Crows midfielderNathan van Berlo gives the lowdown on team travel, including the battle for thebest seats on the plane and who to avoid sitting next to …
Regular travel is part of being an AFL footballer, especially, for those clubs outside of Victoria.
We love playing at home in front of our fans at Adelaide Oval, but the boys also enjoy getting on the road and spending a couple of days together on away trips.
After dropping our bags off at the check-in desk at the airport, it’s straight to the Virgin Lounge.
Most of the boys like to sit down, have a coffee and relax before the flight. Josh Jenkins just loves the free Wi-Fi. He goes in and asks for the password straight away.
Some of the boys will grab something small to eat, but there are a few who probably take it too far with the complimentary goods. Matty Jaensch and Rory Laird are the worst.
On the way out, they raid the Mentos bowl on the counter. Most people just grab one, but they grab a handful of the free Mentos and shove them in their pockets for the flight.
It’s pre-determined where everyone sits on the plane. Our footy admin staff look after the bookings.
Often, you sit next to similar people each trip. That works well for me because I’m far away from some of the pests, like Matty Jaensch who doesn’t stop talking and ‘Tex’ who carries on a bit sometimes as well.
Last trip, I sat next to ‘Dougy’ (Richard Douglas) and ‘Curly’ (Cam Ellis-Yolmen) and then ‘Sloaney’ (Rory Sloane) on the way back as well. We were up in row three, at the pointy end of the plane. It’s not quite at the front, but pretty close to it.
It’s a bit of a competition for the front row and emergency exits because they have extra leg room.
Games played is the number one criteria when determining who gets the prime seats.
The guys, who are a bit taller, like ‘Sauce’ (Sam Jacobs) and ‘Tals’ (Daniel Talia) get a bit of leeway because they need the space.
Eddie Betts quite often gets an exit row seat because he’s played 200-odd AFL games but he’s the shortest guy on our list, so there’s always a debate over his eligibility.
On the last trip, all the coaches were getting stuck into Curly asking why he was near the front. I’m not sure if someone made a mistake there, but it was good sitting next to him. He didn’t want to talk to me or Dougy, he just watched ‘Harry Potter’ the whole way!
By far, Jaenschy is the worst to sit next to. He doesn’t stop talking and always wants to take photos of you on his phone. A lot of guys just want to chill out, put their earphones in and watch vision on their iPad or a movie. But Jaenschy wants to do everything his own way and annoy blokes most of the time.
You certainly don’t want to fall asleep near Jaenschy, or any of the boys for that matter.
If you do, (as some of our fans on Twitter and Instagram would’ve seen) someone will take your photo and post it on social media, or you’ll end up with a random object in your mouth if you sleep with it slightly ajar. You’ve got to be careful and sleep with one eye open!
Generally, we’re only flying to Melbourne and back, so there’s not too much time to kill.
If it’s a longer flight, I like to watch a movie. I don’t mind playing a bit of cards or just chilling out on the way over by reading a magazine.
A few boys are into ‘Uno’ pretty hard at the moment. There have been some pretty heated battles and new rule changes – they call it ‘Epic Uno’. It helps pass the time while we’re away. Matty Wright and ‘Hendo’ (Ricky Henderson) have probably led the Uno charge and have a bit of a following.
It’s expected that if you want to play Uno, you have to get out of your seat.
Even on shorter flights, we like to get up once or twice just to stretch the legs and move around. On the longer flights, we make even more of an effort. Especially on the way back because you’re feeling pretty stiff and sore.
Occasionally, there’s also a bit of Yahtzee on the iPad that gets around. All the young boys are playing this jockey game on their iPhones or a golf game, which they can play against each other on their phones. I don’t even know what it’s called but it keeps them hooked.
We get offered the complimentary sweets and biscuits on the way over, but the boys politely decline. On the way back, a few of the boys indulge after a hard hit-out.
On the return flight, there are ice packs and machines that get passed around by our medical staff for players with corkies and sore spots.
But you have to be careful if you’ve got an icepack in an exit row. I remember a few years ago, the big fella Ivan Maric, who is now at Richmond, had an icepack on his knee when he was sitting in the exit row.
The flight attendant told him he wasn’t capable of sitting in the emergency exit row and asked him to move. The big Croatian didn’t like that, so he was firing up and the boys all got around the attendant and made him move. It was great. Ivan was not a happy man, but all the other boys thought it was the funniest thing ever.
