AFL Gather Round: Glenn McFarlane takes you behind the scenes of Carlton’s trip to Adelaide
Players prepare for games differently, and at Carlton, as Glenn Mcfarlane found out, for every well organised Adam Cerra there’s Charlie Curnow with a pair of jocks in his pocket.
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Carlton was the first Victorian team to fly out to Adelaide for the AFL’s Gather Round. Glenn McFarlane was granted access to follow the Blues almost every step of the way … from Tullamarine to the Adelaide Oval.
BLUES ON THE MOVE
Wednesday morning, Virgin Lounge, Tullamarine
It’s just a tick after 11am as Carlton coach Michael Voss walks through the Virgin Lounge with purpose only to be greeted by the concierge wearing a Blues scarf.
There is already a feeling this is going to be a different trip to the hundreds Voss has made in his lifetime in footy.
It’s the inaugural Gather Round in Adelaide, a four-day footy extravaganza in the one city.
But for the Blues, and their meticulous coach, it is all about sticking to the principles and normalities that have driven them so far this season.
Voss is one of the first to arrive of almost 60 Blues players, coaches and support staff who will make the trip on Virgin Flight 236.
The coach’s laptop is already working overtime as the players and coaching staff start to trickle into the lounge.
Some grab a quick coffee, a fresh sandwich or a muffin as they prepare for the first of their line meetings in the aptly-named ‘Get Down to Business’ meeting room.
The previous time the Blues travelled interstate – back in round 3 – midfield housemates Sam Walsh and Matt Kennedy watched the game from the couch in Walsh’s home.
Both were injured and almost rode every bump before the Blues emerged with the points over the Giants.
“I was chewing down my nails,” Kennedy says.
Walsh adds: “When you watch it at home on television, you feel a bit like a fan. I think that just increases the desire to do well. We have been through so much as a group that there is just a great connection amongst us.
Kennedy agrees: “We have built some really strong relationships and feel comfortable challenging each other.”
Both players are back to tackle the Crows – Walsh for his first game since round 22 last year following back surgery and Kennedy for his first since round 2.
“I am pretty rapt to be playing alongside him (Walsh),’ Kennedy says. “When I first lived with him four years ago, you could see how hard he trains and how professional he is. He has really helped to change the culture and levels of our training.”
The pair have lived together – in different houses – since Walsh was chosen as the No. 1 draft pick in late 2018.
That’s about to change with Kennedy set to get married and move out in November.
Walsh’s four-bedroom place in the inner city is “a full house” now. Paddy Dow also lives there and for the moment Charlie Curnow calls it home as he is renovating his own place.
That means it has become a three-dog residence.
Kennedy says: “I’ve got Toby, the Australian shepherd dog, and Charlie has two dogs – Reg, the kelpie and Wax, the Jack Russell.”
So who’s looking after the Dogs with three of the four household members in Adelaide? Dow is in charge.
Young small forwards Corey Durdin and Jesse Motlop – who live with Jack Carroll – have become close mates as well as housemates.
“The connection is great,” Durdin explains. “Mots and I play the same role and the same position, so we are always trying to get the best out of each other.“
He drives Motlop to the airport, with both are looking forward to catching up with family in Adelaide.
“To have all the games in the one spot (in Adelaide), to have all the AFL community in the one place, it’s going to be great,” Motlop said of Gather Round.
FOUR MONTHS IN THE PLANNING
December 2022-April 2023
This flight to Adelaide is scheduled to take one hour and 25 minutes; the planning for it has been underway for four months.
Almost as soon as the AFL released its fixture a fortnight before Christmas, the Blues started work on the logistics surrounding their six interstate trips this year.
The initial plans were pencilled in several months ago, with a caveat that things can – and will – change.
The Blues locked in bus transports and team dinners two months out with football operations co-ordinator Zak Kennedy and football operations and compliance manager Len Villani co-ordinating much of it.
The flights were booked weeks earlier, though the need to lock in who is flying 72 hours out is complicated as the starting team isn’t locked away until 24 hours before Thursday’s game.
The Blues’ property and logistics manager Jon Augustin is charged with ensuring everything goes to plan from an equipment point of view.
He was at the club the day before departure washing and preparing four sets of jumpers/socks/shorts each player will have access to, as well as the training guernseys for captain’s run, the warm-up tops, medical supplies, boots and footballs.
Collectively, it’s one tonne of equipment, the equivalent of two grand pianos.
“The logistics are huge,” Carlton head of football Brad Lloyd explains. “I think we moved 14 times in the hub year (2020), so we know what needs to be done.
“People like Jon Augustin, who has been our property manager for a long time, do an enormous job for us.
“He is at the club in the early hours … he would have packed (on Tuesday night) and was back in (early on Wednesday morning). He gets here (at Tullamarine) and is packing and unpacking everything. Then he will be getting home (on Friday) unpacking and washing and making sure everything is ready to go for the next game.
“Len Villani and Zak Kennedy are across everything from a logistics point of view. Andrew Russell and the high performance and medical teams do a lot of work as do the media team.”
Allocating tickets for the players’ families and friends – and wristbands for room access – is never easy, particularly when so many people have travelled to Gather Round.
More than 150 people will have access to club tickets.
Durdin was able to secure 20 tickets for his family and friends as they look to celebrate his 21st birthday (which falls the day after the game) in his native state.
“It’s worked out well to be back home (for his 21st),” Durdin says, hoping it could be a double celebration.
While most of the team will fly home on Friday, he will stay a few extra days for a birthday lunch planned with his parents, siblings and friends on Saturday at one of Adelaide’s newest hot spots, Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room.
Charlie Curnow and Adam Cerra have become the unlikeliest of close mates since the latter joined the Blues from Fremantle in late 2021.
Yet, they couldn’t be more different in make-up or road trip preparations.
While Cerra is meticulous in what he brings to games at home or interstate, Curnow is a minimalist. He subscribes to the ‘less is more’ adage.
Cerra jokes: “I pick him (Curnow) up for games in Melbourne and all he has is a spare pair of jocks in his pocket … no bag, no boots, nothing at all.”
Curnow packs a little more for interstate trips, but still leaves his boots in the capable hands of Augustin. “Big shout-out to Jonny, he looks after us,” Curnow says.
IN THE AIR
Wednesday afternoon, in the air, somewhere between Melbourne and Adelaide
Jack Silvagni is in the middle of the most bizarre interview he has done – at around 40,000 feet.
As Virgin Flight 236 streams towards Adelaide, Silvagni is brought to the intercom to chat with Blues legend Anthony Koutoufides as part of a promotion for the airline.
“This is your captain speaking,” Koutoufides’ voice boomed down the aisle in a plane where the passenger log is a who’s who of football as well as some lucky Blues supporters who have booked a flight their heroes are on.
Koutoufides did captain the Blues for three seasons from 2004-2006, but the current skipper Patrick Cripps isn’t on-board. Cripps and a few others, including Curnow, have flown a day earlier.
The rest of the team are spread out in the front half of the plane, with big men Tom De Koning (complete with a Blues cap that is rarely off his head) and Marc Pittonet occupying exit aisles.
The short flight time means Motlop doesn’t have time to add to his almost encyclopaedic knowledge of movies on this trip. “Good luck trying to find a movie he hasn’t seen,” Durdin says of Motlop.
Koutoufides isn’t the only past player on the flight – board member and dual Brownlow Medallist Greg Williams and Norm Smith Medallist David Rhys-Jones are other Blues royalty on the plane.
Collingwood president Jeff Browne and chief executive Craig Kelly are on the flight, as well as North Melbourne president Sonja Hood and chief executive Jen Watt.
It isn’t the smoothest of landings, but an expectant cheer occurs when the wheels hit the tarmac.
Gather Round is up and running, but the pilot – decked out in a Crows’ scarf – has one last surprise. He has organised the Crows theme song to blare through the speakers.
“We’re the pride of South Australia” … is another reminder that for all the collegiate approach to Gather Round, tribalism is never far away.
DOUBLE BLUES
Wednesday late afternoon, Unley Oval, Sturt
It is almost the perfect symmetry as the Blues prepare for their captain’s run at Unley Oval, the home of Sturt Football Club, SANFL’s “Double Blues”.
It’s been the Peter Motley Oval since 2015, named for the former Sturt star who shone briefly for Carlton in 19 games before a horrific car accident in May 1987 ended his VFL career, aged 22.
Motley, now 58, is in attendance to greet the next wave of young Blues. He speaks in the rooms to defender Lewis Young, who spent his formative years at Unley Oval and played one senior Sturt game as a teenager before being drafted to the Bulldogs in 2016.
The Unley terraces are normally decked out in Sturt’s light blue and navy blue. On this day, it is very much navy blue as more than a thousand Carlton fans attend the open training session.
The crowd waits patiently for their heroes to emerge from the rooms, which comes soon after the coach finishes one of his main team meetings. A roar goes up when the players run out.
A few notice one of the grandstands is named the ‘Harry J.McKay’ Stand … but it’s not for the Blues’ forward. Instead, it is to honour one of Sturt’s early administrators from 1910-1921.
Voss fronts a press conference as the Blues players embark on a light captain’s run before undertaking an extensive autograph session for the fans.
GAME DAY
Thursday, Stamford Plaza, Adelaide
Cerra and Curnow started a tradition last season of having a coffee each game day morning at ACoffee in Collingwood.
“We started having coffees and Charlie had a good year, so we decided to keep it going,” Cerra says.
Curnow adds: “Chez showed me the way a little bit by making me go for the $10 coffees down the road.”
But the coffee ritual only extends to Melbourne games.
Curnow believes this Carlton side is as “connected” as any other he has played in.
“We’ve been working at that (connection) for a while now,” he says. “When I first fronted up to the club we had leaders like Murph (Marc Murphy) and Gibbo (Bryce Gibbs), now we’ve got Crippa (Patrick Cripps) and Doc (Sam Docherty).
“We’ve had some ups and downs, but the experiences we have had have made us stronger and closer.”
Brad Lloyd agrees.
“Chris Judd used to always talk about cohesion and we feel like we have got that at the moment,” Lloyd says. “We’ve got some strong levels of ability through the playing group, but we’ve also got a great work rate.
“I love the demographic of the group. We have a good young group emerging, many of whom are of a similar age, and we’ve got some good young players coming through.”
The players have a choice of how they spend the final hours leading up to a game.
Motlop says of his routine: “I like to keep it pretty simple. I might go out for a walk and have a coffee or just catch up with the boys.”
Kennedy adds: “Some of the boys have a routine of having a midday nap.”
“The club has done a lot of work in the mindfulness space. (Dr) Tarah (Kavanagh) has been great for us. She gives us a lot of visualisation and breathing (techniques).”
Walsh has been visualising this moment for months. He hasn’t played in 244 days.
“I can usually get some sleep, but definitely not this time,” he says.
He’s one of the first players out onto the Adelaide Oval long before the warm-ups.
He’s nervous, but he’s ready. He knows he has put in the work. So do his teammates.
THE MATCH
Thursday night, Adelaide Oval
This was not how it was meant to play out. Adelaide kicks eight of the first 10 goals in a first quarter that sets the tone. Carlton never wins back the lost ground.
Voss hadn’t seen it coming.
“I thought our preparation was really good … we were really excited coming in,” Voss says. “We knew what was coming, but we weren’t able to get the game the way we wanted it early and that put us under an enormous amount of pressure.”
It is Carlton’s first loss of the season, and isn’t helped by injuries to Mitch McGovern (a late withdrawal), Pittonet and Adam Saad.
The mood in the rooms is downcast, though a round of applause is given when president Luke Sayers congratulates 100-game Blue Zac Fisher on his milestone.
Walsh, who was Carlton’s best player, tells the club’s website of the first term: “That’s not the way you want to start on the road.”
“We have to keep working as a team, we felt a bit disconnected … for various reasons. The best thing about footy is that you can respond next week. I’m sure we will do that.”
Voss is working to ensure this loss is a blip on the radar. The planning starts all over again … this time for St Kilda on Sunday week.
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