spirit of norm smith

Jennings doesn’t even talk about pathways or how players on the list are maintaining match fitness and learning the team dynamics.

1994 was another year that “could have been”. We had a great forward line. Lyon Schwarz Lovell Pike Jakovich Charles Neita at CHB. Stynes in the ruck. Tingay in the wing. Mids Viney Obst G.Lovett Tingay Dyson Matt Febey Steve Febey Our defence was pretty good too with Wight, Brett Lovett, Hoppy, Yeats and Prymke as a first year player. Why we didn’t win it? 1- we finished 7th. After. 5-0 start, we ended 12-10 2- Had to beat the Eagles at home in the preliminary final. They were powerful, at home and rested after a weeks break.

Davey was exciting and like a sports car. Febey was reliable, like a Camry type footballer. Davey gets my vote.

I was very disappointed when Dom Barry left. I was understanding why he left as a young bloke but he had the skills and pace to make it. Could he still return? Depending on his motivation and will. It would be quite a story.

John Tossol

Absolute gun. Heart of a lion. Remember his 1988 and 1989 seasons and finals. After playing on the wing, he moved to back pocket in his 30s. Stood up as a reliable but attacking defender.

Grgic. Wasted talent. Never had the intensity. Nicho. Serviceable plodder Lamaro. Skilled left footer. Like me, couldn’t get the footy Gardiner. See Lamaro McDonald. Good result. Had a good amateur background and stepped up. ✅ ROBBO. ✅✅✅ though we delisted then thought again. Winterton, Otoole and Gehling. Made up numbers. But at least they can say they got drafted. We’re always speculating at picks 40+

Start in August and play for 4 months. Until the end of November. That means 17 possible weekends. Obviously have to have a top 8 so it only leaves 13 matches - plus round 1 - meaning 14 match season + finals. It might be that all games are lockouts including the grand final. Can you imagine fever temperature testing everyone before the GF.

Of course the great Connolly and Cam Schwab (dirty duo) were at play as they started the “better to lose” mentality. Ridiculous times that killed careers and reputations. Bailey never had a chance.

Forgot the great (self proclaimed) Heritier Lamumba. Started in fire and justified his trade in season 1 but his concussion at the start of season 2 ended his career. His arrogance towards others didn’t help.

Agree. What characters the Dees had over the years. Jacko. Crackers. Carman. Ditterich. Crosswell. Big Carl made everyone walk taller on the field. There was no easy kicks in the 70s and he put the fear into every opposition. Dees should have held the course with Carl. Definitely in my recycled best 22.

In the recycled team , Alan Jarrett should at least be ahead of Chris Dawes. I hope people remember Dawes as another “golden” acquisition that turned into aluminium sheeting.

Thanks Bucket. A great compilation. Great memories. Players like Brett Lovett, Mark Jackson, Ricky Jackson and Guy Rigoni all were juniors at other clubs and discarded.

Great additions. What memories. Mark “Jacko” Jackson was sensational. Powell. Loved his 2000 prelim v North. Marcus Seecamp also to be remembered. I thought Craig Turley played a fantastic first 12-13 games. Would have been close to winning the B&F. Only played the one year and battled on in the last half of that 95 year. Ended up retiring through injury. Came to us when he was 30-31 so was over it by the time he arrived. Sad to see chopper Lovell swapped out. Chopper was a great servant through the late 80s/90s under Northey/Balme.

Agree. Many of our indigenous stars came and went too soon. Loved their excitement and cannot wait for Pickett and Bedford to show their amazing pace and skills.

Ed Langdon 77. Really. !!?!?! behind anb, hunt and kk. It’s ridiculous

Lovett played with Hawks under 19s and Reserves. But they had a strong team in 85 and he was cut. Certainly a good pickup and probably my #1 recycled player. I do like to addition of Ingo. Ingerson was a great bloke, reliable defender, good mark and spoil. Just the kicking was a bit awkward.

Agree Peter Vardy, and also another goal scorer Ricky Jackson, were handy imports. Farmer was traded to Dees for Phil Gilbert. We got the better of the deal but Freo grabbed him back of course. Would have loved The Wiz to have been a one club man.

With the recent additions of players like Langdon, Tomlinson, May, Hibberd & Melksham, I was thinking about our best (top 10) traded in or recycled players. Here’s a quick top 10 but in no order. Brett Lovett Jeff Farmer Brian Wilson Jeff White Peter Moore Laurie Fowler Garry Baker Peter Rohde Darren Bennett Carl Ditterich My apologies to Stephen Icke, Alan Jarrett, Clint Bizzell, Guy Rigoni, Bernie Vince & Brent Moloney. My eligibility was min 50 games and I can only cover from 1973 onwards.

Unbelievable. The virus has led us to desperation to kill 5 minutes with Angus’ onions segments. #killtheVirusNow

Unbelievable. Yes it still haunts me. We were keen on Tom Lynch (Suns/Tigers) but suns grabbed him at pick 11. Prendergast must have been rattled to pick Cook who was expected to be around 30-40 mark. I was keen to pick Jack Darling or Matthew Watson. Darling was the slider who somehow went around mid 20s by the Eagles. I recall the word was he wanted to stay in the west. Ridiculous.

Robert Walters. Played about 25 games for the Dees in the late 70s and early 80s. We had been belted by 190 points to the Lions in late season 1979 at VFL Park. It was as dark a day as I can remember. I sat through it and was gutted after the game for hours if not days. Then in round 2, we played the Lions again at VFL park. Walters has shown ability as a 6ft tall opportunist full forward. Walters kicked 7 goals as we upset the Lions by a few goals. I think they almost were going to carry him off the ground. I think he was injured shortly thereafter in the season and then always was injured again with a variety of problems.

I would delist about 15 others before Hunt. He has shown the ability. Someone needs to learn the art of coaching. There is huge potential.

Yes Les Bamblett (or Lelly Bamblett as he was named in the commentary ) was one of the exciting news additions in 1983. He was Fast. A Goalkicker. Strong build even as a 18yo. Barrassi had bought in Templeton and Moore in a recruiting juggernaut. Brian Wilson won the 1982 Brownlow. Flower was still supreme as one of the leagues very best player. Hopes were high. Very high. Round 1 was Pies at the G was huge. It was a very hot day. 30+. The match was electric and Dees lost in a nail biter. Bamblett has a great debut and could have been a star. Bamblett had a rough time and wanted out and left to go to the Tigers. I think he was only at the Dees originally due to the Goulburn Vslley zoning and wanted to be a Tiger. I can’t remember exactly why or how but yes he was swapped for Strawbs O’Dwyer from the Bulldogs zone. Ironic that Strawbs ended up a Tiger in the end.

An absolute A grade star who’s in the best 2-3 in the league. The “go to” star when you need to win!!