Twas a good night for training and all through the ground
not a player was stirring, until we saw that mound.

A massive pile of dog excrement had infultrated our sacred Peanut Farm Reserve, it was dealt with swiftly, but not before making it’s rounds on the boots of more than one of our merry band.

There was a decent turnout tonight with the notable returns of Bassit, Jules and a late cameo from best-afield in last year’s final BZ. Benny decided to show us all how it was done and did a good hours training after everyone had left the track. There was a good mix of running, paired running, linked-arm running, fast running, running with balls & running without balls. Speaking of ‘without balls’, there was no sign of regulars Spanish or Webby tonight. Perhaps they were doing their own form of training, BrokeBack-Mountain-Style.

Congratulation to Gillie (and Mrs Gillie) and the arrival of their new-born – we had no idea, but i suppose that explains why he wasn’t at training last wednesday.

Australia Day, a national day dedicated to all things australian. In true city-style a BBQ was put on to celebrate this great day, whilst some were elsewhere, some were working (shame), we were at Hutchy’s place taking part in the Barkly Street Australia Day Festivale. There was a live band, a DJ, not 1 but 2 swimming pools, plus plenty of meet, beer and cricket. Whilst the cricket wasn’t essentially ‘official’ training, we all got a good work-out and i would imagine over the course of the whole day, probably dropped out % body fat by a couple of points. Because whilst it’s all good and well to have fun, what we were really concerned about was the season ahead.

Here is a quick photo tour….

our gracious host, always in control…

cricket, of course

spanish had about 4 girls in the pool with him just before this shot was taken, you can make up your own mind why they all left in a hurry

the embodiment of australia, meat, beer, thongs, zinc, whitsundays singlet

Get the full scoop on the day here…

Smaller numbers than monday turned up, due to it being the eve of Australia Day so we journied through a short tour of St. Kilda, running through the surrounding parkland, proudly showing off our Premiership winning side to the locals. The run soon became a very social gathering as the St. Kilda croud rallied around us whilst getting stuck into some ballwork in the park, clapping and cheering at our flawless skills we were really lapping up the local support. We were their boys and we were doing them proud in their backyards.

We then took off down the beach for a few tough Kms toward the water. Utterly exhausted we treated the crowd and stripped down before jumping in for a quick swim.

It was a hard night, but an enjoyable one. With Taz and Soupy leading the charge in terms of pace, and Sammi holding steadfast up the rear. Captain Cotter was back to lead the charge and Nudge and Spanish held the fort in our absense. We then strolled back to base and farewelled for another week. I’m sure we’ll all get a run in tomorrow as well, cause we’re hard as!

Training resumed on Monday night with about 1/3rd of the team composed of new faces. OK numbers for a 1st training session of the year. Everyone seemed to slot into place well and it looks like there’s a good new mix of bulk and speed to hit the ground running. Gillie seems calm, feeling his way into the side. I’m sure he’s got some fire to unleash as we swing into a fuller training schedule. No sign of captain courageous.