2009 Youth Trans-Tasman Refree Brett Freshwater awards a Touchdown

Courtesy: Brett Freshwater

Hi Boys and Girls,

This is your undercover MTT correspondent, Elite Athlete, reporting to you on the Masters Trans Tasman in Townsville. My job is to keep you up to date with how the tournament is going on a daily basis as well as add some colour and flavour to what it is like to be an Australian representative.

For those of you around Australia I can report that it is 27°C and a beautiful blue sky and cloudless day in Townsville. No wonder half of Australia is moving to Queensland. We are staying at the Mercure which is very comfortable with excellent amenities.

It has been a very eventful lead up to the tournament to date and we’re only up to Day 2. Let me take you through it.

The build up to this tournament has been intense. From the time we were contacted to inform us we had been selected following the NTL the pressure has built inexorably. We attended a High Performance Australian camp at the beginning of May over three days that proved to be extremely useful. As well as an opportunity to meld the group together we were exposed to some higher level plays and strategies, both on field and on the sideline, that had developed from the recent Open and Youth Trans Tasman Series’. As referees we need to keep up to date and, indeed , be one step ahead.

From this camp we have been receiving regular emails continuing to keep us up to the mark and some of us got to run together at the recent NSW Country Champs to work on our team work and combinations and to get feedback. All of it a good lead up but nothing beats the real thing.

The expectations on us to perform at this tournament are extremely high. We are constantly being reminded that we are here representing our country and the Federation of International Touch and, as such, nothing short of perfection will be tolerated. It is the pinnacle of our sport that we , some day, will wear the Australian blazer. For all of you out there aspiring to do so one day let me assure you it will be well worth all the hard work.

It was extremely pleasing to see five new Aussie representatives in our group – Sally Melzer, John Frost, Matt Lavery, Ken Wilson and Ken Gilbert – who were presented with their Australian Blazers  last night by Colm Maguire, TFA CEO. It was proud moment for all of them and they spoke warmly of their personal journey to this point.

Not wanting to be one to cause trouble but... one of the strict instructions was that we all had to be in Townsville by 12 noon yesterday as a united group to go into camp. However, if you’re the FIT Director of Referees apparently that doesn’t necessarily apply to you. To be fair the plane was delayed but I have to admit it was not a good look for the boss to arrive at 4.30pm. Anyway it was his shout.

Last night we all refereed games between Aussie, NZ and local Townsville teams. It was a good hit out for the rep teams and also allowed us to fine tune our games and get some valuable feedback from Matto and Lou. It was also an opportunity to learn any new tactics being developed by the Aussie and Kiwi teams that will help us in our games tomorrow night.

All in all it was a very successful and enjoyable day. Until... we got back to the Hotel. The place was swarming with police. While we were away a large number of rooms were broken into and refs and players had gear and electronics stolen from their rooms. In our group 4 out of the 7 room were hit with some of the boys losing laptops, cameras, phones and on and off field gear. I must say the Mercure people have been excellent in their support and we are determined we won’t let this put a dampener on the tournament.

This morning we had a team meeting where Matto and Lou took us through feedback from last night and emphasised where we need to be at tomorrow night in the first round of games.

The appointments for Round 1 are

M30 – Dale Lawrence, Luke McKenzie and Anthony Smith

M40 – Brad Smith, Bernie O’Donohue and Sam Clark

W30 – Sally Melzer, Matt Lavery and Brett Freshwater

M45 – Bill Slade, Barry McNamara and Ken Gilbert

M50 – John Frost, Ken Wilson and Greg Taylor

After the meeting we had a recovery session with John Gasnier in the pool and are about to go out to lunch. There are official functions this afternoon and tonight which we have to attend as well. However, between now and then some free time to explore the highlights of Townsville.

Queensland...beautiful one day, perfect the next!!

So until tomorrow,
The Elite Athlete