LIAM DURKIN
By LIAM DURKIN
THE population of Gormandale was instantly tripled at the weekend, as former Hawthorn champion Jarryd Roughead rolled into town.
People came from everywhere to see the Coleman Medallist play a one-off game for the local team, and cars parked wherever they could find a space outside the Gormandale
Recreation Reserve.
So big was the crowd, Gormandale Football-Netball Club had to hire security so players and officials could get into the changerooms.
More than 1000 people saw Roughead pull on the yellow and black, as he took to the field against Glengarry.
Roughead was secured by Gormandale as part of a promotional deal by brewing company Carlton & United, who ran an initiative where eight ex-AFL stars were put into a pool and drafted to country clubs.
Wearing the number 9 guernsey, the fixture with Glengarry had some relevance for Roughead, as he is currently serving as an assistant coach at St Kilda, where Glengarry’s own Tim Membrey is plying his trade.
With one win to their credit this season, Gormandale was hoping Roughead’s presence would be enough to get them over the line.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be on the field, as the Tigers lost 16.15 (111) to 12.4 (76).
Roughead started at full forward, and finished with two goals and a number of assists throughout the match.
While some naysayers might wonder if Roughead was only making a token appearance for a beer company, watching live it did look like he was genuinely trying.
A clinical right foot snap out of the ruck in the third quarter showed his class, and judging by his reaction and celebration, he wanted Gormandale to win as much as the
regular players.
Post game, he generously stood for photos and signed autographs, taking his time to get to as many people as he could, and then mingled with locals into the night.
Speaking of the experience, Roughead said it was great to see such a strong turnout.
“I was more than happy to do my job today, I probably didn’t achieve what I wanted to get done which was win,” he said. “Driving down today I was like, ‘yep, sunny, picked the best weekend’. I get here and the vice president says, ‘sorry mate, we’ve done 150 mill (millimetres) the last two weeks’.”
Gormandale was required to do a power of work behind the scenes in the lead-up to the event, and club president Daniel Earl wished to sing the praises of those who had made it a success.
“If I didn’t have the committee that I had we wouldn’t be where we are,” he said.
“A huge day for the club, to see a lot of people around that you haven’t seen for years is great.
“Talking to people who have been here 20/30 years they have never seen this many cars here, that is unbelievable, a huge, huge success.”
The president said their marquee man would now always have a connection to Gormandale.
“Roughead has been fantastic, he rolled in and played a reasonable game,” he said.
“To experience that, these are memories that will last those guys (who got to play with him) forever.
“It wasn’t the result we were after but they were competitive all day, they battled hard, and the promising thing from my point of view is probably our best players were 20 or under so the future going forward looks fantastic for the club.”
The Tigers executive would have surely slept well after it was all over, especially considering they only had a month or so to pull it all together.
To give you an idea of just what went into organising the event – the first committee meeting lasted the best part of four hours.
Glengarry too would have been pleased to get through the day.
Imagine playing a game knowing 95 per cent of the crowd has come to see you lose.
