By Russell Bennett
If the walls at Catani’s Taplins Road clubrooms could talk, they’d have one hell of a story to tell.
Just about every person that spends time there – from the youngest of players to the oldest, from the new volunteers, to those who’ve been there a lifetime – has navy blue forever pumping through their veins.
They’ve all got their own unique stories to tell, and on Saturday night at Taplins Road three – in particular – gave an insight into theirs; Under 18s full forward Lauchlan Gregson, senior spearhead Owen Fitzpatrick, and senior coach Paul Alger.
Gregson had been looking forward to lining up on Saturday at Western Park for the Blues’ thirds grand final. He’d played a key role in the semi-final win over Neerim Neerim South – bagging three goals – but by Monday of last week he was given one hell of a scare, one that hospitalised him with a mystery rash.
Ultimately, the mystery was solved – he had ITP, or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. It’s a rare autoimmune disorder in which a person’s blood doesn’t clot properly because the immune system destroys the blood clotting platelets.
The cause of ITP is unknown, but some kinds of viruses can cause the immune system to malfunction and start producing antibodies that attack platelets.
Lauchlan’s mum Leigh said a bout of the flu may have brought it on.
“If he’d played football (in the grand final) and got a slight whack in the head he could have had a stroke and died,” she said.
“It’s really serious, and we’re very lucky that he had the rash otherwise he could have trained and played and we wouldn’t have known.
“What he’s got is serious but it’s not a death sentence unless he played football or if he fell over.
“He’s not even meant to shave or brush his teeth in case he bleeds.”
Lauchlan could easily have been forgiven for being caught up in sadness of missing the Cats’ two-point grand final win over Neerim South on Saturday – 3.9(27) to 3.7(25).
But instead, it was his team-first mentality that took hold. With a medal draped around his neck on Saturday night, he simply said: “We won – that’s all that matters”.
Prior to Saturday, the Blues had last tasted senior premiership success 12 years ago – the second of back-to-back flags under Paul Alger.
Fittingly, on Saturday it was Alger who again helped hoist the premiership cup aloft after a one-point victory over the Warragul Industrials at Western Park – 5.7(37) to 5.6(36).
Incredibly, the Blues went goalless in the final quarter of both the preliminary final and grand final yet still emerged victorious.
Alger coached the Blues for nearly a decade in his first stint at the club, and returned in 2015 after guiding Buln Buln to the 2014 EDFL East flag.
“That year before (in 2014) they won one game in the seniors and had no thirds,” he said.
“Three years later we’ve got a thirds premiership and a senior premiership.”
Alger praised the likes of favourite son Luke ‘Chops’ McFarlane for his crucial role in the senior side late this season after spending the majority of the year in the reserves – even finishing runner-up in that division’s league best and fairest award. He only played five senior games this year, but boy did he make them count.
Nic Visser – who won the best on ground medal on Saturday against the Dusties – was another to draw praise for his hard, uncompromising brand of footy through the midfield.
Blues champion Owen Fitzpatrick is closing in on 1000 goals and pinpointed his relationship with Alger as one of the reasons he stayed so loyal to his beloved club.
“He means everything (to us),” he said.
“It’s my home club and I feel comfortable here but Algs is best mates with the kids who hardly get on the field in the Under 18s, to the best players in the seniors.
“There’s no one in the club he’d walk past and not stop and say g’day to and have a chat with. He means everything to the whole club.
“People do come and go and when you speak to players who do go, they never have a bad word to so say about Catani. That’s a massive plus for the club – that’s what we want. There’s no one in this room who wouldn’t know each other, or stop and have a chat with each other.”
Fitzpatrick is at one end of his career, while the likes of the Williams boys – Brett and Dylan – Wade Haysom, Hayden Lownds, and 16-year-old Mitch Davey are much closer to the beginning of theirs.
“That’s probably what kept me going this year to an extent,” Fitzpatrick explained.
“You want to be there as a mentor for them as well as a team-mate.
“We’re all mates for life now – that’s the best part about the premiership.”
