Top Stories
Bombers drop in
By Michael Brooke

Volume 50, No.2, February 22, 2007
 
TALKING FOOTY: Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd and seven new players toured HMAS Maitland on a visit to Darwin.
Photo: LSPH Helen Frank.
 
The Essendon Bombers’ “young guns” took aim at HMAS Maitland’s Typhoon 25mm naval stabilised deck-gun in a show-down captured by Darwin’s media on February 6.

The dramatic show-down ended when the Bombers, led by team captain Matthew Lloyd, bowed to the superior fire-power of Maitland’s Typhoon 25mm quick firing cannon.

CO Assail Five, LEUT George McKenzie, said the visit by the Essendon Bombers was engineered by the AFL team’s marketing manager who wanted to pit the “young guns’ against the Navy’s “big guns”.

“It was great to have Matthew Lloyd and seven new recruits from the latest AFL draft drop in prior the game against the Aboriginal All Stars,” he said.

LEUT McKenzie said Matthew Lloyd tried the CO’s chair for size, and was quick to admit that being the captain of an ACPB was more demanding than being the captain of an AFL team.

Matthew Lloyd said the Bombers were happy to take a break from their AFL Community Camp to tour HMAS Coonawarra and get a look at Maitland.

The players who visited Maitland included Mal Michael, Scott Gumbleton, Alwyn Davey, Leroy Jetta, Tom Hislop, Bachar Houli, Kyle Reimers and Lloyd.

CO HMAS Coonawarra, CMDR Stu Wheeler said it was a great opportunity to “meet some of our sailors, swap stories and to develop these links further”.