I thought fellow PRE readers might be interested in some stories from a dinner on Thursday night. For my birthday, my family bought me two tickets for the 1980 Premiership reunion dinner (40 years plus one for Covid) with Flea Weightman and Disco Roach as the special guests. The event was held at the Sporting Globe in Richmond with around 60 people in attendance. My wife and I had a photo with Disco and Flea with the Cup and they had the printed, signed and framed photo ready for collection at the end of the night. The photo looks great.
There was a meal and the MC had a Q&A with the boys up on a small stage. There were also questions from the audience at the end, and people could get a photo with the Cup and/or boys and get items signed in the break. Disco was seated at the head of our table, between my wife and I. Getting to sit and chat with my boyhood hero for a few hours was the highlight of the night and something I will never forget. Some of the things that were discussed either in the Q&A or in the table chat may be familiar or may be new, but hopefully of some interest.
- Disco said he would love to play footy in this era. He said the opportunity to be a full-time professional training throughout the day would help your game enormously. Disco had a range of jobs when he played with the Tigers, including selling cars, working with the sports store Merrett-Hassett for many years and also being a part-time recruiter for the Club when he was injured later in his career (more on this later). He said former Pies' champion Thorold Merrett was a great boss as he would give him time off for any footy commitments. The other half of that business partnership was former Australian Test cricket captain Lindsay Hassett, so they both knew what was required to excel in sport. Disco has been a Financial Planner for about 16 years.
- We discussed how his athleticism, running, agility and huge leap would be fascinating to see in the modern game. I said imagine the contract a young Michael Roach in his prime would command today! He said that they never thought much about diet, sometimes just grabbing a pizza on the way home from a long training session after working all day. He noted the difference when his son Tom played 11 games for the Tigers between 2004 to 2006. Disco said they had to change their meals so that Tom was eating the right foods.
He mentioned that Tom loves the Tigers and was shattered when he was delisted. Tom went to North Ballarat under the coaching of Gerald Fitzgerald, who Disco said was a great coach for him, as he was very caring and nurturing. Tom then moved to Swan Districts in the WAFL and is currently coaching Bayswater. Disco said he goes to watch the Tigers play when it doesn't clash with a Bayswater game. Tom started off as a Primary School teacher and is now teaching sport at SEDA College.
- Disco recalled the game in 2017 against the Saints when they smashed us (I think we were down 14 goals to 1 before half time). He was sitting behind *smile* Clay, who had had enough by half time and headed home. Tom was sitting elsewhere at the ground, so Disco called him and said there is a spare seat in front of me if you want to head over. Tom said he couldn't as he was on the tram home!
- Disco lives in Lennox Street Richmond and regularly walks his dogs past the G and walks over to the G when the Tigers are playing. He talked about what a great player Richo was for us, and that he would head over to the G during his career just to see what Richo would do in each game. If Richo started well, we were always a chance. If he was off, we were probably going to struggle. Disco said that Richo was easily the highest paid player at the Club.
- On goalkicking, Disco talked about how Royce taught him how to kick. Disco arrived at the Club as a lightly framed, tall winger, who then had a few seasons hitting the weights and bulking up to be a key forward, which Royce said he would have to if he was to compete as a key position player. Royce wrote down a six-step routine for goalkicking, which Disco practiced and practiced. He still has that piece of paper! This worked beautifully for both Royce and Disco, who were magnificent kicks.
Disco said he worked with Richo before the 1995 season and Richo started the year kicking 27.3 before he did his knee at the SCG. There was then a change of coach (Swooper left, Robert Walls took over) and staff, training times were changed as did Disco's work commitments meaning that he couldn't work with Richo in 1996. Disco also said that Richo listened to a lot of different people on goalkicking after that (he was such a good guy, he would listen to everyone) and this lead to him trying different routines - if he missed his first shot, he would then change to another routine!
- Disco is a massive fan of Jack Riewoldt, saying that his efforts over such a long period of time are amazing. He really likes the way Lynchy plays, hitting the packs hard and has a nice amount of mongrel in him. I asked who was the closest player he played with to Dusty. He said there wasn't really anyone who was similar, someone asked about Maurice, he said a little, but not really. He said Rainsey was a little similar in the midfield, but didn't kick the goals Dusty kicks. He was in awe of Dusty's Grand Final goals, especially the long banana dribbler in the 3rd quarter.
- On Francis Bourke, he said he was the toughest player he had ever seen physically and mentally. Disco said that Francis would work all week in his pub. On a Friday night, they would have a band playing and he would stay back and clean up, washing glasses etc until midnight and then attend midnight mass. He would have a sleep and proceed to play some brilliant footy for the Tigers. Francis was also very fixed in his ways. This came through in his coaching. I commented what a beautiful long kick that Disco was. He said he knew he could kick a drop punt around 55 metres, and if he got onto a torp, it could go anything up to 75 metres. We were playing South Melbourne at the G in 1982 when he was rucking when the General had broken his thumb.
He took a mark about 60 metres out and knew the siren was about to go late in the final quarter, with us trailing by a few points. Francis had a team rule that the players were not allowed to kick torps, but he knew he couldn't make the distance with a drop punt so he unleashed a torp that sailed through and won us the game, the siren blowing at the next centre bounce. As the players were happily coming off the ground, Francis was waiting for him at the top of the race and told him that he wouldn't be playing next week for breaking a team rule. The other players thought this was crazy and kicked up a stink that meant that he eventually was selected to play, but it showed how rigid Francis was. as a coach.
Disco said Francis is a very nice guy who is still working today at 73 - he saw Francis waiting for a tram in Camberwell last week in a fluro vest after work and gave him a lift home. Francis had been in touch with Royce after his car accident and said that Royce had a broken arm and some broken ribs, but he and the people in the other car would be ok. Disco said Francis checking in on Royce summed up who he was as a person.
- Flea didn't appear to be a fan of Francis the coach. The boys discussed how they felt that due to losing Sheeds the previous year to Essendon, the Club became very nervous of losing another favourite son, so after TJ was sacked because of us missing the finals in 1981, Francis was named coach even though he hadn't done any real apprenticeship and by his own admission later, was not ready for the job. His rigid ways were a factor in a number of Premiership players leaving such as Geoff Raines, David Cloke, Bryan Wood and Terry Smith. Flea feels that the poor management of the Club during the early 80s cost him and that playing group several Premierships.
- Disco said he had some offers to leave Richmond throughout his career (Carlton was the main one), but never considered leaving. He said South Melbourne offered him the most money when he was recruited from Tassie by Alan Schwab, but he wanted to play for the Tigers due to Royce Hart. He was originally a Saints fan due to their strong Tassie connection with Doc Baldock, Verdun Howell and Ian Stewart and is a distant relation of Barry Lawrence, also a Saints champion.
- Disco said his best mate from footy is the Ghost, Jimmy Jess. We talked about the story he told on Open Mike where the Ghost set up camp in Terry Smith's lounge room to take care of Terry as he was in the late stages of battling cancer. He said that Jimmy is doing something similar at the moment caring for his parents. The Ghost has a fishing business in WA among other things. Disco said that the Ghost holds a record in the country leagues for winning a Best & Fairest when he was 17 and another when he was 42 after coming back to play with his sons.
He also told the story about the Ghost putting a wild pig in his locker that scared the crap out of him when he opened his locker thinking he was looking for an invitation from Barry Richardson to an event. The Ghost finally caught the pig and Peter Francis took it to his farm and released it. Disco got his revenge by putting a bag of prawns under the front seat of the Ghost's car. Jim's wife took the car away for a weekend with other player's wives to the country and the smell got so bad that he had to sell the car! He said that the General can sometimes across as surly, but he is a great guy when you get to know him. Disco felt that the General was best on ground in the 1980 Grand Final.
- Flea told the story of the brutal pre-season that TJ put them through in 1979. The warm-up was 2 laps of the Tan - 7.6kms. Then there was a series of brutal runs and sprints with hardly any rest in between each sprint, a run to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, where the players would run up and down a hill, then they had to get a partner to piggy-back them up the hill and then swap over. The General tried to pair up with the Flea before Flea pointed out that he would have to carry the General, which wasn't a chance! There was no water allowed as that was a sign of weakness and players were passing out. Col Waterson and another player were taken off in an ambulance after becoming so dehydrated that they collapsed.
Flea said the players saw some sprinklers on where the Tennis Centre is now and they raced to scoop up water off the grass, even though it had chemicals mixed in! One night the boys decided to head to the pub on the way home and were off their tree after a couple of beers due to being so dehydrated. Their partners didn't believe that they had been training most of the night, thinking they had been at the pub all night!
- Flea said they were super fit in 1979, but lacked skills. The Club hired Sheeds as a skills coach and this helped a lot with the skill development. He gave every player a (used) footy and they had to have it with them all the time. If you forgot your footy, you would be fined. That was a lot for players, as Flea said in his first season, he played 18 games and made $380! The players decided to keep their footy in their lockers to avoid leaving it at home.
One night after training, the players opened their lockers and discovered that the balls were missing. A few weeks later, some of the boys went to Avoca for an event for the Ghost in his home town. They noticed a bunch of kids walking along bouncing footies. The Ghost had knocked them off and sold them to the kids in Avoca for $20 each. He made more out of that than he did playing for the year! Flea said the Ghost never trained in the pre-season, he always had an excuse that he was working on the farm, but he was just naturally fit with the farm work and could obviously play superbly well.
- Flea told the story of taking the Premiership Cup to Mildura the week after the Grand Final. It was his 21st birthday and his dad was arranging a party. They decided to invite everyone from the Club, thinking nobody would go as Mildura is a long trip from Melbourne. They had 450 accept in total for the party and his Dad had to arrange for the people arriving on trains and buses to be picked up from the station and taken to accommodation that had been hastily arranged.
They had a big night at the party on Saturday night and early on the Sunday morning, his dad woke Flea saying the Cup was missing. They finally tracked it down. His dad said we need to be at 10am Mass at the Catholic Church - the priests had taken the Cup and wanted Flea to bring it up to the altar! The priest was a big Tigers fan and spent the Mass telling everyone how the Tigers had smashed the Magpies!
- I asked Disco if he was confident going into the 1980 Grand Final and he said it was a bit hard to judge as they hadn't played in a Grand Final before, but knew if they played their best footy, they would be very hard to beat, especially as Collingwood had played each week of the Finals and had played close, tough games. By quarter time, he said they knew we were going to win. I asked if he thought Geelong would have been a harder game and he said that the second semi against Geelong was their toughest final. The boys were asked by the MC why the captain Bruce Monteath was on the bench.
Flea said he had been injured during the year with an ankle injury and Disco said that Bruce had rang TJ and almost begged to play in the Grand Final. That lead to the story about how Denis Collins was in the team, but missed a compulsory meeting with Rudi Webster, the Club psychologist, and was then left out. He missed the meeting because his girlfriend demanded that they go to the movies!
- Disco said his toughest opponent was Geoff Southby, who did the same things he could do just as well as he could. He said that Royce and then KB were the greatest Tigers he had seen and that Dusty was right up there and could go past them before his career is over, especially if we win another flag and if Dusty got another Norm Smith. Both guys said that KB was an amazing reader of the play, if you second grabbed a mark or ball, KB would pounce. Flea said that Shane Heard from Essendon was his toughest opponent, as he basically just turned away from the ball and face guarded him all day.
The boys were asked who was the better player between Gary Ablett Snr and Jnr. They said they were both great players, Disco leaning towards Snr on the key forward rule! Flea remembers playing the Cats in the late 80s when he hurt his hammy early in the game and sat and watched as Snr kicked 14 from a wing and enjoying the show...until he remembered it was against us!
- The famous Disco mark over Kelvin and Terry Moore was discussed. Disco said his parents were over from Tassie for the game. His mum suffers from migraines and was in the toilet when the mark was taken. On her return, dad said with a Tassie drawl "Mike has just taken a pretty decent mark". On the drive home from the game, they stopped at a milk bar to get some milk for a cuppa and mum came out with 5 copies of the Herald with the photo of the famous grab her son had taken! Disco was asked if he was ever worried about hurting himself when flying for marks and said it was just what he did.
- Both Flea and Disco were glowing in their praise for our off-field setup now, especially Benny and Peggy. They said Benny is just an amazing operator and that Peggy is super smart and switched on about governance and compliance and is a very nice lady. Disco said when he was injured, the Club asked him to go down to Tassie to check out a prospective recruit, a guy named Errol Bourne. Errol was quite underwhelming in his performance, but Disco did notice a tall lad taking some good marks and kicking 4 goals in the first half.
He was chatting with a local who said it was Benny Gale, who only comes down to play some weeks due to his studies and that his older brother was already playing in the VFL. Disco jokingly claimed credit for getting Benny to the Club and Flea reckons he taught Benny everything that he knows when he was working at the Club! Flea said he was let go from the Club in the Covid layoffs last year, but will be doing some work with the 3121 and Club 13 functions and other events. He is currently doing some laboring for a mate, as he likes to keep busy.
- Emma Murray and the Mindfulness program was also a topic of conversation. Disco agreed that it was a great thing for the Club as it is working for them. We then discussed Rubi Webster and Disco said he found it useful, as he also saw a Sports Psychologist himself each Friday before a game in an effort to maintain and improve consistency in his game. He was a guy who worked with Ron Barassi at North Melbourne during their 1977 Premiership year. Disco said he would have much preferred just finding a quiet corner and mentally preparing like the guys do now rather than the bumping and wrestling that they did pre-game back in the day. Disco thinks the Tigers will be strong contenders again this year, but nothing is guaranteed with injuries etc playing a part.
- It was a little difficult to tell how much they liked KB. I suspect they like him, but find him a bit different. Flea mentioned how tough it was for KB coaching the Tigers with no money and not being able to recruit any players, even buying some weights for the gym himself. They said he was a good coach, always positive, Flea remembering a great win in Geelong when they owned us. Both boys said KB would dish a few out on the field, including when he belted Bruce Nankervis at Geelong (he got reported and let off) and opened up a gash requiring 8 stitches. He also belted Jacko one night at training. Disco said that Jacko didn't like him as Jacko felt he was taking his spot.
Disco said it was a motivation arriving at the ground watching some of the reserves game and seeing Jacko kicking a bag each week, as he knew he had to play well to keep his spot. Flea recounted KB having a photo of the Board who didn't renew his contract on his fridge, crossing them off as they left the Club. It was the fact that the media got hold of the story before it was official that they thought annoyed KB. Disco said that it was really KB's loss, as he felt that the Club owned them nothing. They both said that KB could be quite pig headed and this was one of those times.
- Flea was asked how often he got reported. - it was 16 times. 8 times he was suspended and 8 times he got off. He was then asked how many times he was actually guilty and he said 16! Disco said he only got reported for shaking a goal post one day. I said to Disco that I never remember him getting into wrestles with opponents and he said that was never his thing (Flea said he wouldn't bruise a grape!) - and he was a fast runner to get away!
All in all, a truly memorable night with two members of Richmond royalty. I felt like a 12 year old again reliving my childhood and then morphing into the current times. If you get a chance to go to a Signature Sports event organised by Ben Charles, (he was the MC and looked after everyone superbly) I would snap it up as they are great! Apologies for the long post, I just kept remembering things that were said and wanted to share with my fellow PRE buddies.
Go Tiges!
There was a meal and the MC had a Q&A with the boys up on a small stage. There were also questions from the audience at the end, and people could get a photo with the Cup and/or boys and get items signed in the break. Disco was seated at the head of our table, between my wife and I. Getting to sit and chat with my boyhood hero for a few hours was the highlight of the night and something I will never forget. Some of the things that were discussed either in the Q&A or in the table chat may be familiar or may be new, but hopefully of some interest.
- Disco said he would love to play footy in this era. He said the opportunity to be a full-time professional training throughout the day would help your game enormously. Disco had a range of jobs when he played with the Tigers, including selling cars, working with the sports store Merrett-Hassett for many years and also being a part-time recruiter for the Club when he was injured later in his career (more on this later). He said former Pies' champion Thorold Merrett was a great boss as he would give him time off for any footy commitments. The other half of that business partnership was former Australian Test cricket captain Lindsay Hassett, so they both knew what was required to excel in sport. Disco has been a Financial Planner for about 16 years.
- We discussed how his athleticism, running, agility and huge leap would be fascinating to see in the modern game. I said imagine the contract a young Michael Roach in his prime would command today! He said that they never thought much about diet, sometimes just grabbing a pizza on the way home from a long training session after working all day. He noted the difference when his son Tom played 11 games for the Tigers between 2004 to 2006. Disco said they had to change their meals so that Tom was eating the right foods.
He mentioned that Tom loves the Tigers and was shattered when he was delisted. Tom went to North Ballarat under the coaching of Gerald Fitzgerald, who Disco said was a great coach for him, as he was very caring and nurturing. Tom then moved to Swan Districts in the WAFL and is currently coaching Bayswater. Disco said he goes to watch the Tigers play when it doesn't clash with a Bayswater game. Tom started off as a Primary School teacher and is now teaching sport at SEDA College.
- Disco recalled the game in 2017 against the Saints when they smashed us (I think we were down 14 goals to 1 before half time). He was sitting behind *smile* Clay, who had had enough by half time and headed home. Tom was sitting elsewhere at the ground, so Disco called him and said there is a spare seat in front of me if you want to head over. Tom said he couldn't as he was on the tram home!
- Disco lives in Lennox Street Richmond and regularly walks his dogs past the G and walks over to the G when the Tigers are playing. He talked about what a great player Richo was for us, and that he would head over to the G during his career just to see what Richo would do in each game. If Richo started well, we were always a chance. If he was off, we were probably going to struggle. Disco said that Richo was easily the highest paid player at the Club.
- On goalkicking, Disco talked about how Royce taught him how to kick. Disco arrived at the Club as a lightly framed, tall winger, who then had a few seasons hitting the weights and bulking up to be a key forward, which Royce said he would have to if he was to compete as a key position player. Royce wrote down a six-step routine for goalkicking, which Disco practiced and practiced. He still has that piece of paper! This worked beautifully for both Royce and Disco, who were magnificent kicks.
Disco said he worked with Richo before the 1995 season and Richo started the year kicking 27.3 before he did his knee at the SCG. There was then a change of coach (Swooper left, Robert Walls took over) and staff, training times were changed as did Disco's work commitments meaning that he couldn't work with Richo in 1996. Disco also said that Richo listened to a lot of different people on goalkicking after that (he was such a good guy, he would listen to everyone) and this lead to him trying different routines - if he missed his first shot, he would then change to another routine!
- Disco is a massive fan of Jack Riewoldt, saying that his efforts over such a long period of time are amazing. He really likes the way Lynchy plays, hitting the packs hard and has a nice amount of mongrel in him. I asked who was the closest player he played with to Dusty. He said there wasn't really anyone who was similar, someone asked about Maurice, he said a little, but not really. He said Rainsey was a little similar in the midfield, but didn't kick the goals Dusty kicks. He was in awe of Dusty's Grand Final goals, especially the long banana dribbler in the 3rd quarter.
- On Francis Bourke, he said he was the toughest player he had ever seen physically and mentally. Disco said that Francis would work all week in his pub. On a Friday night, they would have a band playing and he would stay back and clean up, washing glasses etc until midnight and then attend midnight mass. He would have a sleep and proceed to play some brilliant footy for the Tigers. Francis was also very fixed in his ways. This came through in his coaching. I commented what a beautiful long kick that Disco was. He said he knew he could kick a drop punt around 55 metres, and if he got onto a torp, it could go anything up to 75 metres. We were playing South Melbourne at the G in 1982 when he was rucking when the General had broken his thumb.
He took a mark about 60 metres out and knew the siren was about to go late in the final quarter, with us trailing by a few points. Francis had a team rule that the players were not allowed to kick torps, but he knew he couldn't make the distance with a drop punt so he unleashed a torp that sailed through and won us the game, the siren blowing at the next centre bounce. As the players were happily coming off the ground, Francis was waiting for him at the top of the race and told him that he wouldn't be playing next week for breaking a team rule. The other players thought this was crazy and kicked up a stink that meant that he eventually was selected to play, but it showed how rigid Francis was. as a coach.
Disco said Francis is a very nice guy who is still working today at 73 - he saw Francis waiting for a tram in Camberwell last week in a fluro vest after work and gave him a lift home. Francis had been in touch with Royce after his car accident and said that Royce had a broken arm and some broken ribs, but he and the people in the other car would be ok. Disco said Francis checking in on Royce summed up who he was as a person.
- Flea didn't appear to be a fan of Francis the coach. The boys discussed how they felt that due to losing Sheeds the previous year to Essendon, the Club became very nervous of losing another favourite son, so after TJ was sacked because of us missing the finals in 1981, Francis was named coach even though he hadn't done any real apprenticeship and by his own admission later, was not ready for the job. His rigid ways were a factor in a number of Premiership players leaving such as Geoff Raines, David Cloke, Bryan Wood and Terry Smith. Flea feels that the poor management of the Club during the early 80s cost him and that playing group several Premierships.
- Disco said he had some offers to leave Richmond throughout his career (Carlton was the main one), but never considered leaving. He said South Melbourne offered him the most money when he was recruited from Tassie by Alan Schwab, but he wanted to play for the Tigers due to Royce Hart. He was originally a Saints fan due to their strong Tassie connection with Doc Baldock, Verdun Howell and Ian Stewart and is a distant relation of Barry Lawrence, also a Saints champion.
- Disco said his best mate from footy is the Ghost, Jimmy Jess. We talked about the story he told on Open Mike where the Ghost set up camp in Terry Smith's lounge room to take care of Terry as he was in the late stages of battling cancer. He said that Jimmy is doing something similar at the moment caring for his parents. The Ghost has a fishing business in WA among other things. Disco said that the Ghost holds a record in the country leagues for winning a Best & Fairest when he was 17 and another when he was 42 after coming back to play with his sons.
He also told the story about the Ghost putting a wild pig in his locker that scared the crap out of him when he opened his locker thinking he was looking for an invitation from Barry Richardson to an event. The Ghost finally caught the pig and Peter Francis took it to his farm and released it. Disco got his revenge by putting a bag of prawns under the front seat of the Ghost's car. Jim's wife took the car away for a weekend with other player's wives to the country and the smell got so bad that he had to sell the car! He said that the General can sometimes across as surly, but he is a great guy when you get to know him. Disco felt that the General was best on ground in the 1980 Grand Final.
- Flea told the story of the brutal pre-season that TJ put them through in 1979. The warm-up was 2 laps of the Tan - 7.6kms. Then there was a series of brutal runs and sprints with hardly any rest in between each sprint, a run to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, where the players would run up and down a hill, then they had to get a partner to piggy-back them up the hill and then swap over. The General tried to pair up with the Flea before Flea pointed out that he would have to carry the General, which wasn't a chance! There was no water allowed as that was a sign of weakness and players were passing out. Col Waterson and another player were taken off in an ambulance after becoming so dehydrated that they collapsed.
Flea said the players saw some sprinklers on where the Tennis Centre is now and they raced to scoop up water off the grass, even though it had chemicals mixed in! One night the boys decided to head to the pub on the way home and were off their tree after a couple of beers due to being so dehydrated. Their partners didn't believe that they had been training most of the night, thinking they had been at the pub all night!
- Flea said they were super fit in 1979, but lacked skills. The Club hired Sheeds as a skills coach and this helped a lot with the skill development. He gave every player a (used) footy and they had to have it with them all the time. If you forgot your footy, you would be fined. That was a lot for players, as Flea said in his first season, he played 18 games and made $380! The players decided to keep their footy in their lockers to avoid leaving it at home.
One night after training, the players opened their lockers and discovered that the balls were missing. A few weeks later, some of the boys went to Avoca for an event for the Ghost in his home town. They noticed a bunch of kids walking along bouncing footies. The Ghost had knocked them off and sold them to the kids in Avoca for $20 each. He made more out of that than he did playing for the year! Flea said the Ghost never trained in the pre-season, he always had an excuse that he was working on the farm, but he was just naturally fit with the farm work and could obviously play superbly well.
- Flea told the story of taking the Premiership Cup to Mildura the week after the Grand Final. It was his 21st birthday and his dad was arranging a party. They decided to invite everyone from the Club, thinking nobody would go as Mildura is a long trip from Melbourne. They had 450 accept in total for the party and his Dad had to arrange for the people arriving on trains and buses to be picked up from the station and taken to accommodation that had been hastily arranged.
They had a big night at the party on Saturday night and early on the Sunday morning, his dad woke Flea saying the Cup was missing. They finally tracked it down. His dad said we need to be at 10am Mass at the Catholic Church - the priests had taken the Cup and wanted Flea to bring it up to the altar! The priest was a big Tigers fan and spent the Mass telling everyone how the Tigers had smashed the Magpies!
- I asked Disco if he was confident going into the 1980 Grand Final and he said it was a bit hard to judge as they hadn't played in a Grand Final before, but knew if they played their best footy, they would be very hard to beat, especially as Collingwood had played each week of the Finals and had played close, tough games. By quarter time, he said they knew we were going to win. I asked if he thought Geelong would have been a harder game and he said that the second semi against Geelong was their toughest final. The boys were asked by the MC why the captain Bruce Monteath was on the bench.
Flea said he had been injured during the year with an ankle injury and Disco said that Bruce had rang TJ and almost begged to play in the Grand Final. That lead to the story about how Denis Collins was in the team, but missed a compulsory meeting with Rudi Webster, the Club psychologist, and was then left out. He missed the meeting because his girlfriend demanded that they go to the movies!
- Disco said his toughest opponent was Geoff Southby, who did the same things he could do just as well as he could. He said that Royce and then KB were the greatest Tigers he had seen and that Dusty was right up there and could go past them before his career is over, especially if we win another flag and if Dusty got another Norm Smith. Both guys said that KB was an amazing reader of the play, if you second grabbed a mark or ball, KB would pounce. Flea said that Shane Heard from Essendon was his toughest opponent, as he basically just turned away from the ball and face guarded him all day.
The boys were asked who was the better player between Gary Ablett Snr and Jnr. They said they were both great players, Disco leaning towards Snr on the key forward rule! Flea remembers playing the Cats in the late 80s when he hurt his hammy early in the game and sat and watched as Snr kicked 14 from a wing and enjoying the show...until he remembered it was against us!
- The famous Disco mark over Kelvin and Terry Moore was discussed. Disco said his parents were over from Tassie for the game. His mum suffers from migraines and was in the toilet when the mark was taken. On her return, dad said with a Tassie drawl "Mike has just taken a pretty decent mark". On the drive home from the game, they stopped at a milk bar to get some milk for a cuppa and mum came out with 5 copies of the Herald with the photo of the famous grab her son had taken! Disco was asked if he was ever worried about hurting himself when flying for marks and said it was just what he did.
- Both Flea and Disco were glowing in their praise for our off-field setup now, especially Benny and Peggy. They said Benny is just an amazing operator and that Peggy is super smart and switched on about governance and compliance and is a very nice lady. Disco said when he was injured, the Club asked him to go down to Tassie to check out a prospective recruit, a guy named Errol Bourne. Errol was quite underwhelming in his performance, but Disco did notice a tall lad taking some good marks and kicking 4 goals in the first half.
He was chatting with a local who said it was Benny Gale, who only comes down to play some weeks due to his studies and that his older brother was already playing in the VFL. Disco jokingly claimed credit for getting Benny to the Club and Flea reckons he taught Benny everything that he knows when he was working at the Club! Flea said he was let go from the Club in the Covid layoffs last year, but will be doing some work with the 3121 and Club 13 functions and other events. He is currently doing some laboring for a mate, as he likes to keep busy.
- Emma Murray and the Mindfulness program was also a topic of conversation. Disco agreed that it was a great thing for the Club as it is working for them. We then discussed Rubi Webster and Disco said he found it useful, as he also saw a Sports Psychologist himself each Friday before a game in an effort to maintain and improve consistency in his game. He was a guy who worked with Ron Barassi at North Melbourne during their 1977 Premiership year. Disco said he would have much preferred just finding a quiet corner and mentally preparing like the guys do now rather than the bumping and wrestling that they did pre-game back in the day. Disco thinks the Tigers will be strong contenders again this year, but nothing is guaranteed with injuries etc playing a part.
- It was a little difficult to tell how much they liked KB. I suspect they like him, but find him a bit different. Flea mentioned how tough it was for KB coaching the Tigers with no money and not being able to recruit any players, even buying some weights for the gym himself. They said he was a good coach, always positive, Flea remembering a great win in Geelong when they owned us. Both boys said KB would dish a few out on the field, including when he belted Bruce Nankervis at Geelong (he got reported and let off) and opened up a gash requiring 8 stitches. He also belted Jacko one night at training. Disco said that Jacko didn't like him as Jacko felt he was taking his spot.
Disco said it was a motivation arriving at the ground watching some of the reserves game and seeing Jacko kicking a bag each week, as he knew he had to play well to keep his spot. Flea recounted KB having a photo of the Board who didn't renew his contract on his fridge, crossing them off as they left the Club. It was the fact that the media got hold of the story before it was official that they thought annoyed KB. Disco said that it was really KB's loss, as he felt that the Club owned them nothing. They both said that KB could be quite pig headed and this was one of those times.
- Flea was asked how often he got reported. - it was 16 times. 8 times he was suspended and 8 times he got off. He was then asked how many times he was actually guilty and he said 16! Disco said he only got reported for shaking a goal post one day. I said to Disco that I never remember him getting into wrestles with opponents and he said that was never his thing (Flea said he wouldn't bruise a grape!) - and he was a fast runner to get away!
All in all, a truly memorable night with two members of Richmond royalty. I felt like a 12 year old again reliving my childhood and then morphing into the current times. If you get a chance to go to a Signature Sports event organised by Ben Charles, (he was the MC and looked after everyone superbly) I would snap it up as they are great! Apologies for the long post, I just kept remembering things that were said and wanted to share with my fellow PRE buddies.
Go Tiges!
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