Fittingly, a cool wind and soft rain fell on VU Whitten Oval yesterday.
It’s starting to feel like football season again. The shifting seasons are of comfort for many Melbournians, the subtle changes acting like anchor points to tie our ropes to, but the seasons are magnified for us football folk.
The easy optimism of the summer months now makes way for the gentle charms of autumn, where the winds lay low and the hot air balloons fly high.
The optimism remains of course, for everyone is on top of the ladder in March, but there is something about the slight chill of the breeze that reminds us all how hard the road ahead can be.
One of my old Bulldog teammates and current assistant coach, Daniel Giansiracusa, brought a phrase into our club a few years back that I think captured the perpetual struggle inherent in a long football season - “Embrace the grind”.
Good artists borrow and great ones steal, or so the saying goes, and Gia pinched this line from Marshal Yanda of the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.
Back when I was in the locker room, we would sometimes talk about the month of July. Did you pass the July test? The July test is the grind.
Autumn in March is nothing compared with winter in July when your joints begin to ache and your duty to the game and your jumper drags you out of your cosy bed before you’d like it to.
July is notoriously hard on young teams, young players. Often, it’s the older, more experienced teams and players who find a way to lift and excel the harder it gets. Their resolve having calloused over time.
Passing the ‘July test’ is a moral test. Are you tough enough? Can you endure?
Is this test of will exclusive just to the players? Of course not. An old coach of mine used to say, “fatigue makes cowards of us all”.
This game takes it out of everyone. That’s what makes the resilience to keep getting up to take another run at it so goddamn inspiring!
Last night, our club paid tribute to the five new members who were welcomed into our distinguished Hall of Fame.
Don Ross, Peter Box, David Smorgon, Steve Wallis and Bernie Quinlan all etched their names into the stone of our club’s honour board.
For all of these men it was confirmation of what we already knew; that their efforts elevated them to be officially recognised as greats of our club.
On a historic night for the Club, we also witnessed the elevation to Legend status for Alan Hopkins, Norm Ware and Chris Grant.
As I understand it, Legend status is not simply a reward for football deeds on the field, nor is it for the accompanying service and dignity they have given of themselves to our club off the field.
It is also to acknowledge the other thing, the intangible thing. The truly great ones bring something beautiful to the game that is much harder to define. A combination of grit and grace.
There is a divine reverence for the Hall of Fame. Every single name that went up in lights last night showed us the best of themselves over and over and over again.
In their circumstances, in all seasons, they inspired those around them. When things were at their hardest, when we needed them most, they passed the test.
They embraced the grind. They lifted our Bulldog hearts.
