100 reasons to celebrate getting benched

No one in footy likes to get benched, but when it happens to Bull Sharks captain Wyatt Bacon this weekend, it will be a memory he’ll cherish forever.

It is tradition for players who reach the 100-game milestone for the Bond footy club to have a park bench named in their honour erected on the hill behind the goals at the eastern end of the university’s AFL ground. 

There are currently six benches and after Saturday there will be two more when Bacon and great mate Madison Bland join the select group of Bull Sharks legends who can claim to be a part of the furniture.  

Bacon arrived at The Canal in 2017 after spending his late teens and early twenties playing in the NEAFL for Southport and QAFL for Labrador. 

It was his connection to then coach Sam Whish-Wilson and player Ben Merrett, both former Southport teammates, that drew him to Bond and he says he immediately realised it was his destiny to finish his career at the Bull Sharks.

“Quite literally after the first training session I said to myself, ‘I’ll be here until I can’t play anymore’,” he recalled. 

“Reaching 100 games is great and it’s nice to have some recognition for my contribution to the club, but I’m mostly happy to have been at Bond and made so many great mates.

“And it is awesome to share this moment with Madi, a person who cares about our club more than anyone.’’

The Bond MBA student says the arrival of new director of coaching Andy Lovell and specialist coaches Matthew  Kennedy and Shaun Hart had been a breath of fresh for the club.  

“I’m in the nice position that I get to talk to the players every day and I’m excited by the motivation in the group to get better,” he said.

“We are a university club, we have people who are learning every day and when they come to training it is no different. 

“We all want to improve and that’s the environment we have at the club right now. “

Bacon, who is two weeks shy of turning 30, said the different skills sets of the new coaches, who have over 600 games of AFL experience between them, complimented the players’ hunger to learn and had given him a new lease of life.     

“Harty is a great motivator, he is a people person and is greatly respected,” he said.

“Andy is a more technical coach, he understands the way to play and is really great at educating the players and the coaches.

“And Max (Kennedy) brings a new level of strength and conditioning training which we have needed. For the past two seasons we have gone 1-8 and 1-7 to finish the season and that showed we didn’t have the physical capability.

“I was starting to have a think about when I am going to finish playing and now I am more optimistic about getting a few more years out of myself. 

“And for the club, it feels like the next chapter in our journey.’’