All year I’ve been forecasting this week’s bye. This is the lot for a weekly columnist. A vacuum is created by a missing game in the calendar and it must be filled, but with what?
For weeks I’ve had this week circled as the time to unleash the classic ‘where are they now?’ column.
But who to choose? Is it time to catch up with Sedat Sir? Or what about Tony Campbell and his gloves? Then I had a thought to call Zeno Tzatzaris. I wonder what they’re all up to.
I had all of this swishing around my head as I braved the cold and drove out to Coburg basketball centre this week for round one of the D grade, no one really cares, basketball league.
And then, as if the sun broke through the clouds inside that sweat scented, testosterone filled stadium, my old teammate Ben ‘Harro’ Harrison was putting on his no.9 blue and white Panfas singlet right in front of me!
He was stretching, he had a steely look in his eye. He was ready for battle. This is sometimes the lot for old footballers. Many of us are exercising just enough not to blow out.
We play mid-week games of basketball and indoor soccer or any other game that we only know some of the rules.
We go in with the best intentions to play within ourselves, but after five minutes of jovial play, we start trying too hard. This week was no different.
The Panfas took on the ‘Chicken Feeders’. The poor old chicken feeders couldn’t even organise a legitimate playing kit of singlet and oversized shorts, so they had to wear the rather fetching neon pink bibs generously given to them by the kind people at the Coburg basketball centre.
It was a good night for the Panfas. We started our campaign with a comfortable 20-point win. The team captain is another former Bulldog. Denis Bicer was the Bulldogs’ Communications Manager for a number of years and was at the helm when the club won the flag in 2016.
He was a tough and tenacious employee at the Dogs and that’s how he plays his mid-week basketball too. Bicer was described by one of his Panfa teammates as like a Turkish John Stockton, but without the passing. Denis roped in Darcy Muller, another former Bulldogs staff member.
Just like he did on the field for the Bulldogs, Tigers and Blues, Ben Harrison was solid, versatile and more than happy to give some peer feedback to anyone who went outside team rules.
The Panfas are not exclusively made up of ex Bulldogs, but there is a growing list of potential players who have represented the Bulldogs.
Former ruckman and cult hero Will Minson has been scouted and hinted at availability while former ambidextrous backman Lukas Markovic has answered the call too.
The potential inclusions are endless; Giansiracusa, Darcy, Wynd, Kolyniuk, Kennedy. I could go on.
There is an exception to every rule though, and it’s only right that I put all the cards on the table.
One of the Panfas is a former Bomber... I know, it’s almost blasphemy. He’s one of the good ones though, I swear.
Mark Bolton is our centre and he played his heart out in Coburg for the Panfas. He rebounded strongly and tipped a few baskets in for good measure. He could really be a player if he can find his contact lenses.
The highlight of the night actually came from Bolts, who got this piece of advice from his wife in the kitchen before leaving to make his debut for the team. She stared him in the eyes and said “don’t try...”
