A Hawk hero highlight

By Shaun Inguanzo
He was, of course, speaking with tongue in cheek to emphasise his joy after the Hawks beat Geelong by 26 points last Saturday in one of the biggest Grand Final upsets in recent years.
Mr Sampey, 61, cheered the Hawks on from his lounge chair and said he ‘savoured every minute’ of the match and even recorded the highlights on the six o’clock news.
“I’m going to watch it again in a couple of weeks,” he said.
“At the beginning of the year I hoped we would make finals this year.
“Getting there seemed like a bit of a dream come true, but to get into the Grand Final and actually win it is just magnificent.
“I told Maria it was the best thing that ever happened – the second best was when I met her.”
Mr Sampey said he was confident the Hawks could go back to back as long as they didn’t become complacent.
“Back to back is going to be very hard, we’ve got to concentrate on the next one without reminding ourselves we’re the reigning premiers,” he said.
“We’ll see what happens in the draft – there’s no-one I’d really like to see traded off, but fortunately I don’t make that decision.”
Mr Sampey began his love affair with the Hawks when he worked as a police officer at Hawthorn in 1970.
He said he would go to Hawthorn’s home games at then home ground, the Glenferrie Oval.
“That was in the days of the likes of Peter Hudson and Don Scott.”