Players Sponsors night

[GVGjr]

Bornadog came off the interchange bench tonight and joined me at the players sponsors night which was a terrific and well run event and one of the most professional nights entertainment that I have attended with the club.
We also met another Woof regular in Esranit and his better half and we had a couple of good chats.

The MC was Kevin Hillier who was just brilliant throughout the night.

Two players were on the table, Callan Ward who as expected is a very nice and approachable young man and Brennan Stack is is also a quality young man.
Ward later mentioned that he was aware of the site and that he has popped on for a look a few times.

David Smorgon kicked off proceedings and gave a thorough overview of the development and the ELC and was especially chuffed to mention that his Sydney counterpart had acknowledged last weekend that the Bulldogs would soon have the best facilities of any AFL team.
Smorgon praised the players for their effort in the community and all the appearances that they are performing. I cannot stress enough how much Smorgon went into details on how involved our players are outside of just the training and playing.
He was also full of praise for the job that coaching and support teams were doing.

Smorgon also presented the players sponsors group with a special challenge to assist the club and I will provide some more details of that soon. Smorgon also mentioned that 5 players were missing on the night due to meetings for the big game this weekend. The players missing were Adam Cooney, Ryan Griffen, Robert Murphy, Brad Johnson and Daniel Cross.

It was a very polished performance by Smorgon and it set the seen for a great night.

Kevin Hillier also acknowledge all the new player sponsors and www.woof.net.au got a special mention when Kevin suggested that people should log on for a look.

Next up was KH interviewing James Fantasia, Rodney Eade and Daniel Giansiracusa. Fantasia is an accomplished performer and talked about how fortunate he was to land the job and come into the club when it was performing so well.
Eade talked about the injuries to a number of the players and while I won't let the secrets out, it's fair to say that there is a number of players that will really appreciate the weeks break.
Giansiracusa talked about his pre-season and his form during the season. He is a confident and well spoken leader of this team and gives you the impression of being very focused to succeed.

After the meal, Gilbee, Minson and Boyd all talked about their own form for the season and Will let it slip about an error he made at the 3 quarter time address in the game against the West Coast which had us all laughing. I would lose too much in the translation if I tried to explain it but he knows how to hold the audiences attention.
Boyd talked about his shutdown role against Kerr and the fact that he rarely if ever talks to an opponent during the game.

New recruits, Hudson, Ward and Grant were next up and Hudson is quite a funny bloke who enjoys having a laugh at himself. He also didn't miss with a couple of funny barbs at Eade and Fantasia.
Ward talked about the challenges of still being at school, managing the homework and of course juggling the demands of training and playing. He also mentioned that he was assisting some junior football teams.
Grant talked about some indiscretions in the early days that he a few of the other youngsters did but said they have been on track for a while now. He also talked about the biggest challenge of having to relocate across town.

There was obviously a few other things happening and finally Jason Akermanis subbing for Scott West drew the lucky winner of a signed jumper.

Bornadog might be able to add a bit more to it and I know he has a shot of Callan Ward that he will add.

If I remember anything else, I'll add it on later.

[BulldogBelle]

Thanks for putting up that detailed report GVG - sounds like a good time was had by all.

[GVGjr]

Thanks for putting up that detailed report GVG - sounds like a good time was had by all.

One of the more professional nights I have been to by the Dogs for many a year.
By the way 133 player sponsorships so far.

[bornadog]

[bornadog]

GVGjr summed up the night pretty well and was thoroughly enjoyable.

I had also had a chat with Stack as well as Harbrow. Stack is enjoying his time in Melbourne especially now he has some family here and very keen to get his first game. When he first came to the club he had a sore foot, only to find he had a broken foot. He was only 74kg then but now is around 82kg. He mentioned he was around 188cm, but GVGjr and myself felt he is probably around 186cm, although he is listed at 184cm. GVGjr asked him about his great leap and he said he probably has the highest leap of any player at the club, including Hill. Earlier this year he damaged a finger in a training warm up and had it operated on. He has been playing at HBF at Willy and understands this is part of his development. He mentioned how Murphy started in the backline and sounded like he looks up to Murph a bit as a leader. He will be playing for Willy this Sunday.

I had a short talk to Harbrow when he came over to talk to Stack. I asked him about his injury and he said he hurt his knee in the Richmond game. He will be back for the Willy game this week.

[Go_Dogs]

Thanks for the report, sounds like a terrific night.

Looks as though the week off has come at the perfect time for us, enabling us to re-group and break up the back to back road trips a bit. Could turn out to be a very helpful weekend off for us for the remainder of the year.

[bornadog]

Thanks for the report, sounds like a terrific night.

Looks as though the week off has come at the perfect time for us, enabling us to re-group and break up the back to back road trips a bit. Could turn out to be a very helpful weekend off for us for the remainder of the year.

Gia actually mentioned that and also said with Freo losing the way they did, they now have two weeks to stew over it, whereas, if we had of lost on the week end we would also be stewing over it. So we are well placed at this stage.

[Go_Dogs]

Gia actually mentioned that and also said with Freo losing the way they did, they now have two weeks to stew over it, whereas, if we had of lost on the week end we would also be stewing over it. So we are well placed at this stage.

Yes, certainly very timely. I remember glancing over the draw probably not 3 weeks ago - oblivious to the fact that there was a missing week in the dates where the DT v Vic game was being played - and worrying about the back to back road trips in what definitely looked like a challenging block of games.

Freo and to a lesser extent North seem to have slipped a bit in the last few weeks, and combined with the week off, our position is seemingly much improved. Still won't be easy, but I'm more confident about our chances than I was a few weeks ago.

[bornadog]

Yes, certainly very timely. I remember glancing over the draw probably not 3 weeks ago - oblivious to the fact that there was a missing week in the dates where the DT v Vic game was being played - and worrying about the back to back road trips in what definitely looked like a challenging block of games.

Freo and to a lesser extent North seem to have slipped a bit in the last few weeks, and combined with the week off, our position is seemingly much improved. Still won't be easy, but I'm more confident about our chances than I was a few weeks ago.

The Freo game does scare me as they are very hard to beat over there if they are on song. They almost beat Geelong but choked the same way they did against Melbourne; remember they were 38 points up in the second quarter. Yet, Richmond thrashed them over there. One thing in our favour is the team is full of confidence and have a lot of self belief.

There were several panels last night on stage and the guys were interviewed by Kevin Hillier. He asked them about excitement in the team, finals etc and they of course played it all down. Yet you could see the guys walking around and really feeling on top of the world with a real spring in their step.

[LostDoggy]

I went along with my friend, cause her parents couldnt make it. They sponsor Timmy Callan, so we were on the table with Timmy and Dylan "DFA" Addison.

There both enjoying their time at the club, the ELC(elite learning centre) is awesome(we already new that tho didnt we). Timmy said there isnt to much difference between the doggies and Geelong.

I got the impression that Timmy didnt get along that well with Bomber thompson, he was saying he wasnt very approachable, whereas rocket is the complete opposite.

Overall a great night, one of the better club nights ive been to thats for sure.

[ledge]

Tim has come along leaps and bounds , was it Rocket who pushed for him or was it Clayton?
Who ever did knows about getting good fringe players and getting the best out of them , still think Tim is going to get even better, has a long kick on him.
Hey Gilbs teach him your accuracy and we have a mind blower in the midst.

[bornadog]

I went along with my friend, cause her parents couldnt make it. They sponsor Timmy Callan, so we were on the table with Timmy and Dylan "DFA" Addison.

There both enjoying their time at the club, the ELC(elite learning centre) is awesome(we already new that tho didnt we). Timmy said there isnt to much difference between the doggies and Geelong.

I got the impression that Timmy didnt get along that well with Bomber thompson, he was saying he wasnt very approachable, whereas rocket is the complete opposite.

Overall a great night, one of the better club nights ive been to thats for sure.

you should have popped over and said hello

[LostDoggy]

I wouldnt have a clue what any of you look like, , i forgot you guys on here sponsored Cal, and i was having a nice time with Timmy and Dyl, i didnt even say hi to my boy will

Oh well, it was a great night, and its got me thinking of maybe sponsoring my own player next year, will have to look into it, but id love to sponsor Will(doubt that will happen) Lynchy or Guy O'Keefe.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Thanks for the feedback GVGjr, Bornadog and minson27

Sounds like a good night, very good timing with the break.

I haven't been in the ground since the re-development so I would have been interested to have a look and always keen to get a feel for the new players to find out what they are like as people

[GVGjr]

Thanks for the feedback GVGjr, Bornadog and minson27

Sounds like a good night, very good timing with the break.

I haven't been in the ground since the re-development so I would have been interested to have a look and always keen to get a feel for the new players to find out what they are like as people

They did a visual 'before and after' presentation of the development and as we are probably all aware, the previous conditions were not professional in anyway.

Players can come off after a session and have any number of tests if they aren't feeling right and the players are responding well to the new and improved environment.