ROUND one, 2005, was one of those occasions that nobody involved would ever forget. If you were connected to the red and blue - or the very game - in any way, and didn’t have No. 20 blazoned somewhere on your person, you had the number, the person, the story, held deep inside you.
Just months before, Melbourne had taken on Essendon in the 2004 finals, losing narrowly to the Bombers in a hard fought tussle that ended with less than a goal between the two.
One of Melbourne’s stars on that day was young defender, Troy Broadbridge, who excelled against James Hird.
Recruited from Port Adelaide in 1999, Broadbridge was a dual premiership player with Melbourne’s then VFL affiliate side, Sandringham, in 2000 and 2004.
Having reached 40 games for Melbourne in this final against the Bombers, he was echoing his first game, which was also against the red and black.
That would be Troy Broadbridge’s last game. He was lost in the devastating 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that hit the region while he was on honeymoon with wife Trisha at Phi Phi Island in Thailand.
Fittingly, round one of 2005 saw Melbourne taking on Essendon, and remembering Troy. Leading into the game, Melbourne players literally wore their hearts on their sleeves, with the No. 20 stencilled as a temporary armband for each.
It was a game like no other. As Trisha would later write in her book, Beyond The Wave, ‘Usually at the start of a game, the two teams run out onto the ground from separate gates, but tonight, as a tribute to Troy, they would both walk out together.’
Beyond the arena, all at the MCG - a crowd of nearly 48,000 gathered in the stands - stood in shared sorrow, remembering Troy, seeing the big screen tributes, as 2000 red balloons floated into the night sky.
It was a tribute that would have disconcerted the tall, quiet redhead.
Remembered by both Jim Stynes and teammate Nathan Brown as ‘the most selfless footballer’ they had ever met, Troy’s captain, David Neitz, remembered him as a person with ‘a quiet determination … a caring friend, and had a big heart’.
With such spirit behind them, the Melbourne side - as forecast by Neitz pre-game - truly did ‘play tough’ that night. As Trisha wrote, ‘… that night the Melbourne Football Club was at its most intense.’
The defence held strong, and there were multiple goal scoring stars, led by Adem Yze with four, and Aaron Davey and Brad Miller with two apiece.
The result was almost set by the half time break, with Melbourne twenty points ahead. This lead expanded to 46 points by game’s end, rounding off the contest in fitting fashion.
As Troy’s teammate, Russell Robertson, would recall in 2012 following the death of Jim Stynes, ‘I remember looking back on 2005, there was the shock but we did get together and grow as a group. The first game we played out of our skins for Broady …’
To this day, the sense of this round one, 2005 commemoration and victory remains a strong thread in the story of Melbourne.
Once the season was over, further links would be forged, far away from the MCG, with the establishment of the Broadbridge Education Centre on Phi Phi Island - a very special project to take the name and memory of Troy into ‘generations to come’.
As they had very visibly shown in the round one victory, Troy’s teammates would act as a collective force, working with Trisha to build a special and tangible reminder of one of their own.
Just months before, Melbourne had taken on Essendon in the 2004 finals, losing narrowly to the Bombers in a hard fought tussle that ended with less than a goal between the two.
One of Melbourne’s stars on that day was young defender, Troy Broadbridge, who excelled against James Hird.
Recruited from Port Adelaide in 1999, Broadbridge was a dual premiership player with Melbourne’s then VFL affiliate side, Sandringham, in 2000 and 2004.
Having reached 40 games for Melbourne in this final against the Bombers, he was echoing his first game, which was also against the red and black.
That would be Troy Broadbridge’s last game. He was lost in the devastating 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that hit the region while he was on honeymoon with wife Trisha at Phi Phi Island in Thailand.
Fittingly, round one of 2005 saw Melbourne taking on Essendon, and remembering Troy. Leading into the game, Melbourne players literally wore their hearts on their sleeves, with the No. 20 stencilled as a temporary armband for each.
It was a game like no other. As Trisha would later write in her book, Beyond The Wave, ‘Usually at the start of a game, the two teams run out onto the ground from separate gates, but tonight, as a tribute to Troy, they would both walk out together.’
Beyond the arena, all at the MCG - a crowd of nearly 48,000 gathered in the stands - stood in shared sorrow, remembering Troy, seeing the big screen tributes, as 2000 red balloons floated into the night sky.
It was a tribute that would have disconcerted the tall, quiet redhead.
Remembered by both Jim Stynes and teammate Nathan Brown as ‘the most selfless footballer’ they had ever met, Troy’s captain, David Neitz, remembered him as a person with ‘a quiet determination … a caring friend, and had a big heart’.
With such spirit behind them, the Melbourne side - as forecast by Neitz pre-game - truly did ‘play tough’ that night. As Trisha wrote, ‘… that night the Melbourne Football Club was at its most intense.’
The defence held strong, and there were multiple goal scoring stars, led by Adem Yze with four, and Aaron Davey and Brad Miller with two apiece.
The result was almost set by the half time break, with Melbourne twenty points ahead. This lead expanded to 46 points by game’s end, rounding off the contest in fitting fashion.
As Troy’s teammate, Russell Robertson, would recall in 2012 following the death of Jim Stynes, ‘I remember looking back on 2005, there was the shock but we did get together and grow as a group. The first game we played out of our skins for Broady …’
To this day, the sense of this round one, 2005 commemoration and victory remains a strong thread in the story of Melbourne.
Once the season was over, further links would be forged, far away from the MCG, with the establishment of the Broadbridge Education Centre on Phi Phi Island - a very special project to take the name and memory of Troy into ‘generations to come’.
As they had very visibly shown in the round one victory, Troy’s teammates would act as a collective force, working with Trisha to build a special and tangible reminder of one of their own.
