Day 1: Wednesday, February 11
11:45am
Training concludes at Casey Fields and the players are now set for their two-day community camp in Gippsland.
Plenty has been packed into the next two days, with football clinics, training sessions, hospital and aged care visits, school visits and functions among the activities.
Soon the group leaves Cranbourne East and heads for Gippsland.
1pm
The players arrive at the RACV Resort in Inverloch, having carpooled with teammates along the way.
It’s already been a big start to the day, as Daniel Cross explains.
“I was up at 5.15am to get out to training at Casey and once we were done there, we filled up the cars and drove down with a few of the boys to Inverloch,” the veteran midfielder says.
It’s a quick stop at their accommodation, before they are taken to Wonthaggi Football Club for a hospitable lunch provided by the local club. It’s an impressive spread at an impressive football club!
1:50pm
Soon the players split into their groups.
Jack Viney and Viv Michie head to Wonthaggi Australia Post, as a handful of players including Lynden Dunn, Dean Terlich, Billy Stretch, Jimmy Toumpas and Jesse Hogan visit the Bass Coast Special School.
For most of the other players, they conduct ‘Read like a Demon’ sessions.
In all, six RLAD sessions are held.
At Wonthaggi Primary School, books are read by the likes of Rohan Bail, Angus Brayshaw, Aaron vandenBerg, Heritier Lumumba and Mark Jamar, who says the club is proud to have RLAD “rolled out” to the kids.
“Read like a Demon is such a good initiative by the Melbourne footy club and it really helps the kids with their reading,” he says.
“It reaffirms how important it is to read – and read books and newspapers … so it’s a good experience for the kids.
“My group was fortunate enough to read to a very good bunch of kids and they were very attentive and got a lot out of it.”
Over at Wonthaggi North Primary School, players such as Colin Garland, Neville Jetta, Sam Frost, Chris Dawes and Dom Tyson are reading to the kids; Jeremy Howe and Jack Grimes visit Powlett River Primary School.
At St Joseph’s Primary School, Jordie McKenzie, Dean Kent, Alex Neal-Bullen and Jack Watts are among the readers; big men Max Gawn and Tom McDonald are at Kongwak Primary School.
Cam Pedersen, Jake Spencer, Christian Petracca, Daniel Cross, Aidan Riley and Nathan Jones are at Inverloch Primary School.
I watch Jones, Cross and Petracca read with the grade threes, as the rest catch up with grade five.
Player development manager Andrew Nichol – the former Bulldogs player and a teacher at Scotch College before joining Melbourne – introduces the players and is somewhat of a host for the kids. He slips back into teacher mode with ease.
Jones, Cross and Petracca are fantastic with the class. And the youngsters lap it up too.
The trio introduces themselves and tells the children little bits about their football background and personal lives.
The kids ask several questions, such as “what are the players’ favourite animals?”
Jones replies “a great white shark”, Petracca loves the puppies and Cross likes the Tigers.
The children also ask which teams they barracked for as kids?
Further probing questions by the children reveal that Jones would have been a policeman, builder or an Olympian – before becoming a triple best and fairest winner.
Jones also tells the kids that he was a Saint, Petracca a Magpie and Cross a North Melbourne supporter!
Jones says it’s a great way to connect with the kids.
“I really like the Read like a Demon program and getting in the classrooms and getting involved with the kids and encouraging them to read. They’re encouraged to read in front of a big group [that’s] supporting them,” he says.
“It’s always good fun and there are always the cheeky ones – I just like getting involved and mucking around with them and trying to make a difference with them.
“The boys get a lot of satisfaction out of that and that’s why we enjoy coming to these things.”
The skipper says it’s also an opportunity for the players to help the youngsters with their reading.
“We’re trying to encourage the kids to read and get involved in reading and our Read like a Demon program … and I try and encourage them to support the Dees and sign up and become members,” he says.
“I threw in a few curly questions … and I hand out some prizes and the kids got involved.
“I think we made a really good impact, so it’s always great to be a part of it.”
Cross says it was the first time he had been involved in the RLAD program.
“It’s really good … a great program,” he says.
“They were grade threes and my boy at home is four [years old], so soon he’s going to be going through that and learn[ing] to read, so reading books with kids is something that I do at home.
“It was a grade five level book and the kids did very well. The boys get amongst it and teach the kids a few little tips and help them along, so it’s always good to get among the local communities.”
Melbourne community manager Debbie Lee says it’s great to see the players deliver the RLAD program.
“We had a lot of feedback about how inclusive the players were, so I think that was great. It’s not just about football skills, but they are helping kids with reading, which is another great opportunity,” she says.
3:15pm
Following the sessions, the players return to the RACV Resort to check in before the squad splits into three groups.
Jimmy Toumpas, Aaron vandenBerg and Dean Terlich are among the players to visit Wonthaggi Hospital and Inverloch Aged Care.
Another departs for a community super clinic at the Meeniyan Dumbalk United Football Club, which includes Rohan Bail, Lynden Dunn, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jesse Hogan and Jones.
The skipper is naturally a popular figure, yet one kid can’t grasp why he has a shiny head.
“What happened to your hair,” the youngster asks to Jones.
“It fell out when I was your age,” Jones says back to the kid.
It draws several laughs from the players and youngsters – and Jones!
The other group conducts a training session for the Gippsland Power under 15s. Taking the emerging TAC Cup boys for training at the Tarwin Football Club are players such as Jack Grimes, Heritier Lumumba, Tom McDonald, Jordie McKenzie and Viv Michie.
Lee says the developing footballers soak up the coaching from the Melbourne players.
“I thought it was great that some of the squad coached the Gippsland Power under 15s,” she says.
“The excitement of the young boys was great – you could see how much they enjoyed having an AFL team coach them.
“It was a great atmosphere to see these boys so engaged.”
5:45pm
The players return to the RACV Resort before departing for a dinner at the Wonthaggi Workmen’s Club.
It caps off what Jones says is an enjoyable first day.
“We trained at Casey and then visited a school with our Read like a Demon program. We went to the local community for a footy clinic where a fair few kids showed up,” he says.
“We had a big group of players involved and it’s always good to get out here and encourage them to get involved in grass roots footy.
“It was good fun to see and in particular to see a few Demons fans.”
