A Press Conference during the week leading into the Peter Jackson VFL Grand Final gave Captain’s of the Port Melbourne Football Club and Geelong Cats an opportunity to air their opinions on coaches, teammates and their club environment.
John Baird, captain of Port Melbourne depicted the admiration and respect he holds for his decorated Coach Gary Ayres.
“His influence on the Port Melbourne Football Club is enormous. I don’t think we would be where we are today, preparing for our third Grand Final in five years without him.
“His ability to, I guess, not only attract players to the Club but promote the Port Melbourne Football Club and VFL in general is second to none and he probably doesn’t get enough recognition for that.”
Baird was very complimentary of several teammates that he believes have shown great improvement and assisted in the club reaching their ultimate goal.
“There have been some guys who have spent a few years in the two’s, who have come up. Heath O’Farrell is one that comes to mind, Clay Johnson is another one who has really improved his football and different guys throughout the year. There have also been some new players to the Club and I think Mitch Wooffindin has been terrific, a really talented kid. I’d be surprised if a few AFL recruiters weren’t having a look at him.
“Dan Noonan as Gary mentioned has been great and then to just have a couple of those guys back who had missed significant parts of last year such as Myles Pitt and Adam Bentick and a couple of guys like that. Them coming into the team has really given us a big boost and we are hoping to do again what we did last year for those guys that missed out,” Baird said.
Troy Selwood of the Geelong Cats is not only Captain of the VFL side, but also employed as Football Operations Assistant. Therefore, Selwood has been involved in the development of his side both on and off the field.
“We have got some fantastic kids. I guess Matty (Matthew Knights) and I are biased but we have invested a lot of time into them.
“These guys have really made it their own team and they have really built their leadership throughout the year and that’s just one component to their football journey.
“It’s a really rewarding job, a job that Knighta (Matthew Knights) and myself get to do in being able to help them make their first few steps in AFL footy and we can only hope that they can go on and have half the career that some of those guys in the 2002 Grand Final against Port Melbourne,” Selwood said.
Selwood has found the assistance of experienced AFL players representing the VFL side to be a priceless asset. His statements proving to be even more significant with the recent announcement and rumours of further retirements at year’s end in the Geelong Cats camp.
“The thing we probably can’t underestimate is the impact that Shannon Byrnes and also David Wojcinski have had on the group being back in the VFL program. Shannon’s played large parts of the year in the VFL and could have easily dropped his head a little bit at times and asked why am I back here, but he has been fantastic and his football has just gone from strength to strength as he has gone on.
“Wojo (David Wojcinski) now seems to be up and about and he is just great guidance for our young defenders out there as well. So as a leader I am extremely lucky to have those two guys back in the side with the attitudes they have brought to the VFL program all year,” Selwood said.
Last Modified on 22/09/2012 16:43