ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
The NSW Blues are leaving their Blue Mountains base on Sunday and making their way down the hill to Stadium Australia for Wednesday’s first State of Origin clash against our Queensland underdogs.
To remember their time in Sydney’s ‘Methalayas’, the team has been presented with a commemorative ‘heanie’ or peaked beanie – the traditional headwear of the Blue Mountains local between the months of May and September.
The ceremony took place next to a flaming 44-gallon drum in the backyard of a Wentworth Falls bungalow. Local man and partial-owner of said bungalow, Kevon Bunt, was chosen by Blues coach Michael McGuire to hand out the special hats.
The Advocate watched on has Mr Bunt shared some special words with the team before sitting down on his backyard couch to punch a ceremonial cone, as is the tradition in the area.
Coach McGuire thanked Kevon and politely decline the next cone, telling him he was to his right and it wouldn’t be polite.
Kevon melted into the couch for a second and felt the foamy green waves of relaxation was over him. A sense of peace crawled over him like he’d fallen amongst a litter of eager puppies.
“OK, lads,” he said, reaching for a clear plastic sack of freshly pressed heanies.
“Come get ’em.”
One by one, the Blues dutifully received their heanie and put them on. They soon left Kevon after thanking him, leaving him alone in peace to rub his face and sigh as the dusk fell over the mountains.
More to come.
