“He’s broken the record, that’s a fantastic effort” – Lou Richards, as Dermott Brereton slotted his eighth goal in a losing side, in the 1985 VFL Grand Final.
“That is the record in a grand final, eight goals kicked by Dermott Brereton” – Peter Landy.
I am as big a fan of Derm as anyone, and at the time, I celebrated his achievement. I mean, there was little else to celebrate that day as the Bombers rolled to the flag over my team. I remember being proud of the way he stood up in the decider, kicking those goals and playing great footy as the Hawks capitulated to the Bombers, giving them back-to-back flags.
However, as I would later learn, the commentators had a bit of a selective memory. I was especially surprised that of all people, Lou Richards would forget that there had been another who had done it before, and even gone one better. Lou started at the Pies just four years after the end of this man’s reign.
So, Derm’s effort in 1985 wasn’t the record for goals kicked in a Grand Final, and even if it had been, it would have only lasted four years, with the great Gary Ablett snagging nine in the 1989 decider.
Gaz would be hailed as the record-holder from then on, but a quick perusal of the history books quickly proved that Derm never held the record, and that Ablett now shared the record with one of the all-time greats of the game. How could someone hailed as a legend of the game be forgotten when it came to such a feat?
It was just slightly before my time, though when I get a bit grumpy, Mrs Mongrel swears I must have been alive to see it, but in 1928, Gordon Coventry kicked nine goals for the Magpies – nine of their total 13 for the game – as they defeated the Tigers and won the flag.
But that is just one instance where Coventry was head and shoulders above his peers.
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