Mongrel Time Machine – 1981 Essendon v Carlton Round 20

Another gem was uncovered recently by Rhett Bartlett, and added to his youtube channel, as he continues to do the work the AFL and its broadcast partners have neglected to do for years, and restores some of the game’s lost history.

This one was from the 1981 season, and coming into watching it, I really didn’t know what to expect from this. I try to avoid results and stats before viewing, to ensure I don’t have any preconceived opinions.

And well, I wasn’t expecting this!

I love my footy history, and when I can get my hands on an old game, I love sitting back, watching the way the game was played back then, and applying a few modern stats to get a better understanding of who the best players in the game were.

However, this game took on a life of its own, and despite my best efforts, I put away the stats sheet and just enjoyed the desperate, pulsating last quarter between the Bombers and Blues from Round 20, 1981.

I’m not going to say it was pretty – footy was a different beast back then, and the fact that Melbourne had endured a heap of rain in the days prior to the game didn’t help matters, but when it comes to two powerful VFL clubs going head-to-head with plenty on the line, this is as good as it gets. A packed Princes Park, a Saturday afternoon… footy heaven for someone who loves to see some of the greats of the game.

These were the Essendon and Carlton teams I grew up on.

And hated.

Wayne Johnston, Wayne Harmes, Rod Ashman, Bruce Doull, Mike Fitzpatrick, and Peter Bosustow, were just some of the names littering Carlton’s list. The only one missing was Jezza… who was now wearing St Kilda colours.

Too soon, Blues fans?

On the other side of the equation, names like Terry and Neale Daniher, Simon Madden, Tony Buhagiar, Merv Neagle, and Pal Vander Haar, wore the red and black for this contest.

And several of those mentioned had great games.

Coming into this game, the Bombers were riding a 13-game winning streak, and this was billed as a possible Grand Final preview.

Of course, we know things didn’t play out that way. Carlton would go on to win the first of their back-to-back flags, but it would be Collingwood that they vanquished on the last Saturday in September. The Bombers went out in the first week of finals, losing to Fitzroy.

In the end, this win-streak amounted to very little. A club like Essendon doesn’t go about making DVD sets (or VHS… or even Beta sets) of winning streaks, right? However, this game was worth watching, as the stars came out to play, and the straight-forward, no bullshit nature of the contest cannot help but draw you in, particularly if you are of a certain vintage…

… much like myself.

 

Let’s jump into the classic game, with one of the best finishes in the business.

 

 

THE BROTHERS DANIHER

You know, Neale has got so much coverage over the last decade for his fight against MND, and he was recently award the Australian of the Year Honours. Probably overdue, to be honest.

But I feel that how good a player he was has been lost over time. I can remember my Dad telling me that Neale was the best of the Daniher clan, and that was saying plenty, given he had a brother on the same team that would go on to win the league MVP award in 1983.

Both brothers played pivotal roles in this one.

Terry Daniher lined up at half-back, and proceeded to record an impressive 11 intercepts for the game. He added six one-percenters to his total, and was one of the best players on the park for the Bombers.

But, as you’ll read later on, it was the heroics of Neale that got the Bombers over the line, in this game. He played everywhere, starting in defence, playing against Peter Bosustow, moved through the middle, and then finished up forward when it mattered most. One of his one-on-one wins against Bosustow was absolute magic, and captured just how special he was.

There will be people who don’t like this game, as it is dated, however, if you’re looking at seeing Neale Daniher play and have a big impact on a contest, then this is the game to watch. It was a shame that his knees couldn’t hold up – he only played 82 games, and missed the next three-straight seasons after this 1981 season.

 

THE FUTURE AFL COMMISSIONER

On paper, this should have been a cracker between Simon Madden – regarded by many as a top-five ruck, all time – and the Carlton skipper, Mike Fitzpatrick, but it never really eventuated.

Playing long periods in the ruck in this game was Steven Taubert for the Bombers, and I have to admit… I had never heard of him. In my defence, I was aged in single digits when this game was played, but with Madden in the side, I just expected we’d see a heavyweight tussle.

However, this was more like a heavyweight beating the shit out of a bantamweight.

Fitzpatrick was everywhere, winning his own footy, outrunning Taubert, and drifting back into defence to clog things up. It was only when Roger Merrett was thrown into the ruck that Essendon started to have a bit of mongrel in those contests.

As a matter of fact, I felt that Merrett may have even got the better of the Carlton skipper for a fair share of the third term, attacking every contest like he wanted to kill it.

And where was Madden in all this?

Well, he started at full forward, but was swung into defence, because the work of David McKay was a bit too much for the Bomber back six to handle. McKay kicked four, but Madden did seem to be able to disrupt him in the air and the forward did slot all his goals prior to the main break..

Lou Richards and Peter Landy on commentary, both lamented the misuse of Madden, particularly with Fitzpatrick having a big influence, but it evidently worked out okay for Essendon.

On the day, Fitzpatrick has 18 touches, 35 hit outs, four clearances, and four intercepts as one of the best players on the park. Madden had seven one-percenters in defence, to add to his 14 hit outs and eight disposals.

Fitzy had a bit of a day out.

 

THE BUDGIE

I think I may have told this story before – after my mother died, and my Dad grieved, he tried his hand at another relationship, and I lived with a family of Essendon supporters. Long story short, it was for about 18 months or so, and it didn’t work out, but I remain in touch with some members of that family. They were Essendon mad and their favourite player was Tony Buhagiar.

Seriously, you could not say a bad word about Budgie, or they’d turn on you in an instant.

But I did think alot of bad things about him.

He drew six free kicks in this game – just about all of them for being tackled too high. And you all act like Joel Selwood invented dropping at the knees or leaning into a tackle – this bloke was like the originator of these tactics, and at just 166 centimetres, he was just about the hardest player to tackle in the league.

But he was more than that in this game, and truth be told, I had been waiting for a vintage game to surface where he plays well. This was it. Budgie had 29 touches, snagged a goal, had six clearances, and a goal assist, in a pretty damn good game of footy.

I can still hear my pseudo-family screeching “Go Budgie…” every time he went near the ball, eve if this game is 44 years old.

Time flies.

 

RUGGED RONNIE

This was kind of an important game to watch for me.

You see, growing up, unless you had the opportunity to sit and watch full games, you didn’t really get the opportunity to assess all the players in the league. Your information came from the press, and that’s basically all you got, as full game replays were incredibly rare.

As such, what do you think Non-Essendon supporters thought of Ron Andrews? And importantly, what did the press tell you about him?

That he was a thug, right? A brute?

And yes, he had elements to his game that were brutal, BUT… he could also flat-out play footy, and he was a very solid defensive presence in this game.

His stats say 17 touches and three marks, but your old pal, HB, has some mote context for you.

Ronnie had ten intercepts (eight in a big first half) and six one-percenters in this game, as well. And whilst Simon Madeen was sent into defence at one stage, it was the work of Andrews that was most impressive, to me. I expected Madden to play well, but Andrews snuck up on me and changed my perspective of him in this game.

He still threw his weight around, and he copped as good as he dished out, but his play was one of the highlights of the game for me.

 

BRUCE DOULL V PAUL VANDER HAAR

As the ball was bounced, my eyes were darting everywhere, trying to pick up as many direct clashes as I could, but as I scanned the field, I came to a dead stop when I realised that Bruce Doull was going to match up on Paul Vander Haar.

Two legends of the game, and I was all in on this one.

Sadly, it lasted just a quarter and a half before Doull suffered a combination of ankle and elbow injuries, and was forced to sit out the remainder of the second quarter. However, up until then, this was a great tussle.

Vander Haar got the jump on Doull, using his body to take two contested grabs against the Carlton legend, but you could almost see Doull doing the calculations in his head. From that point on, he didn’t attempt to out-body Vander, at all.

No, he went for the spoil every time.

There was nothing fancy about Doull in this one. Once he realised Vander Haar had his number in the air, he reverted to defence-first. It was a sound move, as he accrued eight spoils in the first half alone, and finished with 11 for the game. The reason this is so impressive is that after returning to the field, he played as a forward for a quarter and a bit, before swinging back ionto defence in the last quarter.

Put it this way – as a forward, Bruce made a brilliant defender.

Vander Haar was then covered by Ken Hunter, which provided more highlights, as Hunter continued to thwart the high-flying Dutchman.

And then, out of the blue, Vander Haar took this brilliant pack mark, running with the flight of the ball, to ignite the Bombers. Seriously, Vander gets lauded for all his big marks, but this one was courageous as well as spectacular. I did the “whoa….” as he launched at the footy, in the same manner that Wayne Carey made his own about a decade later. A brilliant moment from a player I always thought could do anything.

 

NEALE DANIHER V PETER BOSUSTOW

Put it this way, Daniher killed Bosustow for the first two quarters. Completely owned the contest.

And then, just when Carlton needed a lift, Buzz flicked the switch and turned on a big quarter of footy.

In the third, Bosustow did a bit of everything. Three contested marks, three goals, and the kind of celebrations you expected from him. This guy was a star of the game – make no mistake about it. A confidence player? Maybe. But when you have the ability to turn it on in a short burst and change the game’s trajectory, why wouldn’t you have confidence?

It should be noted that two of his three goals were kicked when he had Glen Hawker as his direct opponent. The first came when he outmarked Daniher, but as Sheedy started to move Neale around, Hawker got the job, and found out first-hand, what a good job Daniher had been doing.

I’m not the biggest Carlton fan, but even I used to yell “Bosustow” as I attempted to launch at a pack in the schoolyard, and seeing him turn it on, even if it was just for a quarter, brought back some great memories. This, on top of seeing him and Daniher battling it out… it was a pleasure.

 

PHIL MAYLIN’S THIRD QUARTER

Maylin had been given a bath in the first half by the combination of Merv Neagle and Gary Foulds. I am not sure of the exact numbers, as he was not one of the players I decided to focus on, but one of the commentators informed us he’d had just one kick in the first half.

My guess is that David Parkin also realised he’d had just one kick and had a quiet word to him at the main break, because Maylin came out like a different player in the third, and whilst the Blues were able to control the game by snagging five goals in the “premiership quarter”, it was Maylin’s efforts that made it possible.

If he did have one touch in the first half, it would mean that he had 18 more after halftime, and his power running made a huge difference. I’d say he had double-figure disposals in the third.

 

A TALE OF TWO FORWARDS

Time for me to come across as an ignoramus.

My knowledge of both Max Crowe and David McKay is limited. I know the names, and I have heard them discussed, but I’ve never really had much of a chance to see them in action.

That’s why finding this vintage games is so great – it provides the opportunity to lean about players, tactics, and moments, I was unaware of.

Both of these guys were very prominent in this contest.

At either end, they provided a heap of headaches, with Crowe snagging four for the Bombers, and McKay doing the same for the Blues.

McKay’s play prompted Sheedy to throw Simon Madden behind the ball, and when you consider that all of McKay’s goals came in the first half, you’d have to call the move a success.

McKay looks like a throwback, even for the eighties. Lanky, with a mop of hair and basically nothing in terms of muscle mass… this was his last season in the league, and this was one of his best games for the season.

 

MORE THAN A BLACK EYE

If you’d asked me about Alan Stoneham prior to viewing this game, the extent of my knowledge about him would have been that he was the bloke that Dipper flattened just on the quarter time siren one day, and gave him one of the best shiners in footy history.

Now, however, I’ll remember more.

He had 11 intercepts in this game, with the bulk of them coming after half time, as both he and Terry Daniher continually built the wall across half-back for the Bombers, and repelled the Blues’ attack. He read the footy really well, and he has definitely elevated in terms of my esteem as a result of watching this game.

 

THE NAILBITING FINISH

The Blues were 26 points up with 20 minutes gone in the last quarter. That should have been it.

Playing at home, this was the game that should have ended the Essendon streak, but whenever they took possession of the footy, they seemed very eager to take the game on and finish the Bombers off. You’d think it would be wise to slow things down and milk the clock.

Yes, you’d think it would have been wise.

However, when Mike Fitzpatrick took a relieving mark in defence and paused to survey his options, the umpire decided that he had seen enough of Fitzy’s time-wasting.

Yes, time-wasting was a thing back then, and rather than just call play-on, the umpires would pay a free kick against the offending player.

Harsh, right?

No goal came from that passage, but it was definitely a controversial moment in the game, and one that infuriated Blues supporters. Looking at it now, he actually didn’t take that long. He took the grab, walked back, put his hand up to his mouth like he was confused (great move, by the way… the bloke is a Rhodes Scholar and this is the move he pulls to trick the ump?) and as he looks around, the whistle blows and the footy is taken off him.

Crazy stuff.

Anyway, whilst that became the story coming out of the game, the late move of swinging Neale Daniher forward was the matchwinner from Kevin Sheedy.

As above, Daniher started the game playing on Peter Bosustow, and did a fantastic job keeping him under wraps in the first half. He then moved into the middle before heading forward as the Bombers attempted to pinch the game.

He took two marks in the dying stages and kicked two crucial goals to give the Bombers their 14th-straight win.

A cracking finish!

 

SOME QUICKIES

Rod Ashman was not wearing the helmet in this game. He was an angry little fella, at times, and kind of reminded me of the little fat bearded guy from Abba. Can you hear the drums, Rod Ashman?

Loved the work of Merv Neagle in this one. I always have such conflicted feelings about Merv, as he was my neighbour in Moonee Ponds when I was a kid, but… he also played for Essendon, and I had trouble separating the player from the bloke who would smile, wave, and have a chat with my dad.

Des English is an underrated player. He had a very solid game (despite a couple of dropped marks) and collected ten intercepts for the game. Wayne Harmes had nine, but seemed to play in fits and starts. He was one of the best in the first quarter, then was out of sight for an hour, before finishing well.

Tim Watson really lifted in the second half. He had just one clearance in the first, but added five after half time.

 

THE WASH UP

Games like these are a treasure trove if you’re looking at either a) reminiscing, or b) educating yourself on where the game was in order to appreciate where the game is.

It is a lot more physical, with players opting to bump, and the onus largely going to the opposition players to protect themselves. Gotta admit, I kind of like that.

The game is played in a lot more of a straightforward manner. There are very limited switches and hold ups in play (except for the time Fitzpatrick tries it) and that leads to a frantic feel.

The ground is messy. It’s been soaked all week and is churned up a fair bit even before the game gets underway and the umps don’t sit around waiting for rucks to nominate or be ready before throwing the ball in – if you’re not there… tough luck. That’s another real positive.

Anyway, this won’t be for everybody, but if you’re after a glimpse of the Australian of the Year in his playing days, just before his knee injuries killed his career, Neale Daniher gives you a couple of minutes in footy heaven in this one.

Again, thanks to the work of Rhett Bartlett for his work in salvaging the history of our great game. He is putting the official avenues to absolute shame.

The full game can be found at the link below.

 

 

 

 

As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB

Like this content? You could buy me a coffee – I do like coffee, but there is no guarantee I won’t use it to buy a doughnut… I like them more. And I am not brought to you by Sportsbet or Ladbrokes… or Bet365, or any of them.