Tommy was interviewed on Sport 927 this week. I’ll type the gist of it for those without speakers. Listen to the interview here.
They rang him at 6.45am and Tommy had just finished his running and exercises.
Asked about his junior footy and where he played-
There was no junior footy as such many, many years ago. He Played 3 under 15 games at school against neighbouring schools. He lived in Canberra at the end of the depression and moved back to Melbourne and went to school in East Malvern. His first footy was under 18s.
Asked about how he got to Richmond.
Tommy was born in Richmond and East Malvern was Richmond’s metropolitan zone. There were no zones in the country back then. Not many suburbs were zoned, Glen Waverley and Oakleigh weren’t, and if you weren’t zoned you could play anywhere but if you were zoned you had to play for that club.
RFC had scouts looking around and someone must have noticed his team. 150-200 nother kids similar ages were invited down too. Played practice games Feb/March and season started in April. As a result they’d be crossing names off and you just hoped you’d be retained till the end. It was very cut throat. Back then there was only footy and cricket and the girls played softball/rounders. Was the war years and not a lot of sports like we have now.
When he arrived the club wasn’t necessarily that stable. Jack Dyer had just quit as coach. Pannam was his first coach, uncle of Lou and Ronnie Richards. A very, very good player. He was captain coach of Richmond reserves then succeeded Dyer. Oppy was another coach he had. He was the youngest player in the 1943 premiership team.
Asked about Shepparton.
He went there to coach. Was a printer by trade which paid similar to playing for Richmond but coacing in the country coulod pay 4 times as much. Only playing coaches got paid.
Country footy was full of stars. Jimmy Dean, Richmond player, coached Myrtleford. O&M were very strong and coached by players who still had 4-5 years in them.
Asked how he got beck to Richmond.
Had a lot of success at Shepparton. Richmond went up to see him but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back. He was still playing footy and him and Maureen were very happy there. John Edwards, the Shepp Prez, was so demented about his club he’d outbid every AFL official.
He decided to go back to the Tigers who at that stage hadn’t played finals for 20 years. He had a solid hard working group led by Graeme Richmond, who made the initial approach to get Tommy from Shepp. People who worked hard for the club and not for any recognition. A great group who chased and chased and chased.
When Graeme came up to Shepp Tommy told him he wanted to help the Tiges and asked if he saw a player what should he be looking for. Graeme said if they’ve got skills and are quick just send the name. They left no stone unturned.
The decision to coach Richmond was based on him being 34 years of age so not having a lot of footy left. They played till 40s in the lesser leagues but not the better ones. He saw coaching as an extension of playing career.
He had a lot of success at Richmond after initially thinking he’d go down for a couple of years then return to Shepp.
Asked the secret of getting the best out of the players to win 4 premierships.
They trained very hard and were often criticized for training too hard. They players thought we’ve trained so hard that when it comes to the last part of the last quarter they wouldn’t lose those games. That’s what they’d trained for.
Went on to Collingwood talk then so I won’t bother with that other than to say they went from bottom to top in Tommy’s first season as coach. I think he said they made 5 grand finals in 5 years…the boy could coach.
They rang him at 6.45am and Tommy had just finished his running and exercises.
Asked about his junior footy and where he played-
There was no junior footy as such many, many years ago. He Played 3 under 15 games at school against neighbouring schools. He lived in Canberra at the end of the depression and moved back to Melbourne and went to school in East Malvern. His first footy was under 18s.
Asked about how he got to Richmond.
Tommy was born in Richmond and East Malvern was Richmond’s metropolitan zone. There were no zones in the country back then. Not many suburbs were zoned, Glen Waverley and Oakleigh weren’t, and if you weren’t zoned you could play anywhere but if you were zoned you had to play for that club.
RFC had scouts looking around and someone must have noticed his team. 150-200 nother kids similar ages were invited down too. Played practice games Feb/March and season started in April. As a result they’d be crossing names off and you just hoped you’d be retained till the end. It was very cut throat. Back then there was only footy and cricket and the girls played softball/rounders. Was the war years and not a lot of sports like we have now.
When he arrived the club wasn’t necessarily that stable. Jack Dyer had just quit as coach. Pannam was his first coach, uncle of Lou and Ronnie Richards. A very, very good player. He was captain coach of Richmond reserves then succeeded Dyer. Oppy was another coach he had. He was the youngest player in the 1943 premiership team.
Asked about Shepparton.
He went there to coach. Was a printer by trade which paid similar to playing for Richmond but coacing in the country coulod pay 4 times as much. Only playing coaches got paid.
Country footy was full of stars. Jimmy Dean, Richmond player, coached Myrtleford. O&M were very strong and coached by players who still had 4-5 years in them.
Asked how he got beck to Richmond.
Had a lot of success at Shepparton. Richmond went up to see him but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back. He was still playing footy and him and Maureen were very happy there. John Edwards, the Shepp Prez, was so demented about his club he’d outbid every AFL official.
He decided to go back to the Tigers who at that stage hadn’t played finals for 20 years. He had a solid hard working group led by Graeme Richmond, who made the initial approach to get Tommy from Shepp. People who worked hard for the club and not for any recognition. A great group who chased and chased and chased.
When Graeme came up to Shepp Tommy told him he wanted to help the Tiges and asked if he saw a player what should he be looking for. Graeme said if they’ve got skills and are quick just send the name. They left no stone unturned.
The decision to coach Richmond was based on him being 34 years of age so not having a lot of footy left. They played till 40s in the lesser leagues but not the better ones. He saw coaching as an extension of playing career.
He had a lot of success at Richmond after initially thinking he’d go down for a couple of years then return to Shepp.
Asked the secret of getting the best out of the players to win 4 premierships.
They trained very hard and were often criticized for training too hard. They players thought we’ve trained so hard that when it comes to the last part of the last quarter they wouldn’t lose those games. That’s what they’d trained for.
Went on to Collingwood talk then so I won’t bother with that other than to say they went from bottom to top in Tommy’s first season as coach. I think he said they made 5 grand finals in 5 years…the boy could coach.