RECRUITING LESSONS FROM THE PAST: ENDING PURGATORY

RECRUITING LESSONS FROM THE PAST: ENDING PURGATORY? by Whispering Jack

Jake Niall's article in the Age Demons in purgatory about a decision the Melbourne Football Club is reported to have taken to put contract discussions with several players on hold until October to enable it to "test the free-agency and trading waters", has generated some interesting discussion in football circles.

There is little doubt that Mark Neeld will be looking to re-shape his playing list at the end of his first season at the coaching helm and the introduction of free-agency creates the possibility that a club in the right position to exploit the new rules can effect a major overhaul of its list in a relatively short period of time. For a club to defer contract negotiations in the manner described in Niall's article is a brave, bold and dangerous decision  but it evokes the memory of a time in the game's past when a downtrodden club used a new rule in such a way that it's fortunes were revived in a short space of time and many would say that saved it from extinction. 

The club was North Melbourne. The rule was the VFL's 10 Year Rule and it all began forty years ago.

Former Melbourne great Brian Dixon coached the Kangaroos to a wooden spoon in 1972. They finished with 1 win, 21 defeats and a percentage of 62.9. Their skipper was David Dench, then the youngest captain in the history of the game. At the time, the team had no star players; Dench and Keith Greig were in their football infancy, Wayne Shimmelbusch was some months away from making his debut and Sam Kekovich who had once shown promise of greatness was weighed down with injury. North had never won a premiership, never had a Brownlow Medallist, and never had a leading goal kicker. Yet, three years later, they won the VFL premiership and by 1977 had picked up their second flag. 

In order to achieve this, they turned to another former Demon great in Ron Barassi (already a dual premiership coach at Carlton) to replace Dixon and they exploited the new rule to recruit three experienced champions to the club. 

The results were astounding.

The rule allowed automatic clearances to players who had served at one club for ten continuous years. The Roos swooped on Geelong's Doug Wade, South Melbourne's John Rantall and Essendon's Barry Davis in an audacious move that must go down in history as the greatest recruiting coup the game has ever seen. 

The irony was that North Melbourne had voted against the introduction of the rule but their young and dynamic leadership of President Allen Aylett, Committeman Albert Mantello and Secretary Ron Joseph acted swiftly once it was in force, interviewing all 22 players who were eligible within 48 hours of the rule's implementation.

This is how it was described in the magazine "Football Life" in an April, 1973 edition:-

The move of Wade, the former Geelong captain and most prolific goal-kicker in the club's history, throws up all kinds of interesting talking points. North must benefit, you would think. Here we have Wade, a 90-goal player last year - a tally high enough to put him on the third rung of the VFL goal-kicking ladder - at his new club which had a top goal-kicking figure of 19 last season. It was shared jointly by Sam Kekovich and Vin Doolan.

No wonder North cast out the net for a goal-kicker. Only once in the club's VFL history has North had to record such a miserable figure. That was in 1937 when S. Anderson headed the list with 18. If Wade can get his old true boot back into full swing he could very well give the North goal-kicking records a greater air of respectability.

For a start North has never produced a leading VFL goal kicker. It has not produced a 100-goal a season player and no North player holds the goal-kicking record at any of the grounds.

Wade has topped the century in a season - 127 in 1969. He has headed the VFL list - 1962, 1967 and 1969. And he does hold a ground record - 13 at Kardinia Park. His 13 goals on the Geelong ground was back in 1971 - and against NORTH. To break North’s goal-kicking record in one season, Wade must kick 89 goals. Sel Murray booted 88 in 1941 and Jock Spencer 86 in 1950. These are the only two occasions a North player has managed to reach the eighties.

North has never won a Brownlow Medal - nor has Wade, Rantall or Davis. Three times in the sixties North went close to snatching the award ... Laurie Dwyer was second to John James in 1961 and second to Ross Smith in 1967. Then there was Noel Teasdale’s 1965 performance when he was beaten on a countback by Ian Stewart. (note:Teasdale was later retrospectively awarded the Brownlow Medal).

And what about a VFL premiership?… That’s something else that has evaded North leaving it the only one of the 12 clubs without a pennant. At least it has Hawthorn as company in the no-Brownlow Medal department.

Whatever the outcome of season 1973, nobody can say that North’s bold, energetic executive hasn't pulled out all stops to arrest the club’s down-the-ladder image. At the top are three imports, too - senior coach Ron Barassi and advisers Norm Smith and Bill Stephen.

Other players to switch clubs under the 10 Year Rule were St. Kilda's Carl Ditterich (to Melbourne) and Bulldog George Bisset (Collingwood) but these moves paled into insignificance compared to the impact the new recruits had on the North Melbourne Football Club.

With a new coach, new players and a new training and playing regime, the Kangaroos improved dramatically in 1973 finishing with 11 wins, 10 losses and a draw to miss the finals by half a game. Greig won the Brownlow Medal and Wade finished second in the VFL goal kicking with 73 goals  for the season. They fared even better in 1974 with 16 wins, six losses and a grand final appearance against Richmond. Greig won his second Brownlow Medal and Wade kicked 103 goals to become the club's first leading goalkicker and the first to top the century.

A year later they defeated Hawthorn by 55 points in the 1975 grand final to win their first flag after losing the first four matches of the season and needless to say, all three of the club's recruits under the 10 year rule (it was abolished at the end of 1973) played significant roles in the club's new era.

It remains to be seen whether it is possible in the AFL's highly competitive environment for one club to exploit the introduction of free-agency so dramatically as North Melbourne did with the 10 year rule forty years ago. It would be akin to a club picking up Travis Cloke, Brendan Goddard and Travis Boak (the latter is out of contract but not a free agent) in the one hit. This could only be done by a club with lots of salary cap room which Melbourne is understood to have and which would also be assisted by a policy of delaying player signings until after the trade period. The club's newly announced drive to amass a recruiting "war chest" is also consistent with this possibility.

I'm not suggesting that the Demons are chasing this trio or that they will succeed in luring even one big name into the fold but the club's circumstances and the lessons of the past ensure that the coming months promise some interesting times.