The Essendon version of the line in the sand game is a little lower key than the Hawk version. Naturally Kevin Sheedy was keen to keep Hawthorn down but in all honestly I never heard him refer much to past battles. It was all about circumstances given that Hawthorn were last and Essendon fighting for a top four spot.
Little did we know that, in an hour, we would be literally fighting for more than the four points.
Round 11 by this time was a normal round of football. Essendon was sitting in 4th position, while the struggling Hawks were last under coach Peter Schwab.
It was a normal week of preparation for us and a ‘business as usual’ attitude prevailed. There was no talk of Hawthorn battles in the past, with conversation purely focused on maintaining good form and holding a top four position.
We entered this game against the Hawks in 2004, having won nine of our last ten against them. We didn’t see anything coming and were certainly not prepared for anything untoward.
Apparently the Hawks had had enough. Hawthorn captain Richie Vandenberg confirmed that he and reputed strongman Campbell Brown had been approached by legendary Hawk strong man Don Scott to ‘hit someone’. Brown certainly did, aiming for a 19-year-old Jason Winderlich who was left bloodied and wounded in the hands of the trainers. Brown would receive a four game suspension for his hit.
At half time it apparently escalated when Hawks coach Peter Schwab told his players he didn’t want to see Mark Johnson walk off the field after the Essendon hard man had slung Robbie Campbell before the main break. With ‘Dipper’ and Dermott Brereton in the rooms the Hawks bristled. Dermott was whispering in a few ears. The pride of the Hawks, so fiercely fought for by Alan Jeans’ great teams, was on the line. Meanwhile, oblivious to all this, Sheeds continued to talk about our game and how we could increase our five goal advantage.
Then it erupted.
Luke Hodge was 19 and in his 35th game. Also playing that day was a 21-year-old Sam Mitchell.
“We had a horrendous run against Essendon, they beat us ten times in a row I reckon,” Mitchell said.
“Then it got to a stage mid-2004, they used to physically beat us up and we tried to make a stand.
“They still flogged us on the scoreboard, but the next time we played them they beat us by three points and after that we had 10 wins in a row.
“That’s probably the main one that sticks in my mind – just the fact that it was a stage where we said we’ve had enough”.
Sitting in the coaches' box we accepted the fired up Hawks and the level of animosity after half time. When the brawl erupted, we became frustrated in the box that we would lose our focus on winning the four points. It was an intense and aggressive melee with no players holding back, but we were pretty confident that the boys could look after themselves.
However, we were still angered by the Winderlich incident from earlier in the game. We could not accept the cheap shot, which had caught the youngster off guard.
Sheeds reacted by sending out two messages via the runner.
- Get even with Brown for the hit on Winderlich
- Play the ball
The runner delivered the message, but said the players were confused.
“Which message do you want carried out first?” they asked.
Playing the ball amidst all the chaos seemed to work as Essendon went on to score 9.3 to 2.3 in the quarter, finally winning the game by 74 points. In total, 18 players from both sides faced the tribunal and a massive $70,700 in fines were handed out.
Both teams struggled for the remainder of the season. Hawthorn did not win another match until round 19, and finished the season with four wins. We would qualify narrowly for the finals, going on to defeat Melbourne in the first elimination final, before being knocked out by Geelong the next week.
The fallout between Essendon and Hawthorn continued until the end of 2009 when Essendon captain, Matthew Lloyd, delivered a square up for the weak Brown v Winderlich assault.
The infamous hit from Lloyd on Brad Sewell would see him incur a 6-week suspension. It was a bit more dramatic on the day with Alastair Clarkson having to be restrained by Football Manager, Mark Evans. It would also send Brown into a fury on the day and he would eventually describe Lloyd as the ‘biggest sniper in the game'. I’m happy to debate the sniper status of Brown/Winderlich up against Lloyd/Sewell. Maybe Lloyd’s penalty was that he never played another game.
It would be drawing a long bow to suggest that this game impacted on the future of both clubs, as there are many other issues to take into account. But there are facts. From that day Essendon has not won a final while Hawthorn has played 20 finals games for 16 wins and four premierships. The line in the sand has become deeper than the San Andreas Fault.
