Charity golf day celebrities share their stories

Defender’s day: Hawthorn premiership centre half-back, and single-figure handicap golfer, Chris Mew (second from left) with Jock Watson, Gary Edwards and Keith McCormack on the 16th tee at Rich River. Mew, who lives and plays golf at Rosebud, played 230 games for the Hawks and was a five-time premiership player and a member of the Hawthorn Team of the Century.

Big Blue: Champion Carlton centre half-forward Lance Whitnall debuted with Carlton as a 17-year-old and played 216 games with the club (348 goals). He kicked four goals on debut, won a club best-and-fairest and was an All Australian in the year he kicked 70 goals. He played with the team of Michael Badura, Colin Hanley and Des Carey.

Buckie’s band: Gary Buckenara kicked 293 goals in 154 games with Hawthorn, crossing from West Australian club Subiaco after a 63-game career. At Wednesday’s golf event be played with the Byfords team of Cameron Laid, Sharon Bibson and Daniel Mangiameli. Buckenara was a key organiser of the event and his record stood strongly against his many former teammates, being a former WA State of Origin captain, three-time All Australian and four-time premiership player.

The Big Dipper: Robert DiPierdomenico was one of two celebrities to command top dollar at the Echuca Cancer and Wellness Centre fundraising event. BildGroup paid $3000 for the privilege of playing with the 240-game Hawthorn veteran who was the 1986 Brownlow Medallist. With Dipper are Des Smith, Paul Bowe and Jack Lyons. Dipper was also a member of four Hawks flag-winning teams and famously played out the 1989 grand final win with several broken ribs and a punctured lung. He has featured prominently in the media after being one of Channel Seven’s first boundary riders.

Bendigo boy: Rick Ladsen (second from left) played 125 games for the Hawks after being picked number 16 from the Bendigo Pioneers at the 2001 draft. He was a member of the Hawks’ 2008 premiership team and in 2013 returned as playing coach of Golden Square in the Bendigo Football League, where he coached the club to its fifth consecutive flag. He is with Jason Aubrey, Peter Sutton and Handel Aubrey.

Larger than life: Mark Maclure played in three premierships with Carlton Football Club, played 243 games and kicked 327 goals. He was recruited from East Sydney and debuted in 1974. He is one of the most recognised faces of Fox Footy’s coverage, being a regular on AFL 360 opposite North Melbourne premiership hero David King. Maclure is with Grant Casbolt, Vicki Shipp and Dawn McCormack.

Son of a gun: Paul Hudson (second from left) was born into greatness, the son of legendary Hawthorn goalkicker Peter Hudson. A Tasmanian, Hudson finished fifth in the Brownlow Medal in 1991 and kicked two goals in the Hawks’ premiership-winning team the same year. He played 136 games (264 goals) for Hawthorn and 108 games (214 goals) for the Western Bulldogs. He finished with three games at Richmond in a 245-game career, which included two Bulldogs goalkicking awards. He is pictured with Cam Sutton, Ryan Moorhouse and Cameron Moss.

Swervin’ Mervyn: Merv Hughes first appeared for Australia in Test cricket in the 1985-86 season, taking 1-123 against India and was not selected again until the Ashes series against England the following season. He ended up playing 53 Tests and took 212 wickets, including 13-217 against the West Indies at the WACA in 1988-89, including a famous hat-trick that was spread across three separate overs, two innings and two different days. He started with Footscray in district cricket and ended up as an Australian selector. He is with Adam Ferraro, Matt Jean and Nathan Burrell.

Winning combination: Professional golfer Lisa Jean (second from left) took the lead role for her all-female team of Deanne Armstrong (Committee for Echuca Moama chief executive and co-organiser of the event with Rich River Golf Club’s Paul Lavars and Gary Buckenara), Susan Hill and Bernie Carne. Jean was the first female golfer to win the Victorian Club Professional Championship in 2015 and teed up against the men at the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Victorian PGA Championship. She played on the Ladies’ European Tour for six years before making the switch to teaching. She is obviously good at that, because two of her team members didn’t even have handicaps.

Early favorites: Ian Prendergast was quite excited when he was drawn to play alongside Rich River Golf Club professional Steve Loader, his talented son Aaron (a plus-two golfer) and the club’s marketing chief Paul Lavars (one of the chief figures behind the staging of the ERH Cancer and Wellness Centre event). Prendergast was recruited from Kerang and played 65 games with Carlton, during which time he studied law and works now as a lawyer for Carlton Football Club, as its chief commercial officer and general counsel. He was previously chief executive of the SANFL players’ association and general manager of player relations with the AFLPA.

In the hot seat: As a selector for the Australian Test Cricket team Tony Dodemaide came in for several questions after his round, at the sports charity dinner, about his involvement in the Justin Langer coaching saga. Dodemaide was actually 12th man in the match in which Langer made his Test debut and spoke extremely highly of the West Australian. Dodemaide played 10 Tests for Australia and took 34 wickets, his career with Victoria and English county team Sussex reaping 500 wickets. He is with C4EM president Dean Oberin, Matt Tyler and Tim Ford.

Family affair: Richmond’s 1980 premiership coach Tony Jewell (second from left) and son Nick were part of a team that included Rich River Golf Club chief executive Shane Gloury and Lucas Walker. Jewell played 80 games for Richmond and was a member of the Tigers’ 1967 premiership team. He coached the Tigers and St Kilda in 139 matches and was inducted into the Richmond Hall of Fame in 2002. His son, Nick, played one game for Richmond in 1997 and appeared in 62 matches for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield, making a highest score of 188 against Queensland in 2007.

Gentle giant: Former Melbourne and Richmond ruckman Steve O’Dwyer played alongside Peter Gronow, Garet Stobaus and Lee Croft at the ERH fundraising event. O’Dwyer won the 1988 Keith “Bluey” Truscott Medal for Melbourne’s best-and-fairest, helping the team to the 1988 grand final (its first since 1964). He missed the match after being suspended for striking in the preliminary final. O’Dwyer played 89 VFL games from 1987 to 1992, injuries forcing his retirement.

The chief: Club Tweed chief executive Gerard Robinson with Moama Bowling Club chief operating officer Liam Fleming, Jason Dunstall and Steve Bird. The bowling club made Bird’s day when they included him in the team and purchased Dunstall under the special conditions of the Rich River Golf Club charity event. Teams paid $1800 to be involved, but could bid $3000 to pick their celebrity playing partner for the day. Bird was a huge Dunstall fan in his playing days, when the Queenslander kicked 1254 goals in 269 games, won four premierships, won 12 Hawthorn leading goalkicker awards, four club best-and-fairests, three Coleman medals and was a seven-time All Australian. He also won the Simpson and EJ Whitten Medal and is an AFL Hall of Fame member.