Interview With Jim Edmond

[The Coon Dog]

Jim Edmond
Footscray 1977-1985, 154 games, 226 goals.
Sydney 1986, 17 games, 19 goals.
Brisbane 1987-1988, 17 games, 42 goals.




TCD: Hi Jim & thank you so much for your time.

JE: My pleasure.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Glasgow, Scotland & my parents immigrated to Australia when I was 5.

Where did your parents settle?

Initially Sale for 2 years, then we moved to Bairnsdale when I was 7.

So, who did you get into Aussie Rules?

At school, it was all the kids played, then when I was 9 or 10 I played with Bairnsdale Sports. It was run by Brian Royal’s Dad, Billy. We all trained together during the week, then on the weekends we were split into 4 teams, North, East, South & West.

Who did you barrack for as a kid?

Carlton.

Why Carlton?

My brother Bob is 10 years older than me. He was a terrific weightlifter & good enough at football that Carlton signed him.

Why Carlton, when Gippsland was Footscray’s zone?

He was recruited before zoning.

How did he go at Carlton?

He played 3 games there in 1967 & 7 games in 1968, but his real love was weightlifting.

How did he go at that?

He represented Australia in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games & finished 7th. In the Commonwealth Games he won silver medals in 1978 at Edmonton & 1982 at Brisbane. He also held the super heavyweight record for 10 years.

So, how did you get to Footscray?

When I was 15 I played for the reserves at Bairnsdale & was playing for the seniors when I was 16 & 17. Footscray invited me down a few times during the 1976 season. I was doing my HSC, but came down 5 or 6 times & played for the reserves. There were a few of us including Jeff Geischen who came down & were put up at the Palms Motel in Geelong Road, next to the RSL.

Can you remember your first game?

Yes, we played Melbourne & won (116-95). For some reason the club decided to ease me into VFL football & I played on Ross Brewer, who kicked 2 goals. I hadn’t played in defence before & after that game didn’t go down there again.

I have to ask. What did you say to Gubby Allan that day we played Collingwood?

That was just a great game. Collingwood were leading by a few points & Gubby got the ball in the back pocket & I stupidly pushed him over & gave away a free kick. I was cursing myself as I thought I’d cost us the game.

For some reason Gubby did the unthinkable & kicked across goals to his fullback, Greg Phillips. It was unheard of in those days. Anyhow the ball just stayed up in the air & allowed Simon Beasley to mark over the top of him, straight in front of goals.

I told Gubby he was mad & should retire.

Really?

Well, there was an expletive in there somewhere. I’ve seen Gubby many times since & he’s a top bloke.

Jim, one memory I do have of you is a passage of play in the Semi Final in 1985. Doug Hawkins picked the ball up on the wing & hit you lace out with a pass that travelled through a swag of North Melbourne players. It didn’t get very high off the ground at all, just a wonderful kick. Do you recall it?

Yes, but then again when Doug got the ball my eyes lit up, he just was a beautiful kick. That pass wasn’t unusual.

Tell me about 1985.

We had a wonderful team that year. The age group was just right as many of us were in our mid 20’s.

We had great players on all lines, particularly the forward line. You just knew that there were a heap of blokes who could kick goals. Beaser was the full forward & he kicked a ton. Lally & Chocco each kicked 40 plus goals. Jim Sewell, myself & Super played across half forward.

There were matchwinners in their own right through the midfield & on ballers, players like Purser, Wallis, Shorty Daniels & Budgie, guys on the wing like Hawk & Magic McLean.

The backline were somewhat unheralded with guys like Peter Foster, Rick Kennedy holding up the key posts & Brian Cordy, Fruity Ford, Brad Hardie & Mark Kellett just bringing the ball forward at will.

We had a great team, but were just undone by some individual brilliance by Leigh Matthews, who kicked 2 goals & had a hand in another 2.

As club captain, it certainly came as a shock to see you leave & play at Sydney the following year. What happened there?

I never really played for money; it was just the love of the game. I wasn’t on big money at Footscray & at the end of the 1985 season I asked for a modest increase in salary. When I say modest, I mean just that, modest.

I didn’t believe it would be a problem actually. Unfortunately the club refused to budge. At this stage Geoffrey Eddelston became aware of the impasse & started to ring me, offering to fly me to Sydney for a chat. I wasn’t interested as I expected that things would be sorted out at Footscray.

Anyhow, one day Eddelston rings up & offers me 3 times the salary I was currently on. I still didn’t fly up there, but went back to the club & explained what was on offer elsewhere.

To my disappointment at the time an article appeared in the papers claiming I was using Sydney as a bargaining tool.

We didn’t have managers in those days & players negotiated their own contracts. Looking back I can see fault on both parts. I’m sure if we had our time again, both I & the club would have handled things differently.

At the time I was disappointed as I was prepared to remain at Footscray for about a third of the Sydney offer. I don’t think too many people really understood that to be honest.

This didn’t sour your love of the club?

No, I still love the club. I believe in live for the day & move on. I did that pretty quickly & in 1998 I jumped at the chance to return as the Football Director, which I did for 6 years.

You only played with Sydney for 1 season, before heading north to play with Brisbane, what happened there.

The salary cap was brought in. Both myself & Merv Neagle were injured & one of us was going to get the chop. Unfortunately it was me.

Who were some of the better players you played with?

• Andrew Purser – Polly was extremely mobile & always had a red hot go.
• Doug Hawkins – A terrific player with wonderful skills on both sides of his body.
• Kelvin Templeton – Just an out & out superstar!
• Brian Royal – From memory he played for Victoria in his debut season. A great goal kicker & he worked extremely hard.

Opposition players who caught your eye?

• Leigh Matthews – An all round match winner.
• Bruce Doull – He was hard to play on & was always there. Good timing & great balance.
• Trevor Barker – He was known for doing all the flashy things, but he could do everything else too & was a terrific tackler.
• Gary Ablett – I recall one game; we had half the team in Geelong’s forward line trying to stop him.

Do you still take an interest in the Bulldogs today?

Yes, very much so. I’m fortunate I’ve got some wonderful friends that I have made through my time in football & it’s great catching up with them at the footy.

Thanks’ for your time Jock.

My pleasure.

[strebla]

Great effort Coon Dog I was so mad when he left wish I had known then what I know now well done.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Geez we lost some players for some pretty petty reasons.

*Sigh*

[bornadog]

Great effort Coon Dog I was so mad when he left wish I had known then what I know now well done.

I was so p*ssed off when he left, but now know why. Over the years the club has had some pathetic adminstrators, no wonder we haven't won more flags.

Jock was a very strong player and I can see now that with his weightlifting brother, he has the family heritage.

As a captain, I thought he was fantastic and really inspired the boys both verbally and through his deeds on the ground.

Does anyone remember how long he use to take to have his shot at goal. My mates use to yell out, "Put The Kettle on" but to his credit he rarely missed those shots.

[craigsahibee]

Is it true he once broke his hand by punching the wall of the dressing rooms just before returning to the ground after half time?

Remember Jock kicking 5 in the first quarter against the Tiggers back in either 83 or 84 and we were 10 goals up at qtr time only to win by 2 points.

And who could forget the hanger he took to open the the 85 Qualifying Final. It all went south after that.

Inspirational captain and great bloke. Has anyone thought to ask Russell Morris what he remembers of Jock, not a lot I reckon.

[Desipura]

Is it true he once broke his hand by punching the wall of the dressing rooms just before returning to the ground after half time?

Remember Jock kicking 5 in the first quarter against the Tiggers back in either 83 or 84 and we were 10 goals up at qtr time only to win by 2 points.

And who could forget the hanger he took to open the the 85 Qualifying Final. It all went south after that.

Inspirational captain and great bloke. Has anyone thought to ask Russell Morris what he remembers of Jock, not a lot I reckon.

That game against the tigers was in 1981 at the MCG.

[craigsahibee]

That game against the tigers was in 1981 at the MCG.

Bu##er me, I rember it like it was only 25 years ago.

[Drunken Bum]

That game against the tigers was in 1981 at the MCG.

first game i ever went to, travelled down from NSW to go to it, cant remember if that was the reason or we just managed to fit it in in the trip, at Q time i was how good is this, was predicting Jock to kick 15 at least, think he only got one or possibly 2 more from memory, then to watch the tiggers reel us back in over the course of the game, god the dogs have caused me some stress over the years, that is far to much stress for an 11-12yr old to have

[KT31]

Ah, You've done it again TCD !
Another great read, keep them coming.
Was really p!ssed off when Jim left.
Captain and left the club to play elsewhere.
Athough should have been used it by then, was the fifth in a row.
Our board must have really sucked.
What could have been after 85 ?

[Twodogs]

That game against the tigers was in 1981 at the MCG.

Definitely 1983. in fact it was ANZAC day 1983.

[The Dogs Bollocks]

Great read.

That answered a few questions.

[always right]

Two things spring to mind when I think of Jim Edmond. That game against Richmond that others have mentioned already. He was on fire in the first quarter marking everything. We kicked ten goals in the first and Richmond kicked about 9 in the second. Bizarre game. For some reason I also vividly remember Stephen Lunn playing that day after we recruited him from Geelong.

The other thing I think of is one passage of play in the 85 preliminary final that ended up with Jimmy kicking a goal. We had started to get on top of the hawks.......Hardie burst out of the backline intercepting the ball, evaded a tackling player and delivered it perefctly to Magic McLean I think, who hadballed it off to Hawkins out wide who then drew the opposition player before handballing over the top to Jimmy who cooly turned around and slotted it from 40m. One of the highlights of the game. Does anyone else recall it?

[strebla]

Two things spring to mind when I think of Jim Edmond. That game against Richmond that others have mentioned already. He was on fire in the first quarter marking everything. We kicked ten goals in the first and Richmond kicked about 9 in the second. Bizarre game. For some reason I also vividly remember Stephen Lunn playing that day after we recruited him from Geelong.

The other thing I think of is one passage of play in the 85 preliminary final that ended up with Jimmy kicking a goal. We had started to get on top of the hawks.......Hardie burst out of the backline intercepting the ball, evaded a tackling player and delivered it perefctly to Magic McLean I think, who hadballed it off to Hawkins out wide who then drew the opposition player before handballing over the top to Jimmy who cooly turned around and slotted it from 40m. One of the highlights of the game. Does anyone else recall it?

That game like a few other final;s have been wiped from my memory I still would never watch that last quarter

[BornInDroopSt'54]

That game against the tigers was in 1981 at the MCG.

No it wasn't. I t was after I returned from Europe, my only ever visit, in 1983.

[bornadog]

No it wasn't. I t was after I returned from Europe, my only ever visit, in 1983.

Yes, ANZAC day 1983.