A dog of a day
A play-date between dogs belonging to Andy Otten and Richard Douglas almost ended in disaster recently when Dougy’s canine friend, Chizel, became stranded in Andy’s swimming pool. Andy and Dougy, who were at West Lakes training at the time, were alerted to the situation when Andy’s neighbour phoned the Club to get a message to Andy. The neighbour’s concerns were passed on to Andy and in turn Dougy, who rushed home to help a barking, distressed and laboring Chizel out of the pool. Turns out Chizel regularly hops into Dougy’s pool at home for a quick dip before climbing out via the ladder, but became disorientated when he couldn’t find a similar way out of Andy’s pool.
Coach’s pet?
Doggy dates are not uncommon at West Lakes. Prior to joining the team at the airport for the flight to Alice Springs in week two of the NAB Cup, Bernie Vince dropped his Labrador ‘Buddy’ off to coach Brenton Sanderson’s house. Obviously Sando, who was preparing for only his third game as coach, wasn’t home but his partner Veronika was put in charge of looking after the couple’s own dog, Max, and his friend for the weekend, Buddy. And while we’re on the subject of dogs, Rory Sloane and partner Belinda have recently welcomed not one, but two dogs - Minka and Marley - to their home, while housemates Matt Wright and Rick Henderson made an impulse purchase at a pet shop during a lunchbreak over the pre-season, taking home puppy ‘Hugo’
Sloane, No.1 seed
No.1 Ticket Holder and tennis champ Lleyton Hewitt paid the team a surprise visit at Saturday’s Victorian Members Day. Hewitt, currently based in Melbourne whilst recovering from injury, took his daughter Mia and son Cruz to watch the Crows train at Wesley College. The tennis ace used the opportunity to catch up with captain Nathan van Berlo, Kurt Tippett and Scott Thompson following the team’s light session. A massive Rory Sloane fan, Cruz was proudly sporting his signed number No.9 Crows guernsey. It’s only fitting Sloane should be Cruz’s favourite player - the three-year-old drew comparisons to a young Sloane because of his blond curly locks.
Radar on ace hunt
Brent Reilly and Michael Doughty visited the Drummond Golf driving range at West Beach recently to have one shot at the $25,000 on offer for a hole-in-one competition. And ‘Radar’ Reilly confirmed his ranking as the Club’s best golfer by nearly pocketing the cash. The boys warmed up with a bucket of balls and there was plenty of discussion about club selection, wind speed and technique as well as how they might split up the $25,000. First to tee off was Doughty, who set the standard in blustery conditions with a great shot that landed on the green. No cash there, though. Then Radar had his crack at the 150 metre hole. The crowd had gathered by this stage and he didn’t let them down, hitting his ball straight at the pin. It look a chance all the way, thumped into the green and rested just over a metre from the hole - much to the relief of the man with the $25,000!
All aboard the Twitter train
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the Crows in the world of social media with coach Brenton Sanderson, midfielder Patrick Dangerfield and impressive recruit Tom Lynch all joining Twitter. After insisting he would send only “one or two” Tweets a week, Sanderson bolted out of the gates tweeting nine times in the first night. Sando used one tweet to stitch up assistant coach and former teammate Darren Milburn, saying ‘Friends of Milburn will be shocked to learn that he participated in his 1st post-retirement workout today. 10 mins treadmill. Speed unknown.’
However, the funniest Crow on Twitter without question is rookie-listed ruckman Ben Dowdell. An apparent fan of Harry Potter, ice baths and footy shorts , the former US College basketballer is certainly worth a follow: @Dowdell44.
The full list of Crows on Twitter is:
@SandoAFC
@Dangerfield32
@LukeThompson6
@brentcreilly_3
@rorylaird
@rickhenderson45
@Lewisjohnston8
@JoshJenkins24
@Dowdell44
@brad_crouch
@jlyons_31
@texwalker_13
@andyotten22
@Smckernan35
@crowsceo
@sam_martyn
@jpetrenko23
@bvince17
@BrodieSmith
@AidanRiley43
@samjacobs24
@matt_jaensch
@KurtTippett4
@ChrisLKnights
@Brodie_Martin36
@dylorval
@rjdouglas26
@Mitch_Grigg38
@NickJoyce42
@LukeBrown_16