The book is a brimful of interviews with the game’s great characters and stories of footy’s legends and their deeds. ""This is a real story about an Australian family…the football family…Please enjoy."" From the foreword by Kevin Sheedy.
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Heart & Soul – THE MEETING.
CHAPTER 3 THE MEETING
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2001 — 10:57AM
Media commentator, Carlton legend, player, coach, All-Australian selector Robert Walls should’ve known better. In 1987, led by an inspired David Rhys-Jones, Carlton, with Walls as coach, defeated Hawthorn to win the premiership.
But behind the scenes there was a really emotional uplifting of the Carlton team. Peter Motley’s horrific car accident and the likeable Des English’s battle with cancer had played an inspiring and significant role in the team’s build-up.
Over at Shinboner-land Denis Pagan in 1998 gave Darren Crocker the honour of leading the players onto the ground on the eve of his last game.
On Wednesday night, September 26, 2001, Essendon champion Michael Long’s brave attempt to play in a grand final came to a halt when he pulled a hamstring at top pace; otherwise he would have been a certain inclusion.
With the retirement of the legendary Dean Wallis and the great clubman John Barnes, the breakdown of Longy left the Essendon Football Club in a quandary.
How do you allow supporters to say thank you?
And what do you do about Long? This was no normal hamstring injury…this was the end of an era. Longy wanted to be there for his mates, his people and his club.
So how would you handle it, Wallsy, on the eve of a grand final? Given that not even the harshest of cold-hearted people would say that it’s a given that total focus must be on the game and that shocking word, process.
I’m not going into Michael’s career, I’ve already written his story, but as Sheeds said when Longy returned to the senior side against Richmond in round 22, ""we can’t let Longy go out of the game without giving him the chance to play and for our people to say thank you and goodbye …"". A fitting and justifiable gesture.
Sometimes we do, and should put people before the result. Now that may sound unusual, but people sometimes actually make the club. And our club is a significantly better place for the likes of Long, Wallis and Barnes. Sometimes you have to put everything aside, stand up and say thank you.
We embraced these players as part of our grand final preparation and in the end the ‘hindsight experts’ had great pleasure in putting forward theories suggesting we were over the top. Good luck to them. We lost by four goals, but would shunning these great men have made any difference? … NO!
There was no premeditation; no planning … it was a gut feeling from all concerned. As the team made its way down the race on that Thursday night, James Hird made a stop to proceedings. The players formed a guard of honour and a standing ovation was given by the 6000 people at training. It was a significant moment. So was it unprofessional? There were never any words said like … ""let’s win it for them"". That is winning premierships for the wrong reasons. Our focus was on winning it for the right reasons.
At 10:30 on the Friday morning, with only the assembled squad in attendance, the meeting started with the chairs in a circle, around the painted oval on our clubroom floor. Sheeds went through a three-page document that listed discussion points and scenarios. It focused on the issues that both sides (Essendon and Brisbane) had gone through over the last two months of the season ""on the road to Wembley"".
It wasn’t a heavy meeting and all players calmly talked about the scenarios that will always eventuate in a grand final. Sheeds announced the team and the emergencies and, as is the practice, spent considerable time on the boys who had missed the trip. Bolton, Henneman, Robran, Bannister and McGrath. All were in tears as he spoke. To come so far and to go so close to a game is heartbreaking…and then to be told you miss.
Every year this is the toughest meeting of them all. Sheeds only allows the squad, the coaching group, John Quinn and ‘Doc’ Reid. Sitting around the circle, in the meeting were Long and Wallis.One injured, one battle scarred and worn out.
Michael Long stood and said:
""I’m going to talk to you today…and I’ll probably talk a bit more
tomorrow. I want to talk…(pause)…after what happened at training… (pause).
""First I want to talk to my team. ’Cos I love you guys. I love ‘Solly’ (Dean Solomon), I love ‘Johnno’ (Jason Johnson), ‘Cec’ (Steve Alessio)… (long pause).
""I want you to lift this club. I want you to lift the spirit of this great club. Because this is a great club. That’s the best thing you can do for me and ‘Wally’ and the boys that missed out. I want you to lift this club and show them why the red and black is the best club in Australia.
""I just want you to know…so that you all know that I care about all of you, every one of you. I’m going to be there (tomorrow) Saturday. All the players that missed out, we are going to be there for you.""
Dean Wallis stood and said:
""We all have tears going. I think tomorrow will be a celebration of my time at Essendon. I know you players will get behind Longy and the boys…and f… Brisbane. As Leigh Matthews said ‘if it bleeds we can kill it’, so let’s go after them and we will see who bleeds. We have busted our arse for three years and I remember sitting in the grandstand in 1990 (when Collingwood defeated Essendon in the grand final) and that sticks in my head more than any highs or lows that I’ve had.
""It’s still there burning. F…ing Collingwood hadn’t won a premiership, or done anything for a long time, and you all hear about how they beat Essendon…haven’t seen them for 12 years. And I don’t really know if Brisbane thinks they can beat us in a final because, as Hirdy said, we have great self-belief. Don’t read all that stuff in the paper… we have been and still are a great football club.
""And the last thing is to win that seventeenth premiership. Carlton thinks they are pretty good winning 16; let’s win 17 and be the greatest f…ing team in the history of the AFL.
""You blokes know that I would love to be part of it, but the best thing about this is that I am excited for you blokes.
""Thanks. I’ve had a great time at this footy club…I have no regrets …thanks to everyone and thanks to Sheeds for putting up with me.""
So the man who once said to his young apprentice, Dean Solomon, ""you mightn’t take a million bucks out of this joint…but you will take a million memories"" ... bade farewell to the game.
On that weekend a great club proudly fought out a losing battle to a terrific Brisbane team. But on the Friday, during this meeting, the club moved forward and grew stronger, mainly due to people like Longy and Wally, who by their mere presence and contribution have made Essendon the place it is today and along the way have certainly contributed to the betterment of the game itself.
As Kevin Sheedy then said. ""Thank you for being part of us and it has been a great honour and a privilege to share our lives with you."" It’s something more than football.
Heart & Soul by Robert Shaw is available in the online Bomber Show and also at all good bookstores. Click here for more information.
