Sydney Swan, Luke Ablett and the little sucker

Well, he wasn’t really stung in Vietnam. Rather, he was sucked. And that’s when he caught the fever.

An article appeared in yesterday’s Age Newspaper about Sydney Swan, Luke Ablett’s, trip to Vietnam in November of last year where he had obviously encountered some of our mosquitoes.

Apparently, just four days after returning to Australia, Ablett’s condition deteriorated sharply. “I was just flat on my back. I felt like I was going to die. It just felt that bad”, he said.

Ablett was later diagnosed with dengue fever and shed 7 kgs in the process.

The PNG Mosquitoes after winning the 2008 International Cup at the MCG

And on the subjects of mosquitoes and swans, two players from the Papua New Guinea Mosquitoes will play footy this year for the East Devonport Swans according to the Tassie paper, The Advocate.

Emmaus Wartovo and Willie Aisi were two of the stars for the PNG Mosquitoes in last year’s AFL International Cup grand final victory against New Zealand.

Devonport Swans media officer Sue Milbourne (who sounds like a Kiwi trying to say ‘Melbourne’ ) said the pair would also be involved in junior development roles at the club as well as their on-field duties.

“We’re very excited about these two boys,” she added.