Kate Withers
When Moe twins Max and Annie Lietzau secured internships with the Collingwood Football Club they were told they shouldn’t expect too much.
“People were telling us there was no point doing an internship at an AFL club because we wouldn’t be doing anything useful,” Max said.
A few months on and nothing could be further from the truth, and Max and Annie have impressed so far as to land paid roles with Collingwood.
Max said the internships came about through a stroke of luck when he and Annie arrived early to a meeting to discuss their studies at Federation University in Churchill.
“Me and my sister just happened to get there 15 minutes early and the co-ordinator was talking to us about our plans for the future and how the [Latrobe Valley Authority] had made a partnership with Collingwood and she offered us the opportunity on the spot,” Max said.
“We thought at the start we weren’t sure if we should take it. Employment around the Latrobe Valley isn’t great so we were looking at safer bets, but we thought it would be pretty good on the resume.”
Max and Annie are now close to completing their Bachelor of Sports Management and already have a big jump on the competition.
Max is a match day assistant at the Magpies and Annie is a fan development and community liaison officer, but Aussie Rules wasn’t always their go-to sport.
“Sports always been a big part of my life, but not football – that’s the weird thing,” Max said.
“I play soccer so it was a bit weird coming to the club because I didn’t have an interest in football.”
Both play soccer in the Latrobe Valley and Annie is captain of Traralgon City but they have developed a unique appreciation for life behind the scenes at an AFL club.
Max looks after the bulk of the administration and planning requirements for match-day events and activities and admits his job can be “very tricky” at times.
“When it’s a Collingwood home game I communicate with our all departments, membership, media and other teams and gather what they want on the big screens at the MCG or on the TV screens,” he said. “A lot of the activations and stuff you see going on before the game and at half-time, I help organise those as well.
“It’s been really big doing things I haven’t felt comfortable doing, like talking to bosses at AFL which I usually like to get my manager to do, which was really nerve-wracking but it’s helped my confidence heaps.”
Despite being a self-confessed soccer buff, Max said working behind the scenes at Collingwood had turned him into a Pies fan.
“I watch Collingwood more often because I feel like I have a connection to the team. If the boys don’t perform well it’s a bit more tense in the office,” he said.
Max and Annie have made the big move to inner-city Melbourne for their work at Collingwood and are still adjusting to the change.
“We live just across from Jolimont Station and it’s nothing like living at Moe,” Max said.
“There’s just different things like the trains and noise considerations like that, that you don’t think of.”
Max and Annie seldom see each other throughout the average, fast-paced day in the office at Collingwood but Max said having each other to fall back on at the end of the day was “comforting”.
“Just having [Annie] there though, especially moving out of home for the first time into the city made it a bit easier,” he said.
“I know most days when we walked home we talked about what happened in the day and it’s good relief and if we weren’t together there’s no one to talk to who would understand.”
