Waratahs Reunion Tour to Lismore 2003

As the eyes dry and the hamstrings mend, thirteen men of Waratahs reflect on four magnificent days of September 2003, during which legends were discussed and made. For the record, the players were: Graham Frost, Tim Muldoon, Roger Sattler, Steve Reading, Tony Bennett, Brian Rhodes, David Tilbury, Andrew McNeill, Mike Muldoon, Garry Holloway, Mike Connolly, Andrew Davis & Peter Langston. As much as can be remembered, here’s what happened.

Thursday
The early starters arrived in time to go to the Lismore Cup (Muldoons x2, Frost & Holloway) and drink all the free beer they could consume. Early injuries were recorded as heads whipped from side to side spotting the local attractions. In late afternoon, Reading and Rhodes let themselves into Lango’s room, got comfortable and helped themselves to the beer he had left for them. The Skipper, Davo, arrived soon after. Dinner was taken at the Civic Hotel and Dozer was in sparkling form telling jokes - who will forget that over-sexed camel - without peer, despite a good effort by Rhodsey early on. Tills joined us as the evening wore on, after spending as long at Lismore airport waiting for a cab as the flight up from Sydney. We wandered to several pubs - Lango having a close call in the Gents of one - finishing in one where the serving girls didn’t feel the cold... an assessment based on the amount of clothing they were not wearing. AJ arrived but called from the motel and despite urging, he wimped out. He was to make up for it subsequently.

Friday
Conno arrived early, fresh and keen and somewhat surprised at the level of consciousness of the boys - he had expected worse ! We caught our first glimpse of the Angry Man. The other AyJay arrived - Bennett - and our numbers for the day were complete. Lango went to have his stitches removed and had to rule himself out of playing ... not that it stopped him from fielding in three games ! Before the first game at 1:00 pm, we had a team photo taken. Handsome bunch ! Game one ... we was robbed on account of 31 sundries which were questioned by officialdom later. Mick Muldoon and Conno got the wickets but Gazza Holloway was the best with 0-1 from his over. Klink suffered a hamstring tear - some things never change! Also of note was Frosty’s great effort to snare a screamer only to see it drop from the gloves. Perhaps he hurt his neck watching it go straight up or maybe he lost his balance because he didn’t have to move his feet ? We tried hard, but went down by six. Conno, Timmy and Rhodsey all retired and Angry Man and Davo tried hard. We sank a carton at the ground discussing the outcome. Groups of blokes did their own thing for the afternoon until we gathered for the official function for the Games. Summary ... food was crap, music was crap, company (apart from ourselves) was so-so. Wally turned up when we had the feed bags on. We toured pubs following. By this, Wally’s allergy to beer had kicked in and he was snorting like bull on heat. He snuck of at some stage for another feed, concerned that he was fading away ! Late night which involved an Irish pub. In his senility Bennett got confused and was offered a lift home in a taxi with one blue and one red light. The two drivers were happy and helpful as AyJay had forgotten the name of his hotel ! Boom Boom Davis and Rhodsey were by reputation the last to bed.

Saturday
A rude shock to the system was the 9:00 am start and two games on the trot. Two nights in camp had confirmed that Tim still snores enough to wake the dead and Frosty can still devastate a sewerage system . Klink left for Sydney at 4:30 am (a conference) and Lango was out (not necessarily a weakness), so all in the remaining eleven had to fire. Game two ... we was flogged ! We made 6-128, with Conno 27, Dozer 29 and a svelte Wally Sattler 21 making strong contributions. Enough runs ? Not against the might of Duck Creek Mountain Men ! They knocked up the small matter of 2-177. Tills took the only wicket to fall to a bowler. Rhodsey was struggling with a groin ... surprisingly, his own. Worse was to come. Game three ... we was injured ! We all came apart at our bulging seems in this game. The Skipper cagily sent Bennett out to open. He saw off Wally (badly torn hamstring which ended his tournament) running a quick single that wasn’t on and Frost, run out, running a quick single that wasn’t on. Bennett was eventually out running a quick single that wasn’t on. The Skipper banned all such action henceforth and confined Bennett to his stanzas. The ever reliable Dozer Muldoon scored 29, Conno 25, Angry McNeill a fiery 26 (what else would you expect), Mick Muldoon 19 and the Skipper another useful contribution of 15. Total of 5-148. The danger of victory was confirmed when we kept them six runs short through a combination of crap and luck, although the first ball of the innings catch by Rhodsey off Angry Man turned back the clock and Boom Boom’s 2-5 cameo was the turning point. Wally’s screams of pain from the boundary urged us on until we realised they were screams of laughter. Bennett did a calf and a groin so he’d have an excuse to sit beside Wally and commiserate and Gazza Holloway secured a leaking ear after using the side of his head to stop an exochet in the outfield. Lango ran 40 metres in the outfield and beat Mick Muldoon to a ball. By this stage, Mick was running like Peter Garrett dances. Our only compensation was we beat a team called Easts Evergreens. No sacrifice is too much for a victory over any team called Easts ! The afternoon was spent watching the AFL grand final or punting, both with varying degrees of success. It was back to the Civic Hotel for dinner and some wonderful moments reminiscing about the old Waratahs. Each was asked his best Waratahs moment and many were funny, some poignant, but none better that AJ McNeill’s. When his turn came he said simply, “right now.” It was a sentiment we all echoed. After our feed, we migrated inside and sang up a storm in true Waratahs fashion. Sattler, Davis and Bennett were never in finer voice and it was a night to remember. So good were we that we took requests from the dinning room - and none of them were to shut up ! Some drifted off to other late night venues, some went home to bed, some just lived in dread of the pain killers and grog wearing off.

Sunday
No day of rest for us ! Game four ... we rose the white flag ! The C Grade semi final and whilst the opposition did warm ups and shouted far too loudly and enthusiastically, our position was best summed up by the fact that the StJohns Zambucks set up HQ at our game because they figured that’s where they’d be needed most ! With more strapping than occurs most afternoons in a boys school, we took the field in the hope that 16 overs would somehow take less than 20 minutes to bowl. Despite our dilemma, we managed to pull off some remarkable run outs. It must be said, Bennett bowled superbly. He always knew someone would say it about him one day. Deserved on this occasion. The other AJ was also excellent. As they had done throughout the four days, Dozer, Conno and Angry Man were superb in the field. They got 6-127. We looked really tired in the chase and managed only 7-104. Timmy again top scored with 27, retiring in every innings for the tournament. AJ made a desperate 25 and went down swinging. Rhodsey looked sweet getting 15, until he had to run. Davo and Frosty both got 11 with the tail (themselves) and it was done. We limped off to the Workers Club for a final lunch together, before bidding farewells and making promises to keep in touch.

Thanks to Davo for his leadership on behalf of all the boys and for said fella and Conno for their input in the planning. Thanks Conno for the idea ... it proved to be a beaut ! See you all in 2 years.

Lango