Sydney Daily Telegraph

Barry Hall to provide spark in SCG farewell

Arriving in Sydney yesterday after the Bulldogs' flight from Melbourne was struck by lightning, Hall said a less than ideal preparation for today's must-win clash against the Swans at the SCG this afternoon is his biggest concern - not his relationship with his former club.

The Bulldogs were forced to train at Melbourne's Whitten Oval yesterday and delay their flight to Sydney because the SCG could not be used for training in the wet conditions.

They have had to rely on simulating wet conditions at training this week by wetting their training Sherrins.

"It's not the end of the world," Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said yesterday. "Yeah, we got struck by lightning. It might have been divine intervention. There was a lot of fear in the big fella [Hall], I saw that."

Hall admitted the lightning was more than unnerving.

"I was sweating up," he said.

"I thought we were going down. We didn't have much spark last week. Hopefully it sparks us this week."

Aside from bad puns and worse weather, Hall said he is looking forward to his goodbye from the SCG, having been farewelled from the Swans in a lap of honour around the venue less than two years ago.

Hall's career at the Swans lasted eight seasons, including 162 games and 467 goals. He also played two grand finals, was made All-Australian from 2004-06, and topped the Swans goalkicking list in every season but his last in the red and white.

The golden moment of his career happened at the Swans when he captained the side to the 2005 premiership. But, for Hall, the joy from that memory will forever be tainted by his departure from the club in 2009 following a string of "brain snaps" and suspensions.

The 34-year-old said his departure from the Swans has not left any bad blood between himself and the club.

"I don't think an apology is warranted or anything like that," he said. "At the end of the day we both left amicably with a handshake.

The Daily Telegraph strikes content deal with Sydney Fashion ...

During the last fortnight I’ve been struck by the number of times the Facebook icon has appeared at the end of TV ads. Become a fan of food, insurance, homewares, automobiles, travel, whatever. It’s over 15 years since we experienced the internet bubble, but I’m feeling like we’re in the midst of a Facebook bubble.

In this guest post, Mediacom’s Nic Hodges observes the Twitter blowtorch turned onto brands advertising with the News of the World