from today's hun
"McEvoy, who was given leave by the Saints, made the long drive from Melbourne late Monday night and arrived at his family's property in Victoria's north-east about 2am yesterday
The 19-year-old helped bulldoze containment lines and prepare fire pumps last night amid fears a wind change could swing a raging fire towards the McEvoy home.
He was due to rush back to Melbourne this morning to catch a flight to the Gold Coast for the club's community camp, capping a whirlwind 36 hours.
McEvoy's younger brother Pete said the family was determined to stay and fight the fire, if needed.
"We've always planned to stay and that's definitely what we'll do," he said.
Related Links
* Near miss: Dog's sister beats fire
* Video: The AFL rallies to support the bushfire victims
* Footy for a cause: Lloyd to play for fire victims
"We've got a lot of water so we can defend it off pretty well if it comes. Our plan has always been that we'll stay.
"There's a few of us here and we've got fire hoses and fire pumps on the back of utes."
Fires near Beechworth and Murmungee were among those posing the most immediate danger to the McEvoy home.
"We live on the north-west side of Dederang and the fires are burning in a mountain range sort of behind our house about 6km away," Pete said.
"Last night it looked as though it was going to come to our house and, I mean, it can blow embers in a matter of minutes.
"The closest it got was probably less than 5km away and with a big fire like that, that can mean 10 seconds or two minutes. You just never know.
"There's supposed to be a wind change tonight, which isn't good.
"It's supposed to be blowing back towards us again.
"We've done a lot of cleaning up, cutting grass, we've had the sprinklers going, a lot of fire pumps and water hoses, anything and everything you can do really."
McEvoy's mother Sharon was touched that her football-playing son was willing to make the journey to help his family.
"It's just so nice when your boys are here to help you," Mrs McEvoy said.
"Because they know. Local people know how to defend their assets and it's great to have him here."
McEvoy was taken with St Kilda's first pick (No. 9 overall) in the 2007 national draft."
mcevoy
Moderators: Saintsational Administrators, Saintsational Moderators
Not sure about the wisdom of him staying there for not much more than a couple of days then driving back/flying to Qld. Id just have told him that family come first, stay as long as you need to, and we will cope for one NAB game without you. Dederang is not out of the danger zone as yet
THE BUBBLE HAS BURST
2011 player sponsor
-
Armoooo
- Saintsational Legend
- Posts: 7281
- Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006 2:28pm
- Location: The Great South East
- Contact:
No surprise here, the bloke is a class act, good luck to the McEvoy family and everyone else who is currently living in the constant fear of the fires. There's not a lot that words can do but we can only pray if there is a big guy upstairs he will give Australia a bit of luck.
ROBERT HARVEY A.K.A The Great Man, Banger, Harves, Ol' Man River...
384 games, 4 B&F's, 3 EJ Whitten Medals, St.Kilda Captain, 2 Time Brownlow Medalist, 8 Time All Australian, 2nd Highest Brownlow votes poller.... The greatest of ALL TIME!!
384 games, 4 B&F's, 3 EJ Whitten Medals, St.Kilda Captain, 2 Time Brownlow Medalist, 8 Time All Australian, 2nd Highest Brownlow votes poller.... The greatest of ALL TIME!!
An update of sorts:
No lion down for Ben McEvoy
Mark Stevens | February 12, 2009 12:00am
BEN McEvoy's roommate didn't hear a peep from the big fella last night at the plush Surfers Paradise Crowne Plaza.
The St Kilda ruckman had every reason to be exhausted when he finally returned from a promotional clinic at 7pm.
At 6am yesterday, he waved his parents goodbye as bushfires continued to threaten the family farm at Dederang in northeast Victoria.
Content that the worst had passed, McEvoy, 19, made the four-hour drive back to Melbourne to catch a flight to the Gold Coast for the Saints' community camp.
In a 28-hour visit to the 130ha cattle and sheep farm, McEvoy slept for no more than four hours as fires ravaged the area.
"Within 15km of home, there's at least a dozen or more houses that have been lost," McEvoy said.
"A number of our friends have lost houses or farm sheds.
"Our property has been under threat before, but never as bad as this.
"Some of the country I drove through this morning, you could see the effects right up to the road and houses were flattened.
"It was just black. There's nothing left. It's just black.
"It's pretty horrific I suppose, but at least in our area there has been minimal loss of life. It hits the community pretty hard and it will be a long, tough recovery."
McEvoy, the No. 9 pick in the 2007 national draft, made his debut in Round 13 last year and shapes a 10-year prospect to replace Steven King and Michael Gardiner, who are both now in the veteran stage.
He was at home in Melbourne on Sunday night and realised he could no longer handle sitting by the phone receiving updates.
"I'd been talking to people at home since last Saturday night, early Sunday morning and had followed what had gone on," McEvoy said. "But things looked bad on the Monday night. I organised an aunty and uncle to come with me."
McEvoy arrived at Dederang at 1.45am on Tuesday, needing to get through a roadblock 3km from home to be reunited with his parents, John and Sharon, and younger brother Peter.
"I had to take a detour via Wodonga and then hit the road block," McEvoy said.
"Because it was quiet at that time of morning and they knew where I was going, I was fine."
McEvoy just wanted to help his parents, who had endured two days of sleepless stress.
"I just wanted to let them get some rest. They had spent a lot of the nights watching for spots," McEvoy said.
"They were fairly stressed and I wanted to make life easier. I did a few bits and pieces around home and set up a few containment lines on the tractor."
Hitting the surf at Broadbeach yesterday was far more relaxing.
"There was a possibility I may not have come up here, but I really wanted to join the rest of the guys," McEvoy said.
Now, after overcoming a foot stress reaction, he wants to cap it off by lining up against Brisbane in a NAB Cup clash at Carrara on Saturday night.
And he is adamant a few days from hell is not enough to put him off his game.
"No excuses. I'm really keen to play," McEvoy said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 42,00.html
No lion down for Ben McEvoy
Mark Stevens | February 12, 2009 12:00am
BEN McEvoy's roommate didn't hear a peep from the big fella last night at the plush Surfers Paradise Crowne Plaza.
The St Kilda ruckman had every reason to be exhausted when he finally returned from a promotional clinic at 7pm.
At 6am yesterday, he waved his parents goodbye as bushfires continued to threaten the family farm at Dederang in northeast Victoria.
Content that the worst had passed, McEvoy, 19, made the four-hour drive back to Melbourne to catch a flight to the Gold Coast for the Saints' community camp.
In a 28-hour visit to the 130ha cattle and sheep farm, McEvoy slept for no more than four hours as fires ravaged the area.
"Within 15km of home, there's at least a dozen or more houses that have been lost," McEvoy said.
"A number of our friends have lost houses or farm sheds.
"Our property has been under threat before, but never as bad as this.
"Some of the country I drove through this morning, you could see the effects right up to the road and houses were flattened.
"It was just black. There's nothing left. It's just black.
"It's pretty horrific I suppose, but at least in our area there has been minimal loss of life. It hits the community pretty hard and it will be a long, tough recovery."
McEvoy, the No. 9 pick in the 2007 national draft, made his debut in Round 13 last year and shapes a 10-year prospect to replace Steven King and Michael Gardiner, who are both now in the veteran stage.
He was at home in Melbourne on Sunday night and realised he could no longer handle sitting by the phone receiving updates.
"I'd been talking to people at home since last Saturday night, early Sunday morning and had followed what had gone on," McEvoy said. "But things looked bad on the Monday night. I organised an aunty and uncle to come with me."
McEvoy arrived at Dederang at 1.45am on Tuesday, needing to get through a roadblock 3km from home to be reunited with his parents, John and Sharon, and younger brother Peter.
"I had to take a detour via Wodonga and then hit the road block," McEvoy said.
"Because it was quiet at that time of morning and they knew where I was going, I was fine."
McEvoy just wanted to help his parents, who had endured two days of sleepless stress.
"I just wanted to let them get some rest. They had spent a lot of the nights watching for spots," McEvoy said.
"They were fairly stressed and I wanted to make life easier. I did a few bits and pieces around home and set up a few containment lines on the tractor."
Hitting the surf at Broadbeach yesterday was far more relaxing.
"There was a possibility I may not have come up here, but I really wanted to join the rest of the guys," McEvoy said.
Now, after overcoming a foot stress reaction, he wants to cap it off by lining up against Brisbane in a NAB Cup clash at Carrara on Saturday night.
And he is adamant a few days from hell is not enough to put him off his game.
"No excuses. I'm really keen to play," McEvoy said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 42,00.html
-
True Blue Sainter
- Club Player
- Posts: 1906
- Joined: Fri 19 Mar 2004 5:47pm
- Has thanked: 4 times
- Been thanked: 17 times
Top kid. Good to see that he has a big heart.
Glad we have him, it's players of this sort of character (as well as talent) that you build a team around for years. Sensational effort to go back and relieve his parents for a while, and do his bit at home. Shows that he respects his parents, and is humble enough to come back from the big city and help out.
Glad we have him, it's players of this sort of character (as well as talent) that you build a team around for years. Sensational effort to go back and relieve his parents for a while, and do his bit at home. Shows that he respects his parents, and is humble enough to come back from the big city and help out.
The Saints are coming!
