So on a lighter note, who are some players or coaches or anyone involved in the game that you have met and had a postive/negative experience with? Now i wouldn't have seen as many players as most of you have as you all know i am younger (thanks poppa), but i have had experiences of fan days and getting autographs as a kid all the time. I will start with some of mine but would love to hear positives but also negatives.
Positive: Luke Burt, nothing but a gentleman, met him at numerous fan days, is still my fav all-time Eels player (hence the my profile), always had a smile on his face. I remember walking to the old Parramatta stadium on a sunday afternoon and there was a crowd of people near the gates, it was people getting photos with Luke Burt, when he was involved with the coaching staff. Had a smile, took a picture with everyone, it was fantastic.
Daniel Wagon: Someone my dad infamously said he looked like he was not that nice of a person, until we met him at a fan day. One open training session majority of the players left early or after 30mins (obviously didn't want to be there) Daniel Wagon however stayed back and took us fans (not many of us) on a tour around the stadium, went up the tunnel showed us the change rooms and medical room where John Morris was just coming out of X-rays after breaking his leg week prior. Sidenote he was awesome to, despite having crutchers and a massive boot on he signed autographs and took photos, to which one of the fans said "oh no John, you don't have to stay here" and Wagon replied quickly "He'll be right, John loves it" and Morris smiled and expressed it was fine. Then went around outside and he said "Anyone here love Eric Grothe Jr.?" Walked us over to this car and there was Eric Grothe sitting in his car snoozing or something, Wagon knocked on his window and said "Hey, take a few shots mate" He hesitantly got out but abliged. Wagon was the vice captain of the team, but it was when Cayless went through a patch of injuries so Wagon was the main captain, and obviously set an example he wanted for the playing group, took time out his night that he didn't need to but did for the fans. Before you say this is rubbish, i swear it is not though i can see how people could think it is.
Laurie Daley: Met him at the Pullman after Origin II in 2014 (won the series), a mate and i saw him in the restuarant area and he was chatting to other Blues guys so all we wanted was to say hi. Mate tapped him on the shoulder he turned and chatted non stop for 10 minutes, stopped his convo with the other people completley to talk to us it was amazing. He asked us where we are from, did we go to the game, who do we support? Got a photo and then left but you could tell he could have stayed there for another hour chatting, what a gentleman.
Those are the big ones some other honourable mentions: Wayne Pearce signed a book for me, i leaned over the railing to the tunnel and called out to him, he abliged i said sorry im not a tigers fan he said you're a league fan that is good enough for me. Daniel Irvine i went up for a simple autograph and then got me to sit down next to him and asked me who i played for, who my favourite player was etc. my dad who was seated a few rows down was looking back like "the hell are you doing?" haha. Final one i will say is Brian Smith, fan day on the field, i saw him in the distance (mind you i was 7 years old here), i saw near the goal posts on the other side a man standing there talking to an executive. i knew it was Brian Smith, i said to my dad "it's Brian Smith" so i walked over to him with my autograph book, and he was mid talking and looked over to me and i asked if i could get an autograph and he said "Mine? you want mine?, of course champion" then said how on earth did i even notice him, asked who my fav player was, mentioned Fui (he was a rookie then) saying what a name he had, i took a picture and thanked him he was a gentleman. But then i felt awful as once i got a pic everyone else saw and rushed over for one too and when i left he was surrounded by fans. Sorry Brian.
Recent fan days for Parramatta, Arthur was great to talk to, Gower was nice.
Negative: Thankfully not to many negative experiences and only quick mentions.
Adam Dykes: Asked for an autograph in my book, signed my jersey instead didn't speak a word to me, so that was nice.
Craig Stapleton: Signing for the fans no smile, no talking just miserable.
Brett Kenny: Asked for his autograph after he coached a flegg game and was chatting to someone and ignoring myself, and then the fans near us started giving it to him "Bert he never saw you play mate, let the kid have a signature" "Brett he's a kid be a legend and sign it" then when he did there was a cheer from the crowd behind you could tell he was annoyed and pissed off.
Andrew Johns: Not me but my brother tried to get a signature as he never got them but with Johns he wanted it as Johns was royalty, Johns refused then said to someone next to him even worse an Eels fans wants it, again the fans were behind us and booed when he was not doing it then cheered when he did.
Few others at other fan days had some that showed they didn't want to be there, Michael Jennings, Beau Scott, Ray Stone, Tim Mannah was a little stand offish to me not sure why, heard from others he an absolute gentleman so maybe a bad day.
Now i want to hear other, does not have to be Parramatta players as that is all i know, but discuss the experiences you have had.
Replies
Ben Smith - Had a few beers with him on a night out, didn't have to take the time to talk to us but ended up spending more time with us than his mates he was with, champion !
Feleti Mateo - Was at the same pub one night, had a few drinks with him, got laughing about his offloading ability and got a few photos taken with him throwing an offload around the corner.
Etu Uaisele - Me and my mate got in a shout with him one night, was a very approachable guy and good fun.
Scott
Ben Smith looks like a legend, he was a character at fan days. Good ol' penguin.
Mostly positives for me as most people I have seen loved to talk footy. Glenn Morrison was a stand out nicest bloke and loved a chat. I was friends at school with Jack Jurd and his father Stan was a top bloke as well, I ran in to Stan Jurd at Peter Wynns and those two together were great. Honourable mentions for the best convos are PJ Marsh, Dean Pay, Tim Smith and Mark Gaznier.
Only had two negatives, one was my hero growing up Nathan Hindmarsh, he was running around doing media work though and probably busy but was quiet cold, I have heard he usually isn't like that though. The worst was the Professor he was an arrogant dick.
Yeah Morrison was a great bloke, his wife was in charge of events and fan events when at the club when we did a tour she introduced herself as Morrison's wife and joked they're a package deal when he signed from Cowboys. My dad mentioned Stan Jurd all the time seeing him at Parra leagues after games, said he was a champ.
Morrison was so easy to talk to, was just a normal down to earth guy. No arrogance about him at all. Stan was a larrikin, if you actually listen to some of the boys speak about him from the 80's he sounds like one of those team mates that you love to be around, didn't set the world on fire but you would go to war with him.
I forgot about Stanley Jurd. I have met him a few times too. Nice fun guy
Witnessed Hindy being a full of himself twat in Robertson pub
I’ve met quite a few thru my dear old ma she was a die hard eels tragic going waaay back. Taught us all well.
I’m gonna agree with you again here LB haha by far the best bloke footy player I’ve ever chatted to was Luke Burt. Smart, lovely, easy on the eye, respectful with a wicked sense of humour too. Prob why my mum loved him so much :) He even sent her a video of him on post game massage table for her birthday once and totally made her night haha. I’ll be forever grateful to him for that. Wish him all the very best in life and footy.
Fun very shy but lovely and took to my mum when she told him she named her canary Moi Moi apparently he didnt take to chatting to others much according to Hindy but
Jarryd was really lovely as well. And despite him getting hounded wherever he went had a great chat to my son and has a great photo of them together as well, doubly gorgeous :)
hindy mehhh.
trent Barrett was a dick to my son who was very young at the time boooo...still strikes me like a dick now.
stephen Kearny whilst not my favourite coach (or my mum’s) ...is a nice man too.
i don’t have to meet prickly to know he is a total deadshit :)
Kearney looks like a champion bloke, that's why it was a shame it didn't work for him, not a great coach but a great bloke, same with BA now being a good bloke always does interviews and comments
My Mum loved Luke too
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