Specky Magee (6 page)

‘How dare you all assume that the reason you’re losing is solely because of one player! This isn’t the team I know. Now stop being so petty—all of you! Great footy players are versatile. They can play in all positions if needed, and it’s a team that wins the game, not just one player. Now get out there and show me teamwork, instead of being such a bunch of whingeing babies pointing the finger at one another!’ Coach Pappas stormed back to the boundary line and joined the parents and other supporters.

‘Come on, everyone, he’s right! We can win this!’ shouted Robbo, who was doing his best to encourage and motivate everyone.

Some players, when things are going against them or their team, retreat into their shells and go all quiet. Real leaders stand out when things aren’t going well. They handle pressure better and look upon the situation as a challenge. Not everyone is comfortable being a leader, using their voice to motivate those around them. Some people prefer to let their actions do the talking for them. But leadership is invaluable, and Robbo was a natural whom the whole team looked up to.

The team eagerly jogged back to their positions, ready to begin the final quarter. Specky took up his position on the wing, right next to where the coach and parents were standing. He glanced over to see Coach Pappas patting Simmo’s dad on the back. From a distance, Simmo’s father appeared very appreciative that the coach had continued to leave his son in the full-forward position. Specky was still baffled by their alliance, but somehow sensed that there must be more to this than plain favouritism.

Whatever the real reason, Specky didn’t have time to think about it—the quarter had
started. And what a quarter it turned out to be. It was a hard slog for both teams. Booyong High had regained the excellent skills they had shown in the first half of the game, while Redleaf College were still on the same lucky roll they displayed in the previous quarter. It was goal for goal all the way. Robbo, Danny and Specky all kicked one each, while ‘The Bombay Bullet’ evened the scores with superb back-to-back snaps from both pockets.

It was no surprise to anyone that ‘The Bombay Bullet’s’ two favourite AFL players were Collingwood’s Leon Davis and Carlton’s Eddie Betts. Like these two stars, the ‘Bullet’ had exceptional goal sense, and was always able to find the ‘big sticks’, regardless of how much pressure he was under. He could kick superb ‘bananas’ from the boundary or dribble them through along the ground with the ball turning like a Shane Warne leg spinner. Like his two heroes, ‘The Bombay Bullet’ loved to kick goals
—
running cartwheels and several back flips were his preferred methods of celebration.

There was only a minute or so of the game left to go, and scores were still level.

‘I’m free!’ yelled Specky, rushing towards an open space right by the edge of the centre square.

Paul Solomon, known to the rest of Specky’s team as ‘Smashing Sols’ for his hard-hitting tackles, had possession of the ball. He drop-kicked it directly into Specky’s chest. Specky knew he didn’t have the time to pull up his socks and execute a controlled kick. Instead, he played on, twisting and baulking his way towards the forward-line.

We all know that footy is a physical game, and ‘Smashing Sols’ loved nothing more than laying a big tackle or delivering a tough, fair bump. His dad, a former legend of the local Eastern Suburbs League who was renowned as one of the toughest players ever to pull on a footy boot, was always telling him that you only got hurt in football if you put in a half-hearted effort. ‘Sols’ never went at the ball half-heartedly, and he never got hurt.

Rushing over from the other team to knock Specky off his feet was a fierce-looking back-pocket opponent.

Fortunately, Specky caught a glimpse of him before there was any chance of the two of them colliding. He delicately hand-balled over his opponent’s head into the hands of Danny, who was running all over the ground, as a good rover should. Specky gracefully side-stepped the back-pocket player and continued to run forward. Danny then hand-balled the ball back to Specky. It was a brilliant fast-action one-two manoeuvre by the two friends.

A lot of young players don’t like to hand-ball, preferring to kick the ball at every opportunity. But used effectively, hand-balling it can create many goal opportunities. Danny and Specky had a great understanding on the field, and often found themselves hand-balling to each other. Each night, after training was finished, they would hand-ball the ball to each other 100 times, with both their left and right hands, before they went home. During the game they mainly used low, flat hand-balls that spun backwards through the air, like a drop punt—these were called ‘rocket hand-balls’. They could also float hand-balls over their opponents’ heads, and could even hand-ball along the
ground to each other if they were caught in the middle of a pack.

Specky took a bounce, looked up, and saw he was still too far out to kick a goal. The only team-mate who was free and available for him to boot the ball onto was Simmo. Specky had no choice but to kick it to him. The ball drifted high into the sky, directly above the clumsy full-forward. Simmo’s knees rattled with nerves, while sweat trickled down the back of his neck. The full-back for Redleaf, who’d left Simmo in order to chase the ball, was now charging back towards him. Specky and the rest of his team anxiously looked on, hoping Simmo wouldn’t blow it again.

‘Come on, Simmo, you can mark this one. You can do it,’ muttered Specky under his breath.

Just as the ball was in his reach, Simmo closed his eyes, took a deep breath and hoped for the best. Redleaf’s full-back took a huge leap and dived towards Simmo, grabbing him around the neck. The ball slipped through Simmo’s fingers as he and the full-back went crashing down to the ground. The umpire blew his whistle, and awarded Simmo a free kick, directly in front of goal.

Coach Pappas, the supporters and Specky’s team all let out a huge sigh of relief. Specky sprinted over to Simmo to give him some words of encouragement before he took his kick.

‘Don’t be nervous, mate. Do it for your dad,’ he whispered into his ear. Specky wasn’t sure why he said what he had, but by the touched expression on Simmo’s face, he knew he had somehow said the right thing.

Simmo lined up his kick, glanced over to his father (who gave him a proud nod), then aimed for the goal. The ball went right through the centre of the goal posts as the umpire blew his whistle to signal that the game was over. Specky’s team had won another match, but only just.

Back in the changing rooms, Coach Pappas took Specky aside.

‘I’m very proud of you today, Speck. I noticed you settled Simmo’s nerves out there. It was very good of you, especially since I know you would’ve preferred it if I’d kept you at full-forward. There’s a reason I switched you with Simmo today.’

The Coach looked around to see if anyone else was listening. Nobody was. Danny and Robbo were flicking towels at ‘The Bombay
Bullet’ and ‘Smashing Sols’, while Simmo was getting a huge hug from his dad. Coach Pappas continued.

‘The reason is, Simmo’s father recently found out he’s got cancer, and Monday he begins chemotherapy. This will last for weeks, possibly months. Anyway, he won’t be able to come out and see Simmo play footy again—not for a while, at least—so he asked if I could put him at full-forward. His dream was to see his boy kick a goal, and he got his wish, thanks to you. You helped make that happen.’

Specky now felt guiltier than ever for originally thinking that Simmo’s dad and Coach Pappas were involved in some kind of match-fixing conspiracy. He was glad and relieved that things had turned out the way they had.

‘So, are ya ready? Maggies, here we come!’ shouted Danny.

He and Robbo had ended their towel fight and were now eagerly waiting for Specky to get changed.

‘Hurry up, Speck. Dad’s waiting for us in the car!’

In no time at all, Specky was ready and seated beside his friends in Danny’s father’s four-wheel drive. As he strapped his seat belt
on, he noticed Simmo and his dad waving to him as they made their way across the parking lot. Simmo mouthed the words ‘thank you’. Specky smiled and gave him a thumbs-up in return. Danny and Robbo hadn’t noticed.

‘Carn the Pies!’ shouted Danny.

‘Here we go, here we go, here we go!’ chanted Robbo.

The two whooped and whistled. They were bursting with excitement, while Specky quietly continued to observe Simmo and his father from afar.

He imagined for a moment what they’d say to each other on the way home, and how Simmo’s father would be so proud of him—proud of his son playing footy. Specky sighed as he watched them get into their car and drive off.

He turned his attention back to his friends. Now it was his turn to get excited—he was off to the MCG!

It dawned on Specky that the last time he had visited the hallowed home of Aussie Rules—the Melbourne Cricket Ground—was at least a couple of years ago, and that time he had also been with Danny Castelino and his family.

‘Okay, okay, settle down!’ ordered Danny’s father from behind the steering wheel.

Danny and Robbo were getting a little out of hand in the back seat, belting out the anthems of their footy teams at passing traffic. Danny’s younger brother, Phillip, sat in the front passenger seat and was giggling at his brother’s antics. Specky smiled. He loved hanging out with Danny and his big Italian family. They were all die-hard Collingwood
supporters—actually, they were avid fans of most sports.

Specky remembered staying overnight at Danny’s place one time and they hadn’t gone to bed until five in the morning—Danny and his family were all up watching the World Cup Soccer, telecast live from overseas. He had so much fun watching Danny’s dad, uncles and cousins jumping up and down around the lounge room every time Italy kicked a goal. It was certainly a different world from his family. This made him wonder about his biological dad again.

Dad and I would
never
stay up all night and watch a sporting event together, but I bet my other dad would, Specky mused.

Danny’s father pulled into the parking lot of the MCG. They all hopped out and joined the flocks of fans who were spilling out from the Richmond train station across the road. Specky stared in awe at the giant stadium as he and his friends made their way towards the AFL members’ entrance gates. Seeing this larger-than-life national landmark sent a tingle all the way down Specky’s spine.

‘One day I’ll play here,’ he promised himself, under his breath.

Danny’s father generously paid for Robbo’s and Specky’s tickets, and they all excitedly clicked their way through the turnstiles. Once inside, Specky followed Robbo, Danny, and Danny’s brother and father through the vast concrete hallway. There was an air of excitement brewing as fans decked out in their team’s colours dodged and passed one another on the way to their seats. Specky could hear a distant roar from inside the ground—it was the crowd that arrived earlier in the day, cheering during the last few minutes of the reserves’ match.

‘There it is,’ said Danny proudly, as he and the others stood at the top of the aisle facing the immaculate green turf before them.

Specky grinned. ‘Wow! I forgot how big it was,’ he gasped, as he and the others made their way down to the front-row seats, close to the boundary line.

It was a gloriously sunny day, with just a hint of a winter breeze sweeping over the city side of the stadium—perfect for footy.

‘Hey, about time you made it. I couldn’t hold these seats any longer.’ It was Danny’s Uncle Joe and other members of the Castellino family.
Specky edged his way in behind his friends as he and Robbo were introduced to everyone.

‘Boys, you remember everyone here, don’t you?’ said Danny’s dad.

Specky and Robbo nodded.

There was Danny’s Uncle Joe, his Uncle Santo, his younger cousins Stefan, Luisa, Jayden and family friends Ron and his son Adrian.

Specky waved a friendly hi to them all—he still couldn’t get over how they
all
loved footy. He briefly fantasised about what it would be like if he, his parents and Alice were all there together.

‘Hey, Speck. Snap out of it, man.’ It was Danny nudging Specky to stop daydreaming. ‘That official over there is trying to get your attention, Speck. He’s pointing directly at you.’

Specky looked up to see that there was indeed an official-looking person standing on the boundary pointing at him. He waved Specky over to the fence.

‘Hey, kid!’ he said. ‘Do you want to play Superbikes, the giant-screen computer game? I’ve already chosen a kid who supports Geelong. Are you a Collingwood supporter?’

Before Specky had a chance to explain to the man that he barracked for five teams, Danny quickly answered for him.

‘Yes, he is. And he’ll play the game.’

‘Great!’ said the official.

Specky wasn’t sure if he wanted to play. He felt a little pressured.

‘Come on, Speck, this is all part of the pregame entertainment. They always pick kids out of the crowd. I’ve wanted to get picked for ages. Come on, you might win something really cool!’ urged Danny.

‘Yeah, and Superbikes is really easy. You’ve played it on my computer tons of times,’ added Robbo.

Specky agreed and jumped over the fence to join the official and his competitor. They then made their way over to the other side of the ground, where a portable PlayStation was set up. The official grabbed a microphone and spoke to the crowd.

‘Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we’re ready for another game of Superbikes!’ His voice echoed throughout the entire stadium.

Specky looked up to see that his face and the computer game’s graphics were up on the giant
TV screen for everyone to see. He and the other boy were each handed a joystick.

‘All right,’ continued the official. ‘We have Luke representing Geelong…’

There was an instant roar from all the Geelong supporters.

‘And we have…’ The official leaned away from the microphone and asked for Specky’s name. Specky almost said Simon, but then decided to say Specky.

‘And we have Specky—yes, you’ve heard right, ladies and gentlemen—Specky, who’ll be hoping to take a specky for Collingwood.’

Then there was an equally large cheer from all the Collingwood supporters.

‘Yeah, Speck! Go the Pies!’ shouted Danny and his family.

‘Okay Specky, you’re player one, and Luke, you’re player two. Take your marks…GO!’

Specky pushed his joystick forward and fumbled slightly with the other controls as he stared intensely at the small monitor in front of him. He concentrated on the tiny bike graphics as they twisted and turned around an animated racing track. He could tell from the frantic commentary given by the official that it was a close competition.

‘It’s neck and neck. Luke is slightly in front for Geelong. Look out for that wall, Specky! Whoa, that was close…’

‘Go, Specky, go!’ cheered Robbo and Danny.

The official was becoming more and more excited as the two boys approached the end of the game.

‘Specky’s hit the lead! No, it’s Luke! It’s going to be hard to separate this one. And here comes the finishing line, and the winner is…’