On Thursday, Hobart A, led by Luke Hodge, travelled to a property in Connelly’s Marsh damaged by the fires to connect with Blaze Aid to help remove damaged fencing on the farm. On meeting property owner Stuart Cuthbert and the Blaze Aid volunteers, the players were immediately kitted out in gloves and protective glasses and put to work rolling up fencing wire and removing fencing posts.
To give you an idea of the enormity and cost of the devastation, Stuart informed the players that his farm “Storm Bay’ is approximately 1600 acres, 80 of which were burnt by the fire. He still isn’t certain how much livestock he lost. He now faces the task of rebuilding 30km of fencing, which costs approximately 10,000 per kilometre to re-fence and farmers typically are not insured for this type of damage.
Among the group of Blaze Aid volunteers whom the players met yesterday were Queenslanders Bruce and Rosemary Illman, who were caravanning around Tasmania at the time of the fires and fortuitously met Blaze Aid coordinator Eugene, who introduced them to the organisation. Since then, Bruce and Rosemary cut their holiday short to volunteer and have been assisting with the rebuild on Storm Bay and other properties since the fires struck.
After a couple of hours in the hot Tassie sun, the players cleaned themselves up before heading to Sorell Primary School for a clinic and signing session. After that, the players made a quick, and unplanned, stop at the local aged care home around the corner to visit ‘Boy’ Daniels and other residents before making their way to the Dodges Ferry Fire Brigade for a barbeque with the local volunteers and their families. Max Bailey, Taylor Duryea and Kaiden Brand got involved, trying on the firefighter uniforms and sitting up in the fire truck. After a quick group photo, Hodgey presented the Brigade with a signed Hawks guernsey, and it was a tired group of players that returned to Hobart in the evening.
While Hobart A was fixing fences and donning fire uniforms, Hobart B stayed in the city to engage with school kids and the local community. The first stop was Herdmans Cove Primary School, where the players sat in on some classes and taught the students a few footy skills.
From there, the group headed to Beacon Foundation, where the players participated in an activity called ‘Speed Careers’ which involved talking to students about their pathway into the AFL. Some topics the players were asked to cover in their presentations were: leadership, overcoming adversity, the role of significant people in their lives and long-term goal setting.
Just before lunch, the group dropped into Mount Stuart Primary School where the players hosted a clinic and held a Q & A with the students. A couple of players took the opportunity to visit the Tassal shop to try some local Tassie salmon, which by all reports was delicious.
The last stop for the group for the day was the Glenorchy on the Go Super Clinic, at which the players participated in a variety of sports to encourage young Tassie kids to be active and fit and healthy.
Life after football for Taylor Duryea, Max Bailey and Kaiden Brand? They look the part at Dodges Ferry Fire Brigade.
Luke Hodge leads from the front at Connelly's Marsh, showing Brand the ropes in fence building.
Midfielder Brad Sewell was working up a sweat as he got his hands dirty helping bushfire victims.
Grant Birchall was back home in Tassie all too happy to help out and have a chat with Blaze Aid.
Just how big is Max Bailey? The ruckman uses all his strength as he helps Blaze Aid while Grant Birchall gets involved.
The Hawks crew including Club CEO Stuart Fox spent the day with Blaze Aid and stopped for a happy snap before a much needed rest.
Josh Gibson and Jonathan Simpkin give some students at Herdmans Cove Primary School some pointers on their kicking.
Captain Luke Hodge was king of the kids as usual!
Josh Gibson chatting to students involved with the Beacon Foundation program about the positives and negatives of social media in everyday life.
