AFL Record – Great Footy Decades: The '80s

GREAT FOOTY DECADES THE 80s

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1990s GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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COPYRIGHT 2015 AFL MEDIA Published by AFL Media in August, 2015.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries should be made to the publisher.

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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry TITLE AFL Record Great Footy Decades: the 80s / Michael Lovett, editor; Ashley Browne, contributor; Ben Collins, contributor.

ISBN 9780994322111 (paperback) SUBJECTS Australian football--Anecdotes.

Australian football--Pictorial works.

Australian football players.

Australian football teams.

OTHER CREATORS/CONTRIBUTORS Lovett, Michael, editor.

Browne, Ashley.

Collins, Ben. DEWEY NUMBER 796.3360994 AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE 140 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, VIC 3008 (03) 9643 1999 EDITOR Michael Lovett PRODUCTION EDITOR Gary Hancock WRITERS Ashley Browne, Ben Collins SUB-EDITORS Peter Di Sisto, Howard Kotton STATISTICS Cameron Sinclair LEAD DESIGNER Gabe Bonnici DESIGNERS Craig Poore, Paul Brandist CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andrew Hutchison ART DIRECTOR Sam Russell PHOTO EDITING MANAGER Natalie Boccassini PHOTO EDITOR Rebekka Johnson PRODUCTION MANAGER Troy Davis PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Stephen Lording PHOTOGRAPHY AFL Media, News Limited, Fairfax Photos GENERAL MANAGER, AFL MEDIA Peter Campbell HEAD OF CONTENT, AFL MEDIA Matthew Pinkney HEAD OF OPERATIONS, AFL MEDIA Michael Solomon HEAD OF COMMERCIAL, AFL MEDIA Matt Connell DISTRIBUTION & SALES MANAGER Dean McBeth MEDIA SALES EXECUTIVES Abby Doig, Ashley Lim, Tom Zavecz ADVERTISING SALES COORDINATOR Melanya Ross PRINTED BY PMP PRINT COVER Stars, heroes and newsmakers of the 1980s.

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CONTENTS 6 14 22 28 36 42 48 54 60 68 76 82 86 92 98

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FUN AND GAMES

Ashley Browne looks back on a decade when footy was changing but it was still fun.

NEWS MAKERS

Football was never far from the headlines as events on and off the field dominated all media outlets.

FOOTY POLITICS

The game was wallowing in Victoria amid self-interested clubs and changes had to be made.

ICONIC 80s

It was a decade that produced cringeworthy hairstyles, dancing girls and even a Grand Final streaker.

PERSONALITIES

Mark Jackson, Warwick Capper and Demott Brereton were among the true entertainers of the 1980s.

OTHER FOOTY

A new era dawned as fans enjoyed Friday night and Sunday football ... even the Army Reserve Cup was big.

INNOVATIONS

Football welcomed the draft, the salary cap and teams from Perth and Brisbane.

RECRUITING REVS UP

Clubs raided the best of the best from interstate in their never-ending search for success.

FAREWELLS

A host of champion players retired and we mourned the passing of some superstars.

RECORD-BREAKERS

Kevin Bartlett and Gary Ablett highlighted a host of remarkable achievements.

WHO’D BE A COACH

Coaches were coming and going – and they even stood toe-to-toe in the case of Tony Jewell and Peter Jones.

MEDIA

This was the decade when media coverage went through the roof and the TV battles started.

FINALS TIME

Carlton, Hawthorn and Essendon were the dominant teams of the ’80s, winning multiple premierships.

GRAND FINALS

All the details of a decade of premiership teams, including best players and goalkickers.

TEAM OF THE DECADE

Picking a team of the decade was a tough task for our selection panel.

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CHAMPAGNE FOOTBALL:

Carlton was a potent force during the 1980s, celebrating three premierships.

FUN AND GAMES

It was a decade of fundamental change – to the way the game was played, coached, administered and watched by fans.

But most of all, it was a time when footy was still fun.

ASHLEY BROWNE The history books tell us that the first premiership decided in the 1980s was Richmond’s 81-point thrashing of Collingwood at the MCG. It was the coronation of a great season by the Tigers and an outstanding month by their champion rover Kevin Bartlett, who kicked seven goals in the Grand Final to follow his six in the qualifying final and eight in the second semi-final.

But 1980 is almost an asterisk when it comes to telling the story of football in the decade that followed.

It was Richmond’s fifth flag in 14 years and was the closing chapter for a club that was as powerful as any at the time.

If anything, it was in 1981 when the winds of change started to sweep through the Victorian Football League.

It started in the coaching ranks with six new appointments.

Hawthorn premiership captain and coach David Parkin crossed from one side of Princes Park to the other to take over at Carlton, St Kilda coaching legend Allan Jeans replaced Parkin at the Hawks, Robert Walls stepped from playing to coaching at Fitzroy, and Richmond star and football obsessive Kevin Sheedy took over at Essendon, the club he idolised as a youngster. But in the biggest story of all, Ron Barassi returned to Melbourne, replete with a five-year plan to bring to the Demons the same magic he brought to Carlton and North Melbourne.

Malcolm Blight was named to succeed Barassi at the Kangaroos.

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Parkin, Jeans, Sheedy and Walls all enjoyed premiership success and left indelible marks on the game.

Blight didn’t last long at North, but returned at the end of the decade as coach of Geelong to play a pivotal role in one of the greatest Grand Finals ever. It didn’t work out for Barassi at Melbourne, at least while he was there, but he laid the foundations for an eventual change of fortune for the team of the grand old flag.

Barely an element of the game was left untouched in the 1980s.

Fundamental changes were made to the way it was played, coached, administered and consumed. The decade started with 12 teams based solely in Victoria and ended with 14 in four states. The Victorian Football League was increasingly a misnomer and days after the 1989 Grand Final it became known as the Australian Football League.

But it never lost its sense of fun.

It was a decade of profound change, to be certain, but at the same time, it was a decade of big hits, big games and big mullets. It was the last decade where your local butcher, plumber or teacher moonlighted on weekends as a footy star.

The 1980s were dominated by just three clubs. Yes, Richmond saluted in the opening Grand Final of the decade but thereafter Carlton won the next two and once more in 1987.

Hawthorn won four flags (1983, 1986, 1988, 1989) and Essendon two (1984, 1985) and only three

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AGONY AND ECSTACY: Norm Smith medallist Gary Ablett buries his head in his hands as Hawk Chris Langford shows his relief after the epic 1989 Grand Final.

other clubs – Collingwood in 1980 and 1981, Melbourne in 1988 and Geelong in 1989 even made the Grand Final.

It was this perceived lopsidedness that led to a raft of changes being made to the rules underpinning the competition. Taking their queue from American leagues such as the NFL and NBA, the VFL introduced mechanisms such as the National Draft and the salary cap, designed to create a more level playing field.

In time, these measures achieved their purpose, but the results weren’t immediately apparent. The Blues, Bombers and especially the Hawks dominated this decade.

Carlton was a potent force throughout the 1980s. It collected flags and champion players seemingly at will and at its pre-game functions were a veritable who’s who of Australian commerce and industry.

John Elliott took over as Blues president in 1983 and at the time was one of the most powerful identities in the country, wielding great influence in business and

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politics, as well as football. Before long he was agitating for change and did the preliminary work for a breakaway national competition, one that would include fellow power clubs such as Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond and Geelong and new teams from other parts of the country.

The new league never came close to fruition, but it did finally swing the League into action.

Various reports into the operations of the VFL, from management consultant McKinsey as well one led by a panel headed by businessman and philanthropist David Mandie, highlighted various shortcomings and identified key issues that needed to be addressed.

The Mandie Report, as it became known, concentrated on four key issues facing the game. They were: the number of teams, where they should be located, how many grounds were needed and an overhaul of the player rules. And among the many recommendations was the creation of a new body to oversee the

The Blues, Bombers and Hawks dominated this decade

management and policy making of the League.

And not before time. By the early 1980s, the game was in trouble, living well beyond its means and there was no collective will to make the hard decisions to deal with its various ills. The 12 club-appointed directors sitting around the board table were, as described in 1983 by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Crockett when Sydney Swans rover Silvio Foschini successfully challenged the player rules, “a collective of sworn enemies”.

And he was right.

The Mandie Report was the forerunner to the introduction of the VFL Commission, a five-person independent body that came into being in 1985 and which was charged with overseeing the management and future direction of the League.

The board of directors remained in place for a time afterwards, but soon voted itself out of existence and handed virtually all control of the game to the Commission, save for changes to the size and shape of the competition.

The introduction of the Commission brought about the end of the distinguished presidency of Dr Allen Aylett. The ambitious and whip-smart former North Melbourne rover and president had modernised much of the League’s operations after taking charge in 1977, but he fought many of his key battles on behalf of the League in the 1980s.

Among those he won was the move of the bankrupt South Melbourne to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney Swans. Aylett was a staunch supporter of national expansion and while a quick glance at the finances was enough to show South had little chance of survival at its decrepit Lake Oval base, the move to Sydney was a wrench for many and there were old-timers who did not return to the club for many years, in some cases not until the 2005 flag.

Aylett also took on the Victorian Government at the time, with mixed success. After two trial Sunday games in 1981, the government allowed the VFL to stage two Sunday MCG finals in 1984, ending a discriminatory policy that had permitted every major sport in Victoria to play on a Sunday, except for the VFL. But where Aylett never stood a chance was his bid to move the Grand Final to VFL Park. It was the raison d’être why the League built its own ground in the first place and, despite strong public opposition, Aylett was resolute the game would be moved away from the MCG from 1984 unless the League was granted full control of the ground for its biggest day of the year.

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It was a story that raged on for months and months, but when fans roundly jeered Aylett at the 1983 Grand Final, it led to a negotiated outcome where VFL Park members were also admitted to the MCG free of charge for the 1984 Grand Final, sharing an expanded Members’ Reserve with the MCC members.

The bloodied battles with the government marked the start of the end for Aylett and he walked away from the game when the Commission was introduced.

From late 1986, the VFL was in the hands of a more powerful Commission and a new full-time chairman, Ross Oakley, a former St Kilda wingman who left a high-powered job in the insurance industry and a board seat at Hawthorn to take up the position.

Oakley, who later became chief executive officer, walked into his new job at a time of incredible change. The inaugural National Draft took place just weeks after he started, while the salary cap was a year old and initially regarded by the rich clubs as a challenge to overcome rather than a strictly-governed business practice. But at least it was a start.

He had to shepherd two new clubs into the competition, the Perth-based West Coast Eagles and the frontier Brisbane Bears. National expansion, the dream of Aylett, Elliott and some of the other progressive thinkers, was starting to happen.

Both clubs were privately owned, as were the Sydney Swans. Private ownership looked good on paper and seemed to work in the United States. But the League botched its due diligence and by the end of the decade the Eagles, Swans and Bears had all changed hands. Within a few more years, all three clubs were back in the hands of their members.

Oakley was also alarmed on joining the League that several of its key contracts were done with nothing more than a wink and a nod. The television rights were a case in point, seemingly handed to the Seven Network on a handshake agreement every year.

That changed immediately under Oakley and one of his first acts was to put the television rights out to tender. They were eventually won

by Broadcom, a Sydney production company, which then sliced and diced the rights to different broadcasters in each state. It meant that in 1987, footy in Victoria was on the ABC after Seven walked away. In Queensland it was on the Ten Network, while in NSW, it was relegated to SBS, the fifth and least watched free-to-air broadcaster.

The rights returned to Seven a year later amid much fanfare, but

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK:

Coach Peter Knights may have needed to read the words to the club song, but the arrival of expansion clubs Brisbane and West Coast signalled the start of a truly national competition.

only after Seven paid true market rates in order to secure them.

The unfortunate byproduct of Seven losing the rights was the end of World of Sport, the folksy and often clumsy Sunday lunchtime show that was nevertheless an institution and close to compulsory viewing in Victoria. It was where Lou Richards, Jack Dyer and Bob Davis held court and where the likes of Kevin Bartlett, Sam Newman and Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan built their media profile after their retirement from playing.

There wasn’t much true journalism on World of Sport, with the honourable exception of the aftermath of the 1985 Hawthorn-Geelong clash in which Leigh Matthews collected Neville Bruns; he was deregistered

VISIONARY: Kevin

Sheedy kicked off a colourful and successful 27-year reign as Essendon coach in 1981.

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END OF AN ERA: The Tigers celebrated

premiership success in 1980, but have not played in a Grand Final since.

It was all a bit of a whirlwind and loads of fun

for four matches and faced a criminal conviction. Peter McKenna grilled Hawk coach Allan Jeans for several minutes and it made for compulsive viewing. It is easily found on YouTube today.

The media couldn’t get enough football in the 1980s. It was the staple of the Herald and Weekly Times with the pages of the morning Sun News Pictorial and the afternoon The Herald crammed full of football coverage. The Age pretended there were more important events worthy of its attention, but its football writing, while a bit more high-brow, lacked nothing for passion.

Until losing the television rights at the end of 1987, the ABC was deeply committed to the game. Every Friday night it screened its own preview show called, yes, The Footy Show. Like Seven, it showed a match replay on a Saturday night, while its 5pm Sunday highlights show, The Winners, had a massive national following and, for many fans outside Victoria, it was their only exposure to the VFL. There were six radio stations broadcasting games each Saturday afternoon and the lead callers were huge figures in the game. Harry Beitzel and Bill Jacobs were the 3AW headliners with their trademark slogan “and this is 3AW Football!” while a bit further to the left of the dial, Jack Dyer and Ian Major (the Captain and the Major) were reminding us that “3KZ is Football” (with the emphasis on ‘is’).

Those who liked their football coverage a bit more measured

had the dry Doug Bigelow holding court on the ABC (“Stupid football, Collingwood”), while despite his Footscray affiliation, Ted Whitten was the voice of Geelong match broadcasts on 3GL, which later became K-Rock.

Lest the mainstream media took itself a bit too seriously, the Coodabeen Champions were born on public radio station 3RRR-FM in 1981 as a welcome antidote.

What sort of football were fans watching? It was man-on-man, with 18 individual battles around the ground. There was interchange, still used sparingly and fatigue became a factor, especially late in games.

A fundamental change to the game in 1980 was the introduction of a line across the centre circle to avoid physical interference at centre bounces. Ruckmen were required to line up on the defensive side of the line.

The following year saw players allowed to run 15m without bouncing the ball, while the 50m arcs were introduced on each side of the ground in 1986.

The 1987 preliminary final featured perhaps the most famous 15m penalty of all time. Young Melbourne ruckman Jim Stynes unwittingly ran through the mark on the final siren, bringing Hawthorn’s Gary Buckenara to within 35m of goal. Buckenara kicked the goal to send the Hawks to another Grand Final and the Demons, whose fairytale run into the finals had captured everyone’s attention, to a heartbreaking two-point defeat.

It was also one of the very last 15m penalties. It had become such a blatant time-wasting tactic (with Sheedy’s Essendon the chief culprit) that the League introduced the more severe 50m penalty the following year.

Sheedy liked to push the boundaries. He was one the first of the full-time coaches and, without the distractions of a day job, he was keen to explore and to innovate.

The Bombers lost five of his first six games in 1981 and Sheedy, who strangely coached those games while wearing a tracksuit and football boots, had to be talked out of making a playing comeback by the club.

He lifted the Bombers from their perennial mid-table mediocrity to powerhouse status. He wasn’t afraid to throw his team around and the 1984 Grand Final was the perfect illustration of that.

Trailing Hawthorn by 23 points at the final change, he moved defender Paul Weston to the forward line and made a host of other positional changes, sparking a nine-goal last quarter and a 24-point win.

The hallmark of the all-conquering Hawthorn teams coached by Jeans was their brilliant ball movement.

Jeans decided attack was the best form of defence and loaded his backline with skilled and athletic players who were great decision-makers and the Hawks would run the ball down the ground in waves to a star-studded forward line.

Walls won a premiership with Carlton in 1987, but it was at Fitzroy

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that he introduced a radical set play, known as ‘the huddle’. When the Lions were kicking out after a behind, the players would initially bunch up around centre half-back before veering off in different directions, as rehearsed at training.

The full-back had his timing right and knew what to look for and which player to kick to. This strategy meant that what was always a contested-ball situation instead became an opportunity for the Lions to retain possession.

But there were few opportunities for players to practise these sorts of set plays. Apart from the lucky few who were working as club “promotion officers”, players juggled work and family with their football.

As wonderfully described by Herald Sun football writer Warwick Green, who played nine games for St Kilda in the late 1980s, the Saints trained three nights a week at muddy Moorabbin using red footballs under dim lights.

“Ten minutes before training you’d have players rushing in from work to get changed. Office workers and legal types loosening their Windsor knots on the way in, tradies in grubby overalls and workboots with their minds still on an unfinished job and the Ballarat boys arriving en masse after their long drive down, laughing, laconic and itching to get their hands on the footy.”

The Saints weren’t much good in the ’80s, but Moorabbin remained a great place to watch footy. As were all the suburban grounds. The ’80s was the final decade during which they survived in all their glory, but as long as you knew where to park, which way the wind blew and where the food queues were the shortest, you were guaranteed a great day out.

And you saw some mighty footballers. It was a decade of great full-forwards such as Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall and Bernie Quinlan, graceful wingmen Robert Flower, Doug Hawkins and Wayne Schimmelbusch and a ruckman in Simon Madden who was as fine a practitioner as you will ever see.

Peter Daicos could make the football talk.

Leigh Matthews was still busting open packs until his tearful retirement at the end of 1985, but what was particularly notable about the decade was that it was the last in which key-position players – Kelvin Templeton, Quinlan, Ross Glendinning and Lockett – won Brownlow Medals. Thereafter, the “midfielders’ medal” description became apt.

The 1980s also saw the emergence of the first wave of indigenous players.

As supporters, we were in awe of the

GLAMOUR FORWARD:

Warwick Capper helped put the Sydney Swans on the map with his rock-star looks and spectacular marking and goalkicking.

mastery of Jim and Phil Krakouer, Maurice Rioli and Nicky Winmar, but in those less-enlightened times we were generally unaware of the effect of the racial abuse they received – on and off the ground.

And it wasn’t all about the VFL. The WAFL (at least until the Eagles were formed) was a strong competition, as was the SANFL. It was the last great era for State of Origin football and the night competition still mattered and yielded some magic moments.

Even the VFL reserves was a talking point, as much for the astonishing temper tantrum of Collingwood’s John Bourke at the Lake Oval in 1985 as for the footy.

The decade started with a Grand Final whitewash but ended with one of the all-time classics, Hawthorn’s

six-point win over the fast-finishing Geelong. Gary Ablett kicked nine goals for the Cats, the Hawks finished with about a dozen fit players and the Cats not many more.

In many ways it was the end of an era. Just days after the game, the AFL came into being, plans to redevelop the MCG were announced and Footscray fans were rattling the tins to avoid a League-brokered merger with Fitzroy. All were signs the game was growing into adulthood.

All of which means the 1980s might be remembered as football’s adolescence. And like any time of adolescence, it was all a bit of a whirlwind and it was also loads of fun.

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Coaching icons David Parkin and Kevin Sheedy both won back-to-back premierships in the ’80s – Parkin at Carlton in 1981-82 and Sheedy at Essendon in 1984-85. They each discuss an unsung hero who defied adversity at their respective clubs.

K E VIN S HE E DY ON

NEALE DANIHER PLAYED 82 GAMES FOR ESSENDON IN 1979-81, 1985 AND 1989-90.

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f all the players I played with at Richmond and coached at Essendon, I don’t think anyone showed anywhere near the spirit and power of mindset of Neale Daniher.

“In fact, no one in the AFL has achieved what Neale did in regard to overcoming his knee injuries.

“Neale was the second-eldest of 11 kids raised on a farm in the Riverina. Of course, he was more than just a farmboy – he was an extremely intelligent young man.

“In 1981, my first season at Essendon, Neale won the best and fairest as a 20-year-old.

He was Essendon’s Bruce Doull, and I rate Doull as one of the greatest players I’ve ever seen.

“Neale’s first knee injury – in the second-last round of 1981 – probably cost us a chance at a premiership.

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“I named him captain for the next season, 1982, and that was probably sacrilegious because I sacked Simon Madden to make Neale captain; and I also overlooked Neale’s older brother, Terry.

“Neale was a very calculating player who made great decisions.

“I rate him up there with James Hird as two of the most talented players I have coached. And he was a talented person, not just in football.

We never thought Neale’s injury would be as serious as it turned out.

“The next time he played was a night series game at Norwood, and he did his knee again. And there was a third reconstruction after that.

“Neale had every right to be crooked on the world, but through it all he just kept growing. He was incredibly resilient. In the mid to late ’80s I made Neale my assistant coach because he was just

too good to be sitting behind a computer in an office.

“He was training very well with the players so one night I said to him, ‘Have a think about when you’d like to come back and finish off your career.’

Neale thought I was just kidding, or stupid.

“But he came back and played damn good football. Everyone was so proud of him and the board just couldn’t believe it.

And he was very unlucky not to play in the 1990 Grand Final.

If I had my time again I would have taken the risk on him.

“In the last round that season, the four Daniher brothers created history by playing together against St Kilda. That was probably the happiest moment in his life.

“They also represented New South Wales in a win over Victoria. As we’ve seen many times since, Neale never ever gives up – and that’s what his chase is all about.”

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AGAINST ALL ODDS, MATTHEW GOT BACK INTO THE TEAM IN THE LAST ROUND OF ’95 AND HIS TEAMMATES UNANIMOUSLY VOTED HIM INTO THE TEAM FOR THE GRAND FINAL DAVID PARKIN

DAVID PA RK IN ON

MATTHEW HOGG PLAYED 173 AFL GAMES – 59 FOR FOOTSCRAY FROM 1988-91 AND 114 FOR CARLTON FROM 1992-99, INCLUDING THE 1995 PREMIERSHIP.

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atthew Hogg was a unique individual in my football life, and I’ve met the broadest bunch of personalities and character types that you could ever meet.

“He’d endured constant groin injuries with the Bulldogs before being put on the scrapheap, but we grabbed him with both hands, partly because a group of our players said he was the type of person they wanted at the club.

“Matthew wasn’t the most gifted player. He was small and quick – although his injuries had affected his pace – and was very courageous and versatile.

So versatile in fact that we didn’t have another little bloke who could play as many defensive roles as he could – down back, in the middle and up forward.

“But above all was Matthew’s attitude and wonderful personality – everybody wanted to be around him because he

had this bubbly, positive nature.

He made an impact from day one with his commitment and enthusiasm, and from 1992-94 he was an intimate part of the team.

“The team was better for Matthew being there. The players understood it, he understood it and so did I. So the collective probably became a mindset for him.

“Then Matthew struck further disappointment in 1995 when he suffered with a dreaded navicular (foot) injury that required surgery and extensive rehabilitation. I was certain that he wouldn’t make it back.

“Not once did I see him become negative. Despite his own misgivings, doubts and difficulties, Matthew continued to add to the group, always encouraging, always having a word, always lending an ear when someone needed it – and that’s why he became one of the most-loved teammates I ever had the privilege of coaching.

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“One thing I found out later was that during Matthew’s rehabilitation, he’d get up at 5am to do the extra work that was required, while working a normal job, which made it a very long day. That takes great discipline and organisation.

“Against all odds, Matthew got back into the team in the last round of ’95 and his teammates unanimously voted him into the team for the Grand Final. He kept Geelong’s small forward Leigh Tudor scoreless and became a premiership player.

“I can’t think of another individual I’ve worked with who got more out of their ability.

“That was his chase, and his legacy.”

To watch these and other Wolf Blass Here’s to the Chase episodes visit afl.com.au/herestothechase

For more on Wolf Blass head to www.wolfblass.com

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NEWS MAKERS

Controversies galore as Phil Carman headbutts an umpire, Leigh Matthews hits Neville Bruns, a youngster sparks ‘The Battle of Britain’, the umpires strike and a star’s career is tragically curtailed.

Two of the biggest stories of the ’80s didn’t take place anywhere near a senior League match.

Peter Motley – one of Carlton’s star South Australian imports – appeared set for a long, distinguished League career, but it all ended abruptly in May 1987 when he was involved in a car accident that left him fighting for life and ultimately brain damaged.

Another story that shocked the football world was the wild exploits of Collingwood reserves player John Bourke, who received a 10-year suspension after upending a field umpire who had reported him for kicking.

The Bourke incident was one of several sensational Tribunal cases in the ’80s.

Hawthorn captain Leigh Matthews, who was almost as feared for his physical presence as he was for his match-winning abilities, tainted his brilliant career by felling blindsided Geelong little man Neville Bruns behind the play in a spiteful clash at Princes Park in 1985.

Matthews considered retiring immediately, but played out his final season after copping a four-match penalty and facing court.

At Moorabbin in 1980, mercurial forward Phil Carman received a combined 20-match ban: for headbutting boundary umpire Graham Carbery and earlier striking St Kilda captain Garry Sidebottom.

There was more biff in a Carlton/North Melbourne exhibition match in London in 1987 – which became known as ‘The Battle of Britain’ – with North teenager Alastair Clarkson decking an unawares Ian Aitken, to set off a chain of ugly incidents.

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1985

‘LETHAL’ CLASH The great Leigh Matthews has lamented it as “an unforgivable moment of madness”. The Australian Football Hall Of Fame Legend was referring to his behind-the-play strike that broke the jaw of Geelong wingman Neville Bruns in a fiery Hawks-Cats clash at Princes Park in round 12, 1985.

Matthews, then 33 and in his final season, was deregistered for four matches and became the first and only player charged by police over an on-field incident. An initial conviction was overturned on appeal and he was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond.

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1980

GOOD CAPITALISES ON BAD CALL The heartache of Collingwood fans was aggravated once

1980

CARMAN HEADBUTTS THE UMP

more when they unjustly lost another Grand Final – albeit one that decided the night series – against North Melbourne at Waverley in 1980. The Magpies were three points ahead when the final siren sounded, but it was some time until the umpires heard it, allowing Malcolm Blight to hit Kerry Good on a lead within scoring range. Surrounded by fans who had streamed on to the field, the 21-year-old Tasmanian calmly slotted his fourth goal, which gave the Roos a controversial victory.

Collingwood fans have always believed the suspension of ‘Fabulous’ Phil Carman cost the Pies a premiership in 1977, and three years later Carman caused an even greater sensation.

At Moorabbin in round four, 1980, the erratic genius, playing for Essendon – the third of his four clubs – was reported by boundary umpire Graham Carbery for striking St Kilda skipper Garry Sidebottom. While arguing the point with Carbery, Carman headbutted him.

The result was a 20-match suspension: four for striking Sidebottom and 16 for the incident with Carbery.

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1984

SALMON’S KNEE INJURY Very few 19-year-olds in League history have been as dominant as Essendon beanpole Paul Salmon was in

1981

THE UMPIRES’ STRIKE It’s often said that without umpires we don’t have a game, and the League faced this distinct possibility on the eve of round 19, 1981, when all 32 senior umpires resigned in protest over a series of grievances. To ensure the next day’s round went ahead, the League found replacements among inexperienced umpires who normally officiated in the under-19s and country competitions. The League also threatened to sue the striking umpires for breach of contract, but the issue was resolved by the following Wednesday.

1984. The ‘Big Fish’, a 205cm full-forward/ruckman, bagged 39 goals in the opening six rounds. Salmon’s golden run came to an end at Collingwood in round 13 – by which stage he had tallied 63 goals – when he suffered a serious knee injury. He missed the premiership that year, but returned for the 1985 flag and enjoyed a terrific career for the Bombers and Hawthorn.

1985

BOURKE GOES BALLISTIC During a televised Army Reserve Cup match at the Lake Oval in round five, 1985, Collingwood reserves spearhead John Bourke became so incensed about being reported for kicking Swans player Pat Foy that he shoved field umpire Phil Waight to the deck. On Channel Seven’s live coverage, Ray ‘Slug’ Jordon sagely observed: “I think you’ve got to take the boy off.” Not finished there, Bourke – who was leading the League reserves goalkicking table – jumped the fence and attacked a spectator, prompting a police investigation.

Bourke was suspended for 10 years and 16 games, which was later reduced to six years.

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1987

THE TRAGEDY OF PETER MOTLEY Peter Motley had the football world at his feet. The son of SANFL legend Geof Motley, the ex-Sturt star was a regular South Australian representative and played in a VFL Grand Final in his first season with Carlton in 1986. However, Motley’s promising career was tragically cut short in May 1987 when the 22-year-old was injured in a car accident. Close to death and unconscious for three months, Motley survived but suffered brain damage. With teammate Des English diagnosed with cancer, the Blues dedicated the 1987 season to their mates ‘Mots’ and ‘Dessie’, and won the premiership.

1987

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN What was meant to be a low-key exhibition game between Carlton and North Melbourne at The Oval in London in October 1987 soon became an exhibition for all the wrong reasons. An 18-year-old Alastair Clarkson struck Carlton’s Ian Aitken, breaking his jaw and prompting a four-game suspension, while Blues enforcers Jim Buckley and Wayne Johnston copped two-match penalties for belting Clarkson. Three other Blues were booked, and David Rhys-Jones and Roos big man Donald McDonald were suspended for a game apiece for striking each other. North beat the reigning premier by 13 points.

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1987

A FRANTIC FINISH Entering the final round of 1987, all spots in the top five could have changed hands, with three teams – Geelong, Footscray and Melbourne – vying for fifth spot alone. In a breathtaking round of thrillers, the Cats surrendered a finals berth after being overrun by Hawthorn, the Robbie Flower-inspired Demons came from behind against the Bulldogs to break a 23-year finals drought, Carlton kept top spot when skipper Stephen Kernahan slotted a match-winning after-the-siren goal against North Melbourne, and third-placed Sydney outlasted Fitzroy by eight points. Carlton and Hawthorn went on to meet in the Grand Final with the Blues winning.

1988

TRIAL BY VIDEO When Melbourne hard man Rod Grinter’s crude roundhouse left felled Footscray’s Terry Wallace at the Western Oval in round two, 1988, Grinter wasn’t reported but received a six-game suspension following a League investigation that signalled the start of trial-by-video. Wallace, in just his second game for the Bulldogs, was carried off on a stretcher after suffering a broken jaw and concussion. In a sign of the times, Wallace played the next week and had a game-high 31 touches. Grinter was ultimately reported 11 times and suspended for a total of 31 games – both Demons records.

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‘GHOST’ STILL BUSTING FOR FOOTY

WE CATCH UP WITH A RICHMOND GREAT FROM THE PAST.

A

s a junior footballer in his home town of Avoca in central Victoria, Jim Jess felt the wool of his jumper on his chest. From a footy family – his father played in a premiership side at Avoca and his grandfather coached the local side – Jess showed a lot of talent. By the time he was 15, he was playing up the road in the big league – for St Arnaud.

He was a knockabout bush lad who could find the footy, and the fun. And the happy times had him cross paths with Loralee Evans, the daughter of a drover from western Victoria.

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Col Evans taught young Jim to shear, a useful skill to have up the country. But it was demanding work.

“Some of those blokes could shear hundreds. I couldn’t have caught that many in a day,” he remembers. “It was bloody tough.

Last days of the narrow combs, and I thought, ‘Bugger this, I better start chasing the footy around a bit harder’.”

Which Jess did, and after six years of senior footy at St Arnaud, he was approached by St Kilda and Carlton. Suspicious of the city, Jess was having none of it.

However, Richmond recruiter Paddy Guinane had learned his trade under the master, Graeme

Richmond, and patiently built a friendship with Jess. Finally Guinane said: “Son, if you’re sure you want to play League football, you come down to Richmond with me, and we’ll really look after you.”

Jess turned up at Punt Rd with an enormous mop of ’70s hair, terrific hands and a big boot. He was a character, all right.

“Great days,” he says. “Loved pulling on the Tiges jumper. It was still wool then. I remember it.

It used to be a bit tight after it was washed.”

He became such a versatile player for those wonderful Richmond sides.

Known as ‘The Ghost’, he lined up at centre half-back in the team

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PROMOTION GREAT FOOTY DECADES which smashed Collingwood in the 1980 Grand Final. He was picked in the All-Australian side that year as well.

Jess remained at Tigerland until the late ’80s, but he was always going to head back to the bush.

“I’d bought some land at Avoca, and ran a few sheep,” Jess says, “but I still had a bit of footy in me as well.”

He often headed north to the Murray and Murrumbidgee. “We were always up there fishin’, chasin’ pigs, havin’ a beer,” he recalls.

“I got to know the blokes around Balranald. Good fellas. They’d never won the flag. So I got on to a few mates and got ’em up there.

“Balranald had no dough. No one did then. So I said to a local farmer, Peter Moreton, and stock agent Leo Conway, ‘Just give us a bit of dirt and we’ll do somethin’ with it’. I put a few sheep on mine, they put in a wheat crop for ‘Rotten’ Ronny (Andrews), and for Jeff Fehring, too.

SOAKING IN THE SUCCESS:

Jim Jess, right, and teammate Mick Malthouse celebrate Richmond’s 1980 premiership win.

It was bloody tough. I thought, I better start chasing the footy around a bit harder FORMER TIGER STAR JIM JESS ON WHY HE TURNED FROM SHEARING TO FOOTBALL

“The boys up there were great.

Most of them could shear so there was no problem with that.”

The Balranald Roos won a couple of flags and the community was stoked.

Eventually Jess returned to captain-coach Avoca, winning premierships in 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998. He won the Avoca best and fairest in 1996 some 24 years after he’d won it the first time way back in 1972 as a 17-year-old.

He’s been around. He also followed champion Richmond ruckman Mark Lee to Burnie in Tasmania where they won the 1992 flag.

He and Loralee went coaching at Robe in the south-east of South Australia. He added another premiership to his record there in 2003. He’s still coaching the Robe Roosters.

He still has his property at Avoca, where he keeps a few sheep.

Jess is one of the champions to be associated with the wool industry.

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FOOTY POLITICS The game was saved from itself in the 1980s as new management and a change in thinking began creating a more level playing field.

In his professional life as a dentist, Dr Allen Aylett, the champion former North Melbourne rover and later club president, did his best to minimise the pain.

But as the ever-restless, forward-thinking president of the Victorian Football League in the 1980s, he brought the pain.

The good doctor had no choice. In the early part of the 1980s, the game was in a good deal of trouble.

Crowds were up and interest remained high, but it was living beyond its means, with 12 clubs fighting for the loyalties of one state, driving player wages to ridiculous levels, playing in crumbling stadiums and with no collective vision to grow the game.

South Melbourne to Sydney, Sunday footy and high-powered examinations into the future of the game that led to creation of the Commission and the introduction of the National Draft, the salary cap and the first steps towards ground rationalisation were among the changes, unpopular as they were at the time, that Aylett and his trusted general manager, Jack Hamilton, oversaw.

Ross Oakley took over as Commission chairman in late 1986 and brought a hard-headed business approach to the game as befitting his background in the cut-and-thrust corporate world.

Under his watch, the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears joined the League, private ownership was introduced and Friday night games became a more prominent part of the fixture.

By the end of the decade, with 14 teams based in four states, playing over three days each week, the VFL name was a misnomer. So the Australian Football League was born.

1985

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP ˜˜ Not every trend from the United States was fated to work in the VFL. Geoffrey Edelsten bought the Sydney Swans in 1985, while the fledgling West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears were respectively owned by Indian Pacific and Christopher Skase, the flamboyant and later disgraced head of Qintex.

By the end of the decade, Edelsten, pictured with wife Leanne, was broke, Skase was in disgrace and ownership of all three clubs had changed hands.

Within another few years, all three reverted to membership-based ownership and management.

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1989

MERGER MANIA Fitzroy was under the pump from the mid-1980s when it became clear the club was struggling for finances.

Early in the decade, a merger with Melbourne was mooted, followed by an attempt to move the club to Brisbane, which nearly came to happen. Collingwood also considered swallowing up the Lions with the ‘magnanimous’ gesture of a Lions logo appearing somewhere on the players’ shorts. Later in the decade, the League, headed by Commission chairman Ross Oakley, brokered a move to merge Fitzroy with the equally cash-strapped Footscray to become the Fitzroy Bulldogs. If not for disgruntled Footscray general manager Dennis Galimberti spilling the beans to the newspapers just before the announcement, the merger might have taken place before anyone could have stopped it.

1980s

STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL Times were tough in the 1980s. St Kilda was spared in 1984 when a group of former players and officials agreed to forego many thousands of dollars owed to them to keep the club from being liquidated.

Fitzroy’s mounting debts almost saw the club shunted off to Brisbane – before the Bears were formed – and by the end of 1989 moves were afoot for Fitzroy and Footscray to merge. People power saved the Bulldogs after $1.5 million was raised in three weeks to prevent the VFL from executing the merger. A sneaky group of Carlton supporters known as the ‘Friends of North Melbourne’ bought shares in the Kangaroos as a prelude to a hostile takeover by the Blues, while even Collingwood wasn’t immune, with the ‘New Magpies’ sweeping into power in late 1982 to take over a club in crisis on and off the field.

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1982

THE SWANS FLY NORTH South Melbourne became the first VFL team to relocate when it moved to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney Swans. The home games were televised live back into Victoria and the Swans became everyone’s second team, but they floundered until 1986 when the flamboyant Dr Geoffrey Edelsten became the first private owner in League history.

He brought glitz and glamour to the club and a host of big names, including Greg Williams, Gerard Healy and Merv Neagle.

The Swans played to packed houses at the SCG and made the finals in 1986 and 1987, but after straight-sets exits both years interest soon fizzled and the club ended the decade in a situation almost as parlous as it started.

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80S

INNOVATIONS 1984

SUPER LEAGUE John Elliott wielded a big stick in the early 1980s – Liberal Party powerbroker, Elders IXL supremo and president of the Carlton Football Club. And he was dissatisfied with the state of the VFL. So much so that he started advocating for a breakaway competition that would include the powerful Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon and Geelong and new clubs from outside Victoria. Whether the new league was close to getting off the ground is debatable, but he was an agent for change and the League soon implemented major structural changes that Elliott and many other powerful club figures were demanding.

1985

THE COMMISSION IS FORMED The first VFL Commission was formed in 1985 and comprised the Hon. Peter Nixon, Peter Scanlon, Dick Seddon and Graeme Samuel. League chief executive Jack Hamilton (pictured) also sat on the Commission.

Its powers were limited initially – the club delegates way over important financial matters and the size and shape of the competition, but there was now recognition within the game that an “alliance of sworn enemies”– the name given to the VFL directors by Justice Crockett when Swans player Silvio Foschini successfully challenged the player rules in court – could no longer steer the game down the right path on its own.

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1987

HORIZONS BROADENED In 1987, the VFL expanded to 14 teams with the introduction of the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears. The Eagles were captained by North Melbourne’s 1983 Brownlow medallist Ross Glendinning. It wasn’t a West Australian state team, but it was competitive from the start and made the finals within just two years.

It was a battle for the Bears who, despite their name, were based on the Gold Coast and, with the exception of a few stars such as Mark Williams and Brad Hardie, the playing list mainly comprised has-beens, could-have-beens and never-weres from rival clubs.

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ICONIC MOMENTS

Brian Peake’s famous helicopter ride, Leigh Matthews breaks a point post, a streaker disrupts a Grand Final and, of course, mullets.

Football has long provided a window on society, and it was no different in the ’80s.

Hairstyles, fashions, music, entertainment accessories – they all found their way into the game.

Hair was more abundant than ever, with players taking the field with anything from peroxided dos, to those magnificent mullets, to peroxided mullets.

The shorts became tighter and smaller, and woollen guernseys were also snug-fitting, while many fans donned duffle coats and all manner of club-coloured apparel.

The Sydney Swans and Carlton tried to enhance the game-day experience by entertaining their home crowds for a time with female cheer squads.

Music was more than simply background noise as Mike Brady produced a strong follow-up to Up There Cazaly, extroverted full-forwards Mark Jackson and Warwick Capper released singles of their own, a dozen stars ensured lifelong embarrassment by singing solo tracks on the Footy Favourites album, and then there was Carlton captain Stephen Kernahan’s memorable vocal stylings on Mad Monday after winning the 1987 flag.

Of course, there were plenty of iconic moments associated with ’80s footy. In 1981, West Australian champion Brian Peake arrived at his first training session at Geelong in a helicopter, while teammate Garry Sidebottom missed the team bus for that year’s preliminary final.

Hawthorn champ Leigh Matthews lived up to his nickname ‘Lethal’ by snapping a point post, St Kilda big man Jeff Fehring goaled from the middle of Moorabbin Oval, while the normally deadly Malcolm Blight inadvertently kicked a behind from a metre out.

Streaker Helen D’Amico further livened up proceedings in the 1982 Grand Final, Graeme Allan consigned Collingwood to a narrow loss by dangerously kicking across goal, and North Melbourne’s Aboriginal brothers, Jim and Phil Krakouer, took the League by storm.

1980s

CHEEKY CHEERLEADERSS Aussies often bemoan the Americanisation of our sport, but a US initiative many footy fans enjoyed in the ’80s was the scantily clad cheerleaders employed by Carlton and the Sydney Swans.

The Bluebirds, trained by renowned choreographer Tony Bartuccio, entertained the masses at Princes Park while the Swanettes wowed the SCG and were very much part of the glitz and glamour of Dr Geoffrey Edelsten’s reign as Swans owner. Both groups won plenty of admirers but ultimately became victims of cost cutting.

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1980s

“WOOF!” One of the great catch-cries of the ’80s centred on Carlton centre half-back Val Perovic, whose booming kicks were accompanied by Blues fans screaming in unison: “Woof!” When the phenomenon began, Perovic wasn’t impressed – in fact, he wished it would die a quick death. But over time the Blues cult figure embraced and appreciated it as a tribute to his kicking prowess.

1980s

BEING A FAN If you were a true footy fan in the 1980s, you owned one or several of the following: a genuine woollen replica footy jumper to wear to the game and a stylish v-neck Clubknit jumper, replete with club logo to wear on more stylish occasions. You had flags, scarves and badges, lots of them, including the obligatory ‘I hate (insert said hated team)’. Plastic clappers, stubby holders, bumper stickers, fighter jackets (with the leather sleeves) and The Age footy fixture for the refrigerator door were also mandatory. And with six games on a Saturday, you needed the Football Record just to see which teams were A and B, C and D etc. on the scoreboard.

Of course, keen punters needed the Record for the race fields and to check the race results, which also appeared on the scoreboard.

1980

BRADY’S ENCORE England-born musician Mike Brady strengthened his status as the musical voice of football in 1980 when he released another popular, inspiring tune, One Day In September. It was a terrific follow up to iconic anthem Up There Cazaly, which had stormed up the charts in September the previous year and continued to remain a footy soundtrack throughout the ’80s.

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1980s

HAIRDOS AND HAIR DON’TS Want to spark a passionate discussion about 1980s footy?

Who had the best hairdo? There were countless candidates to choose from but we found this 14 among our files. Have we missed anyone? Be warned, we have many more on our files and indeed we could have filled the entire magazine with bad dos. Now, it’s time to test you: can you name the 14 players featured here? The answers are at the bottom of the page.

TOP ROW (left-right) Andrew Demetriou, Peter Wilson, Peter Daicos, Gary Ayres SECOND ROW Alex Ishchenko, Tom Alvin, Dermott Brereton, Garry Hocking THIRD ROW Shane Kerrison, Rod Carter, Fraser Brown, Denis Banks FOURTH ROW Wayne Schwass, Tony Antrobus, Michael Laffy BOTTOM ROW Stephen Kernahan, Damian Monkhorst, Mark Harvey

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1981

SIDEBOTTOM MISSES THE BUS One of the legendary stories of the ’80s revolved around big man Garry Sidebottom missing the Geelong team bus to Waverley for the 1981 preliminary final against Collingwood. The official reason given was miscommunication. In any case Cats emergency Peter Johnston was a late inclusion after gorging himself on half a chicken, hot chips and a strawberry thickshake. Johnston had a brief run, didn’t record a possession and gave away two free kicks. Sidebottom’s non-appearance proved costly – Geelong lost by seven points. The West Australian star never again played for the Cats, joining Fitzroy the next year.

1981

FEHRING’S LONG BOMB Jeff Fehring’s 36-game career with Geelong and St Kilda netted just four goals, but it seems the last of these majors will forever be remembered as the longest goal in history.

In a clash with Collingwood at Moorabbin in round three, 1981, the Saints ruckman received a free kick at a centre bounce and, from the defensive side of the centre circle, launched a torpedo that travelled an estimated 87m on the wind, landing just before the goal line and bouncing through. Fehring, who passed away in 2008, was also reported that day for striking Michael Taylor and was suspended for two games.

1981

BLIGHT’S BLUNDERS Malcolm Blight was a footballing genius who could make the ball talk, so his comical error against Richmond at the MCG in round 14, 1981, had to be seen to be believed. The North Melbourne playing coach was unattended in the goalsquare when he received a handball for what should have been a simple goal, but inexplicably ran past the goalmouth and kicked a behind. It wasn’t until he fetched the ball from the fence that he realised his mistake. “I’ve never done that before,” he said post-match. “I’m probably going barmy.”

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1981

PEAKE’S HELICOPTER RIDE West Australian superstar Brian Peake made perhaps the most outlandish start to a League career midway through the 1981 season when he arrived at his first Geelong training session aboard a helicopter. The 27-year-old had been picked up at Melbourne Airport by Cats officials, who had arranged the chopper ride, to the bemusement of Peake, who hated flying. A large contingent of excited Geelong fans greeted their high-priced recruit at Kardinia Park and watched his every move at training. Peake spent four seasons with the Cats before returning home.

1981

FOOTY FAVOURITES In 1981, 12 players – one from each

League club – bravely agreed to sing for the compilation album Footy Favourites. The funniest song choice was for Melbourne’s light-framed champion Robbie Flower to sing the Village People’s Macho Man. Among other dubious highlights, Essendon ‘heart-throb’ Tim Watson attempted Kenny Rogers’ Ruby, Geelong star Michael Turner bounced along to Peter Allen’s I Go To Rio and Collingwood skipper Ray Shaw brought the tears with Danny Boy, while Hawthorn forward Michael Moncrieff sent a warning to backmen, via a Police song, Don’t Stand So Close To Me.

1982

HE-MAN HAWK Leigh Matthews didn’t need to snap a point post to prove his toughness – but he did it anyway. At Windy Hill in round 18, 1982, Hawthorn trailed Essendon by 19 points at the last change when Hawks skipper Matthews helped turn the game by kicking a goal and creating another. Then came the act that proved beyond doubt that Matthews’ nickname ‘Lethal’ was indeed apt. As he contested a high ball deep in attack, Matthews collided with the point post, which broke two-thirds of the way up. Lou Richards, calling the game, exclaimed: “Oh, talk about a He-Man!”

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1982

D’AMICO’S STREAK Helen D’Amico launched

herself into football folklore when she decided to streak during the 1982 Grand Final between Carlton and Richmond.

With the Blues leading narrowly in the third quarter, D’Amico, wearing only a Carlton scarf, ran on to the MCG and made a beeline for footy’s most reclusive player, Blues great Bruce Doull, because she thought he looked like her father. An embarrassed Doull evaded her clutches, as did ruckman Warren ‘Wow’ Jones, but teammate Wayne Johnston grabbed D’Amico and demanded she exit the arena.

As she was escorted away, D’Amico received a standing ovation from sections of the crowd. She was fined $1000.

1984 1982

KRAKOUER MAGIC The Krakouer brothers – fiery rover Jim and left-footed half-forward flanker Phil – were lured to North Melbourne from WAFL club Claremont in 1982 and took the VFL by storm. In their opening four games together, they kicked 23 goals and had 175 possessions between them. It was patently obvious the pair boasted a special awareness of each other on the field – some called it a sixth sense – and they often combined for goals that left opponents spellbound. Both spent the rest of the ‘80s at North before finishing their careers elsewhere.

GUBBY’S CLANGER Collingwood veteran Graeme

‘Gubby’ Allan usually played the percentages in defence, so it’s ironic that the most memorable moment of his career was an uncharacteristic decision-making error. In round 10, 1984, at the Western Oval, the Magpies led by a point when Allan’s 21st kick, across goal, was courageously intercepted by Bulldogs spearhead Simon Beasley, who slotted a match-winning goal with the last kick of the day. Dogs captain Jim Edmond let Allan know all about it. Earlier, Pies utility Denis Banks soared to take one of the marks of the decade.

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1987

FRIED TUCK Michael Tuck wore a sleeveless

guernsey for one of the rare times in his League-record 426 games – and it took extreme weather conditions for him to do it. The Hawthorn ruck-rover favoured long sleeves, but it was 30.7 degrees on Grand Final day in 1987 – the hottest on record – so with many spectators wearing shorts and no shirts, Tuck changed to no sleeves at half-time, exposing the rare sight of his pale, skinny arms.

The Hawks were also exposed – by Carlton, going down by 33 points.

1987

KERNAHAN KARAOKE Stephen Kernahan could be forgiven for wanting to share his love of life. The South Australian champion was 24, had captained Carlton to the 1987 premiership in just his second season with the club and on ‘Mad Monday’ was celebrating with his teammates at the Blues’ favourite watering hole, Naughton’s Hotel in Parkville. When a television news crew arrived to capture the revelry, Kernahan further entrenched himself in footy folklore by delivering what has been described as a tone-deaf version of Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man. He capped it off by pouring a glass of beer over his head.

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PERSONALITIES

Long before clubs employed media managers and players became carefully stage-managed in regard to their behaviour and public utterances, we sat back and enjoyed the personalities the game produced.

Ask fans what they loved about footy in the ’80s and chances are they will mention the colourful characters who entertained them on a weekly basis.

On the field, these individuals were, not surprisingly, usually volatile forwards – men as diverse in style and personality as Sydney’s glamour full-forward Warwick Capper, multi-club goalkicker for hire Mark Jackson, Hawthorn superstar Dermott Brereton and Richmond/Collingwood spearhead Brian Taylor.

Also unsurprising is that they were well known by their nicknames – the ‘Wiz’ (Capper), ‘Jacko’, ‘Dermie’ and ‘BT’.

They were entertainers who injected some rock ’n roll, Hollywood and World Wrestling Federation into the game.

Each was an ’80s footy icon.

Capper carefully cultivated blond, flowing locks, wore undercarriage-constricting tight shorts, took sky-scraping marks and kicked bags of goals.

The tempestuous Jackson unleashed his unique antics – which varied between the extremes of love and hate – at four clubs in the space of six seasons, often leaving in acrimonious circumstances.

Taylor was also a fiery customer, whose efficient play as a traditional leading full-forward contrasted with occasionally unhinged acts.

Brereton was the most intimidating presence, though more calculating, and was easily the best player among the quartet.

There were also some notable characters in coaching ranks, Essendon mentor Kevin Sheedy being chief among them with his obsession with thinking differently to his rivals.

Club presidents were often inimitable, alpha-male individuals, the classic examples being Carlton boss John Elliott and Collingwood counterpart Allan McAlister.

1980s

WACKO ‘JACKO’ Has there been a more outrageous character in football than Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson? The colourful, fiery and effective full-forward was roundly lampooned for his behaviour, but no one could doubt his showmanship. Aside from kicking 308 goals in 82 games with four clubs, and slotting at least one goal in his first 79 games – a record – there was the theatrical interaction with fans, the dancing, strutting, kiss-blowing, handstands, the tangles with opponents. There was also the 1985 hit song I’m An Individual, the Energiser ads – “Oy!” – and a US screen career.

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1986

CAPPER-MANIA Warwick Capper has long boasted he was the greatest marketing machine in League history. He helped put the Swans on the map in rugby-centric Sydney in the ’80s with his rock-star hairstyle, boyish good looks, impossibly tight shorts, white boots and penchant for taking the most spectacular marks imaginable.

Capper’s ungainly, two-handed kicking style netted consecutive season hauls of 92 and 103 goals in finals years of 1986-87. Capper, pictured with then wife Joanne, later took an ill-fated detour to the Brisbane Bears on a massive contract before returning to the Swans.

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1980s

CLUB PRESIDENTS It was in the 1980s that club presidents started to emerge from the back rooms and make their presence felt. Chief among them was John Elliott, the Elders IXL boss and one-time prime ministerial prospect who took over as Carlton president in 1983 and immediately began planning for a breakaway national league. It never happened, but it hastened the VFL’s move to introduce a Commission. Allan McAlister became Collingwood president in 1986 and pushed the club relentlessly through the media. Never shy of an opinion, footy scribes would call him on a quiet day for a story, often leading to a screaming headline the next morning along the lines of “Pie chief lashes out!”.

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1981

KEVIN SHEEDY As good a footballer as Kevin Sheedy was – he played 251 games and in three premierships for Richmond – coaching was clearly his calling. He was appointed coach of Essendon, the team of his childhood, in 1981 and remained there for 27 years. His mission at the Bombers was two-fold – to drag the club out of two decades of mediocrity and build its brand as the game looked to become truly national.

Wily, unconventional and even a little bit mad, he masterminded the 1984 and 1985 premierships, promoted the club in every corner of the country and, significantly was the first coach to start identifying and encouraging indigenous football talent.

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1988

DERMIE PUCKERS UP When Hawthorn spearhead Jason Dunstall lined up from point-blank range in a tight round 18 contest in 1988, forward partner Dermott Brereton engaged in some byplay with larrikin Bomber Billy Duckworth, and even planted a playful kiss. Dunstall, who was closing in on his first century, kicked the goal from point-blank range, but it was disallowed as a free kick was paid against Brereton.

A couple of Bombers ruffled Brereton’s blond locks and the three-quarter time siren sounded. The Hawk enforcer was fuming, so he ran through the Essendon huddle – and somehow made it out the other side.

1989

BRISTLING ‘BT’ It’s difficult for some fans to reconcile the two Brian Taylors: the easygoing yet excitable commentator of today with the volatile Richmond and Collingwood full-forward who regularly fought with full-backs and umpires in the ’80s. The moustachioed West Australian showcased his best and worst football traits against St Kilda at Victoria Park in round four, 1989.

His 15 kicks resulted in a tally of 9.6 in a big win, but at one point ‘BT’ comically celebrated after taking a mark and remonstrated with opponent Steve Turner, before missing the set shot.

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OTHER FOOTY It wasn’t just the VFL competition that held us in its thrall in the 1980s.

If you told someone you were going to the footy in the 1980s, chances are the next question would be “Which footy?”

It could have been a VFL game of a weekend, or perhaps a night game out at Waverley on Tuesday night. Or a state game, an International Rules game or even a reserves game played at the old Lake Oval every Sunday in what was called the Army Reserve Cup. The night competition was big in the 1980s.

Crowds at chilly Waverley might have been sparse, but TV audiences were large as the VFL clubs mixed it with the best of the SANFL and WAFL. It mightn’t have held the same lustre as the day competition but tell that to success-starved fans of Essendon in 1981, the Swans in 1982 and especially Melbourne in 1987 when their teams triumphed in the night Grand Final.

The ’80s were a great period for state footy.

Before the West Coast Eagles and the Adelaide Crows, the state teams were the pride of their state and they welcomed ‘their boys’ back from the VFL once a year to give the big White V hell.

International Rules was played fleetingly through the 1980s and if you hadn’t heard of Garry McIntosh when he was a defender for Norwood, you certainly had once he was public enemy No. 1 in Ireland after letting a few go while playing goalkeeper for Australia in the 1984 series.

His handiwork is there for all to see on YouTube as is Collingwood reserves ruckman John Bourke. They had to take the boy off.

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1982

SUNDAY FOOTY SUNDAY The Victorian Government prohibited the League from staging matches on Sundays to protect the interests of the VFA (Victorian Football Association), which virtually monopolised Sunday football. To trial the Sunday afternoon concept, the League decided to play ‘exhibition’ games at the Sydney Cricket Ground for premiership points. Eleven games were played from 1979-81, with just three involving South Melbourne. The Swans relocated to the harbour city and in 1982 started playing all their home fixtures at the SCG on Sunday afternoons, with the games televised live.

The first Sunday final was the Collingwood-Fitzroy elimination final at the MCG in 1984. By 1987, Sunday games were played around the country each week.

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1980s

THE NIGHT SERIES There have been various incarnations of the night and pre-season competitions over the past 60 years, but the concept hit its peak in the ’80s when it was played in-season, under lights at Waverley on Tuesday nights, with all games telecast live. With their weekend commitments, teams had to play three games in the space of a week. Teams from Western Australia and South Australia also competed, along with the odd representative side from other states, in a series that attracted various naming rights sponsors including, Escort, Sterling, Foster’s and Panasonic. The success-starved Swans and Melbourne won night premierships and there were legendary moments such as Tim Watson’s hurdle goal that helped Essendon to the 1981 title.

1980s

THE ARMY RESERVE CUP One of the curious anomalies of the ’80s was the Army Reserve Cup – a weekly reserves game at the Lakeside Oval on Sundays.

These clashes were telecast live on Channel Seven, in direct opposition to the VFA’s match of the day televised on Channel 0. The venture, which continued until 1986, is best remembered for the wild exploits that resulted in a 10-year suspension to Collingwood forward John Bourke.

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1989

STATE OF ORIGIN State of Origin football reached its zenith in the ’80s, when the high quality of football and heightened parochialism made interstate clashes showpiece events.

Some of the best games of the decade were State of Origin contests, despite the fact they were played on Tuesday nights, just days after club matches. Victoria and Western Australia, in particular, staged a series of free-flowing shootouts, perhaps the best being one where Gary Ablett’s eight-goal Victorian debut resulted in a four-point loss to WA in 1984. In another ’84 classic, South Australia won a thriller against the Big V after Stephen Kernahan bagged 10 goals. Then there was Victoria’s 86-point demolition of SA at the MCG in 1989, with champion forwards Tony Lockett and Dermott Brereton (pictured) kicking eight goals between them.

The Vics were fired up by the legendary Ted Whitten, SA by Neil Kerley, and who could forget the war cries: ‘Kick a Vic’ and ‘Stone the Crows’.

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1986

INTERNATIONAL RULES Australia and Ireland competed in Gaelic football when the ‘Galahs’ toured Ireland in 1967-68 and 1978, and the Australians were victorious on each occasion. The first games played under International Rules – a combination of Australian and Gaelic football rules – took place in 1984 (in Ireland), and continued in 1986 (Australia), 1987 (Ireland).

A curious trend emerged: the visiting team won each three-Test series.

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1986

THE IRISH EXPERIMENT Ron Barassi was never afraid to challenge convention and always had a broad vision for the game. In the early ’80s, the then Melbourne coach and his chairman of selectors Barry Richardson travelled to Ireland looking for potential recruits, believing the similarities between the Australian and Gaelic football codes would make a transition possible. And, as Demons secretary Dick Seddon explained, airfares were cheaper than transfer fees. Their efforts netted two players who became Melbourne greats and died prematurely – 1991 Brownlow medallist Jim Stynes and dashing defender Sean Wight.

It paved the way for later Irish converts such as Sydney Swans premiership star Tadhg Kennelly and Brisbane Lions playmaker Pearce Hanley.

1985

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS In 1985, North Melbourne identified a gap in the market and became the pioneer of Friday night football. The concept made an immediate impact, with the Kangaroos’ season-opener that season against Collingwood under lights at the MCG attracting around 70,000 fans. (The exact figure is unknown because many fans forced their way in after long delays.) Brian Taylor celebrated his first game for Collingwood with a seven-goal, best-afield display to guide the Pies to a 38-point win. The Roos played two Friday night games that year and by 1987 the League scheduled weekly games in the prime timeslot.

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INNOVATIONS

With just a bit of prompting, the game undertook some measures in the 1980s to create a more level playing field.

In the open slather world of League football in the early 1980s, to those with fattest chequebooks went the spoils.

That was usually Carlton and Hawthorn, which enjoyed a steady stream of the best players from outside Victoria heading to their clubs.

But Melbourne, Collingwood and Richmond also had a lash at bringing across big-name players from other clubs and it got to the stage where the VFL player rules weren’t worth the piece of paper they were written on.

This led to a major overhaul of the structure of the competition, with the salary cap and a National Draft both introduced. The draft was a particularly significant and necessary introduction given the rapidly expanding national footprint of the League.

It also brought to a close the zoning system that had seen Victoria and parts of southern New South Wales divided among the 12 VFL clubs for recruiting purposes.

Changes were also made to the look and feel of the game in the 1980s. Players were given an extra five metres to run without bouncing the ball, while a line was introduced across the centre circle to prevent the unseemly exercise of ruckmen jostling with each other for prime position at centre bounces.

And the 50m penalty was introduced when it was determined that coaches (yes, we’re looking at you, Kevin Sheedy) were happy to use 15m penalties as time-wasting strategies.

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1986

THE DRAFT The Brisbane Bears might not have been Martin Leslie’s first choice as a VFL home, but if the South Australian wanted to play in the big-time then it had to be at Carrara. Leslie (inset) was the first selection at the first National Draft – held in late 1986.

Leslie became a handy player for the Bears – 107 games over seven seasons – and fared better than Richard Lounder (four games for Richmond), the first pick the next year. Picked up at No. 50 in that first draft was future champion Alastair Lynch (pictured).

Clubs initially put little time and money into resourcing the draft, selecting players on reputation and through hearsay and, suffice to say, there were as many misses as hits.

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1985

THE SALARY CAP One of the Commission’s first steps to bring about a more equitable competition was the introduction of a salary cap for the 1985 season. No longer could the power clubs have carte blanche to entice the best players to their clubs on the promise of a higher pay packet. The salary cap was difficult to strictly enforce at first and clubs that used to pay the most were also the ones smart enough to find the loopholes, but there was general acceptance that the League needed to create a level playing field and that the salary cap was a good place to start.

1986

RECRUITING ZONES ABOLISHED As the competition expanded and the draft took hold, the League abolished the traditional club recruiting zones. Country zones disappeared in 1986, meaning Victoria and parts of southern New South Wales were no longer divided into 12 regions to service each club. No longer would Ballarat products such as Tony Lockett, Geoff Cunningham and Danny Frawley be synonymous with St Kilda, to name just one example. In 1989, metropolitan zones were abolished as well, meaning clubs had to replenish their playing lists entirely through either trading or the various drafts – national, pre-season and mid-season (introduced in 1990).

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1986

RULE CHANGES The look and feel of the game slowly but surely changed through the 1980s. It started with a line across the centre circle that prevented ruckmen from wrestling each other at centre bounces. Players were then given 15m instead of 10m to run with the ball without having to bounce. A big change introduced in 1986 was the 50m arc in each forward line, while another came two years later in response to the high number of ‘professional’ 15m penalties conceded in matches. Kevin Sheedy’s Essendon was the master at this, so the 50m penalty was introduced in its place.

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1989

END OF THE VFL ˜˜ With 14 clubs in four states, the Victorian Football League was the wrong name (and logo) for a competition that was increasingly national in its outlook. It took seven years after the Swans decamped to Sydney and three years after the Brisbane Bears and the West Coast Eagles were admitted to the competition, but the Australian Football League came into being soon after the 1989 Grand Final. Three years later, the premiership cup would leave Victoria for the first time, held high by West Coast skipper John Worsfold, a star of the 1980s and 1990s.

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RECRUITING REVS UP Nothing gets footy fans more excited than big-name players changing clubs.

And in the 1980s, there were many.

Where to start? It could be Greg Wells giving Melbourne a decade of distinguished service, only to be traded in the middle of 1980 to Carlton, in time to play his first game for the Blues against, er, Melbourne.

Or Russell Greene, formerly of St Kilda, meeting his new Hawthorn teammates for the first time the same year, less than hour before a game at Waverley against North Melbourne.

That’s how it was in the 1980s. Big names changed clubs all the time. Collingwood Brownlow medallist Peter Moore joined Melbourne in 1983 and played the opening game of the season against his old club.

Tempering the disappointment for Magpie fans was that two Richmond heroes, Geoff Raines and David Cloke, were running around for Collingwood for the first time the same day.

There was plenty of player traffic between the Tigers and Magpies, and it nearly sent both clubs to the wall.

The Sydney Swans were re-launched in 1986 with a host of big names from Victoria moving north.

The VFL player rules were tested in court and found wanting. It led to a collective push for a National Draft and a salary cap and by the end of the decade player trading was regulated and confined to fixed periods in the off-season. Players entering the VFL for the first time would have to do through the mechanism of the draft.

But not before Carlton had plundered South Australia for some of the best players from the SANFL and Hawthorn also selectively recruited the best emerging talent from both SA and Western Australia.

1983

HEY, BIG SPENDER In the big-spending ’80s, several big names changed clubs – with varying results. Collingwood captain and Brownlow medallist Peter Moore broke Magpie hearts by joining Melbourne for 1983 and winning a second Brownlow. Justin Madden found rucking opportunities scarce alongside superstar brother Simon at Essendon so he transferred to Carlton for 1983 and ended up playing more than 300 games as well. Gerard Healy and Greg Williams headlined a bevy of stars to join the Sydney Swans for 1986, and teammate Warwick Capper kicked a century of goals for the Swans in 1987 before accepting a massive deal with the Brisbane Bears.

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1980

LAST-MINUTE SWITCH St Kilda wingman Russell Greene left training at Moorabbin one Thursday night assuming he would be lining up that Saturday against Footscray in what would be his 121st game for the Saints. He arrived home to find a message to call Hawthorn skipper Don Scott. It set in train a rapid turn of events that led to his debut for the Hawks 36 hours later against North Melbourne at Waverley. Greene’s new teammates didn’t know he had been swapped for Mark Scott and Tony King until they arrived at the ground. Greene became a popular star for the Hawks over the next nine seasons.

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1980

THE ST KILDA BLUES Carlton legend Alex Jesaulenko started the trend in 1980 when he joined St Kilda, but Blues started flocking to Moorabbin in the mid to late ’80s. They included premiership players Ken Sheldon, Warren Jones, Alex Marcou and Peter McConville, along with Spiro Kourkoumelis (pictured with Sheldon) and Ricky Nixon. They were always going to experience a significant contrast between the competition’s bluebloods and the struggling Saints.

Like former mentor Jesaulenko, Sheldon ended up coaching the club.

1981

THE COX CLEARANCE CONTROVERSY The clearance dispute over Doug Cox was one of the most sensational in League history. Cox had originally played for his hometown South Mildura, which was in Richmond’s zone, but after impressing with SANFL club West Torrens in 1980, he signed with St Kilda. The Tigers protested, adamant they had claims on Cox. The full-back played for the Saints in 1981, but the club was penalised eight premiership points and fined $5000. The League later modified its rules and returned St Kilda’s points.

The injury-plagued Cox played 36 games for the Saints and three for Essendon.

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1983

THE COLLINGWOOD/RICHMOND POACHING WARS In the early to mid-’80s, the Magpies and Tigers were such bitter rivals that they engaged in a player-poaching war that hurt both clubs, not least of all financially. Collingwood struck the first decisive blows, snaring Richmond premiership stars David Cloke and Geoff Raines for the 1983 season. The Tigers soon claimed ex-Pies Neil Peart and Wally Lovett, and the next year gained Phillip Walsh, John Annear, Peter McCormack and Craig Stewart. In 1985, Collingwood lured former Richmond forward Brian Taylor. However, the inflated cost of such enterprises pushed both clubs to the brink of extinction.

1980s

NATIONWIDE SCOUTING League clubs enjoyed such success in coaxing the best interstate players to Victoria that it soon ended any debate about which state boasted the strongest competition. Victorians had the privilege of seeing, first hand, stars such as Hawthorn trio Gary Buckenara (Western Australia), John Platten (South Australia) and Tony Hall (SA), Footscray’s attacking backman Brad Hardie (WA, pictured), Essendon’s WA pair Leon Baker and Bill Duckworth, Collingwood’s SA duo Mark Williams and Greg Phillips, and before Carlton attracted Kernahan, Bradley and Motley, it extracted Ken Hunter and Peter Bosustow (WA) and Phil Maylin (SA).

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1983

FOSCHINI’S COURT CHALLENGE Silvio Foschini was a pint-sized 19-year-old when he successfully challenged the League’s zoning rules in court before the 1983 season.

After playing two seasons with the Sydney Swans, Foschini refused to relocate to Sydney when the Swans moved their entire club to the harbour city. When he was denied a clearance to St Kilda, he took legal action, citing zoning as a restraint of trade – and won. Ex-Swans teammate Paul Morwood, also unwilling to move to Sydney, played for the Saints without a clearance. Zoning was soon replaced by the draft.

1986

THE BLUES’ CROWEATER COUP After winning back-to-back premierships in 1981-82, Carlton remained a finalist in the following three seasons, but the recruitment of four South Australian stars for the 1986 season lifted the Blues back into serious premiership contention. Carlton snared champion Croweaters Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley (pictured) and Peter Motley, along with West Australian Jon Dorotich. Remarkably, the Blues also came close to landing John Platten, who later forged a great career at Hawthorn.

The following year they added Mark Naley to their list of SA imports and won the 1987 premiership.

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1985

LEIGH MATTHEWS In a Herald Sun poll Leigh Matthews was voted the player of the 20th century – and it’s hard to argue. In a remarkable career that spanned 332 games from 1969-85, the Hawthorn superstar known as ‘Lethal’ netted 915 goals, a club-record eight best and fairests and four premierships (one as captain).

He was a brilliant, prolific, tough, intimidating, goalkicking on-baller/forward who was named forward pocket in the AFL Team of the Century in 1996.

In his latter years, he played as a permanent forward, with devastating effect.

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FAREWELLS Fans say goodbye to revered retirees including Leigh Matthews, Kevin Bartlett, Alex Jesaulenko, Bruce Doull, Robert Flower and Peter Knights, and mourn the passing of several past greats

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end – and the ’80s dropped the curtain on the careers, and lives, of some of the game’s household names.

The retirees included three men who later became Legends in the Australian Football Hall of Fame (Leigh Matthews, Kevin Bartlett and Alex Jesaulenko), four members of the AFL’s Team of the (20th) Century (Matthews, Jesaulenko, Bruce Doull and Francis Bourke) and more than 20 other Hall of Famers.

Perhaps the greatest player of all-time, Hawthorn superstar Matthews, retired in 1985, only to continue his long involvement in the game when he was thrust into coaching early the following season following the resignation of Collingwood coach Bob Rose.

Fellow Legend, Richmond great Bartlett, hung up his boots in 1983 as the League’s games record-holder.

Bartlett’s teammate in five Tiger premierships, Francis Bourke, brought an end to his distinguished career in 1981 after earning universal respect for his no-nonsense, courageous approach.

Jesaulenko was past his brilliant best when he joined St Kilda in 1980 but still provided the struggling Saints with the odd highlight.

His Blues premiership teammate Bruce Doull, backman par excellence, hit the ’80s in full stride before retiring in 1986.

There was also the remarkable case of the three champion full-backs – Carlton’s Geoff Southby, North Melbourne’s David Dench and Hawthorn’s Kelvin Moore, whose careers started and ended around the same time.

Among those to pass through the pearly posts in the sky were Essendon legend Bill Hutchison, South Melbourne genius Laurie Nash and Richmond premiership captain Fred Swift, who was murdered at his farm in 1983.

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1986

BRUCE DOULL The revered Carlton champion never appeared to make a mistake in his 356 games from 1969-86.

The perfect backman, Doull boasted superb defensive skills, could play tall and small, was exceptional in the air and on the ground, and was a precise user of the ball. Won four best and fairests and four premierships, and the Norm Smith Medal in 1981. Notoriously quiet, he let his football do the talking.

Then VFL Commissioner Jack Hamilton gave Doull a farewell pat after the 1986 (losing) Grand Final. Premiership teammates David McKay (1969-81) and Robert Walls (Carlton 1967-78 and Fitzroy 1978-80) also retired in the ’80s.

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1983

KEVIN BARTLETT The Richmond legend was a one-time League games record-holder with 403 appearances from 1965-83, during which the brilliant rover/forward nicknamed ‘Hungry’ amassed 778 goals, five club best and fairests and five premierships. The most prolific kick-getter since statistics were regularly kept in 1965 – he averaged a remarkable 20.6 kicks a game – and slotted 21 goals in three finals in 1980, winning the Norm Smith Medal when he bagged seven in the triumph over Collingwood.

1984

TERRIFIC TRIO When Carlton star Stephen Silvagni was named full-back in the AFL’s Team of the Century in 1996, there was some outcry that selectors had overlooked a member of the great triumvirate of David Dench (North Melbourne 1969-84), Kelvin Moore (Hawthorn 1970-84) and Geoff Southby (Carlton 1971-84). Remarkably their careers ran almost parallel, with each being gifted with flawless judgment, along with terrific marking and kicking skills. They joined two other great defenders – John Rantall (South Melbourne/North Melbourne/Fitzroy 1963-80) and Ian Nankervis (Geelong 1967-83) in retirement.

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1984

GARY DEMPSEY Defied medical opinion by overcoming severe burns to become arguably the most dominant ruckman of his era. Played 329 games from 1967-84 with Footscray and then North Melbourne, and polled a record 246 career votes in the Brownlow Medal, winning the 1975 medal and finishing runner-up in 1970.

The curtain also fell on the careers of several other great ruckmen in the ’80s – Len Thompson (Collingwood/ South Melbourne/Fitzroy 1965-80), Carl Ditterich (St Kilda/Melbourne 1963-80), John ‘Sam’ Newman (Geelong 1964-80), Don Scott (Hawthorn 1967-81), Peter Moore (Collingwood/ Melbourne 1974-87) and Barry Round (Footscray/Sydney 1969-86).

1987

ROBERT FLOWER Perhaps the best testament to Flower is that success-starved Melbourne fans went along to the footy just to watch him play.

A wingman with breathtaking skills – among them the ability to take spectacular marks, evade opponents, deliver the ball on either side and kick goals – he ended a record 269-game wait to play his first finals series in 1987, his final season. Other great midfielders to farewell footy in the ’80s included John Murphy (Fitzroy/South Melbourne/North Melbourne 1967-80), Garry Wilson (Fitzroy 1971-84), North Melbourne pair Keith Greig (1971-85) and Wayne Schimmelbusch (1973-87), and Greg Wells (Melbourne/Carlton 1969-82).

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1981

FRANCIS BOURKE Advised to quit sport at 14 after being diagnosed with a heart murmur, Bourke ironically played in a vigorous manner that wasn’t for the faint-hearted. An extraordinarily tough wingman, he was a member of the famous Richmond centerline with Bill Barrot and Dick Clay, and in 1996 was named on a wing in the AFL’s Team of the Century. Bourke played 300 games from 1967-81, winning five premierships, one best and fairest and six other top-three placings. He coached Richmond to the 1982 Grand Final in his first season in charge before being replaced the next year.

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1981

ALEX JESAULENKO There have been few more eye-catching players than Alex Jesaulenko (Carlton/St Kilda 1967-81), the Austrian-born, Canberra-raised son of Russian and Ukrainian migrants. ‘Jezza’ didn’t start playing Australian Football until the age of 14, but was soon blessed with such cat-like spring and balance and mouth-watering ball skills that he could take skyscraping marks and gather ground balls at top speed.

Supremely versatile, he kicked Carlton’s only century of goals in 1970, three times finished third in the Brownlow Medal and was the last premiership captain-coach in 1979.

The ’80s also signalled the end for forwards Malcolm Blight (North Melbourne 1974-82), Bernie Quinlan (Footscray/Fitzroy 1969-86), Barry Breen (St Kilda 1965-82) and Michael Roach (Richmond (1977-89), and Trevor Barker (St Kilda 1975-89).

1985

PETER KNIGHTS His last game for the Hawks was a reserves Grand Final, but let that not detract for a moment from a 264-game career that included three premierships, a best and fairest and a showreel of brilliant marks and courageous play. Injuries cruelled Knights at inopportune times and cost him a flag in 1971 and quite possibly the 1976 and 1978 Brownlow Medals.

Knights was only a fraction behind Leigh Matthews as the greatest Hawk of the time. Fellow champion centre half-back Ross Glendinning (North Melbourne/West Coast 1977-88) also bowed out.

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PROMOTION GREAT FOOTY DECADES

WILD AND WOOLLY THE 1980s ARE BACK I

n the 1980s, our national game started to change significantly with the expansion of the Victorian Football League to include interstate teams.

By the end of the decade, the Australian Football League was created – a move that would have no doubt pleased the man credited with the idea of our native game: Tom Wills.

The son of a pastoralist and an extraordinary cricketer, Wills spent much of his childhood on sheep stations such as Lexington Station near Moyston in western Victoria.

A monument stands overlooking paddocks just outside the local football ground.

In Wills’ time, wool was very much the mainstay of the Australian economy, with the natural fibre grown in Australia helping to fuel the industrial revolution in Europe.

Australia rode on the sheep’s back from this time right into the 1980s when the national flock peaked at 173 million, with 12 sheep for every Australian man, woman and child.

On football fields across the country, woollen jumpers were worn and some of the game’s greats left sheep properties and shearing sheds to follow their boyhood dreams. Daniher, Krakouer, Duckworth, Mossop, Ditchburn and Bairstow are just a few names to have stepped out of sheep yards and into footy stardom in the 1980.

This decade also saw the start of man-made fibres such as acrylic replacing wool in playing gear at the top level, however, a popular comeback has been made this year.

For those seeking something more meaningful or just a reminder of simpler times, the woollen footy jumper is back.

Once again you can pull the collar up around your ears against the stiff breeze on the way home from the game.

Just like the game itself, wool has changed dramatically since the 1980s and today’s fine Merino football jumpers are not only soft and comfortable but are fully machine-washable and can be tumble-dried.

Technology and the breeding of animals has led to dramatic improvements in comfort and ease of care for both sheep and the fabric they produce.

Grown in Australia and handmade in Australia through a long process, a woollen football jumper is something to treasure. Not only has it taken an entire year to grow the fibre on Australian farms, but the garment itself takes a significant amount of time and care to create.

The woollen football jumper is not simply retro; it’s something significant to our nation.

A development Wills and his father would be proud of.

IN THE BLOOD:

Cricketer Tom Wills, the man credited with founding football, was the son of a pastoralist and spent much of his childhood on sheep stations.

Just like the game itself, wool has changed dramatically

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RECORD BREAKERS

The 1980s featured many remarkable efforts, including Kevin Bartlett’s record, Gary Ablett snr’s finals spree, Sydney’s three-week splurge, Hawthorn’s amazing comeback and Essendon’s stingy defence.

Kevin Bartlett earned the nickname ‘Hungry’ because of his apparent tunnel-vision when within range of goal.

Richmond’s champion rover/forward enjoyed great success in front of the big sticks, slotting 778 goals (along with 777 behinds) in a brilliant 403-game career.

Bartlett, better known by his initials ‘KB’, was also kick-hungry (averaging 20.6 a game) and success-hungry (winning five premierships).

Above all, Bartlett just loved playing footy, which goes some way to explaining how, in 1983, he become the first man to break the 400-game barrier.

The Richmond legend’s milestone was one of many notable statistical achievements in the ’80s.

Bartlett and Geelong genius Gary Ablett both enjoyed scintillating finals series, with Bartlett kicking 21 goals in three finals to pilot Richmond to the 1980 premiership, while Ablett slotted 27 in four finals in 1989.

The greatest individual goal haul of the decade also came from Ablett’s booming boot when he bagged a club-record 14 against Richmond in 1989.

The Sydney Swans also revelled in a goal splurge in 1987, when they became the first club to score 30 goals in three consecutive games.

In 1989, Hawthorn piled on the goals in the second half against Geelong at Princes Park to record the second greatest come-from-behind win.

At the other end of the scale was the scoring impotence of West Coast, which in 1989 managed a scoreline of just 1.12 (18) – still the worst in Eagles’ history – against Essendon at Windy Hill.

1980

PASSING THE BATON Fitzroy legend Kevin Murray held the League games record for almost six years, but in 1980 the record changed hands twice in the space of just four months. In round seven South Melbourne, North Melbourne and Fitzroy backman John Rantall passed Murray’s mark of 333 games, before Richmond champion Kevin Bartlett celebrated his record-breaking achievement with a six-goal haul in a qualifying final win over Carlton at Waverley. Bartlett went on to play 403 games before being overtaken by Hawthorn skipper Michael Tuck in 1990 on his way to 426 games.

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1980s

THE CENTURIONS There was a century goalkicker in all but one year of the ’80s.

Richmond full-forward Michael Roach kicked off the decade with 112 goals in 1980, followed by North Melbourne’s Malcolm Blight (103 in 1982), Fitzroy’s Bernie Quinlan (116 in 1983 and 105 in 1984), Footscray’s Simon Beasley (105 in 1985), Collingwood’s Brian Taylor (100 in 1986), St Kilda’s Tony Lockett (117 in 1987), Sydney’s Warwick Capper (103 in 1987) and Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall (132 in 1988 and 138 in 1989). Blight, Beasley and Capper brought up their tons in finals.

1980

MEDAL ANOMALIES In modern times, the Brownlow Medal has become known as “a midfielder’s award”, but the ’80s produced the only two medallists from the key-forward fraternity – Footscray centre half-forward Kelvin Templeton in 1980 and St Kilda full-forward Tony Lockett, who tied with Hawthorn rover John Platten in 1987. Templeton kicked 75 goals and averaged 19 disposals and 8.5 marks a game in a team that won just five games, while Lockett kicked his first century – 117 – including seven hauls of eight or more, in a side that also missed the finals.

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1980 1989

SEPTEMBER SPREES The ’80s were bookended by two remarkable finals series from Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett and Geelong superstar Gary Ablett. Bartlett’s 21 goals – comprising hauls of six, eight and seven – after a move from roving to a permanent half-forward flank, spearheaded the Tigers to the 1980 premiership. Ablett tallied a record 27 goals – three, seven, eight and nine – in September 1989 to establish his playing legend. Both champions also capped their sprees with Norm Smith medals.

1981

THE ARRIVAL OF A MAGPIE MAGICIAN Collingwood prodigy Peter Daicos came of age in 1981 when he was moved from the centre to a half-forward flank.

The precocious 19-year-old opened the season with three successive six-goal hauls; a few weeks later he bagged seven majors on Carlton great Bruce Doull; and a few weeks after that he slotted nine in the Grand Final rematch against reigning premier Richmond at Victoria Park. Daicos finished the season with 76 goals, including a brilliant match-winning effort in the preliminary final against Geelong, prompting media giant Lou Richards to dub him ‘The Macedonian Marvel’.

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1981

THE WAVERLEY SQUEEZE On the Queen’s Birthday public holiday in 1981, Hawthorn and Collingwood attracted 92,935 fans – the biggest crowd at Waverley, exceeding its specified capacity by about 15,000 and forcing the League to enforce stricter controls to ensure spectator safety. It was the second-highest attendance for a home-and-away game, behind only the 99,256 that turned up at the MCG for the 1958 Queen’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and the Magpies. The Hawks dominated from the outset and won by 46 points.

1981

NEALE DANIHER’S LATE BURST It seemed top side Carlton would jump two games clear of premiership contender Essendon when a Jimmy Buckley torpedo put the Blues 27 points clear at the 20-minute mark of the last quarter at Princes Park in round 20, 1981. But that was the cue for a famous Essendon revival. Neale Daniher had already kicked one goal after being swung into attack in the last quarter and added another two quick ones after the 30-minute mark to give the Bombers a one-point win.

The turning point was when Blues skipper Mike Fitzpatrick became the first player penalised for time wasting.

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1981

OLD DOGS’ BROWNLOW BOND There was almost a poetic sense of fate when Fitzroy star Bernie Quinlan and Swans ruckman Barry Round tied for the 1981 Brownlow Medal. Both had started together at Footscray in 1969 and become close mates before moving to other clubs and enjoying Brownlow success. Both were adjudged best-afield by the umpires on six occasions. They finished one vote clear of Carlton rover Rod Ashman. The athletic Quinlan played as a ruck-rover/forward, kicking 73 goals and averaging 19 disposals and six marks, while Round averaged 21 touches, eight marks and 11 hit-outs.

1984

SENSATIONAL DEBUTS Greg Williams was twice rejected by Carlton for being too slow to be part of the Blues’ famed ‘Mosquito Fleet’, but ‘Diesel’ capitalised when he received an opportunity with Geelong in 1984, amassing 38 possessions and three Brownlow votes in his first game. Among other notable debuts in the ’80s were Dermott Brereton’s five goals in the No. 47 guernsey for Hawthorn in the 1982 first semi-final against North Melbourne, 25-year-old Warren Ralph’s nine goals for Carlton against the Roos in 1984, and fellow mature-age West Australian John Georgiades’ eight goals for Footscray against Carlton in 1989.

1983

SUPERBOOT’S SUPER QUARTER In the 1983 qualifying final at the MCG, Fitzroy trailed Hawthorn by 21 points at three-quarter time before Lions champion Bernie Quinlan produced a brilliant, heroic final term that is the stuff of legend.

‘Superboot’, 32, kicked five goals in the last quarter, and eight for the match, including a typical long bomb and a remarkable left-footer from a throw-in to take a late lead. However, a dubious free kick and goal to young rover Richard Loveridge stole victory for the Hawks, who went on to win the premiership.

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1985

BEASLEY’S TIMELY TON In 1985, Simon Beasley became just the second Bulldog – after Kelvin Templeton seven years earlier – to kick 100 goals in a season, and remains the club’s most recent centurion. Beasley slotted 93 majors in the minor rounds and added two in the qualifying final loss to Hawthorn before bringing up his hundred after taking a courageous pack mark to slot the fifth of his seven goals in the first semi-final win over North Melbourne at the MCG. Increased security meant that few fans made it on to the field to congratulate Beasley.

The West Australian made his debut at 25 and ended up with 575 goals in 154 games from 1982-89.

1985

‘THE KID’ BECOMES THE MAN In 1985 Dermott Brereton won the Hawks’ best and fairest, the club goalkicking award, selection in the All-Australian carnival team and, at just 21 and one month, produced a remarkable Grand Final performance in a landslide loss to Essendon. As his teammates were overwhelmed by the Bombers, Brereton stood tall with 14 possessions, nine marks and a career-best 8.1 – then the second-best haul in a Grand Final behind Collingwood legend Gordon Coventry’s nine in 1928. ‘The Kid’ even found time to perform a post-goal strut inspired by WWF wrestler Brutus Beefcake.

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1989

HAWTHORN’S CLASSIC COMEBACK Hawthorn looked dead and buried when it faced a 56-point deficit just before half-time

1987

against Geelong at Princes Park in round six, 1989. Cats coach Malcolm Blight threw out the Hawks’ planning by deploying superstar forward Gary Ablett on a wing, while Gavin Exell bagged nine goals in a career-best display. But Hawthorn, inspired by Gary Ayres who moved forward, stormed home to post the second-biggest comeback victory in history, winning 26.15 (171) to 25.13 (163) – then the third-highest aggregate score (334). Later that year the two teams played off in one of the great Grand Finals.

THE SWANS’ SPLURGE AND SLUMP The Sydney Swans’ glamour period in the mid-1980s peaked from round 16-18 in 1987 when they became the only team to score at least 30 goals in three successive outings, at the SCG. They tallied 30.21 (201) in a club-record 130-point win over West Coast; 36.20 (236) in a 163-point victory (another record) over Essendon; and 31.12 (198) in a 91-point win over Richmond. Just as Tom Hafey’s boys seemed capable of challenging for a premiership, they lost five of the next six games by an average of 59 points and were bundled out of the finals in straight sets.

1989

ABLETT’S 14 1989

NO HOT TODDY West Coast coach John Todd discovered first-hand the might of the Essendon teams of the ’80s at Windy Hill in round 15, 1989. The Bombers displayed astonishing defensive skills. They restricted West Coast to just 1.12 (18) – the lowest score in the Eagles’ history – while piling on 25.10 (160) themselves. The 142-point losing margin also remains West Coast’s worst. The Eagles’ goal came in the second quarter, from the boot of young forward/midfielder Chris Lewis. From that day forward, Todd was on decidedly shaky ground.

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Gary Ablett loved playing Richmond. Over his phenomenal career, the Geelong superstar shredded the Tigers with bags of 14, 12 (twice), 10 and eight (twice). The biggest of these hauls came in round nine, 1989.

In his previous 19 outings, Ablett had tallied 43 majors. But this day his stats were incredible: 30 disposals (26 kicks, four handballs), 14 marks and 14.1.

The then 27-year-old outscored the Tigers on his own, broke Doug Wade’s 1967 club record of 13 and posted the best goal haul of the ’80s. Ablett later matched this career-best effort … twice.

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1980

CLASH OF THE COACHES Coaches have long had to counsel their players to focus on football rather than fighting, so it was a sensation when Richmond coach Tony Jewell and Carlton counterpart Peter ‘Percy’ Jones exchanged blows during the 1980 qualifying final at Waverley.

Former Blues sports psychologist Rudi Webster had joined the Tigers and, after a fiery first term, Jones abused Webster during the break. Jewell took exception and he and Jones traded ill-directed haymakers before being separated. Richmond won by seven goals on its way to the flag, while Jones was sacked at season’s end.

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WHO’D BE A COACH? League coaches became people of influence during the 1980s as the game started to move forward.

The image opposite might not suggest so but the 1980s was a time when coaching was becoming more professional.

While rival coaches Tony Jewell (Richmond) and Peter Jones (Carlton) made news for different reasons in a 1980 final, the headline acts were three clubs – Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon – who won nine of the 10 premierships on offer.

It was also a decade of coaching greatness as their respective coaches – Allan Jeans, David Parkin and Kevin Sheedy – left indelible marks on the profession and the game.

As coach of St Kilda’s only premiership team, Jeans came to the Hawks with a point to prove. And he changed the way football was played, with his backline being the first line of attack. He led the Hawthorn to three flags but missed out in 1988 while recovering from brain surgery. But so successful was the system he implemented that Alan Joyce seamlessly stepped in and steered the Hawks to that year’s flag.

The studious, meticulous Parkin was the perfect antidote to a brilliant Carlton team that played hard and partied harder, and he won flags in 1981 and 1982 after crossing from Hawthorn. Sheedy brought with him a rat cunning that marked his decorated playing career and the Bombers won back-to-back flags in 1984 and 1985.

Robert Walls led the Blues to the 1987 flag but before that at Fitzroy, he introduced the huddle, one of the first set plays in football that helped the Lions regain possession after kick-outs.

Hawthorn legend John Kennedy returned to coaching in 1985 for five years at North Melbourne in a surprise move, while Bob Rose returned to Collingwood the same year for a season before handing over to another Hawk hero, Leigh Matthews.

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1980

SAINT ‘JEZZA’ Captain-coach Alex Jesaulenko led Carlton to the 1979 premiership, but quit the club in disgust when president George Harris was ousted. After considering playing-only positions with St Kilda and Essendon, the 34-year-old chose the Saints after being impressed with club president Lindsay Fox. But two rounds into 1980, Mike Patterson was sacked and Jesaulenko took over.

Try as he might to lift the struggling Saints, he didn’t have enough talent at his disposal, and was gone by the end of 1982.

1981

WHOLESALE CHANGES There was plenty of movement in coaching ranks before the 1981 season. Three substantial careers began – Richmond great Kevin Sheedy was appointed at Essendon, ex-Carlton and Fitzroy star Robert Walls took over at the Lions and Malcolm Blight became playing coach at North Melbourne – while St Kilda premiership coach Allan Jeans joined Hawthorn and Hawks premiership coach David Parkin took the job at Carlton. Aside from Blight, whose first foray into coaching ended mid-season, each of the appointments resulted in premierships.

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1981

BARASSI’S FIVE-YEAR PLAN Melbourne hadn’t played a final in 16 years when it coaxed favourite son, four-time premiership coach Ron Barassi, back to the club for 1981.

Despite having stars such as Robbie Flower, Gerard Healy and later Peter Moore and Kelvin Templeton, the Demons won just 33 games during Barassi’s famous five-year plan. However, the supercoach is generally credited with laying the foundation for the club’s rise up the ladder in the late ’80s, and for supporting the ‘Irish Experiment’ that netted Jim Stynes and Sean Wight.

1984

DEMONS DON’T SEE EYE-TO-EYE It’s not often a coach and one of his

1981

THE LAST PLAYING COACH Malcolm Blight was League football’s last playing coach and reckons no one else was silly enough to do it after him.

Blight took the reins at North Melbourne from the great Ron Barassi for the 1981 season, at the age of 31, but resigned after round 16. Replaced by club great Barry Cable, Blight responded with a career-best bag of 11 goals the next week. The next year, his last in the then VFL, he kicked 103 goals to spearhead the Roos’ fourth placing.

players engage in a prolonged, heated argument on the field, so the exchange between Melbourne mentor Ron Barassi and Shane Zantuck was an eye-opener. With the fourth-placed Demons trailing top side Essendon by three goals at three-quarter time during their clash at Waverley in round 14, 1984, Barassi berated 29-year-old Zantuck and others for not eyeballing him as he scolded them. Zantuck reacted angrily and had to be dragged away to his position by teammates.

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1984

MALTHOUSE BEGINS The opening round of 1984 signalled the start of the long and distinguished coaching career of Mick Malthouse, who, 31 years later, overtook Jock McHale’s record at Collingwood of 714 games. The Richmond premiership defender retired in 1983 and was soon appointed coach of Footscray, at the age of just 30. Within two seasons, Malthouse lifted the success-starved Bulldogs to within two straight kicks of a Grand Final. He spent six seasons at the Western Oval before successful stints at West Coast and Collingwood, and a final fling with Carlton.

1985

THE WALLS/ PARKIN SWITCH At the end of 1985, Carlton sacked triple-premiership coach David Parkin in favour of playing great Robert Walls, who had coached Fitzroy for the previous five years. As fate would have it, Parkin snared the vacant Lions job. Walls immediately guided the Blues to successive Grand Finals, winning the premiership in 1987, while Parkin took Fitzroy to one finals series in three seasons, before returning to coach Carlton to the 1995 flag. At the same time, Walls was involved in another coach swap, this time with John Northey, from Brisbane to Richmond.

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1985

1986

‘KANGA’ COACHES THE KANGAS

THE MALTHOUSE/HARDIE SPAT

John Kennedy senior is the

Footscray star Brad Hardie and coach Mick Malthouse

spiritual father of Hawthorn, having taken the Hawks to their first three premierships before standing down to care for his handicapped son Bernard. So North Melbourne – the sworn enemy of Kennedy and the Hawks in the ’70s – shocked the football world, and saddened Hawthorn fans, when it lured Kennedy out of an eight-year retirement for the 1985 season. The then 55-year-old was swayed by the Roos’ plans to enhance Bernard’s quality of life. Kennedy spent five years with North, lifting it from second-last to two finals series.

were perhaps always on a collision course, given Hardie’s ultra-offensive approach as a defender and Malthouse’s ultra-defensive style. Their relationship reached flashpoint during a hiding from Carlton at Waverley in round 21, 1986.

The stocky, redheaded West Australian was the reigning Brownlow medallist, but Malthouse dragged him for an apparent lack of accountability. Hardie ripped off his jumper and waved it at Malthouse. Hardie played the next week and won the Dogs’ best and fairest, before joining the newly-formed Brisbane Bears. They haven’t spoken since.

1987

JEWELL’S DESPAIR It’s one of the most famous images – and footage – of a coach’s anguish. Richmond coach Tony Jewell, in his second stint in charge of the Tigers after taking them to the 1980 flag, became more outwardly upset than perhaps any other coach in living memory during a clash with Sydney at the MCG in round five, 1987.

Richmond led by 26 points at the last change before going down by 20 points. The previous week the Tigers had surrendered a 40-point lead to Collingwood at Waverley. Little wonder Jewell was distraught.

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MEDIA

The game was as popular as ever and those who brought it to us, whether through the airwaves or in print, became as well known as the players.

If you couldn’t find football content through the media in the 1980s, well, you weren’t really trying.

On any given Saturday, there were six radio stations covering the footy – one for every game and the coverage was exhaustive.

Until 1986, both Channel Seven and the ABC provided competing TV coverage. Seven brought the excitement; the ABC was more erudite. But their Saturday evening TV replays were compulsive viewing while their Sunday programming – World of Sport on Seven and The Winners on the ABC, were of the sort you would structure your day around or, at the very lest, program your spanking new VCR to record.

Melbourne’s daily newspapers, The Sun and The Age in the morning, and The Herald every afternoon, understood that football sold papers. The Sunday papers, Inside Football and the Football Record (which back then snugly fitted in your back pocket) added to the blanket coverage.

Lou Richards was the big media star of the time, a star across many shows on Channel Seven and his ‘Kiss of Death’ predictions in The Sun were eagerly anticipated. If you failed to lodge your footy tips in time, you invariably got Lou’s tips in absentia.

Jack Dyer, Bob Davis, Harry Beitzel, Peter Landy, Sandy Roberts, Rob Astbury, Drew Morphett, Tim Lane, Doug Heywood, Mike Sheahan, Ted Whitten and a young Eddie McGuire.

They were the eyes and ears of their time and they generally knew they stuff, but lest they take themselves and the game too seriously, a group of outer-dwelling regular supporters talked their way on to a Saturday morning radio slot on Melbourne public radio.

Giving fans a microphone could have been a recipe for disaster, but the Coodabeen Champions instead became the voice of a generation of supporters.

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1981

THE COODABEEN CHAMPIONS ˜˜ Former players and professional broadcasters dominated the radio football landscape until 1981.

Then along came the Coodabeens, a bunch of inner-suburban types who landed a one-hour, Saturday morning slot on public radio station Triple R talking about footy from the perspective of the fans, while gently lampooning the way the game was covered in the media. Songwriter Greg Champion was among their midst and some of his footy songs (Dermott Brereton is a Hood) were legendary. The Coodabeens soon found their way to mainstream radio, and although some of the names have changed along the way, they still endure 35 years on.

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1980s

THE BIG H Radio played a huge part in the game in the 1980s because so few games were live on TV and the colourful Harry Beitzel was the king of the airwaves. With his booming voice (nobody could roll their ‘r’s like ‘Haddy’), 3AW was the footy station, although the Captain and the Major (Jack Dyer and Ian Major) on 3KZ and Doug Bigelow on the ABC also had their loyal fans.

Beitzel’s sidekick was Tommy Lahiff who, despite being old and frail, never failed to gain entrée to the winners’ rooms.

When Beitzel switched to 3AK in 1989, it was front-page news. 3AW did well with his replacement, however. His name was Rex Hunt.

1987

SEVEN LOSES THE TV FOOTY RIGHTS For so long Channel Seven was as much a part of the game as woollen jumpers, Sherrin footballs and Four’N Twenty pies. But the combination of a new regime at the VFL and new ownership at the network led to a stalemate over the TV rights ahead of 1987 and led to a surprise decision to go with Broadcom, a Sydney-based TV production company. The net result was the TV rights being on-sold on a state-by-state basis, with the ABC becoming the exclusive broadcaster in Victoria after the commercial stations baulked at the price. The footy returned to Seven a year later, but at a price more reflective of market value than the handshake agreements before then.

1985

WORLD OF SPORT One of the sad losses of the 1980s was the demise of World of Sport, the Sunday afternoon TV staple that started in 1960. It was where Lou Richards, Jack Dyer and Bob Davis held court and the handball championship was followed with as much fervour as an actual game. Most coaches would visit every week to dissect the game from the day before on the ‘Club Corner’ segment. None was more explosive than in 1985, the day after Leigh Matthews broke the jaw of Neville Bruns, when Hawthorn coach Allan Jeans and his Geelong counterpart Tom Hafey were grilled by Peter McKenna, after which they were presented – as always – with gifts such as Bertocchi hams and Patra orange juice.

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1980s

PALMER’S PUNCHLINES Tapping into the growing thirst for football news, Channel Seven introduced a regular cross during the Saturday night replay to “the offices of the Sunday Press where we find sporting editor Scot Palmer”. It was soon compulsive viewing as Palmer recounted the big news from the day’s footy and teased the headlines in the next day’s paper – coaches’ quotes, injuries and reports. Palmer (pictured with son Lincoln, Ron Barassi and Adrian Gallagher) was the first newspaper reporter to achieve celebrity status in the footy industry.

1988

BREAKING DOWN THE DOOR Football was the biggest deal in town and through the 1980s the big footy stories regularly led the TV news. Rob Astbury was the first big footy TV reporter and he started the decade at Channel 10 before moving across to Nine and, later again, to Seven. Back at 10, an ambitious young reporter from Broadmeadows joined the newsroom straight from school. His name was Eddie McGuire and he became a household name in 1988 when St Kilda star Tony Lockett threw one of his crutches at him. McGuire had followed him inside the Mercy Hospital where he was being treated for a broken ankle.

1980s

THE WINNERS For those outside Victoria, there may have been a live broadcast of the Saturday afternoon game, but the main vehicle to follow VFL football was The Winners, which appeared every Sunday afternoon at 5pm on the ABC. It was a crisp, well-produced one-hour show, hosted by either Drew Morphett or Tim Lane, which featured highlights of up to three matches from the day before and included the commentary of Doug Heywood, Geoff Leek, Ian Cleland and Mike Fitzpatrick among many others.

Countdown followed immediately after to cap off the best two hours on TV each week.

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FINALS TIME

One Grand Final – 1989 – stood out above all others in the 1980s, a decade that produced clubs winning multiple premierships.

The 1989 Grand Final is generally rated the greatest of the decade.

Indeed, it was one of the all-time classics – the supreme battle of attrition between two sublimely talented teams, Hawthorn and Geelong.

The Hawks’ triumph, by six points after holding off the fast-finishing Cats, enshrined their status as the team of the ’80s.

Hawthorn appeared in seven successive Grand Finals from 1983-89, winning four premierships, including the club’s first back-to-back effort.

Three of the Hawks’ stars of the day were these brilliant imports: from left, wingman Darrin Pritchard from Tasmania, full-forward Jason Dunstall from Queensland and rover John Platten from South Australia.

Platten is uncharacteristically wearing a dressing gown after sitting out much of the game on the bench with concussion.

Only four clubs won premierships in the ’80s – in order, Richmond, Carlton, Hawthorn and Essendon – with three (Carlton, Essendon and Hawthorn) winning back-to-back flags.

The Tigers started the decade with a bang, belting Collingwood by a then record margin of 81 points.

They made the 1982 Grand Final, going down to Carlton by 18 points, but still haven’t reappeared on the last Saturday in September.

The Blues established the first dynasty of the ’80s by winning the 1981-82 flags, which gave the powerful club three premierships in four years.

Carlton returned to win the 1987 play-off against Hawthorn.

Essendon was the other superpower, with Kevin Sheedy’s ‘Baby Bombers’ tasting glory in 1984-85.

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1980s

THE TEAM OF THE ’80S They boast they are a happy team at Hawthorn, and they were never happier than in the ’80s when they were the undisputed team of the decade.

The Hawks played off in seven consecutive Grand Finals from 1983-89, winning four flags – 1983, 1986 and 1988-89 (the ’83 and ’88 triumphs were by then record margins). Their momentum wasn’t even halted by a temporary change of coach from the ill Allan Jeans to his assistant Alan Joyce – the Hawks still saluted in that 1988 season.

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1980

TIGER TIME In 1980, Richmond finished the minor rounds in third spot but was easily the best combination in September, winning the Grand Final by a then-record 81 points. The Tigers’ victim was Collingwood, coached by former Richmond messiah Tom Hafey, which had become the first team to make the Grand Final from the elimination final. With Kevin Bartlett producing a spectacular finals series, the Tigers powered to their 10th – and still most recent – premiership.

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1981-82

BLUES GO BACK-TO-BACK After Carlton won the 1979 premiership under Alex Jesaulenko, the club was split by internal ructions that threatened its standing in the game. But the Blues defied the doomsayers, and underachievement under Peter ‘Percy’ Jones the next year, to win the 1981-82 flags under former Hawthorn coach David Parkin, making it three premierships in four years. Powered by a superb defence containing all-time greats Bruce Doull and Geoff Southby, Carlton was blessed with the game’s best running brigade, known as ‘The Mosquito Fleet’.

After the 1981 Grand Final, losing Collingwood captain Peter Moore put an end to the presentation of runner-up medals by throwing his away in disgust.

1982

TOOTHLESS TIGERS When Richmond finished a game clear atop the 1982 League ladder before losing a hard-fought Grand Final to Carlton, Tiger fans had every right to believe their team would continue to be strong finals contenders. After all, it had made the finals in 10 of the previous 16 seasons, winning five premierships.

Remarkably Richmond did not play another final for 13 years and is still to make another appearance in a Grand Final. Little wonder the Tigers’ coaching job changed hands five times in the 1980s.

1984-85

THE BABY BOMBERS Hawthorn and Essendon developed the fiercest rivalry of the ’80s – one they continue to share. When Richmond great Kevin Sheedy became coach of the Bombers, he instilled a toughness into his teams that quickly lifted the club back up the ladder. Stung by early finals exits in 1981-82 and a then-record 83-point belting from the Hawks in the 1983 Grand Final, Sheedy’s ‘Baby Bombers’ gained vengeance by defeating Hawthorn in successive Grand Finals – storming home from behind in 1984 before hammering the Hawks by 78 points the next year.

1980 1990s GREAT FOOTY DECADES 89

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1987

STYNES’ COSTLY MISTAKE Irishman Jim Stynes was playing just his 13th League game when he made a blunder that cost Melbourne a place in the 1987 Grand Final. In the preliminary final at Waverley, the Demons were four points in front when the siren sounded. The problem was that defender Rod Grinter had given away a free kick to Hawthorn sharpshooter Gary Buckenara and then Stynes ran through the mark and a 15m penalty enabled Buckenara to kick the match-winning goal from 40m. Stynes copped a fearful spray from coach John Northey, but later revealed the incident made him a better player. Within four years he was a Brownlow medallist.

1987

BLUES STEEL When Essendon’s era of success

1987

FLOWER POWER With Melbourne’s superstar skipper Robbie Flower announcing the 1987 season was to be his last, the Demons launched a fundraising campaign for recruiting with the slogan: ‘Please give Robbie Flower one last chance to play in a final’. It proved a powerful sentiment, with the Demons winning their last five games to steal a finals berth for the first time in 23 years.

Under former Richmond star John Northey, Melbourne won two finals and was unlucky not to make the Grand Final after a narrow preliminary final loss to Hawthorn.

ended in 1986, Carlton stepped up to become Hawthorn’s strongest rival for the premiership. The clubs played off in successive Grand Finals, with the Hawks dominant in a 42-point win in 1986 before the Blues, under the coaching of club great Robert Walls, turned the tables with a 33-point victory in scorching heat the following year. Carlton was superbly led on the field by Stephen Kernahan, who along with Craig Bradley, Mark Naley and the unfortunate Peter Motley (see page 18), formed a super group of South Australian recruits that transformed the club.

90 GREAT FOOTY DECADES 1980s

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1988

HAWKS PURGE THEIR DEMONS After losing three of the previous four Grand Finals, Hawthorn hit back in emphatic fashion in 1988, demolishing Melbourne by a then-record margin of 96 points. Under the guidance of Alan Joyce in the absence of an ill Allan Jeans, the Hawks were a team on a mission. They lost just three games and won their last eight by an average of 61 points. Melbourne made its first Grand Final appearance in 24 years but was crushed in the wet by half-time. Hawk forwards Jason Dunstall, Dermott Brereton and Paul Abbott kicked 18 goals between them.

1989

AN EPIC CONTEST Hawthorn and Geelong produced one of the great Grand Finals in 1989, with the Hawks holding on by six points to claim back-to-back flags.

It was a last-man-standing affair that had everything. At the first bounce, Cats veteran Mark Yeates crunched Hawks enforcer Dermott Brereton off the ball, but Brereton responded with three goals. Geelong superstar Gary Ablett bagged nine goals in a losing side and was awarded the Norm Smith Medal. Hawthorn finished with 13 fit players and were inspired by the half-time speech of coach Allan Jeans, who famously implored them to “pay the price”.

1980s GREAT FOOTY DECADES

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GRAND FINALS Big scores, bumper crowds, a few blowouts and some cracking individual efforts was the standard fare of Grand Finals in the ’80s.

Only four teams won premierships in the 1980s – Richmond (1980), Carlton (1981-82, 1987), Hawthorn (1983, 1986, 1988-89) and Essendon (1984-85) – but it did not impact on the public’s interest in footy’s biggest day.

Grand Final day was an event to be celebrated and there were fewer corporate types as supporters squeezed into a different looking MCG.

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Standing room was still the preferred option for many, no doubt because it was cheap.

While the eating, drinking and toilet facilities were nothing like today, people had a more cavalier attitude.

The 10 Grand Finals through the 1980s attracted just over one million fans (1,020,185), with six of them attracting 100,000 or greater.

There were a few blowouts along the way with four of them (1980, 1983, 1985 and 1988) producing winning margins of more than 70 points.

Only one – the 1989 classic between Hawthorn and Geelong – was decided by less than a double-figure margin as

the Hawks held on by six points in a sometimes brutal clash.

Scoring was nothing like today’s defensive contests as the following teams all kicked 20 goals or more en route to premiership glory – Richmond (1981), Hawthorn (1983, 1988-89), Essendon (1985).

Even Geelong managed 21.12 (138) in its losing score in 1989 as Gary Ablett equalled the individual effort in a Grand Final with nine goals.

Back in the early 1980s, teams even swapped jumpers at the end of the game and for a brief period the losing team received a runners-up medal, until Collingwood star Peter Moore threw his into the crowd after the Magpies lost by 20 points in 1981.

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1980

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 27, 1980, MCG

RICHMOND 6.5 11.11 15.17 23.21 (159) COLLINGWOOD 2.6 4.10 5.18 9.24 (78)

Best: Richmond – Bartlett, Raines, Lee, Welsh, Bourke, Wiley. Collingwood – Woolnough, R. Shaw, Picken, Ohlsen, Davis, Magro.

Goals: Richmond – Bartlett 7, Cloke 6, Wiley 3, Roach 2, Keane 2, Weightman, Jess, Rowlings. Collingwood – Picken 3, Davis 2, Wearmouth, R. Shaw, Moore, Ohlsen.

Umpires: W. Deller, I. Robinson.

Attendance: 113,461 Norm Smith Medal: Kevin Bartlett (Rich)

RICHMOND PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Mick Malthouse, Emmett Dunne, Greg Strachan HB: Terry Smith, Jim Jess, Peter Welsh C: Stephen Mount, Geoff Raines, Bryan Wood HF: Merv Keane, David Cloke, Kevin Bartlett F: Francis Bourke, Michael Roach, Robert Wiley R: Mark Lee, Barry Rowlings, Dale Weightman Interchange: Bruce Monteath (c), Daryl Freame Coach: Tony Jewell

1981

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 26, MCG

CARLTON 2.4 5.8 8.13 12.20 (92) COLLINGWOOD 2.6 5.7 10.10 10.12 (72) Best: Carlton – Doull, Fitzpatrick, Hunter, Marcou, Glascott, McConville. Collingwood – Picken, Williams, Twomey, McCormack, Taylor, Stewart.

Goals: Carlton – Ashman 3, Maclure 2, McKay 2, Sheldon 2, Johnston, Harmes, Buckley. Collingwood – Williams 2, Barham 2, T. Shaw, R. Shaw, Stewart, Taylor, Moore, Daicos.

Umpires: I. Robinson, M. Dye. Attendance: 112,964 Norm Smith Medal: Bruce Doull (Carl)

CARLTON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Des English, Scott Howell, Val Perovic HB: Ken Hunter, Bruce Doull, Wayne Harmes C: Phil Maylin, Greg Wells, David Glascott HF: Peter Bosustow, Mark Maclure, Wayne Johnston F: David McKay, Peter McConville, Jim Buckley R: Mike Fitzpatrick (c), Ken Sheldon, Rod Ashman Interchange: Alex Marcou, Mario Bortolotto Coach: David Parkin 1980s GREAT FOOTY DECADES 93

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1982

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 25, MCG

CARLTON 4.7 6.11 11.15 14.19 (103) RICHMOND 4.3 9.4 9.10 12.13 (85) Best: Carlton – Johnston, Fitzpatrick, Hunter, Perovic, Marcou, Doull. Richmond – Rioli, Weightman, Strachan, Raines, Keane, Wiley.

Goals: Carlton – Johnston 2, McConville 2, Ashman 2, Fitzpatrick 2, Harmes, Hunter, Bosustow, Marcou, Maclure, Maylin. Richmond – Bartlett 3, Cloke 3, Rioli 3, Raines, Jess, Weightman.

Umpires: R. Sawers, G. James.

Attendance: 107,536 Norm Smith Medal: Maurice Rioli (Rich)

CARLTON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Des English, Bruce Doull, Val Perovic HB: Mario Bortolotto, Ken Hunter, Ken Sheldon C: David Glascott, Jim Buckley, Wayne Harmes HF: Peter Bosustow, Mark Maclure, Wayne Johnston F: Peter McConville, Ross Ditchburn, Alex Marcou R: Mike Fitzpatrick (c), Phil Maylin, Rod Ashman Interchange: Warren Jones, Robbert Klomp Coach: David Parkin

1983

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 24, MCG

HAWTHORN 5.6 12.10 16.18 20.20 (140) ESSENDON 3.0 4.1 4.3 8.9 (57) Best: Hawthorn – Tuck, Knights, Matthews, Robertson, Kennedy, Greene. Essendon – T. Daniher, Foulds, Madden, Heard, Williams, Buhagiar.

Goals: Hawthorn – Matthews 6, Byrne 3, Loveridge 2, Greene 2, Judge 2, Tuck, Knights, Kennedy, Wallace, O’Halloran. Essendon – T. Daniher 2, Kink, Ezard, Walsh, Copping, Madden, Wood.

Umpires: N. Nash, K. Smith.

Attendance: 110,332 Norm Smith Medal: Colin Robertson (Haw)

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Gary Ayres, Chris Mew, David O’Halloran HB: Russell Greene, Michael McCarthy, John Kennedy C: Peter Schwab, Terry Wallace, Rodney Eade HF: Gary Buckenara, Dermott Brereton, Peter Knights F: Leigh Matthews (c), Michael Byrne, Richard Loveridge R: Ian Paton, Michael Tuck, Colin Robertson Interchange: Robert DiPierdomenico, Ken Judge Coach: Allan Jeans

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1984

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 29, MCG

ESSENDON 2.4 3.11 5.15 14.21 (105) HAWTHORN 6.1 8.6 10.8 12.9 (81) Best: Essendon – Duckworth, Watson, Harvey, Hawker, Heard, Baker. Hawthorn – Wallace, Loveridge, Schwab, Greene, Matthews, Ayres.

Goals: Essendon – Baker 4, Duckworth 2, Watson 2, T. Daniher, Bradbury, Thompson, Merrett, Weston, Neagle. Hawthorn – Matthews 4, Brereton 2, Robertson 2, Loveridge, Tuck, Judge, Curran.

Umpires: G. James, R. Sawers.

Attendance: 92,685 Norm Smith Medal: Billy Duckworth (Ess)

ESSENDON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Garry Foulds, Billy Duckworth, Paul Weston HB: Peter Bradbury, Kevin Walsh, Glenn Hawker C: Merv Neagle, Leon Baker, Shane Heard HF: Tim Watson, Terry Daniher (c), Paul Vander Haar F: Alan Ezard, Simon Madden, Frank Dunell R: Roger Merrett, Neil Clarke, Darren Williams Interchange: Mark Harvey, Mark Thompson Coach: Kevin Sheedy

1985

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 28, MCG

ESSENDON 6.4 11.9 15.11 26.14 (170) HAWTHORN 5.1 9.3 11.5 14.8 (92) Best: Essendon – Madden, Merrett, Salmon, Watson, Baker, Thompson. Hawthorn – Brereton, Lester-Smith, Kennedy, Morris, O’Halloran, Loveridge.

Goals: Essendon – Salmon 6, Merrett 5, Harvey 4, Watson 3, Baker 2, Ezard 2, Williams 2, Thompson, Duckworth. Hawthorn – Brereton 8, Matthews, Loveridge, McCarthy, Judge, Lester-Smith, DiPierdomenico.

Umpires: P. Cameron, I. Robinson.

Attendance: 100,042 Norm Smith Medal: Simon Madden (Ess)

ESSENDON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Mark Thompson, Paul Weston, Billy Duckworth HB: Garry Foulds, Kevin Walsh, Glenn Hawker C: Bryan Wood, Tim Watson, Neil Clarke HF: Terry Daniher (c), Roger Merrett, Mark Harvey F: Leon Baker, Paul Salmon, Paul Vander Haar R: Simon Madden, Darren Williams, Tony Elshaug Interchange: Stephen Carey, Alan Ezard Coach: Kevin Sheedy 1980s GREAT FOOTY DECADES 95

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1986

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 27, MCG HAWTHORN CARLTON

5.6 8.8 15.9 1.5 4.11 6.13

16.14 (110) 9.14 (68)

Best: Hawthorn – Ayres, Eade, Dunstall, Buckenara, Wallace, Langford. Carlton – Alvin, Meldrum, Glascott, Madden, English, Motley.

Goals: Hawthorn – Dunstall 6, Buckenara 4, Brereton 3, Curran, Russo, Ayres. Carlton – Meldrum 3, Kernahan 2, Glascott, McKenzie, Rhys-Jones, Evans.

Umpires: P. Cameron, J. Russo.

Attendance: 101,861 Norm Smith Medal: Gary Ayres (Haw)

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Gary Ayres, Chris Langford, Russell Greene HB: Russell Morris, Chris Mew, Peter Schwab C: Robert DiPierdomenico, Terry Wallace, Rodney Eade HF: Gary Buckenara, Dermott Brereton, John Kennedy F: Peter Curran, Jason Dunstall, John Platten R: Greg Dear, Michael Tuck (c), Richard Loveridge Interchange: Paul Abbott, Peter Russo.

Coach: Allan Jeans

1987

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 26, MCG CARLTON HAWTHORN

3.5 6.8 10.11 4.2 4.9 7.13

15.14 (104) 9.17 (71)

Best: Carlton – Rhys-Jones, Johnston, Glascott, Aitken, Madden, Alvin. Hawthorn – Langford, DiPierdomenico, Tuck, Collins, Ayres, Greene.

Goals: Carlton – Kernahan 3, Bradley 3, Johnston 2, Dorotich, Gleeson, Murphy, Hunter, Naley, McKenzie, Meldrum. Hawthorn – Kennedy 3, Curran, Collins, Pritchard, Platten, DiPierdomenico, G. Dear.

Umpires: I. Robinson, R. Sawers.

Attendance: 92,754 Norm Smith Medal: David Rhys-Jones (Carl)

CARLTON PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Tom Alvin, Stephen Silvagni, David Glascott HB: Ian Aitken, David Rhys-Jones, Peter Dean C: Michael Kennedy, Craig Bradley, Shane Robertson HF: Richard Dennis, Stephen Kernahan (c), Ken Hunter F: Paul Meldrum, Jon Dorotich, Mark Naley R: Justin Madden, Wayne Johnston, Fraser Murphy Interchange: Adrian Gleeson, Warren McKenzie Coach: Robert Walls

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1988

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 24, MCG

HAWTHORN MELBOURNE

4.4 10.9 14.16 22.20 (152) 1.5 2.8 5.14 6.20 (56)

Best: Hawthorn – Ayres, Abbott, Platten, Schwab, Dunstall, Brereton. Melbourne – B. Lovett, Stynes, Healy, Grinter, Lovell, Johnson.

Goals: Hawthorn – Dunstall 7, Abbott 6, Brereton 5, Schwab, Kennedy, Morrissey, DiPierdomenico.

Melbourne – Lyon 2, Williams 2, Healy, Johnson.

Umpires: P. Cameron, B. Sheehan.

Attendance: 93,754 Norm Smith Medal: Gary Ayres (Haw)

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Andy Collins, Chris Langford, Gary Ayres HB: Scott Maginness, Chris Mew, Michael Tuck (c) C: Robert DiPierdomenico, Peter Schwab, Tony Hall HF: Chris Wittman, Dermott Brereton, John Kennedy F: Paul Abbott, Jason Dunstall, James Morrissey R: Greg Dear, Gary Buckenara, John Platten Interchange: Russell Greene, Darrin Pritchard Coach: Alan Joyce

1989

GRAND FINAL, SEPTEMBER 30, MCG HAWTHORN GEELONG

8.4 12.9 18.13 21.18 (144) 2.0 7.2 13.7 21.12 (138)

Best: Hawthorn – Pritchard, Anderson, DiPierdomenico, Buckenara, Dunstall, Curran. Geelong – Ablett, Lindner, Flanigan, Hamilton, Bews, Couch.

Goals: Hawthorn – Dunstall 4, Anderson 4, Buckenara 4, Brereton 3, Curran 3, DiPierdomenico, Wittman, Morrissey. Geelong – Ablett 9, Brownless 2, Stoneham 2, Hamilton 2, Cameron 2, Bews, Bairstow, Bruns, Flanigan.

Umpires: P. Carey, B. Sheehan.

Attendance: 94,796 Norm Smith Medal: Gary Ablett (Geel)

HAWTHORN PREMIERSHIP TEAM B: Andy Collins, Chris Langford, Gary Ayres HB: Scott Maginness, Chris Mew, John Kennedy C: Darrin Pritchard, Anthony Condon, Robert DiPierdomenico HF: Dean Anderson, Dermott Brereton, Gary Buckenara F: Peter Curran, Jason Dunstall, Chris Wittman R: Greg Dear, Michael Tuck (c), John Platten Interchange: James Morrissey, Greg Madigan Coach: Allan Jeans 1980s GREAT FOOTY DECADES 97

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TEAM OF THE DECADE CHRIS LANGFORD HAWTHORN

BACKS

GARY AYRES HAWTHORN

CHRIS MEW HAWTHORN

ROSS GLENDINNING PAUL ROOS

NORTH MELBOURNE/WEST COAST

FITZROY

HALF-BACKS

TERRY DANIHER ESSENDON

CENTRES

DOUG HAWKINS FOOTSCRAY

ROBERT FLOWER GREG WILLIAMS

MELBOURNE

GEELONG/SYDNEY

HALF-FORWARDS PETER DAICOS

WAYNE JOHNSTON

COLLINGWOOD

CARLTON

HAWTHORN

FOLLOWERS SIMON MADDEN ESSENDON

GARY ABLETT HAWTHORN/GEELONG

EMERGENCIES ROBERT DIPIERDOMENICO HAWTHORN

MICHAEL TUCK HAWTHORN

JASON DUNSTALL HAWTHORN

TREVOR BARKER ST KILDA

TIM WATSON

RICHMOND

BERNIE QUINLAN GERARD HEALY

ESSENDON

DALE WEIGHTMAN

INTERCHANGE

MELBOURNE/SYDNEY

FORWARDS HAWTHORN

The first rule when sitting down to pick the team of the 1980s was that it had to reflect the spirit of the time.

So that meant just two players on the bench and a heavy sprinkling of Hawthorn.

With four premierships and three losing Grand Finals, the Hawks truly were the best team of the decade.

The boys from Glenferrie provided the entire backline and the two key forwards, yet room couldn’t be found for Michael Tuck and Robert DiPierdomenico.

This team is reflective of an era in which players largely plied their trade in the one position. Robert Flower and Doug Hawkins, for example, were true wingmen and, in the case of Hawkins, Mick Malthouse maintains to this day he is one of the best players he has coached.

Peter Daicos was a gifted half-forward flanker as was Wayne Johnston, the mercurial Blue who was an exceptional big-game player.

We went with just the one ruckman, but it was an easy choice. Simon Madden was far and away the best big man of the decade, masterful at centre bounces and brilliant around the ground. He and ruck-rover Tim Watson struck a wonderful partnership and Watson was one of the most watchable and exciting players of his time.

Dale Weightman was the best true rover of the decade, the only shame being that after Grand Final appearances in 1980 and 1982, the Tigers were ordinary for the rest of the decade. It took his multiple appearances for Victoria, playing at the feet of Madden, to appreciate him.

And reflective of the last full decade in which Fitzroy competed in its own right, Paul Roos and Bernie Quinlan also get a guernsey.

FITZROY

DERMOTT BRERETON

LEIGH MATTHEWS

Resident selectors ASHLEY BROWNE and BEN COLLINS have picked the best of the absolute best for the team of the 1980s.

COACH Qualification: Must have played a minimum of 100 games in the 1980s.

ALLAN JEANS HAWTHORN

98 GREAT FOOTY DECADES 1980s

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