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Another week in footy and another wild accusation has been thrown around at Aegis Park. Last night I was listening to JB on the Rush Hour with Billy Brownless on TripleM and they were interviewing Jamie Macmillan. As a supportive captain, I thought I’d critique the youngster’s media skills and give him some feedback.
Well J-Mac, here’s my first bit of advice; never bag the captain in public or call him a ‘pirate’. I nearly drove off the road when Billy asked if J-Mac, Shaun Atley and Ben Mabon recently purchased pirate stuff on ebay including eye patches, skull and crossbone flags and plastic swords. Instead of admitting the rumour was true, J-Mac declared, “Andrew Swallow is nothing but a pirate”.

Where did that come from?

It just so happens that a new feature has cropped up on kangaroos.com.au called ‘Buried Treasure’ which is as rubbishy as Boomer’s Banter. It seems the only decent blog on there is mine. While J-Mac and co deny they are behind it, we are under no illusions at all as to who has started it.

So a digital war is breaking out and I will win.

Ryan Bastinac is not going to escape my wrath either after I caught him giving me the bird. This is the same guy who can’t get a haircut and play with it straight away. He says he needs to train with it first. He gets as many trims as Hamish McIntosh - at least two a month. Also, when he’s not home, he gets his mum to record Home and Away.

Come back at me Basti, if you dare.

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I’m not the only one copping it though. Apparently Ben McKinley and Kieran Harper woke up and found a heap of hard rubbish piled up on their doorstep the other day.

There’s digital warfare, pranking and also physical showdowns too.

A few friendly wrestling matches have been staged in the gym and here’s a brief summary of events so far:

 - Matty ‘Flash’ Campbell beat Majak Daw
- Scotty ‘Loose’ McMahon beat Majak Daw (but has a lower centre of gravity due to his massive booty)
- Drew Petrie wants in on the action but doesn’t want to get in trouble from the coaches
- I gave Loose a massive wedgie while he was fighting someone else
- Brad McKenzie talks the talk but can’t walk the walk (needs more time in the gym)
- Shaun Atley rates himself as a wrestler and often takes on Ben Mabon at home
- Basti tried to arrange gang wrestle against Majak because he’s too scared to fight him one on one
- Flash, Ben Warren and Drew gang-tackled Boomer and Drew got in trouble from the coaches
- Ben Mabon got head-locked by a bear
It’s all fun and games and nothing serious, some people pull up worse after a flight to Hobart. Club cult figure ‘Marra’ almost sparked a mid-air medical emergency when an old coccyx bone (tailbone) injury flared up.

Marra reckons he injured his bottom-end when he was a six-year old and fell down a sand dune at the beach. Now, he says, it precludes him from sitting in the one spot for more than 30 minutes at the one time. He described having to ‘lean from cheek to cheek’ in order to distribute his weight and minimise the pain. When he tried to get up after we landed, it was like watching a newborn giraffe walk for the first time.

All this while our brand and marketing guy John Murphy was watching Sex and the City. Not surprising for a bloke that used to play the flute and mastered Celine Dion’s ‘My heart will go on’ - the theme song to the movie Titanic.

After we got off the plane we headed straight to Blundstone Arena for a light training run. The Eagles were already there having a run-through and sussing out the ground. The surface is in great nick and they’ve done an awesome job there once again.

It was about 13 degrees and clear skies which was a bit of surprise. The forecast is the same for tomorrow as well so it will be a pretty spectacular sight with a sell-out and 13,000 fans cramming in.

While we were waiting for West Coast to finish, I spotted Brett Allison winding back the clock and signing autographs. He was loving every minute because one particular fan actually had his old playing cards.
Loose McMahon and Leigh ‘Patch’ Adams were so jealous because they were forced to sign a plastic bag because one kid didn’t have playing cards for them.

I did a little media conference after the session and met some of the kids that will be playing in an RACT curtain-raiser tomorrow. We got the chance to have a little kick on the ground before we headed off.

It was back to the hotel for a brief lunch and then to the Town Hall for a Civic Reception with the Mayor of Hobart and other dignitaries.

AFL legend Ron Barassi was there too which was a great thrill and I had the chance to meet him. Boomer also had a chat to him but left a little disturbed. He thought Ron had called him a ‘seedy’ player but it turns out he’d said ‘I like you, you’re a sneaky little player.’

In all, the reception we’ve had has been first class and it really does feel like a home away from home.

Our website guru Rob ‘Superbob’ Burton will be looking for a home away from home at the end of the year when he travels overseas. Bare with me here because this story is a ripper.

Superbob was discussing his itinerary with his girlfriend Lucretia and Leonardo da Vinci’s 'Last Supper' came up as a possible tourist destination. Great idea no doubt, the only problem was, neither actually knew what it was - remarkably.

This is what they actually thought the painting was:

Rob: A place you go to see the room which the famous artist ate his last supper. In this room, there is a mannequin of Leonardo sitting at a table eating food.

Lucretia: A place you go and all get to eat supper like Leonardo did. She claimed it’s packed out for four months in advance because the food is so good.

Rob also told Lucretia that the painting was done in the 1500s and she replied, “Was Jesus alive then?”

Anyway, they decided they’re not going to go after finding out there’s no food served there.

One word for this; Wow.

Back on me now and I have officially finshed Uni and I find out my results on Monday. I’ve got five units to go and then I’m done. I reckon I’ll take a step back for a bit and relax which means I’ll have more time to focus on family and footy.

I’m really enjoying my footy at the moment, as I’m sure all the North boys are - but we will be especially rapt with another win tomorrow.

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