Geelong Cats, True Champions

Today The Slattery Media Group published Geelong Cats, True Champions, a 100-page souvenir publication celebrating Geelong’s 2009 premiership win. The book captures all the moments from an epic Grand Final that was as hard fought as any in recent memory.

Geelong Cats, True Champions features action and celebration photos of every Geelong player on Grand Final Day, a quarter-by-quarter analysis of the big game, a detailed match review and report; match day statistics, and all the greatest moments from the 2009 season. Plus, a round-by-round season review, and revealing essays, including:

• Winning two premierships in three years: what it took for the Geelong Cats to rebuild from last year’s loss to claim its eighth Premiership.
• Norm Smith medallist Paul Chapman and his influence on the 2009 Grand Final.
• How coach Mark Thompson has crafted two premiership wins from what history will remember as one of the greatest teams of all.

This tribute publication will provide a lasting memory of the Geelong Cats’ victorious win – it is a must-have souvenir for all Geelong fans.

It is also a remarkable publishing feat – to produce a 100-page book, featuring 80 pages of stories and photos from the big game and have it on sale in Geelong by midday the day after the Grand Final. The Slattery Media Group CEO Geoff Slattery said: “I remember producing a similar publication when Collingwood won the 1990 premiership. We had that on sale by the following Sunday – eight days after the Grand Final – and we thought that was a remarkable achievement. There are few publishing companies in the country who would not only attempt such a project, but do it with such detail and excellence. More than 30 people worked on the book. It is a credit to their work ethic and commitment.”

Geelong Cats, True Champions will be available at the Supporters’ Day at Kardinia Park, the Herald Sun Shop and online at slatterymedia.com/books from 12pm on Sunday 27th September. It will be on sale in newsagents, bookstores, The Cats Shop and AFL Stores from Monday September 28th. RRP $15

The Socceroo

There are just eight months to go until the Qantas Socceroos take part in the biggest sporting event on the planet: the 2010 FIFA World Cup. A surprise guest four years ago in Germany, Australia was one of the earliest confirmed participants this time, booking its ticket to South Africa in June after cruising through the final stage of Asian qualifying. The Socceroos face a tough schedule in coming months as the race for places on the plane to South Africa heats up.

Top of the schedule is the Netherlands on Saturday, October 10, followed by an Asian Cup qualifier against Oman four days later.

Both matches will be previewed in the latest issue of The Socceroo. The Slattery Media Group is the publisher of The Socceroo, the match-day magazine for Australia’s home internationals. This issue, Jason Culina explains his decision to move back to his home country and join Gold Coast United, coach Pim Verbeek gives his highlights from almost two years in charge, and there are interviews with Socceroos stars David Carney and Scott McDonald.

The Socceroo will be on sale at Sydney Football Stadium on October 10 for Australia v The Netherlands, and at Etihad Stadium on October 14 for Australia v Oman.

Inferno, reviewed

Inferno: The Day Victoria Burned, written by esteemed journalist Roger Franklin and published here at The Slattery Media Group, was released barely seven months after the dark day of February 7, now known to all as Black Saturday. The Australian Literary Review this week published a review of Inferno that describes the publication as “remarkable for the speed and energy of its production”. And, as reviewer Paul Williams also states, haste did not compromise quality; we are very proud of the depth to Franklin’s research, and manner in which the story is delivered. It is a publication we believe should be read by all Victorians.

“Franklin presents two humanities,” wrote Williams. “He introduces us to the survivors via short biographical sketches that underscore their Australian ordinariness, yet who stand out not because of the disaster but for their fortitude despite it … But Franklin conjures another, darker inhumanity: the arsonist who commits the crime as foul as it is impossible to comprehend.”

The scale of this tragedy is still difficult to fully comprehend for most onlookers, and Inferno takes us deeper into those flames than we could have imagined.

As Williams describes: “This is at once a heart-rending account, written with a journalist's ear for the human angle, of a singular, tragic episode and a transcendent wake-up call... The almost poetic incursions only add to the urgency of Franklin's message. Florid descriptions of the inferno as ‘fists of roiling fire’ and as the ‘tyrant's torture and the martyr's lament’ don't seem out of place when reflecting on a national tragedy of this scale.”

The Australian makes strong, positive claims about the quality of Inferno, and Franklin’s story telling; read the entire review here.

Purchase a copy of Inferno here.