By Robert Walls
It was September 1966 and the Carlton under-19 team was on its end-of-season trip to Deniliquin. There was great excitement because we were flying and I'd never been on a plane before. We took off from Essendon airport and had two days in Deniliquin. The highlight was watching Ted Whitten's brother Don captain-coach the local team in their grand final.
Now, on Sunday, after 48 seasons as a player, coach and commentator, I will take my final football flight. It will be to the Gold Coast to watch the Suns host the Giants.
Robert Walls, Brisbane coach, in 1992.Credit: Wayne Ludbey
Some would say I've drawn the short straw with this game but no, it will be fun to reminisce, tell some stories to my younger travelling companions and marvel at how the Carrara dustbowl has been transformed into the boutique Metricon Stadium.
There will be some exceptional young AFL talent. There will be the Brownlow Medal favourite going around, and it will most likely be Kevin Sheedy's 679th and final game as an AFL coach.
It was 21 years ago that the Brisbane Bears played their last game on the Gold Coast. The captain was Roger Merrett. "Big Rog" still lives there. A 17-year-old kid called Michael Voss had just made it into the senior team. His confidence and enthusiasm stood out, even then. A fortnight ago he was unceremoniously stood down as coach of Brisbane. It was a shabby way to end his Brisbane career but Vossy, after hurting for a while, will definitely bounce back.
It will be nice to see Marcus Ashcroft and Shaun Hart. They were wide-eyed boys when I first coached them at the Brisbane Bears. Now, they are triple premiership players. Ashcroft is general manager of football operations with the Suns and Hart coaches their reserve-grade team.
Malcolm Blight has lived in Queensland for a decade and loves his mentoring role with the Suns coaching staff. It will be interesting to hear his latest ideas on football. Scott Clayton, the Suns' list manger, may well be there too. We go back a third of a century, to the Fitzroy days at the Junction Oval, when Scotty crossed Bass Strait to test himself in the big time.
Kevin Sheedy and I go back even further. It was 1967 when we first started playing against each other, and we both started coaching careers in 1981. He was ruthless and driven as a player and coach. I liked the fact he was prepared to be a bit different. He had vision. He was prepared to travel and take the game to all parts of Australia and the world. He encouraged the indigenous boys. He could be aggressive and nasty, kind and compassionate. He truly loves the game. I'm glad he took on a fledgling club. I respect his contribution, over a very long time, to AFL football. If our paths cross on Sunday, I'd shake his hand and say well done.
At least two of Sheedy's young Giants have fantastic futures. We all know how exciting tall forward Jeremy Cameron is, but strong midfielder Dylan Shiel is going to be a beauty. It will also be enjoyable to watch young captain and former Bulldog Callan Ward play. He gives his all, as does Tom Scully. Lachie Whitfield, too, will be worth watching. Stick thin, he moves fluently and is blessed with skill.
Off the field, football operations boss "Gubby" Allan is an old Fitzroy teammate, and list manager Stephen Silvagni and I shared a Carlton premiership in 1987. The Giants football/welfare manager is Craig Lambert. Every time we see each other we laugh. Twenty years ago, he looked me in the eye and said it would be a waste of time if Brisbane drafted him because he would never leave Melbourne. Well, we drafted him and he reluctantly headed north. Now, 20 years on, he has never returned, having spent 17 years in Queensland and the last three in Sydney.
On the field, you hope the Suns give a far better account of themselves than they did last week against St Kilda. Coach Guy McKenna said his team put in a "stinker", and they did. A team total of just 27 tackles with seven players, including Gary Ablett, Harley Bennell and Jared Brennan, not putting on one at all. Ablett's last month has been disappointing by his standards, and last week he didn't work hard enough to break the tag put on by Clint Jones. A three-vote performance this week would be handy for Ablett, because Dane Swan and Joel Selwood are closing in.
It will be interesting to see if Brennan keeps his place in the team. He shouldn't. Too many wishy-washy efforts over a 172-game career make him an ordinary player and ordinary role model to his young teammates.
Two extremely talented midfielders who inspire are Jaeger O'Meara and Dion Prestia. Tall defender Rory Thompson is going to be very good and I just love the aggression and will of power forward-cum ruckman Charlie Dixon.
On Sunday night's flight back to Melbourne, there will be some reminiscing of footy flights from the past. Flights to and from places like Darwin, Dublin, London, Los Angeles, Athens, Fiji, Singapore and Tokyo.
And of course Deniliquin, where I learnt early on that it's not a very good idea to fly with a belly full of mushroom soup.