By Jackson Saunders
About 30 seminarians attended a thrilling Friday night AFL clash, which saw Sydney come from behind in the last quarter kicking four goals to one to claim a thrilling 8-point victory over Hawthorn.
Sydney won 12. 7 (79) to Hawthorn 10.11 (71) in front of a crowd of 32,000 at the MCG.
While 25 mm of rain fell in Melbourne on Friday, conditions were mostly good for the players with only little drizzle for a short period during the match.
Ben Ronke set the game alight with the first five goals for Sydney, before finishing with seven majors for the match. Ronke, 20, was playing just his third game of AFL footy and filled the gap in the Sydney forward line with class in the absence of Lance 'Buddy' Franklin. Ronke was also relentless with his forward line pressure applying 10 tackles.
Another player, who the seminary kept a close eye on, was Hawthorn's Ben McEvoy. The Hawks ruckman is originally from Dederang in the Sandhurst Diocese and is a former parishioner of Fr Jake Mudge, who is now the seminary's Director of Pastoral Work and previously cared for Dederang as part of the Wodonga Catholic Parish. McEvoy was solid throughout the game but received a heavy knock late in the second term.
There was good support for both teams at the ground among the Corpus Christi students.
Jude Johnson, Confidence Masvosva and DJ Suguitan were among those who backed the Swans for victory.
Post game the seminary's faithful Hawthorn supporters, including Steven Smith, Paul Zaher, Chathura Silva and Andrew Choi were forced to leave the MCG disappointed with the result.
The visit to the MCG was the first time many of the students have visited this iconic Australian sports ground. The MCG is home to Australian Rules Football and holds up to 100,000 people at capacity. The ground is also considered one of the best in the world and has been used for the Olympics in 1956, as well as the Commonwealth Games in 2006. Soccer world cups and other major sporting events also take place at the internationally acclaimed sports arena, which is situated in the world's sporting capital of Melbourne.
Fifth-year Melbourne student, Jude Johnson and Hobart Deacon Fidelis Udousoro celebrate a goal at the MCG in the Sydney Swans 8-point win over Hawthorn. Picture: Jackson Saunders