Am I the curse?

Traditionally, Paterson's Stadium has been a fortress for both Fremantle and West Coast, however the Eagles have lost all three matches they have played there this season. Am I the curse? Surely not, but we will have to wait until May 5 to see if they can beat the Western Bulldogs!

Yesterday (Saturday night), the West Coast Eagles took on Carlton, and lost once again.  It was my second match day at the Eagles and I was super excited to see what such a big game would hold.  Once again, I arrived an hour and a half prior to the match and we had to organise Nic Naitanui to be interviewed by channel seven.  When the time came for us to enter the hallows of Paterson's Stadium and find the big man, we couldn't locate him anywhere! We ran around looking for him for 15 minutes, luckily we had decided to look for him early. We eventually went to the place where he needed to be to find him standing there; he had decided to make his own way to the media, much to the relief of staff.  Once the team had run out onto the ground, we sat down to watch the game, however we noticed John Worsfold being interviewed by channel seven, something we didn't know about, however we later found out that the communications manager had taken John to the media.

After numerous tweets during the game, and directing players who were not actually playing to where they needed to be, the game finally ended and the rush started once again.  We made our way to the bottom of the race and watched as the players came off the ground disgusted with yet another home loss.  We organised Josh Hill, Scott Selwood, Shannon Hurn and Matt Priddis to be interviewed by different media including channel seven, 6PR, The West Australian and afl.com.au.  A really satisfying moment for me was when one of the players remembered me after we had been introduced a couple of weeks ago.  Once the players had completed their media commitments, we waited for Mick Malthouse's press conference to finish.  In this time, I was shown what happens post-game.  I watched as players were given Powerades, protein shakes, food, lollies and given a run down on the game.  I was able to see how they track how far a player has run and was introduced to some important people in the football operations side.

After all this, we were once again ushered to the press conference by security which was cool, considering it was only the two communications/public relations bosses, myself and John Worsfold.  I listened in on the press conference and saw another side of John Worsfold.  He shut down Braden Quartermaine when he asked silly questions and it was an insight into the world of a press conference.  It was also surreal sitting next to football journalists and experts including Justin Chadwick, Braden Quartermaine and Alex Malcolm.  After the press conference, it was home time and time to write my review of the game which is now online at www.westcoasteagles.com.au.

It was a really great experience, however hopefully the Eagles win the next match and I get to experience a win at Paterson's Stadium.  Tomorrow (Monday) we have our press conference with four players which will be great fun once again. I already know that two of them will be Ashton Hams and Scott Selwood.

Until next time,
Have fun!

Nathan

GAME DAY!

Yesterday (Sunday) was the first home game for the Eagles in 2013.  They were taking on Hawthorn in what was hyped up in the media as one of the best games of the week.  

Before I arrived, I was warned that match day was insanely busy after the match, and boy were they right.  I had to get there quite early which was a bit boring because there was not much to, but after I found my pass I met my boss and we sat and watched another game together.  Once all the other staff came in we picked the players to be interviewed after the game.  

The game finally started and I was given a ticket to go and watch the game which was great.  I was allowed to do what I liked while the match was on, the only instruction being that I had to be back in the office before the end of the match. So I managed to meet a few friends around the ground before I headed back into the office to watch the final quarter.

The Eagles lost the game. As soon as the siren went and the final tweet was sent, we ran down the stairs and through a number of passageways that reminded me of something from The Da Vinci Code! I was not sure where we were going to end up, but we ended up at the bottom of the West Coast race, and when I turned around there were fans lining the race to clap the boys in.  

As the players walked past, they looked very disappointed, and the coaches the same.  After waiting for the post-match address from John Worsfold to be done, the four players we selected walked out of the rooms.  In the time it took for John Worsfold to finish his speech, the media had make their way down to where we were waiting and we told them who was available for interview.  After they told us, we directed the players to their respective media outlets.  It was great to see the players so close up and so real after a game.  

We had to wait for Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson to finish his press conference before we could enter the room. This took a long time, about 20 minutes of standing and talking to people and looking at the honour boards.  After he was done, we were given a security escort to the press conference room with John Worsfold. It was pretty cool. There were only two other people, myself and John Worsfold walking and when we walked into the room all eyes were on us which was pretty daunting.

After the press conference, we walked back through the passageways before I ended my night in the office.  Everyone looked very tired and we knew we had to be back again early today (Monday).  I made my way home and wrote my article which is on the website (http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2013-04-08/were-not-depleted-worsfold).  

Today was player press conference day. The four players available to the media were Dean Cox, Josh Kennedy, Andrew Gaff and Jack Darling.  These days take a long time, about 30-40 minutes of questioning and taking notes.  It is great to hear the players talk about the game.  After we were done and packed up I headed home to write my story.  Monday's are pretty relaxed, and game day is full on, but I am certainly keen for the next one against Carlton in a couple of weeks.

Until then!

Nathan