Jobe Watson’s family has revealed the heartbreaking decision to postpone his Queensland wedding due to the incoming threat of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The former Essendon captain and Channel 7 commentator was all but ready to say “I do” with his fiancé Virginia Slaghekke in Noosa on Saturday, but plans have taken a last minute turn.
The wedding in Noosa has been postponed due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred being likely to cross the coast some time late Friday or early Saturday, bringing sustained winds of 95km/h, gusts up to 130km/h and isolated rainfall upwards of 700mm.
Fellow Essendon champion and father to Jobe, Tim Watson, said on airwaves both families are heartbroken.
“I had to cancel a lot of different things yesterday because we had a very heartbreaking day in our family, because the wedding had to be postponed,” Tim told SEN on Wednesday.
“We were all flying up to Queensland this weekend, and oh my goodness — it’s been a heartbreak of a last 24 hours for everybody.
“This is like the nail, in the coffin, if you want to use that term – which is probably a bit dramatic.”
The decision to cancel the wedding was made on the same day the AFL called off its season-opening fixtures which were expected to take place in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Garry Lyon was perplexed when his co-host Watson publicly spoke up about the matter.
“In the scheme of things you had to go through yesterday as a family, I didn’t know you wanted to talk about this publicly,” Fox Footy AFL 360 host Lyon said.
“So this is the point I’ve been trying to make for the last 24-48 hours of whether this game goes ahead or not. It’s big for footy, but not for life.”
The former Melbourne Demons star passed on his sympathy for the Watson family adding how heartbreaking it would have felt to cancel the wedding after so much planning.
“Your poor son, and Virgina and the family, for 18 months have been preparing the wedding of their lifetime,” Lyon said.
“Beautiful. Up in Noosa (on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast). This is close to our hearts as well because we have a wedding the following week that we hope and pray that everything is going to be OK.
“And you’ve had to call it off. Honestly, my heart goes out to you and your families. Because you’ve had people booked. And travelling. So I think the thing is, for you, the hip pocket is the least of your issues. We’ll get back to it.”
Watson signalled his family’s worries are not so serious for other families, who are in the firing line of Tropical Cyclone Alfred in Southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales.
“Everyone will be fine, but the whole thing’s a little bit raw at the moment,” he said.
Jobe and his Slaghekke became engaged in September 2023 and have had their wedding locked in since August 2024.
The parents to three children first met at a New York café in 2016, when Watson was serving his 12-month AFL doping ban.
Watson was one of 34 players suspended after they were found to have taken a banned substance of AOD-9604 in 2012.
