Glory & Fame: The Rise and Rise of the Essendon Football Club

CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1984 PREMIERSHIP

AT LAST Shane Heard and Billy Duckworth parade around the MCG, while Simon Madden holds up the 1984 premiership cup, after Essendon ďŹ nally broke its 19-year drought.

32

1984 GRAND FINAL

BREAKING the DROUGHT Clubs like Essendon aren’t used to failure. The Bombers endured a 19-year wait – the longest in their history – before snaring the 1984 premiership in an unforgettable clash with Hawthorn.

BY GLENN McFARLANE

L

ou Richards was seemingly breathless when he proclaimed: “This premiership is Sheedy’s premiership ... with these tremendous moves.”1 It was the 25-minute mark of the last quarter in the 1984 Grand Final, and Richards’ excited tone came not because of his 61 years, but in response to an avalanche of Essendon goals. The Bombers had managed only five goals in the first three quarters but were in the process of kicking almost double that figure in the final term.

Within less than half an hour, Sheedy’s men had turned the contest, the premiership and, indeed, the sport on its head, with a relentless last-quarter flurry of goals. They were to turn a 23-point three-quarter time deficit into one of the most remarkable Grand Final victories.

Just as Carlton coach Ron Barassi had memorably transformed the game with his half-time emphasis on handball in a Grand Final against Collingwood 14 years earlier, Sheedy would do the

1

Channel Seven telecast.

33

GLENN McFARLANE

same with his remarkable three-quarter time positional moves, as well as his insistence that his players be versatile enough to adapt to any situation.

While Essendon managed to conjure a come-from-behind win over Hawthorn, securing the club’s 13th premiership after its longest wait of 19 years between flags, much of the post-game attention centred on the coach, still three months shy of his 37th birthday, despite the fact he protested that premierships were won by players more than coaches.

Richards followed up his comments in The Sun on the Monday, saying: “If ever a Grand Final was decided by a coach, it was this year’s. The Bombers can wrap themselves in a red-and-black flag this summer, but they should give the premiership cup to Kevin Sheedy. It was the brains, drive, desperation and years of hard work of a modern coach that paid off when it was needed at the MCG on Saturday.”2 That was precisely what the Essendon Football Club was seeking when it went searching for a new coach – and a new beginning – after the 1980 season.

And while Richards’ comments were meant to be a reflection of the game-altering moves that this most modern of coaches made in one match, they could also have been metaphoric for the innovations he brought to the club overall. Sheedy, who had grown up barracking for the red and black before trading in the red sash for a yellow one as a three-time Richmond premiership player, had dragged Essendon into the modern era.

If Sheedy had promised to be daring and different, he would certainly live up to the job description.

An indication of how different the new coach could be came on a trip to Surfers Paradise not long into his tenure. Sheedy had been sharing a unit with ruckman Steve Taubert. Taubert was astounded to find Sheedy on his balcony one morning, calling an imaginary football match: “As the surf was rolling in, he (Sheedy) was calling out aloud, mentioning (Garry) Foulds, (Simon) Madden and (Paul) Vander Haar, and saying things like ‘Gee, this young Sheedy is a wonderful, innovative coach’.”3 2

The Sun, October 1, 1984.

3

The Age, August 8, 2006.

34

BREAKING THE DROUGHT

The only thing he got wrong was Essendon’s opponent. It would not be his old side Richmond that Essendon would be facing in the decider, but Allan Jeans’ Hawthorn.

Sheedy kept tinkering with his list in those early years. After successive elimination final losses, Essendon progressed through to the Grand Final, setting up the first finals match with Hawthorn.

This inaugural September contest between the teams would help to sow the seeds of a great modern rivalry.

Round one went to the Hawks. Sheedy was shattered by Essendon’s performance in the 1983 Grand Final. It wasn’t just the fact that the Hawks’ 83-point margin was a Grand Final record; the Bombers were outplayed and outmuscled by the Hawks.

Sheedy went home that night to watch a video of the game and began plotting his premiership. He knew he had to make changes. After the ’83 loss, he said it was like “the copper (Jeans) telling the plumber (Sheedy) to come back with a better team after having your backside kicked”.4 In the years since he had become coach he had introduced a host of new players from a variety of sources, and everything seemed to fall into place with Essendon winning nine of the first 11 games in 1984. It also won a block of eight consecutive games from rounds 13 to 20. The Bombers scored heavily, kicking a minimum of 110 points in each of the first six games and scoring less than 100 points only six times. Even the club’s lowest score for the year, a measly 34 points, produced a win over Footscray at a rain-swept Western Oval.

The Bombers also backed up their 1981 night premiership with yet another night flag in 1984, and set about trying to become the first team to win a day and night premiership in the one season.

But there were still challenges. Some thought it was akin to blasphemy, but Paul Salmon’s early dominance in the goalsquare had brought comparisons with the almost incomparable John Coleman. But after Salmon’s season-ending knee injury in round 13, the Bombers would have to get their goals from elsewhere.

The biggest hurdle, though, was Essendon’s nemesis, Hawthorn.

While the Bombers had finished the home and away season on 4

Sunday Herald Sun, August 26, 2007.

35

GLENN McFARLANE

top for the first time since 1968, the Hawks had beaten them twice.

Then, the two teams met in one of the great finals of all time – the ’84 second semi-final.

Tim Watson described it as “the highest standard I had played in until that point in time”.5 Billy Duckworth said: “I had never experienced anything like that game ... the pace was unbelievable.”6 While Hawthorn held the early ascendancy, Essendon fought doggedly, despite losing Peter Bradbury and Stephen Carey before the game, and Bryan Wood and Paul Vander Haar during the course of it. No more than 10 points separated the teams in the second half, with Hawthorn doing enough to secure first passage to the Grand Final by eight points.

But few knew of the drama behind the scenes of this clash.

Drug squad detectives attended the Sunday final – only the second in VFL history – with binoculars to take a close look at a spray that Hawthorn players had used at intervals. This had been pointed out to Sheedy by several fans and he had passed on the information, plus video footage from Hawthorn’s qualifying final win over Carlton, to the police.

A day after the semi-final, Jeans – himself a serving policeman – was informed of the investigation, and samples were taken of the mystery substance. Within a short period of time, the Hawks were cleared, the substance had been revealed as a mixture of ammonium and eucalyptus, and the story was plastered over the front pages of the newspapers.

If there had been ill-feeling prior to this, then the ‘drugs sniffing’ allegations brought enmity. Years later Sheedy maintained that Jeans has never forgiven him.

He said: “We didn’t accuse Hawthorn of taking drugs.

No one accused anybody. We asked what they were sniffing. It started when I got some letters from fans about it. I then asked (football manager) Kevin Egan to have a look at some videos. It was probably the biggest story I’ve been in and it probably nearly cost me my job.”7 5

The Age, April 6, 2005.

6

The Herald, September 18, 1984.

7

The Age, August 8, 2006.

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BREAKING THE DROUGHT

Jeans was less effusive, saying: “If I had been in Essendon’s situation ... I would have reported it to my president, and I’m sure our president would have gone straight to the opposition president, and we would have settled it that way.”8 Essendon was forced into an embarrassing apology, with president Greg Sewell saying sorry for “any embarrassment or inconvenience ... Police investigations have proved the allegations unfounded. The Essendon Football Club would have been completely astounded should it have been proved otherwise”.9 Against this controversial backdrop, Essendon had to prepare for a cutthroat preliminary final against a resurgent Collingwood. It need not have worried. The Bombers turned in an awesome display, winning by 133 points. It remains the biggest victory in a final.

Beating Hawthorn would not be as easy, although Sheedy was confident his team had made ground in 12 months. He said: “This is my big test, and the players’ big test.”10 One Sheedy “masterstroke”, according to Capuano, came when the coach allowed one of the club’s most passionate supporters, Mark ‘The Phantom’ Doran, to address the team on the Thursday night after training. Doran, who suffered from a mild form of cerebral palsy, “was fantastic, singling out players such as Vander Haar, who he told to go straight home after training and to not have a drink on the way”.11 But Sheedy did have some concerns with selection. He had endured the wrath of some supporters for not selecting crowd favourite Ron Andrews in the previous year’s Grand Final. Tony Buhagiar would be the unlucky player in 1984. Early on Grand Final morning, ‘Budgie’ took a call from Sheedy, saying that if it rained, he was a chance; if it didn’t, he would likely miss out.

“The call wasn’t so much of a shock, because I knew it was coming,” Buhagiar recalled.12 The previous night had brought torrential rain. But the day, although chilly and overcast, did not bring the rain Buhagiar needed.

8

ibid.

9

The Herald, September 20, 1984.

10

The Herald, September 11, 1984.

11

The Age, July 31, 2007.

12

The Age, August 12, 2006.

37

GLENN McFARLANE

The tension between the teams mirrored the relationship between the VFL and the State Government. The VFL had long forecast its desire to shift the Grand Final to Waverley Park by 1984. It had not eventuated, and a stand-off ensued.

The public felt disenfranchised by both. They were even more upset when only 92,685 fans went through the turnstiles on Grand Final day, the smallest crowd since the 1955 Grand Final – a generation earlier. While the general public fought desperately for tickets, a pocket of seats reserved for VFL and MCC members stood unused. Typically, the two parties blamed each other.

The crowd could well have been one fewer. VFL president Dr. Allen Aylett, in his haste, had forgotten his medallion and had to do some fast talking just to gain admittance into the MCG. There were other battles, too. Prime Minister Bob Hawke was, naturally enough, barracking for the Hawks, while Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock supported his beloved Bombers. The pair was locked in a 10-week election campaign with the nation to cast its vote on December 1. Hawke was the overwhelming favourite.

The Hawks, too, were considered the likely winners, but only just.

In the Hawthorn rooms, Jeans urged his team to deliver a “knockout blow” early. “We can’t let them gain the initiative,” he told his players.13 Hawks captain Leigh Matthews subscribed to the same theory.

He took up his position in attack and began to rub his hands in the dirt. He meant business. Within the first 30 seconds, he transformed that nervous energy into the first goal of the game.

Matthews gathered the ball from Rod Lester-Smith and booted truly, raising his index finger to his opponent Bill Duckworth to signal it would be the first of many. This was followed by two quick goals from the previous year’s Norm Smith medallist Colin Robertson, who threatened to wreak more havoc. When Richard Loveridge finished off some good work from Matthews at the seven-minute mark, the Hawks had raced out to a fourgoal lead.

Sheedy didn’t panic, although he was looking for a diversion to stem the flow of Hawthorn goals. He sent a message to Simon 13

The Herald, October 1, 1984.

38

BREAKING THE DROUGHT

Madden “to start a fight ... Simon couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag, but he did his best”.14 Madden was reported for striking Hawthorn ruckman Ian Paton.

A tackle on Terry Wallace brought another altercation. A year earlier, when Watson was downed early in the match, few Essendon players were ready to stand their ground. This time the Hawks noticed a change.

Dermott Brereton recalled later: “Over the pre-season the Kevin Sheedy-led Essendon seethed at the physical manhandling Watson received. The next time we played them it was as if their mentality had changed. The Bombers started to play the game in a vein that suggested you would only win if you could perform under the threat of (your own) physical safety.”15 Essendon’s first goal came 13 minutes into the match when Neil Clarke managed to scramble a kick towards Leon Baker, whose goal gave concerned Bombers fans something to cheer about. But the fightback was only momentary.

Hawthorn kicked the next two goals to stretch the margin to 28 points. Fortunately, the Bombers were able to peg a goal back just before quarter-time thanks to Terry Daniher. The difference at the first break was 21 points, but it could have been so much worse.

Sheedy urged his players to make the most of it early in the second quarter, but they could not make their dominance count on the scoreboard. Three Bomber behinds came in the first three minutes before Hawk forward Ken Judge was the beneficiary of a Matthews handball to kick the opening goal of the term.

That man, Matthews, was again in the play at the 11-minute mark. After a boundary throw-in, he gathered a loose ball to break clear of Duckworth and score Hawthorn’s eighth goal of the game.

The margin had blown out to 32 points.

But just when Essendon appeared in serious trouble, it produced its best passage of play to date at the 21-minute mark to give renewed hope. The Bombers took the ball almost the length of the field to kick a much-needed third goal. It started in defence and ended up with Duckworth, who had been moved off Matthews and into attack.

14

Stand Your Ground, p. 194.

15

Herald Sun, September 30, 2006.

39

GLENN McFARLANE

The half-time margin was 25 points, but a truer indication was the fact that both sides had had 14 scoring shots. It’s just that Hawthorn’s 8.6 made for a better set of numbers than Essendon’s 3.11.

As Essendon’s Doug Cox was winning the half-time Grand Final sprint, his coach was stalking the dressing rooms looking to ignite a spark. He was “casting about for something to jab his players into life”16 when he walked past downcast defender Paul Weston. Weston had an unenviable record of playing in six losing Grand Finals – five with Glenelg; one with Essendon.

Sheedy said to Weston – for the full effect of his teammates – “Have you won a Grand Final?” Weston responded with a firm “No”. Sheedy had set “the blaze (with the players) ... Weston lit it himself”.17 Only four goals were kicked in the third term – two apiece.

Matthews got his third after shrugging off new opponent Clarke nine minutes in.

Duckworth was trying to reinvent himself at the other end. A late withdrawal from the previous Grand Final, he wanted to perform for his parents, who had travelled from their 2000-hectare farm in Dudinin, in country WA. Duckworth managed to get the ball to Baker, who made use of a 15-metre penalty to kick a goal at the 15-minute mark.

Three minutes later, Duckworth got his second goal after a mark and wobbly kick cut the deficit to 17. But each time the Bombers offered a challenge the Hawks appeared capable of answering it.

Brereton once more pushed the margin to four goals after beating Walsh to the ball and kicking a late goal.

Oddly enough, the 23-point, three-quarter time difference was hardly an indication of the body language of the huddles.

Jeans appeared snappy with a Channel Seven cameraman who ventured too close.

Wallace sensed a negative vibe: “I felt we were in trouble when I got to the huddle. We were four goals in front and you would’ve believed we were three goals down. There was panic in the camp.”18 Even Brereton feared that Essendon had the momentum, saying later that he believed the tide had turned even before the half-time break.

16

The Sun, October 1, 1984.

17

ibid.

18

Herald Sun, April 6, 2005.

40

BREAKING THE DROUGHT

There was no panic in the Essendon huddle. Sheedy recalled: “I was pretty excited ... I thought Hawthorn was gone. I think Allan Jeans knew it, too; just by the way he was addressing his players who were seated around him.”19 The Essendon coach pointed to the opposition and said: “Have a look at them, they’re gone.” Sheedy had also been busy changing his line-up. He shifted Weston to attack and Daniher back in his place.

He moved Baker and Bradbury forward, and switched Williams on to Wallace. Madden had been playing “like an old chook”, according to Lou Richards, but Sheedy decided to bring him off the bench, where he had spent much of the third quarter, and into the ruck.

Years later, Sheedy would say: “The best positional moves I’ve ever made were at three-quarter time of the 1984 Grand Final.

We threw some backmen forward and some forwards went back.

People thought it was crazy but, you know, it worked. If we didn’t take those risks, I doubt whether we would have won.”20 His players were just as confident. Watson said: “We went into the huddle in a really pumped state; we all felt we would be able to overrun them.”21 Duckworth, playing a key role in attack, was just as effusive, saying: “We seemed to have more legs and ‘Sheeds’ came out and said we only had to get the first score on the board.”22 Madden won the first bounce, tapped it to Williams who kicked deep into attack. Baker gathered the loose ball and let fly with a left-foot kick that split the middle – all within the first 20 seconds.

It was the rapid response Sheedy had urged for.

Just as important was the response from the Essendon crowd which had waited so long for a premiership. Wallace said: “I’ve always felt the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in football was when Baker kicked that first goal. It was the awakening of the sleeping giant.”23 Two minutes later, Bradbury ran into an open goal after the ball sailed over a pack. At the eight-minute mark, Duckworth found a loose player in Mark Thompson, and the 20-year-old reduced the deficit to five points.

19

Stand Your Ground, p. 196.

20

An Illustrated History of Essendon Football Club, p. 70.

21

Herald Sun, April 6, 2005.

22

ibid.

23

ibid.

41

GLENN McFARLANE

Essendon made it four goals in nine minutes when another Williams long bomb bounced awkwardly. Baker superbly read the play, did a blind turn around David O’Halloran before straightening and kicking truly. Incredibly, the Bombers led by a point.

The giant was no longer sleeping. It was on the march.

Then followed an incident which Sheedy believed guaranteed Essendon the flag. Hawthorn strongman Robert DiPierdomenico, who had been kept quiet by Shane Heard, knocked out Kevin Walsh with a bone-crunching forearm. As the stretcher came out, Essendon runner Peter Power ran around to request the players to stay focused.

Power said: “I had never seen so much fire in the eyes of our players and I don’t think I have ever seen them as angry.”24 Sheedy, too, sensed a change: “There were two Grand Finals.

One was up until when Walsh got knocked out and then we had a 16-minute Grand Final. And the move I never made was when Walsh was knocked out. (As a result) we put Merrett on.”25 Merrett’s presence on the ground in the last quarter of an hour of the season would prove decisive. But, against the trend of play, Hawthorn snatched back the lead at the 18-minute mark, thanks to some fine play by Peter Curran and some sloppy work from Daniher. Curran took a mark almost 60 metres out from goal. The distance was improved when Daniher “foolishly gave away what is loosely termed a ‘professional’ 15-metre penalty ... (having) kicked the ball away from his opponent in what would certainly have been a costly error if Essendon had not grabbed victory”.26 That’s when the Walsh incident came back to hurt Hawthorn.

Five goals in the next 12 minutes secured the premiership for a fired-up Essendon. It started when a long Vander Haar kick found Merrett in the goalsquare. His goal regained the lead at the 23-minute mark and the Bombers never relinquished it.

Two minutes later, in a critical passage of play, the ball again went from one end of the ground to the other to result in another Essendon goal. It started in defence where Duckworth marked a poor shot at goal from DiPierdomenico. He transferred play to the 24

Sunday Press, September 30, 1984.

25

Herald Sun, April 6, 2005.

26

Sunday Press, September 30, 1984.

42

BREAKING THE DROUGHT

running Bradbury, who kicked towards Merrett. The big Bomber gave off a handball to Mark Harvey, the only teenager on the field, who fired the ball forward. A tap on from Vander Haar found Weston, who threw it onto his left boot for a goal.

Sheedy would call it “poetry with a piece of pigskin”.27 Weston was less aesthetic, saying, “I knew the general direction of the goals ... it’s about time we had a bit of luck.”28 Weston had a hand in the next goal, too, a minute later when he gave off to Watson. Not content with one goal, Watson followed it up with another almost immediately. After trailing Hawthorn by two points only nine minutes earlier, Essendon now held a 24-point lead.

While Matthews kicked the Hawks’ last goal for the game at the 32-minute mark, the Bombers had one more in reserve before the final siren. Some courageous play from Duckworth resulted in Glenn Hawker sending the ball long to Merv Neagle, whose long goal was, according to Channel Seven’s Peter Landy, “the sealer if ever there needed to be one”.

It left Essendon a 24-point winner with a scoreline of 14.21 (105), eerily the same as the club had scored when it previously won the flag in 1965. The club’s 9.6 final-term score was the highest last-quarter performance in a Grand Final. It would be a short-lived record.

It was fitting, too, that the captain Daniher had the last possession of the game. A roar went up in the Northern Hotel in Daniher’s home town of Ungarie, in country NSW. The roar would turn to anger soon after when Channel Seven in NSW opted to switch to Bathurst rather than stick with the medal presentations. Daniher made it up to the patrons when he called the hotel at 7.30 that night, thanking them for their support, and telling them to drink up as he planned to do.

The villain of the Essendon crowd, DiPierdomenico, told Watson and Harvey to “suck it in, you’ll never forget it”.29 Harvey could barely contain his emotion after his 16th game, saying, “This is a once-in-alifetime thing.”30 It wasn’t. He still had two more flags to win.

27

Stand Your Ground, p. 200.

28

The Sun, October 1, 1984.

29

ibid.

30

ibid.

43

GLENN McFARLANE

Described as a ‘first-year phenomenon’, Harvey was one of the most popular players on the dais to accept his medal, along with Norm Smith Medal winner Duckworth, Watson and Vander Haar.

That was until Daniher “ambled” up to the dais to accept his medal and then the premiership cup along with his jubilant coach.

There were tears of joy and a tinge of sadness in the Essendon rooms.

Salmon wiped tears from his eyes as he declared he would be in the same position next year with a premiership medal around his neck. He was.

Buhagiar knew his future was less assured. It wasn’t until he got out in the car park that he “bawled”. Sheedy could not do anything to change his feelings that night. But, almost 15 years later, Sheedy presented the unlucky Bomber with a replica ’84 premiership cup with his name etched alongside the team. Its inscription read: “Injured or not, absolutely and undeniably next selection. Kevin Sheedy and the Essendon team.”31 Weston’s tears came as a relief after so many unfulfilled Grand Finals. He offered condolences to Carey, who missed out after playing in the 1983 loss, saying, “... sorry, mate, but after losing six ...” He never finished the sentence. Sheedy walked past and said: “You had to come over and play with me to win one.”32 Duckworth had two medals around his neck, but only one of them mattered to him. “I don’t think I was the match-winner,” he said. “The whole team was the match-winner in that last quarter.

(But) it was good having someone chasing you instead of chasing some other bugger.”33 Sheedy was content to let his players bask in the glory. They deserved it. They had followed his instructions to the letter, not just on that day, but over four seasons.

“I will not be on the planet tonight,” he joked. It would not be the last time people would suspect that. “I’m an extrovert in a conservative community.” Then he issued a warning to rival clubs, already wondering how they were going to stop this red-and-black juggernaut of Sheedy’s making: “We have modelled ourselves to stay on top, and not just for one year.”34 31

The Age, August 12, 2006.

32

The Sun, October 1, 1984.

33

ibid.

34

ibid.

44

BREAKING THE DROUGHT

Essendon Hawthorn GOALS Essendon Hawthorn BEST Essendon Hawthorn Umpires Attendance Norm Smith Medal ESSENDON B HB C HF F R I/C Coach HAWTHORN B HB C HF F R I/C Coach

2.4 6.1

3.11 8.6

5.15 14.21 (105) 10.8 12.9 (81)

Baker 4, Duckworth 2, Watson 2, T. Daniher, Bradbury, Thompson, Merrett, Weston, Neagle.

Matthews 4, Brereton 2, Robertson 2, Loveridge, Tuck, Judge, Curran.

Duckworth, Watson, Harvey, Hawker, Heard, Baker.

Wallace, Loveridge, Schwab, Greene, Matthews, Ayres.

G. James, R. Sawers.

92,685.

Billy Duckworth.

G. Foulds, W. Duckworth, P. Weston P. Bradbury, K. Walsh, G. Hawker M. Neagle, L. Baker, S. Heard T. Watson, T. Daniher (c), P. Vander Haar A. Ezard, S. Madden, F. Dunell R. Merrett, N. Clarke, D. Williams M. Harvey, M. Thompson K. Sheedy G. Ayres, D. O’Halloran, C. Robertson R. Lester-Smith, C. Mew, P. Schwab R. DiPierdomenico, T. Wallace, P. Russo K. Judge, D. Brereton, P. Curran M. McCarthy, L. Matthews (c), R. Loveridge M. Byrne, M. Tuck, R. Greene I. Paton, R. Eade A. Jeans

45

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