The bush shearer who averted a potential disaster when tackling a teenager armed with a gun who had boarded a flight about to leave Geelong for Sydney on Thursday was only flying to celebrate a special milestone for a star Swan.
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Barry Clark, who hails from Moama on the banks of the Murray River, has been lauded for his actions in tackling the 17-year-old after noticing the attacker was armed with a shotgun on Thursday afternoon.
The shearer had been travelling to Sydney to watch tonight’s AFL season opening clash between Sydney and Hawthorn at the SCG.
“I was with my friends and one of my best friends, Tony Lloyd, his son plays his 250th game tomorrow night for the Sydney Swans,” Clark told the ABC.
“We were going up a night early to enjoy ourselves. But the airline has been fantastic and we will go up (on Friday) and get to the game, that is for sure.
“Jake Lloyd. He is No.44. He is from Horsham and he is a courageous young man and it is his 250th game. He is a lovely young fella.”
Clark, who was in seat 1C when he noticed the Jetstar air hostess questioning the teenager, said; “You don’t think. You act.”
“I was just put in the box seat, I suppose, and the lovely air hostess was questioning this bloke who had come on as a worker and he got agitated and before we know it, there was a shotgun that appeared and I was worried about her being shot,” Clark said.
“All I could do was push her out of the way, get the gun out of the way, break that and throw it down the stairs, or try to, and then put him in a hold and throw him to the ground until the police came. I didn’t know what his full intention was, but it looked he was trying to get into the cockpit.”
The shearer, who works at Perricoota Station, said “you don’t think of yourself” in a situation that could have led to a tragedy.
The 17-year-old from Ballarat faces a series of charges including endangering the safety of an aircraft, unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, possession of a firearm and a bomb hoax. He cannot be named because of his age.
“(The police) said I did the right thing and what else can you do when you notice something is going to happen on a plane,” Clark said.
“You can’t let someone start shooting and whatever on a plane. You don’t think of yourself. You put your life out of it and do the right thing for people on the plane.”
Lloyd, who has won two Bob Skilton Medals with the Swans, has been a star across half-back for Sydney for more than a decade after being elevated from the club’s rookie list.
He is the fastest of the 13 Swans to reach the milestone and just the 16th rookie-listed player to reach the 250 game mark.
“It means everything to me. As a young kid growing up and playing football, you just wanted to live out that childhood dream of playing footy and for me, I’ve been so fortunate to come to Sydney, a club that gives a lot of time to their people,” he told the Swans website.
“I have had some amazing mentors and players to learn from along the way and to play 250, it is pretty crazy, to be honest. It has come around very quickly … and it is an incredible milestone for not just me, but my family and those who have supported me along the way.”
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