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By the Rivers Dark by Whispering Jack

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Demonland Legend

Demonland   70,326

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by Whispering Jack

It took only the blink of an eye for five years to pass. The warmth of the distant sun that left when Troy Broadbridge was taken by the ocean has returned, life has gone on and once or twice a year we remember.

I always connect Troy's passing with that of Paul Hester, drummer for Crowded House. Hester was a Demon fan, who on 26 March, 2005 took his life in the same park in Elwood where my grandchildren play. I remember hearing the sad news just as we were driving by the Elwood Canal. We were on our way to the Troy Broadbridge Tribute Game at the MGC so, in the end, we celebrated two lives on the one night.

It was just a game of footy but we were proud of our team that night. I still remember the elation and the emotion of the victory and, after that, the boys fought hard over the next year or two; they made the finals and occasionally looked the goods but then it all fell away.

Today, I'm full of hope that the new decade and the club's young talent will bring about regeneration. The warmth of the distant sun returned after Troy's passing and the same will happen some day soon with the footy team of which he was so proud to be a part.

From time to time, I still remember the little things about Troy. There was one night when still a rookie and he was working behind the bar at the Bentleigh Club while they were showing a big screen telecast of a game that Melbourne was playing interstate. Troy was smiling, serving the punters, some of them quite rude and others touching on the borderline of having one too many.

We had a chat late in the evening when things had settled after the game was over (we lost). He told me how the experience working at the Bentleigh Club taught him the importance of responsible behaviour for those times when he was on the other side of the bar.

I was reminded of that evening as I pondered about Carlton's horror boat cruise down the Yarra. You wonder why this boatload of idiots at the peak of their health and fitness, some of them senior team members, simply don't get it? But I guess that's someone else's problem. Who are we to argue or to judge?

And so, as always, let us look to the future but not forget the past. May we long remember and toast Troy and may we also celebrate Paul's wonderful legacy, his music, both with a touch of kindness and some Auld Lang Syne...

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