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LRT makes initial impact
By Jessica Halloran
August 5 2003
Shore thing: Mosman-raised Lewis Roberts-Thomson shows his Swans teammates the way at Balmoral Beach yesterday. Photo: David Moir
Lewis Roberts-Thomson was swimming around in his backyard all over again. With winter sun shining, he was backflipping and somersaulting off the rickety Balmoral Beach pier just like he did as a kid.
Splashing around with his teammates at yesterday's Sydney Swans recovery session, Roberts-Thomson had every right to be giddy with fun. The North Shore boy was chuffed but a little stunned after finding out he was the AFL's rising star nominee for round 18.
"A lot of other guys that have received the award are top-quality players," Roberts-Thomson said. "I was a bit surprised for myself to get it."
Roberts-Thomson labelled his performance "reasonable" in the four-point loss to Adelaide on Sunday, but his coach Paul Roos marked it as "super".
"To come on after half-time and ruck against two really good ruckmen, and turn the clearances around . . . for a kid to do that was just a super effort," Roos said.
For a boy raised up the road in Mosman - with hands and feet trained to play rugby union - who has just played about only his 60th game ever of Australian football, Roberts-Thomson is doing incredibly well.
The 19-year-old ruckman's first-year goal was simply to play most of the Swans' reserves games, and just maybe, hopefully, break through into the senior side and play a game or two.
It has transpired quite differently, quite remarkably in fact, and in the absence of the injured Jason Ball, he is playing a greater rucking role and should play his 11th senior match against Hawthorn on Saturday.
It's almost a football fairytale, is it not? "Not far from it," the man sometimes known as LRT said. His captain, Stuart Maxfield, admitted it relaxed the team to have a young ruckman who could pick up a bit of slack in the absence of Ball.
Roberts-Thomson said he was well supported and guidance from Jared Crouch, Adam Goodes and Ball had been invaluable.
"Just three of many," he said of his football support crew.
Roberts-Thomson is the second Swan to be named as a rising star his year. Adam Schneider was the first.
"I'm sure there will be plenty more," Roberts-Thomson said.
Roos wasn't as happy as some down by the harbour yesterday. He was still stewing over goal umpire Ante Perkovic's controversial decision to award Adelaide forward Wayne Carey a mark just minutes from full-time, from which he scored a goal. Roos believes umpires should become full-time.
"We are aware as coaches that it is a difficult job," Roos said. "We've got full-time coaches, we've got full-time players, we've got full-time administrators, we've got full-time umpires' advisers. I said this to [umpires coach] Rowan [Sawers], the only part of our game that is not full-time is the umpires.
"I feel for the umpires - an umpire gets up this morning and worries about whether he is a lawyer or a solicitor, wondering if he's got a big court case coming up this week. He simply hasn't got the time and the concentration that the other partners in the AFL do on a weekly basis.
"Common sense tells me that they have got to be dropping behind . . . we are getting ahead of them because of the time we are putting in."
Roos has not yet decided if he will call the AFL umpires department about the Carey mark.
"I've rung [the umpires] before - you probably get more frustrated," he said. "[They've said] 'Yeah, we are wrong' and the umpire's been dropped for this week so you probably tend to get more frustrated when you make the phone call. I haven't really decided yet - I'll just see what happens. They've got a tough job to do and sometimes they make mistakes."
The umpires believe Perkovic was right. AAP reported that AFL umpiring director Jeff Gieschen backed Perkovic's ruling that the whole of the ball had not crossed the line before Carey completed the mark with outstretched hands
By Jessica Halloran
August 5 2003
Shore thing: Mosman-raised Lewis Roberts-Thomson shows his Swans teammates the way at Balmoral Beach yesterday. Photo: David Moir
Lewis Roberts-Thomson was swimming around in his backyard all over again. With winter sun shining, he was backflipping and somersaulting off the rickety Balmoral Beach pier just like he did as a kid.
Splashing around with his teammates at yesterday's Sydney Swans recovery session, Roberts-Thomson had every right to be giddy with fun. The North Shore boy was chuffed but a little stunned after finding out he was the AFL's rising star nominee for round 18.
"A lot of other guys that have received the award are top-quality players," Roberts-Thomson said. "I was a bit surprised for myself to get it."
Roberts-Thomson labelled his performance "reasonable" in the four-point loss to Adelaide on Sunday, but his coach Paul Roos marked it as "super".
"To come on after half-time and ruck against two really good ruckmen, and turn the clearances around . . . for a kid to do that was just a super effort," Roos said.
For a boy raised up the road in Mosman - with hands and feet trained to play rugby union - who has just played about only his 60th game ever of Australian football, Roberts-Thomson is doing incredibly well.
The 19-year-old ruckman's first-year goal was simply to play most of the Swans' reserves games, and just maybe, hopefully, break through into the senior side and play a game or two.
It has transpired quite differently, quite remarkably in fact, and in the absence of the injured Jason Ball, he is playing a greater rucking role and should play his 11th senior match against Hawthorn on Saturday.
It's almost a football fairytale, is it not? "Not far from it," the man sometimes known as LRT said. His captain, Stuart Maxfield, admitted it relaxed the team to have a young ruckman who could pick up a bit of slack in the absence of Ball.
Roberts-Thomson said he was well supported and guidance from Jared Crouch, Adam Goodes and Ball had been invaluable.
"Just three of many," he said of his football support crew.
Roberts-Thomson is the second Swan to be named as a rising star his year. Adam Schneider was the first.
"I'm sure there will be plenty more," Roberts-Thomson said.
Roos wasn't as happy as some down by the harbour yesterday. He was still stewing over goal umpire Ante Perkovic's controversial decision to award Adelaide forward Wayne Carey a mark just minutes from full-time, from which he scored a goal. Roos believes umpires should become full-time.
"We are aware as coaches that it is a difficult job," Roos said. "We've got full-time coaches, we've got full-time players, we've got full-time administrators, we've got full-time umpires' advisers. I said this to [umpires coach] Rowan [Sawers], the only part of our game that is not full-time is the umpires.
"I feel for the umpires - an umpire gets up this morning and worries about whether he is a lawyer or a solicitor, wondering if he's got a big court case coming up this week. He simply hasn't got the time and the concentration that the other partners in the AFL do on a weekly basis.
"Common sense tells me that they have got to be dropping behind . . . we are getting ahead of them because of the time we are putting in."
Roos has not yet decided if he will call the AFL umpires department about the Carey mark.
"I've rung [the umpires] before - you probably get more frustrated," he said. "[They've said] 'Yeah, we are wrong' and the umpire's been dropped for this week so you probably tend to get more frustrated when you make the phone call. I haven't really decided yet - I'll just see what happens. They've got a tough job to do and sometimes they make mistakes."
The umpires believe Perkovic was right. AAP reported that AFL umpiring director Jeff Gieschen backed Perkovic's ruling that the whole of the ball had not crossed the line before Carey completed the mark with outstretched hands
