Snap Shot is a weekly column taking a look at the lighter side of footy.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Reid family on the weekend despite the disappointment Sam had to experience after he carried an injury into Saturday’s grand final only to be subbed out of the game after half-time with the game already lost.
Former Magpie forward Ben Reid led Wangaratta to a flag the day after his brother’s disappointmentCredit:Paul Rovere
Former Collingwood tall Ben Reid, who also had a dirty grand final day against the Cats in 2011 due to a groin injury, held the Ovens and Murray premiership cup aloft the following day when he led the Wangaratta Magpies to a flag in his first season as playing coach.
The 2010 AFL premiership player was in the thick of the action when Yarrawonga staged a comeback late in the match in Lavington to move within three points of Wangaratta, taking a mark that wasn’t paid, then forcing a ball up during the Pigeons’ last desperate foray forward. It was enough to help his team hang on.
Given his commitment to Wangaratta, Ben had not travelled to the MCG to watch little brother Sam – who was a member of Sydney’s 2012 premiership team – play in the AFL decider, as the prospect of hours sitting in the car was not the ideal preparation.
“I’d been pretty nervous all week, hoping Sam could get up and hopefully win a flag, and us going into a grand final as well, it was a big week,” Reid said.
“Geelong were just too good. Obviously, to get the win by the end of the week … for the family it was nice. We got to call it one-one by the end of the week.”
Sam Reid was subbed off with an injury in the AFL grand final.Credit:Getty
Despite his own disappointment, Sam managed to find a computer to watch the tight Ovens and Murray decider on YouTube on Sunday afternoon.
Sam texted his brother on Sunday night, congratulating him and telling him to enjoy the next few days, to which Ben responded, “I’ll probably ring you on Thursday mate.”
By Tuesday, he was still enjoying a few quiet ones with teammates in Bright.
Ben Reid wasn’t the only member of the Magpies’ 2010 premiership team to enjoy success in country Victoria this season, with Brent Macaffer winning the league best and fairest and helping Tooradin Dalmore to their first flag in 25 years. He played alongside another former Pie in Adam Oxley.
Nathan Brown was a key reason Barwon Heads upset Torquay to win the Bellarine premiership, with Tony Armstrong among his teammates.
NO RELATION
Kevin Bartlett would not have had to dress up to look like he belonged in a retirement home if the Tigers had replicated Geelong on their ‘Mad Monday’ celebrations after the 1980 premiership win over Collingwood.
The 1980 Norm Smith medallist kicked seven goals against the Pies to lead the club to an 81-point victory at the age of 33 years and 205 days, just 63 days younger than Geelong’s Isaac Smith was when he became the oldest Norm Smith medal winner in the game’s history.
Both players were older when they won the Norm Smith than Ben Reid, 33, was in Wangaratta’s victory on Sunday.
Isaac Smith became the oldest Norm Smith medal in the game’s historyCredit:Getty
But 33 is the new 30 in football, as the Cats claimed the flag with the oldest team in the game’s history.
To match Bartlett, however, Smith would now need to play 64 games and another grand final over the next three seasons, as that is what the Tigers champion did following his Norm Smith on his way to a record-breaking 403 matches.
Coincidentally, the Cats’ winning margin over Sydney was also 81 points as they romped to victory 42 years later.
Future connecting with the past
Will Lorenz, who played well for Team Murphy in the ‘AFL futures’ game on Saturday before the AFL grand final, is the grandson of Hawthorn great Graham Arthur, captain of the Hawks’ first premiership side in 1961.
Lorenz has kept the memory of his grandfather alive, wearing Arthur’s Victorian tie to school on the days he plays football for Marcellin as tribute. Lorenz is shaping up well for next year’s national draft.
