Snap Shot is a weekly column taking a look at the lighter side of football.
Just three days after being one of Carlton’s best in their VFL semi-final loss to the Brisbane Lions, Will Hayes jumped on a plane and headed to Ireland.
He was back among Lyons as he arrived at famous Irish trainer Ger Lyons’ stables in County Meath, about an hour out of Dublin, to help ready Melbourne Cup fancy Camorra for the big race, already working within 24 hours of his delisting being announced.
Will Hayes played two games for the Blues but has jumped back into the horses. Credit:Getty
He might have been mucking out but, as he said on the phone from Ireland, there was “no mucking around” as he was in the air on Tuesday morning after the Blues went down by two goals in the semi-final.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, just been an incredible experience that I couldn’t not go to, so I thought rather than licking my wounds and working in Melbourne I may as well come over to Ireland and experience the best parts of this industry,” Hayes said.
Hayes played two senior games with the Blues after being selected in the mid-season draft, but an unlucky suspension in his second match stopped his momentum and he could not find his way back in the team. The strength of his season was highlighted on Monday night when he was named in the VFL team of the year.
On Sunday, however, Hayes was far from the MCG and Ikon Park as he prepared and watched Camorra run eighth in the Irish St Leger, resuming from a spell after winning the group 2 Curragh Cup at the Curragh racecourse.
The plan for the horse is clear as travelling foreman Harris Walker takes Camorra to Newmarket on the day after the AFL grand final before leaving to quarantine at Werribee on October 10.
It’s worth noting that although Hayes went to track work in the mornings, he did not handle a horse while on the Blues list, his joy at being in Ireland only slightly soothing his disappointment at not being on Carlton’s list alongside what he described as “a great bunch of guys” as the club kept his spot open for a younger player.
“[Being delisted] stung a bit because it is such a great club and success is definitely around the corner and I wanted to be a part of that,” Hayes said. “Being a professional footballer you learn it is a tough industry. I am not very good at feeling sorry for myself, so I just got on and moved on straight away.
“I am one of the lucky ones where I am turning the page on to another very exciting chapter in my life.”
And hopefully get Camorra ready to give the second most important cup won in Melbourne each year.
“It’s an eye-opener [being here]. They have a traditional way of training horses,” Hayes said.
The seat of Melbourne has fallen
Plenty are analysing Melbourne’s fall away in the second half of the season, but few have tied it to a change in government.
Well, the facts don’t lie. The Demons recorded their 17th successive win on the day Anthony Albanese led the ALP to victory over the Scott Morrison-led Coalition. From that point on the Demons, who have a fairly conservative history, won six matches and lost eight to tumble out of the finals in straight sets.
The Demons season started to derail as soon as the ALP came to powerCredit:Getty
By contrast, Geelong began their 14-game winning streak on election day and Collingwood beat Fremantle the next day to begin an 11-game winning streak that now sits at 13 wins in their past 15 matches.
We should have known on May 21 that the Blues didn’t stand a chance, as they won just four of their final 12 games post-election to miss out on the finals via a late swing to the Western Bulldogs.
Clearly the election result was pivotal in determining the fortunes of a few clubs in the 2022 premiership race.
Buddha, the win-after-the-siren-in-finals veteran
In 1994, former Cat Garry Hocking enjoyed a remarkable finals series when the Cats won the qualifying and preliminary finals with goals after the siren to Billy Brownless and Gary Ablett snr.
On Saturday afternoon, the coach of Leopold had what he called the “utopia of coaching” when he watched Connor Giddings take a mark 20 metres out from goal and then kick straight after the siren to beat Newtown-Chilwell by five points.
The mark came after a free kick and controversial 50-metre penalty put Leopold in the middle of the ground to kick the ball deep into their forward line, having been inspired by a goal from their captain Marcus Thompson.
Michael Mansfield, Gary Ablett and Garry Hocking in 1994.Credit:Archives
“I feel like I have 66 sons,” Hocking told K-Rock post-game.
Hocking played in four losing grand finals at the Cats and then coached Port Adelaide into a SANFL grand final in 2014, which they lost to Norwood by just four points. He was at Collingwood until COVID-19 cuts resulted in his departure, but he has stayed in touch with the in-form Jordan De Goey, who trained at Leopold when in exile from the Magpies.
Leopold, for whom former Cat Trent West returned mid-season to play in the ruck, now play St Mary’s in the Geelong Football League grand final, the locals hoping they can enjoy a Cats win in the preliminary final before catching the action.
