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Hello to everyone in Carlton land – it’s me, Jesse Hanel! Do you remember me? I’ve written on the Carlton website a couple of times each year since I’ve been born. The last time I wrote I was a little two-year-old…………well, now I am a BIG three-year-old! That means I know so much more about the Blues and you’ll be pleased to know I love them still, even though on the weekend they gave us ALL the Blues. But it wasn’t all blue for me. Let me tell you about my exciting and fun weekend full of football……………. Saturday morning was beautiful and sunny, and I dressed in my Carlton footy jumper with the number 43 on the back (which Kouta signed for me last year). I can now actually tell people that I wear the number 43 just like Kouta (I used to always forget the number but three-year-olds have better memories). We drove to the Semaphore Palais, where a pre-match Carlton function was being held for lunch. I was most disappointed that my friend Ian Coutts from Carlton wasn’t there to see how grown up I am now, but I did get to meet Stephen Wilson who compared the event, who was very nice. Another person I met was an eleven-year-old girl called Hayley, whose Mum is on the SA Supporters Network committee. Hayley even played with me on the playground outside for a while after lunch, and now she is my new-found friend. When everyone had finished lunch Stephen asked us all some quiz questions, with some Carlton caps signed by Denis Pagan and Kouta being given away to those who knew the answers and were lucky enough to be singled out. I sat at the very front on the floor (next to Hayley, of course) and put my hand up high and called out at the top of my voice “pick me, pick me,rangers football club website!”. And finally Stephen did pick me, for the last question!! The question was “who was the Number One draft pick for 2005?” I called out “Marc Murphy” (after Mummy whispered it to me) and I was right! So I got a new Carlton cap! I think everyone thought I was very clever. After the function we got to do something I’ve never done before in all my life………..ride on a bus! How exciting (I’d been saying all week I was “much, much, much looking forward to the bus ride”). All the Carlton supporters went to the football on two buses, and we had fun all the way there. I sat next to Hayley – did I tell you yet how much I like her? When we got to AAMI Stadium we had to say goodbye to Hayley and her Mum as they were sitting in a different area from us, and we made our way to our seats which were one row back from the front, directly in the centre of the goals at the northern end. Before the game began I really liked standing in the front row waving my flag and cheering the Carlton players as they warmed up in front of us, but Daddy was pretty stressed making sure none of the footballs they were kicking landed on my head! (Daddy took quite a few strong marks, I might add, saving me and Mummy several times). When it came time for the game to start I was a really good boy, sitting on Mummy’s lap. We were surrounded by Carlton people,real madrid tee shirt, and the cheer squad sat right in front of us. A nice grown-up boy called Paul sat next to me, and I told him off as he wasn’t wearing anything Carlton and he agreed with me that he should have worn his Carlton cap at least. The first quarter had the Crows kicking towards us. It wasn’t much good for Carlton people as we didn’t score very much, but it was okay for me because at least I got to see lots of other flags waving a lot, even if they weren’t Carlton ones but instead were red, yellow & blue. Now that I am three I know not to wave my own flag when the other team gets a goal, and I even didn’t clap when the Crows got theirs. In the first quarter they got heaps of goals, while we got only one. I decided then it was time for me to ask Daddy to take me to the toilet, so Mummy could get all grumpy without having to worry about what my tender little ears might hear. Well! Daddy and I didn’t go back to our seat at all in the second quarter, as it was too hard for Daddy to walk over people’s legs, so we stayed in the aisles. But what a good quarter for the Blues it was! After kicking a goal earlier in the quarter to Adelaide’s two goals, towards the end of it in just over ten minutes Carlton kicked another four unanswered goals before the Crows snuck a goal just before half-time. AND THEN Matty Lappin (he first met me when I was only 11 weeks old!) kicked the last goal right on the half-time siren. So we were back in the mix, only 21 points down!!!! The players all gathered together around Matty when he got the goal and appeared really pumped up, so all the Carlton people thought we really had a good chance. Mummy’s voice certainly got lots of exercise, cheering and waving her flag so much! Daddy and I made our way back to our seat during half-time, me on Daddy’s shoulders and everyone around us was in good spirits, hoping for more quarters like that in the second half. Unfortunately, that seemed to be where our team stopped, with the Crows running all over us after that. I still did plenty of cheering, sometimes holding my Carlton flag and other times my Carlton clappers. I know the three nice girls in the cheer squad sitting in front of me couldn’t believe how loud I could be when I yelled out “Go Blues” and “Come on, Carlton” all the time (they also told me I am very cute). It was obvious we really missed two of our three forward prongs with both Brad Fisher and Jarrad Waite out injured. Another bad thing was the amount of times we had more than one player going up for a mark, and no players staying on the ground ready to crumb. Isn’t that something footballers learn as early as the mini-league? Perhaps we need some really little players like me who can run between the opponents’ legs and surprise everyone!! Positive things about the match were that we got to see David Teague again – I like him as he’s short and blonde like me. We thought he played pretty well, and was back to his tough and courageous spoiling and backing into packs. I’m glad he’s made it back into the side – I only hope he stays there. Prenders being out there again was good to see too. We also liked having Matty Lappin back to good form – he took a couple of high flying leaps that nearly paid off and tried hard all day. And it was great to see first-hand the young players doing so well: the guy who helped me win my Calton cap, Marc Murphy, showed everyone there just why he was the #1 pick; Kade Simpson continued to catch our eye for his big heart and great tackles; Bret “T-Bird” Thornton was especially good in defence, and Andrew Walker was good too – fast, just how I want to be one day. Oh, and Mummy liked seeing Luke Livingston back – if only he could get a few more games in a row under his belt and be given the chance to become as good as SOS used to be (he looks like SOS, don’t you think?). One not so good thing Mummy thought stood out about young players in the last quarter was when Josh Kennedy (gosh he’s tall!!) and Brendan Fevola were both going for the same mark on the boundary right near the goals – Josh was so worried about mucking up Fev that he took his eyes off the ball and in the end neither of them took the mark. We think he needs to learn to back himself as he was in front and should have easily grabbed it, but he��ll learn and I think he will be a great player for Carlton. With the game over, we had to listen to the woeful Crows song on the loud-speaker while we made our way back to our bus. I would have much rather listened to the Carlton song (which I’m learning to sing all by myself these days)! Together with all the other Carlton people on the bus, we were able to commiserate in what we had just witnessed. When we got to the bus Hayley was waiting, so I am pleased to say I was able to share a seat with her again on the ride back to the Palais. You might think that’s where my weekend of football ended, but wait, there was more! The next day, another one bathed in brilliant sunshine,match milan juventus, I dressed back up into my Carlton jumper again, and we drove to Glenelg Football Club where there was a ‘Meet & Greet’ with three of the Carlton players – Lance Whitnall, Nick Stevens, and Heath Scotland! I was looking forward to seeing Lance (Big Red) because he also first met me when I was just 11 weeks old, and after my heart surgery back then I wanted him to see how I’m getting big and strong, just like him! I got all three players to sign a little footy as well as one of my Carlton flags, and then Big Red picked me up for a photo – he waved one of my flags and I waved the other one. I would have liked to stay for longer to hear Stephen Wilson interview the three players while all the Carlton members sat up in the old grandstand,atletico madrid website, but we had to go so I could have my afternoon sleep (especially as I didn’t get a sleep the day before – I was pretty pooped!). So, after Daddy took a quick photo of me with my Mum, we had to say goodbye. And now I’ll say goodbye to all of you, other Carlton fans! Maybe I’ll get to write again after the next time we see the Blues play live,limited edition t shirts, when we go to Melbourne in July to watch them take on those other navy blue and whites, Geelong. Until then, keep cheering! |