wife Rita to drive them to Docklands, but Rita was getting ready for a party and having none of it (Hudson says he would never comment as he lives by the mantra, ''Happy wife, happy life''). Hudson's 1958 FC Holden was another option, but had been gathering dust out the front all summer and wasn't to be trusted (''It needs a service,'' Minson said, ''any interested mechanics can contact the club''). By Sunday morning, a premiership secured, all was well again, and even Big Will's car was back on the road. ''It spent Saturday night head-first in a parallel park in North Carlton and didn't even get a ticket, then it started first time the next morning,'' says Minson, who had no hesitation pointing the Saab north for Castlemaine on Monday for the Dogs' country clinic. Which went beautifully under the direction of local Auskick stalwart Mick Grant, until Minson, Tom Williams and Brodie Moles climbed in for the return journey. ''It wouldn't start again.'' In hindsight, Minson admits anyone who thinks it strange that he would decide that a car that wasn't working a day earlier was fit to drive 120 kilometres into the bush and back might well be onto something. Saab's catchcry, ''Move your mind'', would normally appeal to the cerebral Dog, but at this point he would have been happy just to move his car.
Good samaritans
THANK goodness for Mark Shannon and his eight-year-old son Michael, whose already ripping day among the Bulldogs suddenly got a whole lot better. ''We looked over and I thought, 'They look they've got a bit of car trouble','' Shannon said yesterday. When the RACV couldn't resurrect the Saab, Shannon did what he says any Doggie would do. ''We were planning to duck out to go fishing if I could escape the wife, but we had a trip to Melbourne instead.'' After swapping his ute for his wife's Commodore, and with Michael squeezed between Williams and Moles in the back seat (''I think he was a bit overawed,'' Shannon says), they headed down the Calder discussing engineering (Shannon's profession, as well as Minson's brother), and directional drilling, which Minson's father was involved in. ''They reassured me they were going to win the flag this year too, which was nice to hear.''
Just the ticket
SHANNON returns to Western Australia this morning for his 13 days on/eight days off job at the Savannah Nickel Mine. He has a good story to tell, but also a reward for his good-samaritan act. ''I was saying to Will, 'I've gotta get off me bum and get the family membership happening'. ''I've been saying it for years, just hadn't got around to it.'' Minson was straight on the phone, and Shannon took out his credit card and asked him to read the number down the line. ''He said, 'No need for that,'' Shannon recalled, chuffed that the family is now back on the Bulldog books. ''I was really surprised, just out of the blue. It's a great gesture from the guys and the club. Will I be signing up again next year? My oath I will.''