Dukes of depth
| 26/08/2000 You feel for players destined to be the bridesmaid never the bride. The perennial understudy never the lead actor. Always the deputy not the sheriff. Wrong place at the wrong time. A classic example is Brett Cook who crossed from Fitzroy to St Kilda. His luck turned in the 1997 finals. Through a series of mishaps, he played in a grand final. more... 19/08/2000 You know, dynasties resonate throughout history. The illustrious Ming dynasty in China. The Habsburgs provided crowned heads of Europe during the 1700s and 1800s. The Petty dynasty, good ol' boys of US Nascar. The TV show of course and the Kiss cover band. But in football a famous dynasty is the Bowers at Richmond. Brendan toiled from the mid to late '80s. Darren 3 games in 1987. But the best remembered as a finals player was Nathan. more... 12/08/2000 Albury is the silk department of football. Check the champions produced by this city in southern New South Wales. Stars that shone like Gucci shoes among the steel capped work boots of player lists. Arguably the greatest of all time triple Brownlow Medallist Haydn Bunton senior came from Albury. So did former Sydney captain Dennis Carroll, a class product. His glorious field kicking resembled a tailor made Armani rig out by comparison with low tariff imports and imperfect lines of disposal you sometimes see at AFL level. But with a bit of luck an Albury player that could have been at the Paris end of the clothes rack was Leigh Newton. more... 5/08/2000 League football can be like riding a bike. Some learn to balance quickly and pick up speed in no time without the slightest hint of a fall or accident. You look at players like Kevin Bartlett and Michael Tuck. They both won stages in footy's equivalent of the Tour de France. Then we see blokes that as kids had all the skills on their dragstar bikes. But as the years roll on they might hit a patch of oil on the road or be forced on to wet tram lines or collide with a car that fails to indicate. All these hazards can restrict even the best athletes. A fella who had the pedals pumping but struck punctures along the AFL road was Robert Stevenson. more... 29/07/2000 There's a long history of footballers who are keen surfies. Players find any excuse to drag on the wetsuit, wax down the plank and hit old briny. The best known wave rider of recent times is former West Coast and Melbourne star Craig Turley, runner up to Jim Stynes in the 1991 Brownlow Medal. Turley retired in 1997 to search the world for ultimate swells. more... 22/07/2000 For some footballers their careers end before they start. The music stops after the intro. It's not the unfinished symphony so much as the score never being written. Add to this a delay in joining AFL ranks. All roads lead to one name. David Ugrinic. more... 15/07/2000 Few things are worse than a curse. The pyramid of Tutankamen. The Porsche Spyder that killed several people including James Dean. The Kennedy clan. But none of these cruel hexes can compare with the knees of triple clubbalist Chris Groom. more... 08/07/2000 Magicians are exciting because they can make something out of nothing. David Copperfield makes people appear out of thin air. Lots of times in public Muhammad Ali turned a handkerchief into an egg. Certain footballers have the magic touch. We never saw enough show stopping talent from Ashley Blurton. more... 01/07/2000 Some players seem destined to walk down a path in the footsteps of greatness. It's like a pass in the alps. There are those who have gone before but the echo is new. So it is with the Melbourne Football Club. Ron Barassi was a product of Castlemaine. When he landed at Demonland he wore with pride the number 31 that his father Ron Barassi senior had carried in the Melbourne premiership side of 1940. Some 35 seasons later, the Dees drafted with 1988 national draft pick number 27 a solid midfielder from Castlemaine. His name was Rod Keogh. He was presented with the red and blue 31. A coincidence. more... 24/06/2000 You come across footballers that are as endangered a group as silver backed highland gorillas and frogs and Brazilian three toed sloths and kiwis and orange roughie fish. These are blokes that play with the AFL team from the suburb where they were born and bred. Especially if a given club is dead as a dodo. If you're thinking about John Rombotis you're right. He grew up in Fitzroy as the area was entering the rarefied air of grooviness. more... 17/06/2000 Big key position players have the value of gold, something like $US289 an ounce. Their worth is also up there with a year's diamond production from a dozen mines in South Africa. It's no wonder AFL clubs engage in a dog fight whenever agile fellas of 193 centimetres plus appear on the market. more... 10/06/2000 Football is a game of more contrasts than snakes and ladders. In yo-yo speak, certain players are remembered for going round the world and walking the dog one minute then the string winding too tight the next. David Hynes has seen it all. more... 3/06/2000 Everyone is aware of bodybuilders that compete for such titles as Mr World and Mr Universe and Mr Olympia won six times by Arnold Schwarzenegger. These designations are supposed to reflect the pinnacles of physical endeavour. But what about an award for Mr Persistence? Judges would be unanimous in presenting the honour to Essendon player Peter Berbakov. more... 27/05/2000 We all know of players that finish their careers with two or three clubs to their names. Some fellas are drafted because of an individual style on a par with John Candy movies. Then as the years roll on they alter their games to fit a new game plan and get into groove like a James Brown song. For example Dale Kickett was asked to kick a lot of goals from half forward at Fitzroy and West Coast and St Kilda and Essendon. It was when the gifted Kickett crossed to Fremantle that he developed into an attacking ball carrier off half back. This change has extended a career which could easily have ended up in the dumpmaster of football. more... 20/05/2000 A lot of clubs have a habit that's harder to break than Duncan Kellaway's concentration. Since the draft first appeared in 1986, a given team tends to select a player with a history of dominating against it. For example Melbourne going for Saint David Grant in 1995. And St Kilda targeting Darren Flanigan in 1991. When Tony Francis was at Collingwood he always starred against the Moorabbinites whether he was in good form or bad. No wonder the Saints snapped him up in 1999 with pre season pick number 7. At Fitzroy, Richard Osborne used to win games off his own Grosby in matches with Sydney. It might as well have been written in neon on the main drag of Las Vegas that the Swans would choose Ozzy with 1993 pre season pick number 1. The list goes on to infinity - perhaps beyond. more... 13/05/2000 Certain footballers are recognised not for refined skills or road runner pace. They might be acknowledged for providing a contest or for blocking and shepherding. They are on hand to supply strength. Such a player is former Port Power centre half forward Daryl Poole. more... 6/05/2000 Some players are remembered for sinking their teeth into their League careers. For example the recently retired champion Chris Lewis closing the choppers on Todd Viney's finger. Then there are the gappers. Damian Monkhorst is in a class of his own. Other notable enamel vacancies include Plugger and Brad Sholl and Tony Shaw who wisely had a trainer rush out with the front fangs when the final siren blew for the 1990 Grand Final. more... 29/04/2000 To use a nautical expression, the Saints have got a list problem. List in the sense of a severe lean to one side. The team is taking on water and players are bailing like crazy to prevent SS St Kilda from going belly-up this season. more... 22/04/2000 Richmond is resigned to LAIR - Life after injury to Richardson. The most time-honoured statement since taking each week as it comes is one door closing and another one opening. Richo's 12 months on the sidelines gives to a youngster an opportunity to put his best foot forward. more... 15/04/2000 Hey isn't link a popular word? I mean you've got City Link and CentreLink and TradeLink and ThriftyLink. But the most important link of all is that between Adelaide and Hawthorn. Hawks' premiership player Darren Jarman returned to the city of spires and starred in the Crows' Grand Final wins of '97 and '98. Also that highly skilled and gutsy performer Tony Hall was a member of the Hawthorn premiership teams in 1988 and 1991. He was picked up by the Crows in 1994 and took over the number 9 jumper from Bruce Lindner. more... 08/04/2000 What do Norway and Shepparton have in common? Give up? Manchester United spare striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Anthony Mellington. Everyone remembers the European Cup Final last year. Manchester United vs Bayern Munich. Andy Cole was dragged and replaced by the baby faced Solskjaer. Deep into injury time in the second half , the Norwegian found space through heavy traffic scored the winning goal. Man United shocked the incredulous Germans. more... 01/04/2000 Over the first six hours of football for premiership points, those Magpies have found the big sticks like heat seeking missiles. The most pleasing aspect for coach Malthouse is the way the forwards and midfielders are sharing the goals. more... 25/03/2000 Over the last few years, the Western Bulldogs defence has been under the magnifying glass. With the hot sunny conditions thus far you reckon the Bullies backline would be burning up like some kind of disco inferno. Critics reckon Western defenders, while mobile and hard at the ball, are a bit short especially at finals time. The back six have to counter big key forwards such as Carey and McKernan and Cummings and Molloy and Tredrea along with Lance Whitnall, the Ron Walker look alike. more... 18/03/2000 Last Sunday night's meeting between St Kilda and Sydney at Colonial brought to mind the teams that Troy Gray played with. TG had one sensational season then drifted from favour with the Bloods before he was considered surplus to the Saints' needs after a year. Gray spent deep freeze winters with ACT side Queanbeyan. more... 11/03/2000 Something players and fans never budget for is the crippling effect of injuries. They always hit at the wrong time of the season. They may result in a team trawling the depths of defeat when they should be near the top of the ladder basking in the sun. more... 04/03/2000 Why do certain players change clubs more than cavemen at war? Answers are simple. To set themselves up financially for life given that the career of an elite athlete in a body contact sport is about 15 per cent of their life span. So what do they do with the other 85 per cent? more... 26/02/2000 Over their careers some players go from rockets to tom thumbs, riches to rags, Gucci boutiques to op shops, Paris to peanuts, London to a brick. more... |
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