"The best I've seen"

[Dry Rot]

Another view of my footy guru last night.

We were talking about great old players and there was one real standout for him, a bitter one.

He reckoned that at some time in the eighties, the Swans were a real force only to be denied by Hawthorn and the guy that wrecked the Swans was Brereton. He claimed that Brereton was the best and most inspirational player he'd seen, better than Carey and able to lift his entire team.

He also banged on about the 1989 grand final which I've never seen but I did know about Ablett's great feats that day. He focused on Brereton who he reckoned got hammered early but played on, and played well.

I never saw Brereton play, but he sounds like a tough bastard. Hate his commentary now.

[The Coon Dog]

Dermie took no prisoners & never squealed. Gave it out in spades tho.

I once listened to him on radio saying that if you ever threated to hit someone on a footy field, then you had to follow through & hit them, that way, they knew next time you threatened them, they were on the lookout for it.

If you can get a copy of the 1989 Grand Final, sit down, strap yourself in & open a bottle of red. You'll be riveted for 2 hours of the most entertaining football you'll ever see.

Brereton being CRUNCHED off the square at the start of the game then refusing to come off, spewing his guts up in the forward pocket & then taking a mark when the ball came his way & goaling; inspirational stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqO1Bo52r6w

[Sockeye Salmon]

In 89 Brereton made an artform of coming in off the centre square at the start of games and taking out the oppositions main playmaker, much like Holland did to Montgomery in the final in 2006.

During the season he collected Geelong's Mark Yeates.

When Geelong were planning for the Grand Final they knew Brereton would try to take out someone, probably Paul Couch. Blight asked Yeates if he would like to square up while Brereton was concentrating on Couch.

Yeates got him a beauty.

Dermie dished out plenty, but he also wore plenty without ever winching.

I always forget, was it Dermie or Dipper who fixed up Rocky Stoneham?

[Sockeye Salmon]

Dermie took no prisoners & never squealed. Gave it out in spades tho.

I once listened to him on radio saying that if you ever threated to hit someone on a footy field, then you had to follow through & hit them, that way, they knew next time you threatened them, they were on the lookout for it.

If you can get a copy of the 1989 Grand Final, sit down, strap yourself in & open a bottle of red. You'll be riveted for 2 hours of the most entertaining football you'll ever see.

Brereton being CRUNCHED off the square at the start of the game then refusing to come off, spewing his guts up in the forward pocket & then taking a mark when the ball came his way & goaling; inspirational stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqO1Bo52r6w

What that clip doesn't show is the trainers helping up Dermie before he spews up then shakes them off.

The start to "100 Years of Football" video does it justice.

Dipper was another one who was as tough as they come. He broke a rip and collapsed a lung in that Grand Final and didn't even come off. After the game they took him to hospital and put him in intensive care while the celebrations were on!

[The Underdog]

I had a massive soft spot for the Hawks teams of the 80's.
Maybe it was because they were capable of stopping Essendon and Carlton, 2 teams that personified evil to me.
And if I had a favourite player from them it was Dermott (except when he played against my team, then he was a dirty bastard). He was tough as nails, had a big puffed up chest, bad permed dyed mullett and 2 twig like legs. He was gone by the time he left Hawthorn, done in by his physical style. I'm sure someone will come in and bag him for being a knob or a thug or somesuch, but he could back everything he did up physically and he was a fantastic footballer, which gets glossed over a bit nowadays.
What I wouldn't have given for him and Dunstall up forward.
And DR as TCD said if you find a copy of the 89 GF you'll see one of the best games of footy there's been. It's worth it.

Oh yeah and I reckon your guru is overrating the Swans of that era too.
They were very good at points but not up with teams like the Hawks.

[LostDoggy]

Dermie was a good player, not in the same league as King Carey though

[Sockeye Salmon]

And DR as TCD said if you find a copy of the 89 GF you'll see one of the best games of footy there's been. It's worth it.

The only bad thing about watching that GF was the bloody countdown clock. It was the first year ch 7 used it and you knew there wasn't enough time for Geelong to win.

[LostDoggy]

If you can get a copy of the 1989 Grand Final, sit down, strap yourself in & open a bottle of red. You'll be riveted for 2 hours of the most entertaining football you'll ever see.

Apparently the reserve GF in 89 between Fitzroy and Geelong was even more violent and entertaining.

[mjp]

If you can get a copy of the 1989 Grand Final, sit down, strap yourself in & open a bottle of red. You'll be riveted for 2 hours of the most entertaining football you'll ever see.

The second half is exciting...the first half has a lot of one-way traffic - Hawthorn's way. Hawthorn got on with it after the Brereton-Yeates incident, Geelong were second to the ball for 40 minutes. It was about 10 goals to 3 at quarter time and it cost Geelong the game. Some under-rated Hawk 'runners' - Pritchard and I think Anderson or maybe Collins, I can't quite remember - who were outstanding.

[bornadog]

I always forget, was it Dermie or Dipper who fixed up Rocky Stoneham?

That was Dipper, rearanged his face.

[bornadog]

Another view of my footy guru last night.

We were talking about great old players and there was one real standout for him, a bitter one.

He reckoned that at some time in the eighties, the Swans were a real force only to be denied by Hawthorn and the guy that wrecked the Swans was Brereton. He claimed that Brereton was the best and most inspirational player he'd seen, better than Carey and able to lift his entire team.

He also banged on about the 1989 grand final which I've never seen but I did know about Ablett's great feats that day. He focused on Brereton who he reckoned got hammered early but played on, and played well.

I never saw Brereton play, but he sounds like a tough bastard. Hate his commentary now.

DR, Brereton was good, very exciting player, tough and always gave 100%.

I think Leigh Matthews was the best player I have seen (besides any Doggies players). Matthews was a match winner and consistently did it over a lot of AFL games. If it wasn't for Matthews, we would have been in the 1985 GF and up against Essendon who we had fixed up during the home and away.

[BulldogBelle]

I never saw Brereton play, but he sounds like a tough bastard. Hate his commentary now.

Such a great player - nothing or no one stood in his way - and if they did watch out! He was hard, tough, courageous and pumped up and ready to go for each game.

I would always tune into the radio or go and and watch a Hawks game if we weren't playing just to see Brereton.

I remember when he ran through the Essendon huddle - I had a laugh over that. Great value, great player.

[hargs37]

The mark he took against us at Optus oval. He was on fozzies shoulders. Fozzy was on langfords(or one of those hawk defenders) and there were about 7 players flying. A beauty! Dry Rot, you seem like a good kid. Keep talking to your mate and start lokking for these games and players. This great game has given a lot of people so much pleasure(as well as a lot of anguish). First place of call is the AFL. The sventies gave us some amazing football, especially Grand Finals. You need to check some of them out. 77 a draw, 79 wayne harmes, 71 ted hopkins, Neil Balme in73 i think, the bought Kangaroo flag in 75. The eighties only really gave us 89, but really brobably the greatest Grand final ever. Forget WCE v Swans, they were good contests, but 89 was a spectacular game at the highest stage. Dont bother with 90, essendon should have been kicked out of the league for that effort.
Reminds me of a joke. Who kicked 5 goals in the 90 grand final?

[hujsh]

If you can get a copy of the 1989 Grand Final, sit down, strap yourself in & open a bottle of red. You'll be riveted for 2 hours of the most entertaining football you'll ever see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqO1Bo52r6w

I was surprised at just how far Geelong went behind early. The match looked over at half-time.

Dunstall kicked allot of points and could have buried Geelong. I saw it with my Dad, who was a bit drunk, and he was hating Tim Darcy. He said that Geelong's last fullback was awesome and he was forced to retire early. Tim Darcy was a CHF who played football in the same comp as my Dad when they were younger and he couldn't believe that he was their fullback. He said that they would have won with the previous fullback and was a bit bitter.

But that was in March so he's much more happy now.

[Dry Rot]

Dry Rot, you seem like a good kid.

Thanks.

But I hate to disillusion you. I am a bad egg, and an old one at that.

I live in Sydney and was a born and bred NRL fan. Murdoch wrecked the game and so I discovered and then fell in love with footy in 1998. And the Dogs.