By DAVID NAGEL
“DISCIPLINE, mental strength, sacrifice, respect, physical strength, mateship and honesty” – they’re the qualities that Tooradin coach Lachie Gillespie remembers about his great mate Beau Miller.
Gillespie’s life-long friend passed away last Thursday, aged 34, losing a short battle against an aggressive cancer, leaving behind wife Stephanie and two young boys, Chase, 5, and Tripp, 8 months.
Football automatically became secondary to Gillespie and his Tooradin players, forced to summon the courage – 48 hours after Beau’s death – to prepare for their South East Football Netball League clash against Doveton.
“They’re the things that make Beau what he was, that’s his legacy,” Gillespie said as he started his address to his players on Saturday.
“You’ve got to understand, he was a champion, but he wasn’t a champion because of what he did on the footy field and how many goals he kicked or how many best and fairests he won.
“That’s not what it’s about; it’s not what makes you a champion and it’s not what makes people remember you.”
Click the link to go inside the Tooradin change rooms, hear Gillespie speaking as those seven qualities are scrawled on a whiteboard, hanging side-by-side on a wall beside Beau’s famous number three Tooradin guernsey.
