15. The Season That Wasn’t. I played some club football in 1986, first for Thomastown U17s, where I was a half-back flanker or back pocket. Typically, because I was so shy in group situations, I didn’t do myself justice – not that I was a world-beater, but I was better than what I showed. I was also young, being only fifteen, but that’s the group I qualified for. In one game, I mouthed off at an opponent when he bumped me late, and the entire opposition spent the whole match trying to square me up. After the game, our captain told me you don’t mouth off at away games. Thanks…

14. The Fight for the Finals. 986 was another year of superstitions – although they always existed in some form.  By that time, being teens trying to be cool, myself, Ange, and Johnny were smoking – Winfield (Blues), for myself; Peter Jacksons for Ange and Johnny. Prior to one game, we decided to chip in for a packet, but couldn’t decide what to get.  Then we saw them: Black and White cigarettes.  Well, there’s a sign.  We bought them and promptly won.  This became a pre-game ritual – chipping in for Black and White cigarettes, even if we already all had smokes on us.  Whenever we bought them, we won. …