Bye weekend - watching 1987 finals

[Ollie fan 3,081]

Thanks for the hint of them being in YouTube which I didn't know.

 

Things us older supporters love about that era: umpires who don't affect the result. Holding the ball paid whenever it is there which makes players look to get the ball out and keeps the play open (Alastair Clarkson has said that if they paid holding the ball, a lot of the present scrums would go). Umpires who can, and do, bounce the ball all over the ground without fanfare and manage to get the ball to bounce high and straight.

 And in our team: all of it but with special love to the great Robert Flower, and also to Sean Wight who seems to have invented the spoiler/interceptor role 30 years before Jake Lever reinvented it.

[deegirl 1,497]

On 21/04/2024 at 20:55, Maldonboy38 said:

Just watched most of the 1987 finals where the mighty Dees played in their first final series in many years. Elimination final v the Roos, then 1st Semi v Swans. I attended the 1st semi final and can remember it vividly. A few thing stand out to me:

Robert Flower - no, my memory does not make him better than he was. He was simply football perfection. 

The joy of football played mostly one-on-one, or two-on-two.

Warren Dean was way better than I remembered.  Great mark, great kick on both feet. 

David Williams - until I watched these replays I didn't even remember him. Wow. Very quick and a great kick.

Danny Hughes, Sean Wight, Brett Lovett, Earl Spalding, Graeme Yates - that is a backline to remember.

Todd Viney & Jimmy Stynes both really young but already showing their skills.

And boy, were we TOUGH. No compromise if you wanted to play under John Northey as coach.

If poor Jimmy had not run across the mark in the Prelim final, I remain convinced we would have had the measure of the Blues. 

My Dad still hasn't recovered from Warren Dean's knee injury 😀

[Maldonboy38 6,379]

Adding to the reminiscing, I just watched the Dees v Dogs at Whitten oval, last round of 1987 to get us into the finals for the first time in 23 years. 

Lovett, Yates, Stretch and Spalding tore the Dogs apart in the 2nd half. Jimmy got his running game going. Flower and Wilson were a class above the Dogs defence in the 2nd half. 

And THAT crowd noise when the Hawks went ahead v the Cats - we knew we were going to play finals. I still remember where I was. I was in the car with my parents listening to the game on ABC rural radio near Stawell, taking my parents to meet my girlfriends parents for the first time. 

Great win. Dees into the finals. Broke up with girlfriend a couple of months later. Win - Win!