He has kept it quiet… until now.

One Thursday night over a cheesy piece of lasagne “Cuz” opened up to some of his fellow team mates.

It started with the basics: “Where did you meet her?”, “What does she do?”, “Where is she from?”…he was hesitant in the beginning but more forthcoming as we worked our way through the layers of pasta sheets. All of us sitting at the table started to realise the same thing, J-Man was falling…and falling hard!

“How many sleep over’s do you have per week?” was the next intriguing question posed “four to five” he responded. A gasp of surprise followed around the table, this is serious we all thought. Had he contracted the dreaded “Ball and Chain” disease from the Strapping Lad? We hope not.

After the initial shock washed over, a weird felling of uncertainty followed. Is the wild one finally settling down, was the Cocktail night his final fling with the devil’s drink? (we think not). Will we ever again see the sculpted frame of our assistant coach running in fright around the social rooms of Gillon Oval? (we hope not). Will he continue to express his love of club legends via voice messages at 3am? (we hope so).

Amongst all these thoughts we had overlooked the most important inquiry of all what is her name? With no hesitation or realisation of the oncoming barrage, he replied “Terri”. It took a few seconds for J-Man to understand the looks on our faces…”You mean Terri…as in Terry…as in if you were to marry this lass her name would be Terri Scanlon??”

It didn’t take long for the humorous similarity to spread around those enjoying the remnants of their meals. Cuz was quite proud of not only the fact that he had a “steady” girlfriend, but also that she would one day share the same name of a club legend.

By all reports the relationship is blossoming and in fact J-Man recently chose a night at home with Terri in place of a few beers with the boys…how times have changed.