Geelong Cats Mitch Duncan, Sam De Koning and Mark Blicavs weren’t too sure what they were in for when they found themselves in front of a junior media conference at Armstrong Mount Duneed this week.
A throng of tyro reporters tackled them high and low during a school hols visit to Club Armstrong, peppering them with a barrage of queries about their performance, their teammates, skills tips, diet and self-assessment … and that’s before they warmed up.
“Mark, what’s it like being the second-best athlete in your family?” quizzed one, delivering a solid hip and shoulder to the star all-rounder before following up with:
“Mark, do you think you should have stuck with athletics instead of footy?”
Blicavs fended the knocks off bravely, citing his sister Sara’s Olympic selection and his parents’ Olympic and world-level basketball legacy. He’d be happy to be number two, he says.
“Mitch, who’s your most annoying teammate?” prompted another youngster, to which Duncan smartly felled tall timber Sam De Koning with a gleeful spray about his uber-enthusiasm and non-stop energy.
“What’s something we don’t know about you?” another youngster quizzed Sam, learning the backman is one of a 10-kid family. And yeah, they scrap occasionally.
The questions kept rolling … and smarting.
“Sam, what was it like growing up in your brother’s shadow?”
“Sam, is there any chance Geelong could do a player swap for your brother Tom next year?”
Ouch!
“Mitch, do you think it would have been a better decision to retire on a high after the grand final?”
More ducking and weaving.
“Which teammate has the funniest nickname? What is it?”
The boys quickly turned their attention to Zach Touhy, aka Reg, after the Harry Potter character Reginald Cattermole with his drooping moustache.
Evidently, Zach didn’t like the name at first but it’s grown on him and he’s taken full ownership of it, his teammates laughed, breathing a sigh of relief the focus was finally off them.
“He even calls himself Reg now,” Blicavs said.
