AS Mick Hogarth quietly, slowly made his way toward the milling swarm of Imperials fans surrounding their premiership heroes near the middle of the Mildura Sporting Precinct footy field, the crowd deferentially made way.
Some in the green and white shook his hand or gave him a hug, others whispered words of support and encouragement in his ears to defeat the din of the growing throng.
Yet others simply said, “They did it for you, Mick”, which he acknowledged with a nod of the head or a wave.
Then he swung his electric chair around and headed back to the pavilion where again the crowd parted for their grand final heroes and Mick.
One by one, in jersey number order the players were called up to the stage to accept their medals to a hearty roar of approval, but none was louder than when Mick drove to the base of the stage with the grand final trophy in hand.
If there are tiers of football royalty, Mick Hogarth is king at Imps – not because he played on eight grand final winning sides or is perhaps its greatest ever stalwart, but also due to the way he has tackled motor neurone disease – with grace and courage.
Premiership coach Brad Vallance summed it up best claiming Hogarth’s presence at training and games was inspirational and stated: “He is the most resilient person I have ever met.”
After the ceremony the players grouped around Mick with hugs, handshakes, kind words and even some tears before heading back out on to the field as a precursor of celebrations to come.
Meanwhile, a tiring Mick and his wife Carol headed back to their car and home, but not before he spoke about the privilege of handing over the trophy and his pride in the Green Machine.
“It was such an honour,” he said of his presentation duty.
“From not winning one game last year and now to lose just one game for the year and take out the flag is an unbelievable effort,” he continued of Imps’ stunning reversal of fortune.
“Wentworth is a great club and I’m good mates with (co-coach) Wade Hancock and I wish him all the best but for Brad Vallance to come from Ouyen and bring the club back up the top was really fantastic.
“I thought this season would depend a lot on injuries because they didn’t have a lot of depth … but it wasn’t a real surprise. I’m just so rapt for them.
“I think they can go back-to-back next year if they keep the same squad together and some of the young blokes improve a bit more. But it’s going to be a battle.”
As the last few fans trickled out of the ground on Saturday evening, a woman in green and white headed to the carpark holding a child in one hand and a placard in the other, it read: “DO IT FOR MICK.”
That they did. That they did.
