Today marks the beginning of another exciting initiative of the Carlton Football Club and the Spirit of Carlton with the inaugural Father and Son Academy Training program. This program is a chance for possible future father and son prospects to become better acquainted with the club, to see how the players train, how team meetings are conducted, listen to some Carlton greats speak, and do some skills sessions with Carlton football staff.

The children are split into a younger group and an older group who each participate for two days at the club  during the week. The program for the younger children is aimed more at familiarisation and fun. The older group get advice on diet, training, goal setting and presentation from previous father son players on what they might expect.

Each group will get the opportunity to mix with the current players and hear the stories of how current players such as Chris Judd made the transition from junior footy to senior footy.

This is a wonderful initiative from the club that strengthens the bonds of community and family within the club which are so important. Not all these boys will get the opportunity to play for Blues but they will always be part of the Blues family.

Stay tuned later in the week for more news from the Academy.

Inspired by the Spirit of Carlton’s recent trip to Kukerin, home of Ross Ditchburn, we will present each week a profile of a country town and the players that they have provided for the Carlton Football Club.

 

Bacchus Marsh is a leafy relaxed town 50km west of Melbourne, home to superb fruit and veg and some excellent pubs. This town has been a great one for providing players for the Carlton Football Club. The most famous of which was the legendary Harry ‘Soapy’ Vallence. Other players from the town include Jack Skinner, Keith Shea, Les Carr, Les Watkins and the great Ollie Grieve. Premierships, leading goalkickers, best and fairests and a legend, we have a lot to thank the town of Bacchus Marsh. Read on to find our more about each of these past players for the mighty Blues.

Harry Vallence

Henry Francis ‘Soapy’ Vallence is a true legend of the Carlton Football Club, and one of the most prolific goal scorers of all time. In a stellar 204 game VFL career between 1926 and 1938, he kicked 722 goals – a club record that stood for more than fifty years, until it was eventually bettered by another champion, Stephen Kernahan, in 1997.

Vallence came to Princes Park as a 20 year-old from Ballarat League side Bacchus Marsh. At 183 cm and 80 kg, the lean youngster soon impressed, and was nicknamed ‘Soapy’ because he was a slippery customer when the ball hit the ground – especially in wet weather. He was also a powerful, accurate kick and a brilliant high mark. The name stuck, and he wore it proudly throughout his career.

He made his debut for the Blues in 1926, wearing guernsey 22, and soon won a regular place in the team as a creative half-forward. Then in 1929 he was offered a chance at full forward, and never looked back after he topped Carlton’s goal-kicking list with 64 majors. In 1931 he was the club (and the League’s) top scorer with 86 goals, and in 1932 had his best return with 97. Only Geelong’s George Moloney did better that year with 109.

On four separate occasions Soapy kicked 11 goals in a match, and two of those games were finals; the first Semi in 1931 and the Preliminary Final in 1932. He was a renowned big-occasion player, and never went missing when the contest was fiercest. In eight of his twelve seasons with the Blues, he was our major goal-scorer, as well as a standout performer in each of his five appearances for the Victorian state side.

In 1937 Soapy’s form tapered off, and he was dropped to the seconds. Thinking his time at Carlton might be up, he agreed to join VFA team Williamstown. But Carlton’s new coach Brighton Diggins wouldn’t hear of his star leaving, and talked Soapy into staying just one more year. It was a wise decision for all concerned. Regaining confidence and touch, Soapy had another stellar season. He slotted another 81 goals as the Blues won their way into the 1938 Grand Final, and beat the strong favourites Collingwood by 15 points. Carlton’s game plan – which included playing Vallence wide on one half-forward flank, and bombing the ball long to stand-in full forward Ken Baxter – unbalanced Collingwood, and the final score flattered them.

A familiar and popular face at Princes Park for many years after his playing days were through, Harry “Soapy” Vallence was honoured as one of nine foundation members of the Carlton Hall of Fame in 1987. Barely four years later, on July 25, 1991, he passed away peacefully at the age of 86.

From: http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Harry+Vallence

Click this link to see a Harry Vallence image gallery featuring pictures from his family collection.

Jack Skinner

Another quality footballer whose career at Carlton was prematurely ended by military service in World War II, Jack Skinner was recruited from Bacchus Marsh, the same club that provided Carlton with star forwards Harry Vallence and Keith Shea (he also played for neighbouing team Darley). He started out as a speedy half-forward flanker, before evolving into a clever and hard-running centreman whose third and last season at Princes Park was his best.

Prior to Skinner’s first senior game in 1939, Carlton selector Horrie Clover claimed that Jack was the fastest man over ten to twelve yards (11 metres) to have trained with the club. Skinner was also originally a right foot kick, but changed to his left when he found that it brought him greater distance. This obviously helped his cause, because he was the only new recruit to force his way into Carlton’s team for the opening round of 1939, on the day when the Blues unfurled their previous year’s Premiership pennant, before taking on South Melbourne at Princes Park.

Skinner played his debut match at half-forward – alongside Jack Wrout and Paul Schmidt – and the reigning Premiers thrashed the Swans by 9 goals. As the season progressed, Carlton often seemed hungry for more glory – but defeats by Richmond in both of our meetings, as well as a couple of other shock losses mid-year, saw the Blues tumble out of finals contention to a disappointing fifth-place finish by year’s end.

In September 1939, just as the VFL final series got underway, Australia was drawn into its second major conflict in a generation. Great Britain had declared war on Germany, so her dominions had followed suit. Within weeks, Skinner, and many thousands of other young Aussies volunteered for military service – just as their fathers and older brothers had done in the Great War of 1914-18. Jack joined the Militia, whose primary duty was the defence against invasion of Australia’s mainland.

Over the following five years, Jack soldiered on in the service of his country. He rose to the rank of Corporal, and was finally discharged in June, 1946 – almost a year after the end of World War II, and nine months after Carlton defeated South Melbourne in the 1945 ‘Bloodbath’ Grand Final.

From: http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Jack+Skinner

Keith Shea

A brilliant, gifted footballer who played his first senior match for Carlton before his 18th birthday, Keith Shea was a valuable member of Carlton’s 1932 Grand Final team, and a star for the Blues in the harsh years prior to World War II. After an all too brief stay at Princes Park, he was lured to Western Australia at the peak of his career.

Shea was recruited from Bacchus Marsh as a junior prodigy. Although lightly-built, his wiry frame was deceptively strong. He was quick, beautifully balanced, very capable overhead, and kicked long off his preferred left foot. Still just 17 years old, he forced his way into the Carlton senior side half-way through the 1932 season, and only injury kept him out from that day on.

Remarkably, Shea played under different captains in each of his six seasons with the Blues. In order, they were Colin Martyn (1932), Frank Gill (1933), Maurie Johnson (1934), Charlie Davey (1935), Jim Francis (1936) and Ansell Clarke (1937). Amidst the deprivations of the Great Depression – indeed, because of them – VFL football continued to draw huge crowds throughout the thirties, and players were comparatively well paid. Therefore, places in every team were highly prized and hotly contested.

In just his eighth game for the Blues, Shea announced his arrival with a slashing performance on a half-forward flank against Richmond in the 1932 Second Semi-Final. Although the Tigers won comfortably in the end – by four goals – they couldn’t subdue the youngster in navy blue guernsey number 8. Shea’s creativity, accurate foot-passing and two opportunist goals made him a thorn in Richmond’s side all day.

A player whose career flamed brightly yet briefly across the fabric of the Carlton Football Club, Keith Shea tragically died of cancer on February 27, 1951. He was just 36 years old

From: http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Keith+Shea

Les Carr

Wearing guernsey #34, Carr played 9 games after debuting in Season 1947.

From: http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Les+Carr

Les Watkins

Les Watkins played a single game for Carlton, running out in Navy Blue in 1938. Watkins would debut in the same game as Arthur Sanger in the #18 Guernsey. Sanger went on to wear that same Guernsey for the rest of his 117 game career at Princes Park. Watkins also managed to kick a goal in this game.

Watkins was born in Heathcote and recruited from Bacchus Marsh

From: http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Les+Watkins

Ollie Grieve

Throughout our long and proud history, the Carlton Football Club has traditionally produced exceptional full-backs. For seven seasons immediately after World War II, Carlton’s champion custodian of the goal square was Oliver Kelvin ‘Ollie’ Grieve – a brilliant, close-checking defender who was a glorious high mark and a powerful, driving drop-kick.

Grieve came to Princes Park from his home town of Bacchus Marsh in 1942, but managed only six matches in his debut season before his football career was interrupted while he served his country in war. Already a reservist, he was called up by the Australian Army in July 1942, and spent the next three and a half years in uniform. Gratefully unscathed at the war’s end, he came home to anchor the defence in the Blues’ 1947 Premiership team, and twelve months later, finished runner-up in the 1948 Brownlow Medal.

With Grieve settled in at full-back and the equally brilliant Bert Deacon at centre half-back, Carlton’s defence was the launching pad of the Blues’ magnificent, last-gasp Premiership triumph in 1947. Trailing Essendon by five points inside the last minute of the Grand Final, Carlton’s captain Ern Henfry pumped the ball long out of the centre to a contest at half-forward. The ball spilt from the pack and was pounced on by flanker Fred Stafford, whose neat left foot snap went sailing between the posts to give Carlton an astonishing victory by one point.

However, perhaps the one game that stamped Ollie Grieve as one of the greats of his era was Carlton’s humiliating defeat by Essendon in the 1949 Grand Final. Spearheaded by their sensational full-forward John Coleman, Essendon thrashed the Blues by 73 points. One report from that match said (in part); ’by half time, star players on each side had been singled out and roughed up – with the exception of Coleman – who Grieve was beating on sheer ability.’

Coleman had started the game needing six goals to crack 100 for the season. However, by the last change Grieve had been heroic in keeping the Bomber star to only two successful shots at goal from a mountain of opportunities. Still, Essendon were ten goals up and in complete control. Throughout the last quarter the Bombers thought only of getting the ball to Coleman by hand or by foot, and in the end, he achieved his dream when he punted through number six with only a minute or so left on the clock. Coleman got his reward, but Ollie Grieve won universal admiration for his grit and determination against enormous odds.

The following year, Grieve took up an appointment as playing coach of Bendigo League club Eaglehawk, and later rounded off his playing days with Sunraysia club Irymple. Some years afterward he moved to Perth, where he passed away prematurely at the age of 58 in February, 1978. In 1994, Ollie Grieve was remembered with deep affection when he was inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame.

From: http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Ollie+Grieve

The Spirit of Carlton Past and Present would like to extend its condolences to the James family upon learning that John James passed away in his Robinvale house this morning (8th of December) at the age of 76. John James was a multiple best and fairest winner, brownlow medallist, team of the century and hall of fame member and a much loved part of the Carlton family.

________________________________________

Carlton Brownlow Medallist John James dies

By Tony De Bolfo

James, recruited to Carlton from the famed football college, St Pat’s Ballarat, in the lead-up to the 1953 season, completed his debut against Footscray at Princes Park in the opening round of that year.

Initially employed as a half-forward at Carlton, James earned best first year player honours from the late Max Wenn, and yet the unhealthy goalkicking tally of 8.43 for the season perhaps hastened his relocation to back half, which was of course the making of him as a pre-eminent League footballer.

James, together with centre half-back Peter Webster and the late Denis Zeunert formed one of the more formidable Carlton half-back lines of the mid-1950s.

Zeunert, who together with centre half-back Peter Webster and James formed one of the more formidable Carlton half-back lines, once said of James: “I don’t know whether he had a magnet in his shorts or what, but he could be running the other way and the ball would always bounce into his arms”.

“He had a terrific reading of the game,” said Zeunert.

From www.carltonfc.com.au, click here to read more.

Join the growing band of Spirit of Carlton members and rub shoulders with some of the greats of the Carlton Football Club. If interested please see our membership page and download our application form.

Please download the Spirit of Carlton membership application form using the link below.

Spirit of Carlton Membership Subscription 2011

The entire current Carlton Football Club playing group, past players, supporters and sponsors all enjoyed a wonderful day of golf and Carlton comraderie on a sunny day down at the Portsea Golf Club. The Carlton players were in town on a week long training camp which included a bike ride from Princes Park all the way down to Sorrento. The culmination of the week was the Spirit of Carlton golf day where everyone got to enjoy a day of competition and sharing stories. The picture on the left was kindly supplied by Spirit of Carlton facebook friend, Steve Khatib (centre of the picture),  who is ‘The Golf Doctor’, a passionate Carlton supporter, and can be heard on Radio Sport 927AM every Tuesday morning 8.30-9.00am.

By Tony De Bolfo

About 303 kilometres north of Albany, way down in the far south of Western Australia, is the tiny wheatbelt town of Kukerin. To the south west of Kukerin is Lake Dumbleyung where, in December, 1964, the late Sir Donald Campbell established a new world water speed record.

With the harvest now in full swing, the Kukerin farmers have put down their heads – for work is hard and gain is slim when the land is ravaged by the on-going effects of prolonged drought.

“The people are so close, and we’ve had some pretty extreme events in the past few years,” says Ross Ditchburn, Carlton’s 1982 premiership-winning full-forward and Kukerin country’s most famous football export.

“In 2004 we had a bushfire, and the whole community stopped what was happening and went to the aid of all those who were affected by the fire. This year there’s obviously a drought, and again the whole community’s got behind eachother to make sure they’re all being looked after, and that if someone hasn’t appeared for a while that they’re contacted to make sure they’re all okay.

Last weekend provided some welcome, albeit brief respite for the good people of Kukerin, when the Spirit of Carlton’s past players came to town.

Richard Dennis, Des English, Wayne Harmes, Ken Hunter, Syd Jackson, David McKay and Geoff Southby, together with the former property steward Ken Kleiman, the Spirit of Carlton’s Bob Lowrie, The Blueseum’s Jamie Sanderson and this reporter, all made the long journey to Kukerin, to renew acquaintance with Ditchburn, the man they know endearingly as “The Farmer”.

Not since the early 1980s, when the then senior coach David Parkin and football manager Shane O’Sullivan crossed the continent to win “Ditchy’s” services, has a Carltonite completed the trek – the triple premiership player Ken Sheldon aside.

But the aforementioned group of former players, who between them share in 17 Grand Final triumphs for Carlton, were truly committed to the cause, not only to see their old mate, but to share in his vision for the bigger picture issue of men’s health.

This story has its origins in Melbourne some months ago, after news came through that Ditchburn, the 28-game player who once reaped a bumper crop of 12 goals in a match against St Kilda at VFL Park, was battling prostate cancer.

When members of the Spirit of Carlton made contact to offer personal assistance, Ditchburn instead suggested that a sportsman’s night be staged in Kukerin to raise funding and awareness for men’s health.

“The night was never going to be a benefit for ‘Ditchy’,” Lowrie explained. “It was his wish that the night was to be supportive of the bigger picture issue of men’s health, and we said ‘No worries’.”

More than 170 people, mostly men who had found time away from their properties in Kukerin, Lake Grace and other locales, filed through the doors of the Kukerin Pioneers Memorial Hall for the event, which earned the support of the Bendigo Bank. There they heard from men’s health experts and shared in the personal experiences of Ken Hunter, Des English and of course, Ditchburn himself.

In the end, around $20,000 was raised for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the Black Dog Institute and RFDS – all generated from ticket sales and auction returns, together with Wayne Harmes’ generous gift of $10,000 worth of lime won in a local raffle but donated back to the Kukerin community.

More significantly, 56 men in attendance for the sportsman’s night took advantage of free blood testing at the nearby Kukerin Medical Centre the following morning, with the samples forwarded to Dr. Michael Aitken, Carlton’s one-game senior player of 1985, for further analysis. And as Ditchburn observed: “I’m pretty confident with the current statistics around that there are a couple who will get a phonecall and go in for a biopsy”.

“To get 56 guys through a set-up like that in a morning was just an awesome effort . . . and how good would it be if we can save a life out of that?,” Ditchburn said.

“It’s all about early detection whether it be prostate cancer, skin cancer or diabetes – treat the problem and nine times out of ten you’ll get out of it okay”.

By Sunday afternoon, as the sun began to set over Kukerin, Ditchburn finally found time to reflect on the weekend’s events – a kick-off involving Dennis and Hunter in which a Burley footy was booted over an 80,000-ton wheat storage bin; a rowdy session of lawn bowls involving the Carlton types and the town’s locals, and the great yabby hunt which took in three dams dotted around the vast expanses of the Ditchburn family property.

And of course, the campaign for men’s health.

“It’s been the greatest weekend I’ve ever experienced. We’ve covered such a wide range of issues of men’s health, and we’ve met so many people who have turned up in Kukerin,” Ditchburn said.

“The quality of speakers on men’s health, the boys of the Spirit of Carlton, and the feedback has been so positive. The people have really gained a great appreciation of the players, and I know out of the weekend we’ve got some signed-up Spirit of Carlton members who aren’t Carlton supporters, which reflects the pretty big impact the boys have made.”

Ditchburn also flagged a future get-together, suggesting that “now that they(the past players) have been here once, if they got the opportunity and had a couple of weeks spare, maybe they’d make the effort to come back and see me again”.

“That might not happen, but it’s just been fantastic for those guys to see where I live . . . and I hope they’ve gained an appreciation of what I’m about,” Ditchburn said.

“They call me ‘The Farmer’, I live in a pretty special place, the people are pretty special, and it’s a great place to live.”

With the Carlton back-to-back premiership teams of 1981 and ’82 to be lauded 30 years on from next year, expect Ditchburn to be in Melbourne come rain, hail or shine.

As he said: “I’ll be there for sure. Just tell me where and when and I’ll be there.”

“The boys might have whinged a little about jumping on a plane and travelling four hours by bus to get to Kukerin, but gee, every time there’s a reunion on in Carlton they’ve never thought anything of me having to drive to Perth for four hours, jump on a plane, to Melbourne, get back and then drive home again – and that’s something I’d do without even thinking. I’d never miss a reunion with these guys,” Ditchburn said.

“That’s what I stress to young footballers. It doesn’t matter what level you play at – if you play in a premiership side you’re remembered for the rest of your life.”

And what of “The Farmer” himself? For him, this story carries an even happier ending.

“I’m pretty confident that the surgeon has taken enough of the prostate for me not to have a recurrence. I’m still dealing with impotency issues, and I’m not frightened to talk about it. Men’s health is something I’m pretty passionate about,” he said.

“I’m actually a shire councillor with the Shire of Dumbleyung and the deputy president, and I enjoy talking about men’s health issues more than I do committing my time to local government.

“This might be something I look closer at in the future. If I want to spend a bit of time off the farm I’d rather be helping men become aware of potential problems, rather than spend my time arguing with ratepayers and dealing with the red tape. So we’ll see where it leads.”

Those of us of a certain vintage would remember well the old Four ‘n’ Twenty pies commercial with greats such as Jack ‘Captain Blood’ Dyer and Ted ‘Mr Football’ Whitten. It is a rollicking tune with a group of footballers on a bus. On the way back from Kukerin while watching the 1979 premiership DVD, Bob Lowrie must have looked around the bus we were travelling in and had some flashbacks to this great old ad. So an idea was born and the ‘Spirit of Carlton’ singers belted out their own rendition of the ad on a stop somewhere between Wagin and Dumbleyung.

Senior statesman of the group Ken Kleiman took up the Jack Dyer role with gusto and Geoff Southby and David McKay provided great leadership in the singalong. If any Four ‘n’ Twenty executives read this article and wish to use the Spirit of Carlton singers for any future advertisements just get your people to talk to our people.

During the recent road trip by the Spirit of Carlton to Kukerin in West Australia three past Blue champions gave their own personal accounts of their own issues with men’s health. Ross Ditchburn, Ken Hunter and Geoff Southby each provide honest, heartfelt and humorous account of issues surrounding depression and prostate cancer. Recommended viewing for anyone currently effected by these issues.

Legends abound around our great brown land about the country kid who ‘could kick a bag of spuds over a wheat silo’. This folklore is ingrained, it is a part of who we are and is a unique aspect of the Aussie rules dominated parts of the country, in particular the wheat belts.

Every year the Royal Hotel at Mirrool holds a competition to see who can kick a footy over the local wheat silo. This was won famously by Billy Brownless in 1987.

So it was little wonder that when looking out of the Kukerin pub at the goliath that is the 80,000 ton capacity Kukerin wheat bin, an idea crossed the minds of the tired, parched and bedraggled Spirit of Carlton boys.

“Can we kick a footy over that?”

So it was with a spirit of adventure that Ken Hunter and Richard Dennis trecked across the road the next day. Hamstrings were stretched for fear of breaking, the locally procured Burley ball was tested for proper inflation and shape. A strong cross breeze was coursing across the flat dry wheat fields.

This was no small task, Richard had not kicked a full sized footy for at least two years, Ken wanted the glory but not an injury.

… to prove champions never die wondering both men succeeded in defeating the Kukerin Wheat Bin, Richard with a flat punt and Ken with a lovely left footer.

So the challenge is now out there, for the boys of Kukerin, to become a man the Kukerin Wheat Bin must be cleared. In fact people Australia wide should flock to Kukerin to take on the challenge and video tape it for prosperity. Can you kick a footy over the Kukerin wheat bin?

On the 19th of November in Kukerin, West Australia Wheatbelt Men’s Health community educator Owen Catto gave a talk about how important it was for men in rural communities to take take issues regarding their health seriously. The Spirit of Carlton recorded the talk and present it here. If you have a mate you think might benefit from this message pass it on to him.

When you think of the Carlton Football Club, the small township of Kukerin, 300 kms southeast of Perth in the vast West Australian wheat belt does not come to mind. Yet, it is from this remote area of Australia that Ross Ditchburn was born and bred, a classic country superboot who travelled across the country to become a premiership player for the Blues in 1982.

When the Spirit of Carlton learnt about Ross’ recent battle with prostate cancer and Ross’ determination to spread the message of mens health awareness throughout rural communities the idea of a mens health weekend supported by the Spirit of Carlton was born. Keep returning over coming days for further details from this marathon footy trip across the country to support a very good cause.

In the meantime enjoy a pictorial summary of the trip from Spirit of Carlton TV on youtube.

In round 12, on the Friday night stage at Etihad Stadium, Carlton suffered what could be called a network breakdown.

Against North Melbourne, the main systems instrumental in the Blues’ promising start of seven wins and four losses failed to connect.

Explaining reasons for the 29-point loss, coach Brett Ratten referred to the usual culprits: “A lack of intensity and skill errors,” he said. “We gave the ball back too easily. That diminished our confidence to run and spread and get involved.”

This is a standard coaching admission that, in reality, reveals nothing. There is no mention of an opposition out there on the playing field, and what it did to stuff up the best intentions of Carlton’s plan. No acknowledgement of the Disruptive Pattern Theory, which was in effect during this game.

Anyone familiar with computer systems should be familiar with the theory. A simple network glitch breeds panic. There is no plan B. What next? No clues! The Roos-Blues game is a good example of how the theory applies in action.

North was outstanding at disconnecting Carlton’s plan A, and then pouncing on the opportunities available. Without an apparent plan B, the Blues looked lacklustre. As Ratten lamented, giving the ball back too easily was certainly the case.

In round 12, on the Friday night stage at Etihad Stadium, Carlton suffered what could be called a network breakdown.

Against North Melbourne, the main systems instrumental in the Blues’ promising start of seven wins and four losses failed to connect.

Explaining reasons for the 29-point loss, coach Brett Ratten referred to the usual culprits: “A lack of intensity and skill errors,” he said. “We gave the ball back too easily. That diminished our confidence to run and spread and get involved.”

This is a standard coaching admission that, in reality, reveals nothing. There is no mention of an opposition out there on the playing field, and what it did to stuff up the best intentions of Carlton’s plan. No acknowledgement of the Disruptive Pattern Theory, which was in effect during this game.

Anyone familiar with computer systems should be familiar with the theory. A simple network glitch breeds panic. There is no plan B. What next? No clues! The Roos-Blues game is a good example of how the theory applies in action.

North was outstanding at disconnecting Carlton’s plan A, and then pouncing on the opportunities available. Without an apparent plan B, the Blues looked lacklustre. As Ratten lamented, giving the ball back too easily was certainly the case.

The supposedly lessercredentialled Kangaroos ‘won’ 79 turnovers from the Blues’ disposals and scored a matchwinning 9.8 (62) from these opportunities. In contrast, Carton won only 57 turnovers from North Melbourne disposals and scored just 4.4 (28) from these chances.

Importantly, the Roos knocked the Blues off their perch around the stoppages. Before the game, Carlton’s main strength had been its ability to out-score its opposition from stoppage wins.

During the game, the Blues had an exceptional advantage of 47 clearances to North’s 27. However, this domination resulted in Carlton scoring only 17 points more than the Kangaroos from their respective stoppage wins.

How could these two discrepancies have occurred? What is Carlton’s plan A? How was it derailed? What mattered in this instance is how North Melbourne applied pressure to the Blues’ system, and the effect this pressure had.

Carlton is the most captaindriven club of any. It’s not unlike North Melbourne of the 1990s under skipper Wayne Carey. Like the Carey example, the Carlton system is engaged to accommodate the exceptional talents of Chris Judd.

Watching Judd take flight, drawing opposition flak while teammates, confident he will prevail, are lining up in attacking positions, is among the most compelling forces in footy. It is a mistake to think the system is a one-man-show. If too much attention is paid to Judd, the likes of outstanding lieutenants Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs can get you.

Carlton takes pride in its dominance and effectiveness at stoppages. After Geelong, it is the second-best team at outscoring the opposition from stoppage wins. Slick and efficient exits from stoppages also propel Carlton’s run-and-spread caper.

In their seven wins, the Blues have averaged a remarkable 50 more kicks than their opposition, which is the highest kick differential for any winning team. Hence the supply to their revamped livewire forward structure (minus Brendan Fevola) has been top-notch, and the forwards generally have delivered.

But Carlton has lost five games and what has broken down in these losses is revealing. It has suffered a spectacular drop in kicking dominance, averaging 15 fewer kicks than its opposition in these games.

Against North, Judd, Murphy and Gibbs, along with Eddie Betts (five goals), made important contributions. However, the Roos were outstanding at limiting the roles played by the rest of the team.

North Melbourne, a team that usually struggles to outnumber its opposition for total kicks, evened the score with Carlton. Blaming the Blues’ lack of intensity and skill errors for the loss does not give due credit to how good the Roos were at disconnecting the captain’s system.

The sustained pressure North applied produced 31 turnovers forward of centre, while Carlton could manage only eight in its forward half. The result was further endorsement of the Kangaroos’ work-in-progress development. Carlton should also gain valuable lessons for improvement. Handling pressure and applying it are two of the keys to success.

Take note: the grand masters at these capers are Geelong and St Kilda. They clearly disconnect opponents better than any other teams.

‘Carlton’s strength has endured because it has almost always operated in a zone between stagnation and anarchy, “the one place where a complex system can be spontaneous, adaptive, and alive”’.’

Dr Lionel Frost, The Old Dark Navy Blues: A History of the Carlton Football Club (Allen & Unwin, 1998), p. 12.

Fellow blue-bagger

You are warmly invited to the inaugural dinner and launch of

The Hopkins Institute

Where: Brandon Hotel, 237 Station St, Carlton (cnr Lee St).

When: 7.00 for 7.30 pm, Thursday 27 May 2010.
($45 for two courses, drinks over the bar)

Guest Speaker: Ted Hopkins (Author of “The Book of Slab”; aka as a Carlton rover who played 29 games between 68 and 71, including one you all know!)

What is The Hopkins Institute?: A diverse group of Carlton barrackers who share the aim of promoting discussion and celebration of ideas and events related to this great club – our glorious history, the course of the current renaissance, literature about or by Carlton people and the meaning of football and life. It is not an official Carlton Football Club group.

RSVP: ASAP
Scott Hargreaves (contact@scotthargreaves.com.au or 0417564642) or Lachlan Carter (lcarter@vicbar.com.au or 0411694767).

Long before Apple Macintosh guru Steve Jobs cottoned on to the idea of the brilliant iPod music shuffle invention, another kind of shuffle was happening in front of our eyes at the MCG and other footy venues around the country. I am referring to the ‘Hot Potato Shuffle’ warm-up drill before games, in which players swarm together into a tightly packed huddle and start jogging up and down, bumping into each other and shifting places.

The sole object of the drill appears to be shuffling the pill among the players at a distance no less than intimate kissing range. It’s a totally whacky thing to observe for anyone like myself who is steeped in the ancient ritual of a warm-up lap and casual kick-to-kick before games. Now, the Hot Potato Shuffle (like the iPod is to music) has become a ubiquitous feature of football, happening constantly during games, and not just before them.

We know who invented the iPod but who was responsible for this other thing? My research has led me to conclude it was Essendon’s 1993 team – the ‘Baby Bombers’ who won that year’s premiership – which was responsible.

Here is how I think it happened. At the start of 1992, under the stewardship of coach Kevin Sheedy and astute football manager Danny Corcoran, Essendon boasted an outstanding coaching panel that included reserves coach Denis Pagan and assistant coaches Neale Daniher and David Wheadon. Highly regarded recruiter Noel Judkin was also on board.

Sheedy had declared he wanted change and creativity. A new plan was discussed by the panel and hatched: ‘quick hands, speed kills’. Lurking among the Pagan-coached reserves premiership team of 1992 was a special crop of youngsters ripe for schooling in the new plan, including James Hird, Joe Misiti, Mark Mercuri, Steven Alessio, Ricky Olarenshaw, David Calthorpe, Michael Symons and Paul Hills.

The following year, these Baby Bombers progressed to the senior Essendon team. They had already been stamped with Pagan-style commitment to win the contest and adherence to the new team rules and playing style the coaches had introduced them to. During 1993, they also benefited from playing alongside senior luminaries including Michael Long, Mark Harvey, Mark Thompson, Paul Salmon, Gary O’Donnell, Gavin Wanganeen and Darren Bewick.

Adding to the quality influence of leadership that these players represented, veteran champion Tim Watson was coaxed from retirement. As the season progressed, the combination of youth and experience and quick hands was beginning to gel. My observation is that over time, the 1993 Grand Final teams, Essendon and Carlton, had grown to dislike one another intensely, eating at the heart enough to elevate it to a fierce rivalry.

However, there is a dictum in warfare: learn from the enemy. On the Carlton side were the genius hands of Greg Williams. How did he do it? Opponents spent considerable time studying not how to stop ‘Diesel’ – an assignment that was nigh impossible – but how to copy him. While the total package was not easy for mortals to replicate, his method of handballing and not kicking when he picked up the ball in heavy traffic became a model for team rules.

Another ploy hatched by Essendon in 1992 was the use of quick hands to get away from a tackle, with the player instructed to aggressively run and carry the ball into attack. Carlton started the 1993 Grand Final clear favourite. By quarter-time, the Blues looked a beaten side, trailing by 30 points. Essendon was just as fierce at the contests as Carlton, but was also dancing ahead in tune to the quick shuffling of the ball that left the Blues bamboozled and flat-footed.

Long and Mercuri were sublime exponents. Thompson is also listed in the AFL Record Season Guide among the best players that day. Sitting in the box that day was Wheadon, architect of the quick hands, speed kills philosophy. Essendon in 1993 had struck a high note. Long won the Norm Smith Medal and Wanganeen the Brownlow Medal. The Baby Bomber brand was born.

Today, not so surprisingly, we are watching a team that does the Hot Potato Shuffle more often and better than anyone else. Geelong has featured in the past three Grand Finals and won two of them. At the helm is coach ‘Bomber’ Thompson – and in the background tutoring the Cats is Wheadon, the club’s skill acquisition and game development coach. It’s no coincidence, is it?
Ted Hopkins is a Carlton premiership player and founder of Champion Data. His current project is TedSport, a high performance data analysis and consulting service.

This column was first published in the AFL Record. Copyright AFL 2010.

By Tony De Bolfo

Before “Sticks”, before “Jezza”, before “Turkey Tom”, before “Fev” and even before “Soapy”, the vibrantly-named full-forward Wallace Alfred Richard O’Cock stood front and centre in the first team fielded by the football club in the VFL’s maiden season of 1897.

And now, more than 113 years after he took to the field for that historic opening round match against Fitzroy at Brunswick Street, the first confirmed image of “Wally” O’Cock has surfaced, with the assistance of a descendant, Graeme Cumbrae-Stewart OAM.

Wally O’Cock was born in the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Clifton Hill on June 17, 1875. His father, was a bank manager named Alfred Ferrie O’Cock, his mother, Anne Wallace, and records indicate that Wally’s paternal grandfather originally hailed from Somerset in south west England.

The dedicated Carlton website Blueseum notes that Wally was already established in Carlton’s team when the first four matches of the VFL were staged on Saturday, May 8, 1897. It also notes that Wally lined up a placekick in the second quarter of the Fitzroy match and sent it sailing through the posts – the first goal kicked by a Carlton footballer in League competition.

That July, after being laid up for a period with injury, Wally endeavoured to force his way back into the team. Initially he was overlooked for selection after failing to obtain a medical clearance, but the club registered him under the name Alfred Wallace and he promptly booted two goals in a match-winning performance against the Fuschias.

The Wallace surname is itself famous in sporting circles. Wally’s uncle Donald Smith Wallace was an MP and pastoralist who owned the respective Melbourne Cup winners of 1888 and 1890, Mentor and Carbine – and as Cumbrae-Stewart added, “the story goes that Donald got Carbine on the cheap”.

Wally’s 15 goals from ten matches through season 1897 earned him the plaudits as the club’s first leading goalkicker. He would manage a further 31 appearances for the club over the next four years, despite having been in absentia for all of 1900 for reasons unknown.

He was only a few days short of his 26th birthday when he turned out for Carlton for the last time, against Essendon at the East Melbourne Football Ground in June 1901. He later fronted for a local outfit in Preston, but his the glory days on the paddock were long gone.

“I remember Dad telling me that Wally was a nuggety little bloke with a fiery temper,” Cumbrae-Stewart said recently.

“I believe he had to give up footy after he copped a spike from a boot to his leg. He was also left with a permanent limp, which forced him to give up his work as a commercial traveller with MacRobertson’s.

“Wally moved to Holbrook to work for his brother-in-law Adam Anderson and his wife Alice who managed at property called Wentworth . . . it was probably share farming of some sort.

“He later took on his own property, but fire wind and rain ruined it and he went broke. He then started as a stock and sales agent in Holbrook, during which time he and his wife Luisa Durrant raised six children.

Wallace Alfred Richard O’Cock died in Richmond on June 14, 1951, aged 74. He was buried in the New South Wales township of Holbrook, in a grave shared with his beloved wife, who died nine years previous.

But his name, and now his visage, are indelibly aligned with all things Navy Blue.

Hello everyone in Carlton land! It’s me, Jesse, back again to write about my favourite footy team for another year. Since I last wrote we lost one of my favourite players, Fev, but I’m getting used to our new forward line now and reckon we’re going to do okay. I have watched every match so far this year, the first three on TV (I cried when we lost to Brisbane because I really thought we had it won) and in Round 4 I finally got to see them play live over here in SA. I’m going to write about the match later this week, but for now I am just busting to tell you all about my exciting Saturday morning at the Spirit Of Carlton pre-match function!

The function was held at The Lakes Resort, just near AAMI Stadium. Many past Carlton champions were there, but I was mainly looking forward to seeing Anthony Koutoufides for the first time since he, Ang Christou and I had a kick of the footy in Melbourne last July. I had made up a special card to give Kouta, together with a photocopy of a story I wrote at school after those holidays in which I mentioned our kick-to-kick. When Kouta arrived he looked very happy to see our family – he gave me a hug and my Mum a kiss and shook my Dad’s hand and then I gave him my card with the story and a picture inside. On the front of the card was the photo that Ang took of Ang, me and Kouta. I think Kouta really liked it and he went to put it straight in his bag to keep it safe.

Past player from SA, Mark Naley, was there to host the show, and he remembered me from previous functions and get-togethers to watch games at the Rob Roy Hotel. He welcomed us all, including the Spirit Of Carlton boys. One was a player I hadn’t yet met, David Rhys-Jones, who was also helping to MC the function. My Mum had told me what a tough player for Carlton he was, but he wasn’t at all scary – he even gave me a hug. David talked of how Spirit Of Carlton first started about four years ago, when things weren’t looking so good for our great Football Club. He and other past players had a meeting about what to do to help the club they love during its “hour of need”, and they decided to give something back by raising money themselves to inject some funds for player facilities and equipment. They do this by having Spirit Of Carlton functions like this, and also golf days and auctions. They have spent around $250,000 on the club so far on various equipment, and plan to continue on, as they also have such fun getting together and talking about old times.

Then David asked ex-Adelaide player Chris McDermott and Kouta to come up on the stage to give a preview of the match being played that afternoon. Chris McDermott spoke about Adelaide not going too well, and said that the Adelaide supporters would “eat their own” if Adelaide were to lose today! Kouta was asked about the surprise omissions of Thornton and Waite, and he admitted that he was shocked, but that Ratts and his Match Committee would know much more than anyone else about why certain decisions are made. He thinks that our forward line is doing really well even with Fev gone and he was really looking forward to seeing Simon White debut. David then asked both Chris and Kouta for a tip – Chris picked Adelaide in a close match and Kouta, of course, picked the Mighty Bluebaggers! He got lots of cheers at saying that.

David Rhys-Jones then interviewed past champions Jim Buckley and Val Perovic. Val talked of playing footy in Ballarat, and not believing how lucky he was to be asked to play for Carlton. He reckons he’s been blessed to come to the best footy club in the land. David then said that Val holds a unique record in Melbourne of drinking 37 cans of beer in 1 hour and 47 minutes. He asked Val “what were you thinking?” to which Val replied, “I wasn’t thinking at all!”. David then asked Jimmy which of the 79, 81 and 82 premierships was the best for him, and Jimmy said the 1979 one, because that was his first. He spoke of premierships being such a bonding time for each player, having such a great respect for one another, and still all being good mates today. Jimmy said that last night he had been comparing Testimonials with Kouta and they found it quite funny – recent players have made some money from their Testimonials, but back in Jimmy’s day he had a joint Testimonial with Wayne Johnston (Mum’s first footy hero). It took them a while to find out how much money they’d made, and when they finally asked Collo about it, they were told that “Jimmy owes Carlton $1,000 and Johnno owes $2,000!”.

An announcement was then made about another past club champion who had a really bad car accident at the start of his second year with Carlton, Peter Motley. I’ve met Mots at the last two Carlton functions and I think he’s really funny and nice. He and his partner are expecting a baby in July! Mots was asked to come up on stage, and as he always does when he takes the stage, he told us all a joke. He then talked of really great memories of Carlton Football Club. David interrupted Mots to talk about the 1987 premiership, which is the year that Peter had his accident. He said Motley’s accident was a great inspiration to all Carlton players that year, and he’s sure that’s why they were able to win the Grand Final. Mots said that on the oval after that Grand Final, the Dominator and Braddles each gave him their own premiership medals………but after all the television reporters and cameras had left, they took them back!

Then it was time for some of the really big framed footy guernseys and prints to be auctioned to raise some funds for our club. The first was of David Rhys-Jones, for being the most reported player in VFL/AFL history. Mark told us David was reported 25 times, and only pleaded guilty once. David said when he pleaded guilty, he got four weeks for hitting a Melbourne runner called Peter Smith, so he never pleaded guilty again. He later discovered that the runner was Norm Smith’s son – David felt a bit guilty about winning the Norm Smith Medal after that!! The Rhys-Jones print was auctioned for $1,200.

The print of the most famous mark ever, Jesaulenko’s, was auctioned next. I wasn’t even anywhere near being alive when this mark was taken 40 years ago, but I have seen it many times over and I always pretend I’m Jezza – in fact, my nickname is Jezza! I’d love to meet him one day. His print was auctioned for $900.

A framed guernsey, signed by all players and coach of the 1982 premiership team, was auctioned for an amazing $2,050 – bought by our friend Denise! Stephen Silvagni’s 1988 Mark of the Year was the next one to be auctioned – this print was a beauty with four continual photos in the one picture. It went for $1,100.

During the break while our yummy breakfast was served to us, Kouta and I had a chat and our photo taken. I think Kouta is really special, and I have the feeling that he thinks I’m alright too!

Next up David interviewed Alex Marcou and Peter McConville. Alex came from Lalor, where Kouta & Lance Whitnall are from, and while he barracked for Fitzroy as a kid, he used to watch every Carlton game on TV (back when Jezza and Southby were playing) and he decided he wanted to play for them, too. He never forgets the day he was asked to play for the Blues, and how in awe he was of being in the same company as players like Jezza and Southby. Peter talked of the Fevola betting incident, saying “we had a few of them” – the papers would have had a field day in their time! Ken Hunter was another player in the room who could vouch for that. The President of our club, Stephen Kernahan (Sticks) arrived then and posed for a photo with me.

Sticks was welcomed by David and invited up on stage to talk to us. David asked him how he balances now being President after having such a long association with Carlton as a player – Sticks said for one thing he’s no good at public speaking – “look at the voice I’m stuck with!”. He stressed that he was only there by default, and was just doing it to help out the club until someone else was able to step into the role. David then mentioned the decision to move on Fevola – David thinks its the right decision but realises it has divided the club and asked Sticks how will we go forward from here. Sticks replied that Fev’s still one of the biggest merchandise sellers at the club, and is a much-loved character. But that over the 11 years he was with us, “we’ve all saved him 25 times over behind the scenes”, and while we miss him, it can’t all be about one person. He feels we’re better off now, and really hopes Fev can get his issues sorted out. David asked about the coach and moves he’s made so far this year, and Sticks replied that the media is already “all over the coaches” this year, Dean Bailey the first week, Mark Harvey also, and now it seems to be our turn this week because we lost to our arch rival in Essendon. He said all of Carlton’s players, employees and coaches are annoyed, and are very fired up,determined to win and make amends today. He said Ratten is doing okay, that “it’s Round 3, chill out – get behind the coach” as it really peeves Sticks some of the rubbish that goes on in Melbourne about him! When talking of the upcoming match, he said that last year he came over a day before the game against Adelaide to see his Dad and catch up with the Spirit Of Carlton boys, ending up a big night with him feeling rather seedy on match day. This time he flew over this morning and is sober as a judge while the Spirit Of Carlton boys all arrived yesterday and had a huge night – Stick is doing his bit to help the team! (Kouta told my Mum he got to bed at 6.30am so it WAS a big night for them all!).

While Sticks was there the next of the remaining items was auctioned off, a framed print and signed guernsey of the man himself. This print sold for the highest amount of the day – $2,500. It was purchased by our friend Cynthia who sat at our table!

Judd’s signed guernsey was the next to go – it went for $1,700.

And then came Kouta’s print (complete with Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley in the background) and signed guernsey. Daddy had checked this out earlier in the day, and had decided he wanted to bid for it, since Kouta means so much to our family, and especially to me from the time of my heart surgery. I was quite excited about this although we didn’t think he would be the successful bidder. But he was! We got it for $1,800. Wow. It will be well looked after by us, I can assure you!

Kouta was rather chuffed that we were the ones to purchase his print – Daddy took a photo of him with me and Mummy (who reminded me that Kouta was her hero long before I came along!).

After that, several individual current player prints and fancy footballs were sold off to the highest bidder. I had been checking out the footballs, each signed by the Spirit Of Carlton boys, because they were such cool colours. They went for various amounts between $150 and $350. The last one was a gold one, and Peter McConville purchased it for $250. And guess what? He gave it to ME! Daddy couldn’t believe it. Apparently he purchased it with me in mind. How lucky am I? Mum took a photo of me with Peter and my brand new footy.

And you’ll never guess what happened next!! THIS is what I have been busting to tell you! Mark Naley got up on stage for one last official announcement. He actually talked about ME! He said that I am a special friend of Spirit Of Carlton, and that I write stories for the Carlton website. He asked me to come up onto the stage and I had to walk up the steps and stand there in front of all those people! They all clapped and cheered and I have to tell you I felt very nervous (I took my new gold footy with me for good luck). When I got up there, Mark asked me who was going to win today and I told him Carlton would. And then he asked me who my favourite player was, and I told him Chris Judd. He asked if I remembered seeing Jimmy Buckley play, and everyone laughed because of course I didn’t! He then said that one of my original favourite players was here to present me with something special, and Kouta came up onto the stage with me, holding something. When Kouta took the microphone he ruffled my hair and told everybody there that he has known me ever since I was a baby – he bent down to ask me “was that seven years ago, Jess?” to which I nodded. He said that I am actually his son’s age so he knew that, and he told the people in the room about my open heart surgery and how Mum brought me down to the club to meet him and Ratten at the time, and then he bent down to me again and said “and we’ve stayed friends ever since, haven’t we, Jess?” to which I nodded again. I was so excited and nervous I thought I was going to cry from happiness, I told Mummy & Daddy later! But instead I stood there and said inside my head, ‘don’t cry, don’t cry”, which is why I could only nod. Kouta then told everyone how he and Ang had a kick of the footy with me and Mum & Dad last year, and he said that I could kick the ball further than Ang (I can’t, really!). He then said on behalf of the past players, because they know I’m a “very special kid” and that I mean a lot to him, too, he wanted to present me with a plaque of every Carlton premiership from the past. He said there are sixteen premierships on there, with two spaces for the next two premierships, and “hopefully you’re playing in that one”. (Mum told me later no way – we need a premiership well before I get old enough to play AFL!). How exciting – I got an Honorary Spirit Of Carlton Membership from Sticks two years ago, and this year a special plaque from Kouta. Dad was pretty impressed with it, and I now like looking at all those scorelines and who we beat in all those years.

So that was a great end to the function for me! I then had the game to look forward to………but that’s another story! I’ll be back to tell you about THAT excitement very soon!

From Jesse.

In the late 1960s as a Carlton reserves player starting to get an occasional run in the seniors, I once had the daunting privilege of coming up against Hawthorn’s young superstar Leigh Matthews. The encounter was brief, and it left me shocked. Scarcely a half of football but it was embarrassing. I was taught a humbling lesson about what it meant to excel in elite sport.
Although we were about the same height (I played at 177cm; Matthews at 178), I was a puny 68kg next to his compressed battleship frame weighing in at 86. For some reason, I thought I possessed enough silky skills, speed and footy smarts to compete with him. But pretty quickly, I realised otherwise.

This heavyset bloke was amazingly quick off the mark, agile and simply dazzling. In my face was the reality of exceptional talent executing sublime football skills. It was a painful tutorial, but at least there was a measure of how far I still had to go. But there was even more to learn. He was winning the ball regularly and I was scarcely getting a touch. And when I did – bang! A tackle that made me gasp for air and think I was going to die, and the umpire didn’t even blow the bloody whistle.

It immediately dawned on me that this bloke hated it when an opponent of any kind had the ball and would go hard and fast at him to get it back. It hurt. In a recent conversation with Matthews, he described this facet of the game involving getting the ball back from the opposition as effort.

Based on previous experience, I’m inclined to add the words: driven desire and blessed talent both ways, with and without the ball. He calls it execution under pressure, and I fully agree. Our conversation followed on the heels of comments he made recently on television and on afl.com.au.

In a website column, Matthews attributed the astronomical increases in handball numbers, often now outnumbering kicks in a game, to the exponential increase in interchange numbers. He wrote: “This handball footy has evolved because the pressure on the ball carrier has never been hotter. While specialist tackling numbers have honed good technique, it is the large numbers of players with the energy to surround the footy that is the main catalyst for the increased need to handball because of the difficulty in finding space to deliver an unpressured kick … “It is the use of the interchange bench to rest players regularly that enables them to play with such high energy in their spurts on the field.”

As a four-time premiership coach (with Collingwood in 1990 and the Brisbane Lions in 2001-03), Matthews explained the basis of his coaching philosophy: “My chief role was to influence talent to make the effort when it got harder, when an opponent had the ball,” he said. “At the Lions, we placed a lot of emphasis on tackling numbers. Most important was also the type of tackles, which we reviewed in video post-match.

These included our highly rated categories of special tackles in active play and missed tackles, along with the trapping-type tackles.” His other highest priority was execution. “Assuming the effort was there, the result of the game invariably hinged on how well the individual talent and the team executed when they had the ball,” he said.

Consequently, he believes one of the keys to coaching is to make sure the available talent is in the right place at the right time. He mentioned on Channel Seven recently that too much emphasis is being made of the concept of a ‘game-plan’, at the expense of the idea of execution.

He suggested the term is a convenient one being used more as way of promoting the game and not explaining it. “It’s mystifying the game,” he said. “What coaches and commentators are fond of calling a game-plan is perhaps better described as strategies, themes, principles and team rules.” When champions such as Matthews are hunting you down, there is no time to follow a script. You can only execute the best you can, and when he’s got the ball, hopefully reciprocate.
Ted Hopkins is a Carlton premiership player and founder of Champion Data. His current project is TedSport, a high performance data analysis and consulting service.

This column was first published in the AFL Record. Copyright AFL 2010.

Spirit of Carlton TV is delighted to present a wonderful interview with 1970 Carlton premiership player Bert Thornley.

By Tony De Bolfo

This is the story of the short life and tragic death of Andrew Sarkies – Boer War veteran, Carlton Football Club committeeman and the great great grandfather of the Australian Socceroo Kristian Sarkies.

This long-forgotten tale was recently revived after Sarkies’ great grandson Geoff Sarkies recently contacted the club seeking clarification of Andrew’s role at Carlton.
The club’s annual reports reveal that Sarkies did indeed serve on the committee of management from 1907 through to 1910 – the year of his untimely death – under the Presidency of John Urquhart.

Other details of Sarkies’ life was subsequently gleaned from family and other sources.
Sarkies was of Armenian extraction – his father, John Sarkies, having been born of Armenian parents in Shuska (Republic of Iran).

Sarkies’ father and mother Helen McKay married in Melbourne in 1864, the year the Carlton Football Club was founded. Andrew was born a year later.

At some point the family relocated to Scotland, and then the parents split. John Sarkies is thought to have gone to India, with Helen returning to Australia, fending for a total of nine children, working as a charwoman, and dying a lonely death in Melbourne.

When members of the Victorian Mounted Rifles 5th contingent enrolled for the Second Boer War in February 1901, leaving for South Africa in mid-February, Sarkies went with them.

The VMR was a regiment composed of Australian forces first raised by Colonel Tom Price in the mid-1880s. The regiment was mobilised at Pretoria between March 24 and April 4, 1901, and saw considerable action during the Second Boer War when it was used to combat the guerilla warfare tactics of the Boers.

Sarkies survived the war, returned from South Africa and was subsequently discharged. He remained on the strength of the Army Service Corps (Vic) as a Staff Sergeant while being employed in the Authority Branch of the Department Of Home Affairs. At some point between 1902 and 1910 he served as Secretary to the Returned Soldiers Association (South Africa) as reported at the time of his death.

During this time, Sarkies and his wife Mary Jane (nee Lalor) purchased land and built a house at 15 Royal Ave, Glenhuntly. The house was later named ‘Fortrose’ – the Fort from his military background and the Rose from his first born daughter who did not survive.

On September 17, 1910, Sarkies attended the semi-final between Carlton and South Melbourne at the MCG. The Blues went down to the Bloods by two goals, in what was to be the last game Sarkies ever saw.

At a subsequent inquest into Sarkies’ death, a gent named Arthur Springer, publisher from Black Rock, was amongst those giving evidence.

“I knew the deceased Andrew Sarkies. I met him on account of being the publisher of a football paper. I met him on the 17th instant at 6.45pm. at the MCG. He walked up to the cab rank at Jolimont and then we said to the cabby ‘What is the fare?’. He said ‘a shilling each’. I said ‘We are willing to pay the double tram fare’. He said, ‘Alright, jump in’. We got in the cab, the deceased was alright. He may have had some drink but he was not drunk. There was no one else in the cab.

On the journey to Melbourne I passed the remark to the deceased about the fare. I gave my fare to Sarkies on the way down. I got out of the cab at Princes Bridge and the deceased commenced singing a song about the ‘Boys of Carlton’. The cabbie said ‘Terminus’. I said to Sarkies ‘Come on, get out’. He took no notice so I then walked away. There was no unpleasantness in the cab between us.

Constable Anderson of Russell Street Police made the following statement to the inquest.

“I found a man lying on the roadway near Princes Bridge Railway Station at 7.15pm. He was unconscious lying behind a cab. I made enquiries there if anybody knew him, but nobody seemed to know him. I then took him to the Melbourne Hospital in a cab. He was attended to by Dr. Felstead . . . he was not able to pay for the cab No. 259. The cabman stated that he had the same man as a passenger from the Melbourne Cricket Ground a few minutes before I found him. He also stated that he got out of his cab and just fell down where he lay unconscious. I went to the hospital again at 9.15pm and he was still unconscious. He is a well dressed, and seemed to be, a respectable man by appearances.”

Andrew Sarkies was transferred to the Melbourne hospital (then in Swanston Street). There he died four days later, on September 21, 1910 from injuries to the brain and skull – the result of an accidental fall in Flinders Street near Princes Bridge Railway Station.

His body was later identified by his widow, Mary Jane (nee Lalor) Sarkies.

Sarkies was accorded a military funeral, which left Victoria Barracks for Melbourne General Cemetery by the Carlton ground. The OIC of the 5th contingent, Colonel Otter, attended the funeral along with other dignitaries.

A grand military night was later held at Spencer’s Pictures, Olympia, under the patronage of the commandant and head quarters staff, for the benefit of the Sarkies family. A special program was arranged with members of the metropolitan forces attending in full uniform, together with members of the South African Soldiers’ Association, home affairs Department, the Glenhuntly Lesees’ Association and the Carlton Football Club; with all of which the former committeeman was intimately connected.

The observations of Malcolm Blight are formed with a unique perspective: star North Melbourne forward and premiership player, coach of Geelong in three losing Grand Finals, followed by dual premierships coaching Adelaide. No less spectacular was his brief stint as coach of St Kilda and controversial dismissal. Recently, during a television broadcast, I heard Blight repeat a familiar view of his: “Even stars have bad days” and then cautioning an over-reliance on “star systems”.

I had been (and still am) intrigued by his comments on star systems, and welcomed the opportunity to discuss the subject with him. Personal experiences of star systems had shaped my understanding of football. As a youngster, I passionately barracked for South Melbourne. I recall crying unbearably when South would lose – and I cried a lot.

Salvation was an extreme devotion to the Swans’ lone and exceptional star, triple Brownlow medallist Bobby Skilton. In my book, he was best on ground every time he played and never made a clanger. No doubt many who have followed teams consistently finishing at the bottom of the ladder feel this binding scenario of regular disappointment and adulation. Perhaps the most recent example is Richmond fans and the special emotions they attributed to Matthew Richardson.
Ultimately, this is one spectrum of a star system, a situation where the ranks of the stars available to a team are spread too thinly and the backup troops struggle to fill the gap. Alternatively, Blight’s experiences are at the other end of the spectrum. Blessed with super talent, his association is with star-studded teams during his playing era and coaching involvements at Geelong and Adelaide.

My conversation with him started with me mentioning the stark contrast I found between barracking for South Melbourne and then, as a recruit, walking into Carlton and confronting a locker room of genuine stars. There was awe but, importantly, it was immediately drilled into me the ‘team’ was the star attraction and everyone involved was required to contribute their respective talents.

Blight acknowledged similar sentiments, but went further to explain his particular issues with star systems. “At Geelong, we played in three losing Grand Finals. These were good teams but, like any team, it was critical to win or at least stay on even terms in the midfield,” he said. “I felt we lost those Grand Finals mainly because our midfield was beaten on the day and this exposed our defence, which was not blessed with super talent. “We had the stars in the midfield,” he said, referring to players the calibre of Brownlow medallist Paul Couch, Mark Bairstow and Garry ‘Buddha’ Hocking, “but there was not much I could do about it. We had a lot of players in the team who had developed into set roles and I couldn’t change things around that much. “I’m of the view, if a star is struggling on the day, get him to play a different role and at least take out someone important from the opposition.”

At Adelaide, he immediately took measures to make sure the same circumstances did not repeat. Consequently, a crop of midfield stars, including Mark Ricciuto, Mark Bickley, Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin and Darren Jarman, spent various times rotating in different roles, either forward or back. “Ben Hart was marvellous in defence,” he said, “because he was just as brilliant attending small and tall players. As a defender, Nigel Smart could easily be switched into attack.” In two winning Grand Finals, Blight’s tactical moves are legendary, including the unexpected and successful match-up of McLeod playing in the centre on Saint Robert Harvey, ruckman David Pittman at centre half-back on Stewart Loewe, Ricciuto switching to half-back against North Melbourne and Jarman bobbing up at full-forward for a combined 11 goals in the two wins.

Based on this reasoning – and casting an eye to the present – Blight is convinced that, of the controversial trade of Brendan Fevola from Carlton to the Brisbane Lions and Daniel Bradshaw from the Lions to the Sydney Swans, it is the Swans who have benefited most. “Both are outstanding forwards who have kicked a similar number of goals over distinguished careers,” he said. “But Bradshaw is the far better proposition. He is adaptable. He can play defence as well as attack. It’s best if the star fits within the system, rather than the star becoming the system.”
Ted Hopkins is a Carlton premiership player and founder of Champion Data. His current project is TedSport, a high performance data analysis and consulting service.

This column was first published in the AFL Record. Copyright AFL 2010.