Speaker 1: I was in that mental state where I was going
Speaker 1: to have tests done, hoping I had a positive test.
Speaker 2: I was going to.
Speaker 1: Scans brain scans, I was hoping.
Speaker 2: I had cancer. It's ridiculous that was a state of mind.
Speaker 3: I'm John Ralph and I'm Glenn McFarlane.
Speaker 4: Welcome to Sacked, a podcast that explores what really happens
Speaker 4: when the ax falls in the AFL world.
Speaker 3: Will take you behind the scenes with some of the
Speaker 3: biggest names in.
Speaker 4: Football and find out how they found out, how time
Speaker 4: was up and who pulled the trigger. Sacked AFL is
Speaker 4: made possible with the support of subscribers to The Herald Sun.
Speaker 4: To find out more, go to Herald Sun dot com
Speaker 4: dot au or download the Herald Sun app at your
Speaker 4: app store today.
Speaker 5: The ten year deal with Alistair Lynch. The dire state
Speaker 5: of affairs that was Fitzroy in the mid nineteen nineties
Speaker 5: is hard to fathom in this billion dollar AFL era,
Speaker 5: but Alistair Lynch was right in the middle of it.
Speaker 3: A kid from Tatty who became.
Speaker 5: A bankable star with his own fan club, Lynch broke
Speaker 5: Roy's fans hearts when as the best in Farrest and
Speaker 5: all Australian.
Speaker 3: He shocked No. One by signing it.
Speaker 5: Then ten year, two million dollar deal with the Brisbane Bears.
Speaker 5: The greatest irony was to come three years later, when
Speaker 5: his past and present merged and Lynch was too unwell
Speaker 5: to become a significant part of it. And yet his
Speaker 5: story was still not done. The third chapter of an
Speaker 5: extraordinary league football journey featured three premierships and one of
Speaker 5: the more brutal and out of character full stops a
Speaker 5: footy career has had.
Speaker 3: Alista Lynch.
Speaker 4: We've lured you under false pretenses because this podcast is
Speaker 4: called Sacked, and I don't think you've technically ever been
Speaker 4: sacked well wherever.
Speaker 1: That concerns me greatly. Now I'm concerned you work in
Speaker 1: at Fox. Maybe you know something I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: about to get the CoCN. But no, I don't think
Speaker 1: I've been sacked as yet. So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1: But no, good to be along.
Speaker 4: So what an amazing career. So I called you up.
Speaker 4: I said, there's no controversies that you dropped the ze bomb.
Speaker 2: Accidentally, not the sea bomb that was Jared was the
Speaker 2: f bomby.
Speaker 3: Sorry, let's be very specifical about that.
Speaker 1: And lets be serious, it wasn't My f bomb was
Speaker 1: more dirm. It's contorted face looking at me and not
Speaker 1: giving me anything.
Speaker 3: We'll get to that era and you through a few homemakers.
Speaker 4: But but apart from that, it's a career of just
Speaker 4: extraordinary and unrivaled achievement.
Speaker 3: You must be so proud of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's when you well, you don't reflect too much.
Speaker 1: But I'm supposed to have opportunities like this and you think, oh,
Speaker 1: it was pretty amazing, It wasn't. It wasn't a smooth
Speaker 1: like so many journeys. I suppose it wasn't just a
Speaker 1: smooth run to success. There was ups and downs throughout,
Speaker 1: whether it be personally or as a club or as
Speaker 1: a family. But I suppose that's what makes the special
Speaker 1: moments so great. I would have thought, and I think
Speaker 1: you look at the two main groups that I was
Speaker 1: involved with sort of Fitzroy as a young kid and
Speaker 1: been adopted in by that group. We're very tight, and
Speaker 1: then the is the obvious tight group on the back
Speaker 1: of premierships at the Brisbane lines as well. So extremely
Speaker 1: fortunate to have experienced all that.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're into TV wherever I hate you. No,
Speaker 3: We're pretty good. Is a pretty good camaraderie at Fox
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 5: Just in terms of where you're brought up, Lincha, it
Speaker 5: was a Bernie you spent You're basically brought up in
Speaker 5: Bernie and that and tell us a bit.
Speaker 3: About your family background there.
Speaker 1: So born in Bernie pretty much early years were Bernie.
Speaker 1: Probably primary school was Wind just fifteen minutes drive. And
Speaker 1: sort of left school so when you're primary Sunset Primary,
Speaker 1: Bernie High School with a stint at St. Pats in
Speaker 1: Lon system that his parents went their separate ways, sort
Speaker 1: of went to Lone system for a year as well,
Speaker 1: and then sort of got to year eleven halfway through
Speaker 1: year eleven at Hellier College in Bernie, and just felt
Speaker 1: that I was an overly academic and probably didn't work
Speaker 1: hard like those typical male report cards. If he applies himself, Okay,
Speaker 1: I did meet with him, and so I dropped out
Speaker 1: of school halfway through year eleven and went and worked
Speaker 1: down the west coast of Tazzy on the King River scheme,
Speaker 1: which is a hydro electric skinner down there where they
Speaker 1: were building a dam site. So I went in playing
Speaker 1: footy there, I thought, rather than travel up of a
Speaker 1: weekend and go play for wind under nine eighty. The
Speaker 1: year before i'd played for the winning under seventeen team,
Speaker 1: and I thought, rather than do that, I'll actually sign
Speaker 1: with one of the Queenstown teams. Now there's two teams
Speaker 1: in Queenstown and that in that time there's a Queenstown
Speaker 1: footy club and there was the Lyell Gormanston Football Club.
Speaker 1: So they both played out of the Queenstown over on
Speaker 1: the gravel.
Speaker 3: The gravel.
Speaker 2: If people haven't seen the gravel, got a google the gravel.
Speaker 3: I've seen it. It is literally, yeah, what's gravel?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but the gravel is the best place to land
Speaker 1: if you're going up because there's gravel, there's a concrete
Speaker 1: wicket in the middle and there's an ashvielt by tracker
Speaker 1: aund the outside.
Speaker 2: So I went.
Speaker 1: So I worked with a couple of guys that played
Speaker 1: with Lyle Gormy in and so I went to training
Speaker 1: a couple of times and I thought, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm just going to stay down here, play basketball during
Speaker 1: the week with my mates from work, play footy of
Speaker 1: the weekend, rather than traveling the two and a half
Speaker 1: hours back to the coast every weekend.
Speaker 2: And so I actually signed a form.
Speaker 1: I signed a contract with Lyle Gormanston Football Club and
Speaker 1: I reckon before the season started a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: training in, the coach actually said to me, look, we
Speaker 1: just recommend maybe it's best you go back to Winyard
Speaker 1: and play with the wind nineties. I think he identified.
Speaker 1: I was petrified, so he's actually there you go. You
Speaker 1: got to Actually he does claim, and I'll allow him this.
Speaker 1: He does claim he thought it was the best for
Speaker 1: my development, and I think I felt it was the
Speaker 1: best for my life.
Speaker 3: So West Coast of tazzy hydro scheme.
Speaker 4: These days you'd be getting a scholarship to Scotch College.
Speaker 3: That would have been what would he doing? That would
Speaker 3: be pretty rugged.
Speaker 2: I was pretty rugged.
Speaker 1: I lived in a single man's quarters, so just watch TV,
Speaker 1: have a few beers afterwards, and he played with the
Speaker 1: basketball just to keep you busy during the week as well.
Speaker 1: That was that was great experience. So I finished from
Speaker 1: there and went back to the Northwest Coast and.
Speaker 2: I picked up a job.
Speaker 1: Feeding wet veneer sheets into a dryer and on night shift,
Speaker 1: so I was doing that as well, and I think
Speaker 1: I think Dad identified after about three months. There was
Speaker 1: probably an idea to try to get me somewhere else
Speaker 1: to probably put my head down. I was probably mixing
Speaker 1: with the older blokes. Yeah, I was probably, I mean,
Speaker 1: not a rat bag, but I was doing job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was doing kid things, I suppose. And so he
Speaker 1: rang one of his great mates that he played state
Speaker 1: junior football with, Peter Hudson, and I had just taken
Speaker 1: the job with Hobart Footy club. And he rang and said,
Speaker 1: and I think loves his story. He tells his story
Speaker 1: that my dad, my dad was a good local footballer
Speaker 1: five foot ten and Dad's rung had and said, I've
Speaker 1: got my son. He's sixteen, wants to come down the Hobarton.
Speaker 1: I was thinking another one, a little nuggety five. He
Speaker 1: is pricked up when he said he's six foot four
Speaker 1: and runs okay, he said, yah, then you come. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that was the handover.
Speaker 5: And he's a hard bugger haddo as we know. Was
Speaker 5: he particularly hard on you as well? Oh yeah, I
Speaker 5: mean he was great, superstar, but it could be hard.
Speaker 1: Fans is great for me from the day I arrive
Speaker 1: to now seeing Hoday tonight. He's a great friend mentor
Speaker 1: the whole family is. But yeah, some of the training
Speaker 1: we'd have a skool session. Basically the difference between our
Speaker 1: running sessions and the school session was would carry a
Speaker 1: football in our running session, blood like after after training,
Speaker 1: and again I'm so fortunate that I had this investment
Speaker 1: from a guy like Peter Hudson. After training, i'd have
Speaker 1: either huddle or one of the trainers just kicked the
Speaker 1: ball at me and I have to I think, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: mine goes sometimes. I think it was I had marked
Speaker 1: one hundred in a row before I went in really
Speaker 1: on you, Yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. I remember ringing Dad saying,
Speaker 1: I'm coming home really like this. And so at the
Speaker 1: TCA and Hobart up there, it would be sleety snow
Speaker 1: coming across the ground and I'd be having to take
Speaker 1: one hundred straight before I get up, before I get
Speaker 1: off the track. So I can't remember, but I remember
Speaker 1: there was a few I got late and starting to
Speaker 1: start again. But so Huddo and with Huddo's connections, I remember,
Speaker 1: and I think Kevin Sheety sent over Paul Salmon to
Speaker 1: train with Huddo one night, so I Salmon their training.
Speaker 1: He was the young superstar in the VFL at the time.
Speaker 1: And then one night at training, had I got Roy's
Speaker 1: heart to come down and do marking with me and
Speaker 1: what age for you? Then seventeen? Wow, and I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: how good. And I wasn't a massive footy head, but
Speaker 1: you know who Peter Hartson and Roy's harder, and so
Speaker 1: I distinctly remember this one of the few things I
Speaker 1: remember clearly at the top end of the TCA there
Speaker 1: with Peter Hudson kicking the ball up to Roy's heart
Speaker 1: teach me how to jump on a pack, and I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: this is fantastic, this is good. And I was a
Speaker 1: boy hit me in the face a few times I
Speaker 1: reckon as well, but it was just great experience.
Speaker 4: And in a few months before, as you know Glenn's
Speaker 4: amazing research, you'd been drinking and turning around way too
Speaker 4: fast in your dilapidated form Corolla, so you know you
Speaker 4: were doing that stuff and all of a sudden You're like, no, I'd.
Speaker 3: Like to be of VFL footballer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know whether it was I wanted
Speaker 1: to change that was and the Corolla station wagon I
Speaker 1: was driving to work because you leave Winyard early, so
Speaker 1: you leave when you'd at four point thirty and head
Speaker 1: head west and during the winter it was obviously pretty icy,
Speaker 1: dangerous conditions, and yeah, put the station wagon into the
Speaker 1: war Mount Black, probably going a little bit quick, and yeah,
Speaker 1: that shook me up a bit, and so rebuilt that car,
Speaker 1: mate and I rebuilt it.
Speaker 2: It was a white station wagon.
Speaker 1: We put an orange bonnet and orange front left pandel
Speaker 1: on it. And I think we missed a few bits.
Speaker 1: I reckond because it didn't go too well after that.
Speaker 1: But that period and with Dad suggesting let's go play footy,
Speaker 1: and if I was okay at footy, I was more
Speaker 1: the athlete rather than the footballer, and I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a good opportunity. So I worked as an underage
Speaker 1: barm and at Harda's Pub out of the Granada Tavern.
Speaker 1: But it was just great life experiences. It was good,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I had someone and you probably on reflection,
Speaker 1: we'll probably all do this. You don't listen to your
Speaker 1: dad enough, But if you've got another big man who's
Speaker 1: a friend of dad's, you probably listened to him more.
Speaker 5: So made your life in a lot of ways, of
Speaker 5: your life really in a sense, didn't it.
Speaker 1: I think I think I worked reasonably hard. But I
Speaker 1: was so lucky. I was so lucky that you know,
Speaker 1: Dad saw enough or had the relationship with Huddo. It's
Speaker 1: about a hand over to Huddo and Huddo to feel
Speaker 1: invested enough to push me hard. I wasn't just a
Speaker 1: normal football at Hobart. I was almost like one of
Speaker 1: his sons or a nephew or something like that. So
Speaker 1: he pushed me hard, and then you know, jumping ahead,
Speaker 1: he sort of handed me over to David park And
Speaker 1: at fitz Roy, and so there was that sort of
Speaker 1: investment where Parko took on that role. So I was
Speaker 1: extremely fortunate the passion of a.
Speaker 2: Robert Shaw as a coach.
Speaker 1: Right through my playing days, I had some great coaches
Speaker 1: that were that were invested in their players, and I
Speaker 1: was probably fortunate that they took an interest in me.
Speaker 5: What was it like when you first ware to fitz Roy.
Speaker 5: There's a huge dames there, a lot of really good
Speaker 5: young players Roosy and Osband and Perty, and then you've
Speaker 5: got the older blakes like Mickey Conlin and those sort
Speaker 5: of it. What's it like walking into that sort of environment.
Speaker 1: I was great, You're sort of pinching yourself, just training
Speaker 1: every night and called ross lyon too.
Speaker 2: Ross Lyn.
Speaker 1: Ross Lyn was was fantastic for me and has always
Speaker 1: been a great friend through those times.
Speaker 5: We'll take us through this way. I don't know whether
Speaker 5: this is true or not. Your first goal was a
Speaker 5: drop kick goal? Is that true?
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 5: That's an amazing deliberate Was it a soccer background or
Speaker 5: as an idiot at the Western Oval? The Western You've
Speaker 5: got to lift out there. I think with Mick Gail
Speaker 5: was it.
Speaker 1: So we lived together, so there was so I think
Speaker 1: first game of the year. So there was Michael Gaile,
Speaker 1: Matthew Armstrong, Darren Kappler. I'm not sure Brendan Gaale might
Speaker 1: have lived with us at that time as well. But anyway,
Speaker 1: we've so we've first first game there in the one.
Speaker 1: I'm in the twos. That's Princess Park. I borrowed Butcher's cab.
Speaker 1: Michael Gay was old Kingswood, got lost, got a arrived
Speaker 1: to the Princess Park late, got a cook from Flee
Speaker 1: Wilson and said yeah, started on the bench. He softened
Speaker 1: over the next ten minutes and I was right to play.
Speaker 1: But I think the next week I got my first
Speaker 1: game and it was great. We're all taken off from
Speaker 1: the Kingswood down to whitten Ova West Noval and I
Speaker 1: started on the pine as and in those days that's
Speaker 1: where you stayed until someone was playing bad or injured.
Speaker 1: I got on halfway through the first quarter, I think
Speaker 1: it was, and I think my first kick was sort
Speaker 1: of on the half four flame and I was just
Speaker 1: skied one, almost a typical kick for me, Scott, so
Speaker 1: that was nothing, and I certainly didn't hit the target.
Speaker 1: And Leon Harris, he grabbed the ball, must have been
Speaker 1: twenty meters out or something like that, run towards goal
Speaker 1: and I've come running screaming past i think Helies and
Speaker 1: being a good teammate, he handbled the ball to me
Speaker 1: and for some reason I kicked the dropkicks.
Speaker 2: So I just dropped kicked a little dart.
Speaker 3: Running in twenty minutes out from goal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And there was became a bit of a habit
Speaker 1: over those next three four or five years. So if
Speaker 1: it was anywhere near the goal square, I was kicking dropkicks.
Speaker 4: So adding games in your first year, ten goals in
Speaker 4: your first four games.
Speaker 3: Eighty nine.
Speaker 4: Rodster takes over as coach, so you start forward in
Speaker 4: round three, but you've got to go back after Gary
Speaker 4: Purtin poorus get injured.
Speaker 3: What happened then, well, yeah.
Speaker 2: That was now.
Speaker 1: So that was the game against Sekuila out of Waverley,
Speaker 1: and I think I think I'd kicked two or three
Speaker 1: goals and so again I was mostly playing half four
Speaker 1: flank and my first game was half four flank and
Speaker 1: then got to this stage in my career, I still
Speaker 1: floating around the half forward line with mainly Richard Osbon
Speaker 1: and Roozy sometimes was coming forward. But I think i'd
Speaker 1: kicked early in the third. I think i'd kicked my
Speaker 1: second or third and was going okay for me, and
Speaker 1: nigan As was saying, you don't get taken off the
Speaker 1: ground for rotations. You get taken off because you're playing poorly.
Speaker 1: Plugger at the other end of the ground had just
Speaker 1: taken a big pack mark and they kicked his eighth
Speaker 1: or ninth or seventh or something like that. He was
Speaker 1: putting on a clinic and so especially in you early,
Speaker 1: you're just thinking, well, at least I'm going all right,
Speaker 1: And then the run I came out and I thought
Speaker 1: it was going to pat me on the back for
Speaker 1: going all right, and he said you're off what I'm
Speaker 1: going okay for once and he said, no, you're off
Speaker 1: the ground, and the coach wants to speak to you.
Speaker 1: So I thought she wouldn't mind speaking to him actually too,
Speaker 1: so I've grabbed the phone. I don't know whether I
Speaker 1: spoke to Rod Austin or whether it was Robert Shaw
Speaker 1: as the reserves coach, but I spoke to one of
Speaker 1: them and they said, sit down, getting pretty off.
Speaker 2: You're going to fall.
Speaker 4: Back and those blocks have just been beaten. They hadn't
Speaker 4: been injured, pologies yet.
Speaker 1: And they and like Perty is the best fullback in
Speaker 1: the game and Victorian full back and just plug was
Speaker 1: at the peak of his powers, and they said sit down,
Speaker 1: you're going on the Plugger and I felt violently ill.
Speaker 1: I'm a skinny kid just trying to get a kick.
Speaker 1: He's a man, mountain and nasty.
Speaker 2: Not overly enamored with humans. At that time, he wasn't
Speaker 2: a fan.
Speaker 1: I genuinely wanted to hurt people, and even my brief
Speaker 1: time in the VFL, I'm thinking, no, he doesn't like people,
Speaker 1: and so they sending me out there and I'm seriously thinking, well,
Speaker 1: I'm genuinely scared, and I'm thinking, I've just got to
Speaker 1: survive this game. I reckon I can get another game
Speaker 1: next week at half forward, but I've just got to survive.
Speaker 1: And so I adopted the tactic of planning from about
Speaker 1: three meters behind and thought I was always fairly quick.
Speaker 1: Now Plugger was quick as well, but I thought, well,
Speaker 1: I'm better off surviving and living to tell a story.
Speaker 1: So I played him for two or three meters behind
Speaker 1: and just felt, hopefully, if there's enough pressure on the
Speaker 1: ball up there, I'll have the speed to get in
Speaker 1: and spoil. And there must have been a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: I was able to spoil a couple and he didn't
Speaker 1: kick any more goals in that game, and that stuff
Speaker 1: that sent full back for the next next few years,
Speaker 1: which was which was great.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was a that was a memory. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's still.
Speaker 5: Well and truly act he had a big relationship with Plugger.
Speaker 5: You played on him a fair bit and Jason Dunstall
Speaker 5: as well later on. Just tell us about that Mark
Speaker 5: of the year, Roughie. You've seen it. It's a sensational
Speaker 5: kick on Maddie Rendell. You know, I think Stroops is
Speaker 5: in it and Rosy and Ben Buckley and Johnny law
Speaker 5: is in that sort of sort.
Speaker 2: Of the Sydneys one's coach. I think I was right
Speaker 2: on top of of course.
Speaker 3: Yeah it's on long mind. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2: Randall hops it back in front of God, here's danger.
Speaker 3: But let at the top of the pack.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It was just one of those ones. So and if
Speaker 1: people will have a look at the vision and we
Speaker 1: and even at us as commentators, we talk about the
Speaker 1: condition of some grounds. So eighty nine, you'd remember eighty
Speaker 1: nine the grounds were rolled mud. The MCG where this
Speaker 1: mark was taken was absolutely rolled mud. I remember playing
Speaker 1: at Princess Park. We kicked one goal one day because
Speaker 1: it was just that muddy was hard to score. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't remember. I reckon, I reckon. I was playing
Speaker 1: forward and on Law and I reckon. I've just I
Speaker 1: just went to jump at this pack and I reckon.
Speaker 1: John gave me a push and yeah, it was just
Speaker 1: one of those things. I sat on top of the
Speaker 1: pack and yeah, somehow it's stuck on my chest and
Speaker 1: I got nice cushion into the ground, so I didn't
Speaker 1: hurt myself either.
Speaker 4: So that was beautiful. That this dismount would have worked
Speaker 4: as well because it was you're up high, but it wasn't.
Speaker 4: It wasn't extraordinary, but it was just beautiful, fumbling, bumbling,
Speaker 4: stumbling dismount.
Speaker 1: Well, I think you've got to if you're going to
Speaker 1: secure a mark of the year, you can't land on
Speaker 1: your feet.
Speaker 2: I reckon, You've got to make it a little bit awkward.
Speaker 3: So Touches goes for Lynch, gets him. Where's he playing?
Speaker 5: Don?
Speaker 6: In the runner?
Speaker 4: Ruck?
Speaker 6: Lynch at fifty meters is a thumping kick?
Speaker 3: Could he kick it? Could he kick at captain's goal?
Speaker 7: Len's back girls kicks off scores a level.
Speaker 3: When Brisbane came to you and when did they come
Speaker 3: to you? During that season?
Speaker 1: I feel it was probably mid year, imagine it was.
Speaker 1: There was an approach from Scott Clayton X teammate at
Speaker 1: fitzroy Tasmanian from the Hobot Footy Club where I played
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: Knew Scotty really well.
Speaker 1: He was working for the Brisbane Bears and I'd had
Speaker 1: a few offers previous to that, and realistically it was
Speaker 1: just it was just get the free dinner, free game
Speaker 1: of golf, and that was basically it. Let him down
Speaker 1: gently and and no real intention because Fitzroy was my
Speaker 1: life love. Fitzroyal very as was talking before, very tight
Speaker 1: with all the players there. The coaches didn't want to
Speaker 1: go anywhere. And then Scotty played, I reckon inviters invited
Speaker 1: me to play golf. I reckon, Roosy came, my captain came,
Speaker 1: and calf as well. I'm pretty I'm pretty sure Rusy came.
Speaker 1: So we played golf and then Scotty sort of said,
Speaker 1: would you like to come to Queensland have a look
Speaker 1: at our facilities? And you go, oh yeah, absolutely, weekend
Speaker 1: in Queenslane.
Speaker 2: So went to went to Brisbane in the middle of
Speaker 2: that year.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it.
Speaker 2: Must have been, yeah, it must have been.
Speaker 3: Remember with the golf course during which golf course you
Speaker 3: played it?
Speaker 2: It was one of something down the sand belt.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was down the yeah, and yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know which one it was. Went to Brisbane, had a
Speaker 1: look at the facilities, which so they had already made
Speaker 1: the move to the Gabba. So the facilities, relatively speaking
Speaker 1: to what we had at fitz Roy, were great. It
Speaker 1: was felt like you were going up a couple of
Speaker 1: divisions with the facilities. So I looked through there and
Speaker 1: again no intention. And then it was they put the
Speaker 1: proposal for the contract to me and yeah, that couldn't
Speaker 1: say no thought, jeez, I didn't expect that and was on.
Speaker 4: A servieta the Gold Coast Chinese restaurant like Mark on blit.
Speaker 3: How was it coming out?
Speaker 1: I can't remember, and I can't remember actually when that
Speaker 1: discussion actually happened, whether it was whether it was that
Speaker 1: weekend or it was post that, but I remember it
Speaker 1: was this ridiculous amount of money and my reflex was, oh, well,
Speaker 1: I need directors guarantees. It's all well and good to
Speaker 1: promise that. And they said, yeah, nose director's guarantees.
Speaker 2: So that we got used to this.
Speaker 1: I have to get paid every month. Yeah, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: do that too, not once a year. To need a
Speaker 1: long term deal and said, yeah, you will do that,
Speaker 1: they said, and that's when they basically said we'll pay you.
Speaker 1: We'll give you a ten year contract. I'm sure I
Speaker 1: laughed and said I won't play ten years. What I
Speaker 1: was twenty six at the time, and we won't play
Speaker 1: ten years. And that's when sort the punchline was or
Speaker 1: you misunderstand what we're saying we'll give you a ten
Speaker 1: year contract whether you play or not. Really, so if
Speaker 1: you sign with us, we're paying you for ten years.
Speaker 2: Wow, so you had to.
Speaker 1: Clarify if I play for three years, you'll pay me
Speaker 1: for ten. Yeah, so that's ten years. It's done, and
Speaker 1: that's yeah. Sort of took my breath away, and again
Speaker 1: you're sort of that anxiety of things. Actually, I'd never
Speaker 1: considered leaving Fitzroy, So yeah, that was a it was
Speaker 1: an exciting challenge, but it was it was a tough
Speaker 1: time at the same time because what Fitzroy had been
Speaker 1: going through and what Fitzroy were and what they meant
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 4: And what was the figure it's been Everyone said two
Speaker 4: moon bucks has been reported here one point eight.
Speaker 1: What was the actual figure? I think it was. I
Speaker 1: think it was the plane contract was one point eight.
Speaker 1: There was a job with Coca Cola for thirty five,
Speaker 1: so yeah, so it would be that two fifteen. So,
Speaker 1: and how it panned out is I went up, I
Speaker 1: worked for Coke. It was a genuine job. I actually
Speaker 1: had to.
Speaker 3: Go like some of the Brisbane those days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh really, yeah, Now I had to work for mine.
Speaker 1: And but then with my illness coming on. I was
Speaker 1: still at the Coke at the time. They they just
Speaker 1: rolled that into my plane contract and didn't make me
Speaker 1: pay for that.
Speaker 2: I worked for that.
Speaker 4: So you had to tell the Robert Shaw's of the world.
Speaker 4: I think you basically said I'm going and this is
Speaker 4: the reason why. And how did they react? And how
Speaker 4: tough was it to tell you a club that you
Speaker 4: loved so deeply and dearly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was that was tough. I think there's I
Speaker 1: think there's some vision around. There was a supporter group
Speaker 1: called the Lynch Mob Atroy, so there's and these loyal
Speaker 1: started as a loyal bunch of mates would come along
Speaker 1: that have their sign the Lynch Mob and maybe their
Speaker 1: supportive every week, which was great. It was great to
Speaker 1: see them, and it started to grow a bit and
Speaker 1: and then I'd made the decision and there was the
Speaker 1: public announcement that I was leaving, and the Lynch Mob
Speaker 1: were gathering at the Fitzroy Club hotel in North kit
Speaker 1: to have a meeting about me departing. And I got
Speaker 1: word of that or and it was probably in the paper.
Speaker 1: I got word of that, and so I thought I'd go.
Speaker 2: I will never be the I don't think.
Speaker 3: I can't see how it would be possibly the same
Speaker 3: at another quote.
Speaker 2: Then I'll go, I'll go to prison and give one
Speaker 2: hundred percent want to I want to.
Speaker 1: Perform well each week, but I can't see how it
Speaker 1: can be as tonally as and it's amazing.
Speaker 2: It was a good thing.
Speaker 1: So obviously there were supporters there that were pretty pissed
Speaker 1: off with me. It's fair to say that's understandable. So
Speaker 1: I I asked to speak to the group. So I
Speaker 1: got on stage and the pub's chockers. I got on
Speaker 1: stage and I couldn't get a word out to start with. Really,
Speaker 1: it was very very emotional time and thoughts shit, so
Speaker 1: I think, I don't know, I wouldn't have probably got
Speaker 1: half a word out and then I'll be back.
Speaker 2: In a minute.
Speaker 1: So I went back up there and and didn't try
Speaker 1: to ask for forgiveness or anything like that. I said
Speaker 1: this is the reason why, and yeah, and that was it.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad I did it. I don't know how
Speaker 1: well I did it, but I sort was clear. Well yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it still wasn't. It still wasn't clear because I'd let
Speaker 1: down a lot of Fitzroy people.
Speaker 2: So I thought oh shit, but yeah, I'm glad I
Speaker 2: did it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so early on you were injured in your first
Speaker 4: year at Brisbane, obviously greater challenges ahead.
Speaker 3: It was a pretty rocky start. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it didn't go well. And I think the part
Speaker 1: of me coming up was that I hadn't missed a
Speaker 1: game through injury or something like that in the first
Speaker 1: six years. I think I was rested for a game
Speaker 1: once all got dropped to twos. But yeah, it was
Speaker 1: just a good athlete that was not missing games. And
Speaker 1: I think first practice match I broke mccullu.
Speaker 4: By collided with rookie Cameron Bennett ninety seconds before the
Speaker 4: end of the intro club match.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was probably I was probably feeling that
Speaker 1: I hadn't had a kick. We're playing at Broadbeach and
Speaker 1: it was an intra club game and there was some
Speaker 1: top up players there as well, and I don't know
Speaker 1: where I was playing. I must have been playing SNAr forward,
Speaker 1: i'd say, and I felt I better start get a
Speaker 1: kick late in the game, and I just went in
Speaker 1: for a ground ball and just hit Cameron or he
Speaker 1: hit me and just cliped my collar bone and just
Speaker 1: spun out of it and that wasn't right, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it broke my collarbone and I probably missed the next
Speaker 1: six or seven weeks before debutn a number of weeks.
Speaker 5: Nice to do, though, eight goals? Could you have played
Speaker 5: the week before? I think you might have played Fitzroy
Speaker 5: the week before? Was that there was some suggestion we're
Speaker 5: going to hold him back, not play against fitz Roy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't recall.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but eight goals first game against Yeah, against the Saints.
Speaker 3: Yeah, think how good is this going to be? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It probably was a good start. My shoulder wasn't right
Speaker 1: because you had problems for the rest of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: really didn't you? And it probably when it actually fixed
Speaker 1: itself was when I broke it again thirteen games in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it just got actually got pinned in a marketing
Speaker 1: contest and I shot arms got pinned together and just
Speaker 1: popped my shoulder again, which actually made it feel better.
Speaker 1: So I broke it. So I had to have the
Speaker 1: rest of the year off. But from that time on
Speaker 1: it felt better. But yeah, I can't recall whether whether
Speaker 1: Walls he felt that's probably best to wait another week,
Speaker 1: or or physically I just wasn't ready.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: Graham Downey in nine and oh five said, when Lynch
Speaker 4: he was home sleeping and we were losing games, we
Speaker 4: were saying, where's this bloody Lynch? We paid all this
Speaker 4: money for him. The poor bluff was in bad shape.
Speaker 4: Tell us about chronic frontigue.
Speaker 1: Well those sort of well, basically what happened at the
Speaker 1: end of that first year. It was a It was
Speaker 1: a difficult year on the field with the two broken
Speaker 1: coal bones, knee operation as well, because some niggly things
Speaker 1: going on. I left knee and got to the end
Speaker 1: of the season and I was determined to actually get
Speaker 1: back and make up for that last ground of the
Speaker 1: frustrating first year. And I just had stuff going on
Speaker 1: off the field as well, just stuff that we all have.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a car accident, house breaking, mother
Speaker 1: in law passed away. Suddenly, there was just stuff, and
Speaker 1: I just got to the end of the year and almost,
Speaker 1: I know, it was almost like I got to the
Speaker 1: finish line of that season and something broke and I
Speaker 1: was cooked.
Speaker 2: And I went.
Speaker 1: From you know, super fifty twenty seven year old that
Speaker 1: could do whatever you wanted to do, whether it be
Speaker 1: train hard, play hard, whatever, to being bed ridden and
Speaker 1: sleeping twelve fifteen hours a day and waking up more
Speaker 1: tight than when I went to bed. So I didn't
Speaker 1: know what was going wrong. I felt that so I'd
Speaker 1: go to the doctor. So I remember the first day
Speaker 1: I woke up and I was like the worst hangout
Speaker 1: of all time. And my girlfriend now wife helped me
Speaker 1: get to the bathroom because I couldn't get to the bathroom,
Speaker 1: get to the bathroom passing blood. So there's something something wrong,
Speaker 1: and going to the doctors looking for answers. There was
Speaker 1: no real answers. It was more like, you've probably got
Speaker 1: a viral infection of something. Just rest And every day
Speaker 1: I thought, we'll rest like a hangover, like a a cold,
Speaker 1: like COVID. You think we'll rest for a couple of
Speaker 1: days and I'll be fine. I was resting for a
Speaker 1: couple of days and I wasn't fine. So now all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, this whatever this physical disorder is that
Speaker 1: I had, which no one seemed to really know now
Speaker 1: is being compounded by a mental challenge. Because I didn't
Speaker 1: know what was going wrong. There was comments around the club,
Speaker 1: understandably that there was frustrated people. And again, like I said,
Speaker 1: a few minutes ago. I had a ten year contract,
Speaker 1: whether I played or not, so there was speculation about
Speaker 1: what's going on. Is he pulling the piss he played possible,
Speaker 1: Yeah with the stuff. I understand that because I had
Speaker 1: no idea what was wrong with me, So I couldn't
Speaker 1: expect you to understand.
Speaker 2: I sent most of the time, you know, like I looked.
Speaker 1: I probably looked pale, probably looked like dark around the
Speaker 1: eyes from poor quality of sleep, but essentially I looked fine.
Speaker 1: So on the days where I felt okay, I'd try
Speaker 1: to go to training, and as you do, you try
Speaker 1: to make up for lost ground.
Speaker 2: So I'd try to train.
Speaker 1: That was the worst thing I could have done, and
Speaker 1: so then I'd be bedridden again and sort of this
Speaker 1: you know, ebbed and flowed through the preseason. I played
Speaker 1: a couple of practice matches. I played the first game.
Speaker 1: I can't remember it was at Waverley. I played the
Speaker 1: first game out at Waverly and I was just cooked
Speaker 1: again Hawthorne hawn so and I was I was gone
Speaker 1: and I finally got I think it was I think
Speaker 1: it was my manager, Damien Smith at the time, sent
Speaker 1: me to Melbourne to see doctor Jack Kennedy, who was
Speaker 1: on the board of the Collinwood Footagelub.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Colin advice president after that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was on the board. But he's an ant specialist.
Speaker 1: He knows and throat specialists. I had a sinus issue
Speaker 1: going on as well, So the hope was I'd go
Speaker 1: see doctor Kennedy and he would look at my sinus
Speaker 1: issue and hopefully that was the precursor to all this
Speaker 1: fatigue that I was experiencing. And this is six months
Speaker 1: down the track, and so he eliminated that as the
Speaker 1: precursor to the chronic fatigue.
Speaker 2: Shot me to all the.
Speaker 1: Specialists around town, and even that was a strange experience
Speaker 1: because all their families have been impacted by horrible diseases
Speaker 1: and that sort of stuff, and cancers and that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff. I was in that mental state where I
Speaker 1: was going to have tests done, hoping I had a
Speaker 1: positive test so you can know what it was. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so you tell me what it is and less the treatment.
Speaker 5: So you were thinking all sorts of yeah, negative things,
Speaker 5: but saying, at least I'll know what I've got, hoping
Speaker 5: and hoping and hoping if cancer all absolutely, I.
Speaker 1: Was getting through brain scans, I was hoping I had cancer.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. That was a state of mind because I
Speaker 1: wanted something to fight. I had no idea what was
Speaker 1: going on.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: There's these conversation going along that he's pulling the piss
Speaker 1: and I get that. Probably at the time I didn't
Speaker 1: quite get it, but because I was right in the
Speaker 1: middle of it.
Speaker 2: But I understand that.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, to get to that stage where I
Speaker 1: just wanted to fight something. Sat down with doctor Kennley
Speaker 1: at the end of that week and it was almost
Speaker 1: through a process of elimination. He said, you've got something
Speaker 1: that's called post viral syndrome, or you may have heard
Speaker 1: of chronic fatigue syndrome. I don't know whether I had
Speaker 1: it or not. I'm not sure, but instantly then beauty,
Speaker 1: I've got a name. Now let's go get the chronic
Speaker 1: fatigue treatment, which be buggered. There's no real treatment. So
Speaker 1: that sort of went. That's sort of continued on that.
Speaker 5: People didn't really understand chronic fatigue. Then this was it
Speaker 5: was called the yuppie flu for a while.
Speaker 2: Was that as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah, like people you know, questioned, you know, whether it
Speaker 3: was real or not. At that time, I.
Speaker 1: Went into some doctors and they said, you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't believe in chronic fatigue. And I said, well,
Speaker 1: I couldn't give a stuff. I know what's wrong, so
Speaker 1: I didn't give myself that title. I have some sort
Speaker 1: of illness. I've got no idea what caused it, but
Speaker 1: no idea how to fix it. I'm just asking for help.
Speaker 1: I can't get out of bed half the time, so
Speaker 1: I just want some help. I don't care what you're called.
Speaker 1: And I remember I was, and obviously there was that
Speaker 1: mental health challenge through it as well.
Speaker 2: But I was sitting down, was.
Speaker 1: Psychiatrists talking about whether it's my relationship with my father
Speaker 1: when I was younger. I'm I was getting treated the
Speaker 1: look looking for what's the precursor to this depressive state,
Speaker 1: and I was My answer was absolutely, I'm depressed, but
Speaker 1: I'm depressed because I'm stuck in bed with an illness.
Speaker 1: I've got no idea about that's that's that was the precursor.
Speaker 1: I don't understand what's causing this state of mind. And
Speaker 1: the state of mind was, it was there, and it
Speaker 1: was hard to get over because I didn't have any answers.
Speaker 4: So eventually you were taking some medication for the chronic fatigue,
Speaker 4: and then it was put onto the band list and
Speaker 4: then you self reported tell us about it a pretty
Speaker 4: traumatic chapter.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was been treated by a chronic fatigue specialists in
Speaker 1: Brisbane and part of his part of his treatments with
Speaker 1: all his chronic fatigue patients was raising there there very
Speaker 1: low testosterone levels.
Speaker 2: But in the sport we can't do that.
Speaker 1: Obviously, I had very low testosterone levels and precursors to that,
Speaker 1: and so he he prescribed to me a precursor hormone DHA.
Speaker 1: I was taking a herbal extract to help promote that
Speaker 1: hormone and that I went to pick up my medication
Speaker 1: pharmacy one day and the guy who had normally picked
Speaker 1: it up from he said, this has just been listed
Speaker 1: on the band list. So I spoke to the club
Speaker 1: straight away. I rang the SATA or as there it
Speaker 1: might have been at that stage as the hotline.
Speaker 2: Spoke to the guy that I spoke to a lot.
Speaker 1: He told me what to do, told me, yes, it
Speaker 1: has been on the band list, but ring the AFL
Speaker 1: putting an application to take it as part of your
Speaker 1: medication treatment.
Speaker 2: And I suppose because.
Speaker 1: Of that gray area around having a recognized treatment for
Speaker 1: chronic fatigue. I sat down and it was with Ian
Speaker 1: Collens for one afternoon at the game. I went through
Speaker 1: exactly what I'd been doing for the couple of years
Speaker 1: prior and put in the application. I asked them at
Speaker 1: the time, do I keep taking the medication? They said, absolutely,
Speaker 1: keep taking it. Kept taking it. Got tested twice over
Speaker 1: the next period whatever that was, and tested negative both
Speaker 1: times because I was taking this miniscule amount to just
Speaker 1: bring me into the bottom end of the normal range.
Speaker 1: So I was still extremely low, but I was still
Speaker 1: just the bottom end of the normal range. So two
Speaker 1: negative tests and then I got a letter sent home
Speaker 1: that I'd been charged under the antidoping code.
Speaker 3: From the AFL from the AFL.
Speaker 1: From the AFL that because of the self reporting, because
Speaker 1: there was no evidence that I was taking the medication
Speaker 1: outside me saying I was taking it. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: got charged, which was just staggering.
Speaker 5: You've gone through all that heartache earlier to try and
Speaker 5: get back on the field and then this happens. How
Speaker 5: deflating is that? And how traumatic was the next period
Speaker 5: of time? It was traumatic, And then there was a
Speaker 5: good moment.
Speaker 1: I think we just after I had been charged, we
Speaker 1: played against Sekulda out of way and the Seculta players
Speaker 1: and the Seculta supporters were incredibly.
Speaker 2: Supportive, so that was good. That gave me some confidence.
Speaker 1: So normally, whether you're playing at full back or full forward,
Speaker 1: or you're getting advice from the opposition cheers squad, that
Speaker 1: particular day, the Securita supporters and cheersquad were incredibly supportive,
Speaker 1: as were the players. Now that changed over time, but
Speaker 1: I think at the serious pointy end of that I
Speaker 1: had the support, so I felt well, I felt that
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 3: How long did it take to be resolved?
Speaker 4: We know that ASDA and Asada and then Spots Integrity
Speaker 4: of Australia didn't normally work very quickly.
Speaker 2: I think the hearing went for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: I reckon.
Speaker 1: And I was well represented by David Gailbali.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you've got to cut another Hollingwood connection there too. Yeah,
Speaker 5: as of a concern, so they want to change a
Speaker 5: couple of years later when the flags come in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was great support, great support from the club
Speaker 1: and yeah, when from specialists around the world, there was
Speaker 1: a I think they've got evidence from a doctor I'd
Speaker 1: seen at UCLA who'd recommend the same treatment actually, so
Speaker 1: he was involved in that, So yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: I was cleared and allowed to play on.
Speaker 8: Over the tribunal finding tonight that Alistair Lynch could not
Speaker 8: be branded a drug cheat because he was given the
Speaker 8: wrong information from as did the Australian Sports Drug Agency.
Speaker 7: Alisa joins us, thanks for coming in obviously extremely relieved,
Speaker 7: happy and feel indicated.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I certainly it's been a very stressful period, especially
Speaker 8: over the last three to four week but for it
Speaker 8: to come out with a not guilty verdict tonight has
Speaker 8: certainly taking.
Speaker 3: A huge weight off my shild. If it bleeds, we
Speaker 3: can kill it.
Speaker 4: So dominating team lose one game the two thousand season,
Speaker 4: you're the up and coming team. Lee Matthews finds a
Speaker 4: way to pitch that extraordinary narrative. How did it happen? Well,
Speaker 4: we know in public, behind the scenes there.
Speaker 1: My take on the whole thing was a little bit
Speaker 1: like we're talking about with my health challenges before. I
Speaker 1: think Lee sort of spoke to us that can we
Speaker 1: beat Esdon? Realistically you're thinking, not that anyone's going to
Speaker 1: articulate that we can't, but you're thinking. You almost felt
Speaker 1: like saying, have you seen us over the last few weeks?
Speaker 1: And have you seen them over the last few years?
Speaker 1: No one's beaten them, really, I mean they got knocked
Speaker 1: out in the ninety nine Prelium finals, the more dominant
Speaker 1: team ninety nine dominant in two thousand. When we met
Speaker 1: them a third of the way through the two thousand
Speaker 1: and one season, they were beating everyone. So you're thinking,
Speaker 1: in five days time, can we beat this? Was no,
Speaker 1: I don't think so, and Lee he brought it back
Speaker 1: to our individual roles and sort of made sure we clarified.
Speaker 1: So what am I asking of you today? What am
Speaker 1: I asking for you to do in the game? And
Speaker 1: the goals and points that wins and losses were all
Speaker 1: byproducts agatting a whole lot of other stuff, right, So
Speaker 1: he drew us back from thinking about this daunting task
Speaker 1: of being one hundred percent healthy or winning the game,
Speaker 1: coming back to what can I do? And that's what
Speaker 1: I took out of that meeting is the clarity around
Speaker 1: take control of what you can. So my role standing
Speaker 1: fifteen is out from goal. If the ball comes in long,
Speaker 1: try to market, don't give away free kick. If I
Speaker 1: dropped the ball. I dropped to the front. When Craig
Speaker 1: mccrage comes in, I protect his back. That's my job.
Speaker 1: And it was sort of like, well, can you do
Speaker 1: that and we'll ship. Yeah, I can do that, So
Speaker 1: don't worry about the other stuff. Just understand what you do,
Speaker 1: work with Craig McCrae and Daniel Bradshaw and Jonathan Brown
Speaker 1: and that around you, but don't do your head in
Speaker 1: about the end result. And it was almost like that
Speaker 1: was the start of the sixteen game winning streak.
Speaker 2: To win the flag.
Speaker 1: It was almost like the siren of go and oh shit,
Speaker 1: we won because we had enough people doing their role
Speaker 1: as well. So that's what I took out of that
Speaker 1: media on that particular day. And I do remember him saying,
Speaker 1: I think he showed the video. I can't remember that.
Speaker 1: The boys talk about it that if it bleeds it,
Speaker 1: we can.
Speaker 4: Kill it from really, but do you think he showed
Speaker 4: the video from because obviously said it in the media
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 7: Creaded up movie that Arnie Schwarzenegger started and there was
Speaker 7: this monster from the alien monster from out of space
Speaker 7: that was killing all these people in the South American
Speaker 7: jungle and all of a sudden, they shot this monster
Speaker 7: and they discovered its bled and Artis's classic line was
Speaker 7: if a blueds we can kill it and we reconnizzl
Speaker 7: and can blute.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so he went straight back out. So he'd have
Speaker 1: that was our Tuesday meeting, I'm sure. So we'd have
Speaker 1: that meeting and then he'd go out and do his
Speaker 1: press are straight afterwards. Yeah, and I think and I
Speaker 1: can't remember the video, but I think the boys talking
Speaker 1: about the video was there. But yeah, he went straight
Speaker 1: out and said it in the press conference.
Speaker 3: That's a great streak. You get it. It is amazing,
Speaker 3: isn't it. And you get on that grat street.
Speaker 5: But you you're suspended for only the second in the
Speaker 5: qualifying final.
Speaker 3: Did you miss the preliminary final that year against Richmond? Yeah, so,
Speaker 3: Darryl wakelm.
Speaker 5: So how difficult is that you're sitting there watching I
Speaker 5: was fairly nervous. That thing is not that you didn't
Speaker 5: have a lot to be nervous about in the end,
Speaker 5: but to miss a big final of that.
Speaker 3: You know you're a serious chance to win a flag.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're going out of the side. So there
Speaker 1: was two So that was that was an unusual day.
Speaker 1: So I've got reported for striking. I know I've done
Speaker 1: the wrong thing, and then we've gone to Melbourne to
Speaker 1: be face to face in the tribunal hearing. Ironically, Matthew
Speaker 1: Lloyd is up for striking as well, so we're both
Speaker 1: at the trigeneral.
Speaker 2: I I've got the one week suspension. Could have easily
Speaker 2: been too.
Speaker 5: You were concerned about the two because you've been spended
Speaker 5: once before. Oh really yeah for charging, which is you know, no,
Speaker 5: that's all right, should be fine. So I've got the
Speaker 5: one week suspension. Darryl, help you out or I can't recall.
Speaker 1: I think I'd imagine, so I'd imagine so, but I
Speaker 1: can't recall. So but I've We're flown home and again
Speaker 1: I'm missing a prelim final.
Speaker 2: It could have been a lot worse. I'm missing a
Speaker 2: prelim final and thinking how how bad is my day?
Speaker 2: Going got home?
Speaker 1: Back in those days it was General ten's Sports Tonight,
Speaker 1: where you've got all the sports news. I got home
Speaker 1: remember walking into the house, chucked on Sports Tonight to
Speaker 1: watch and there was the broadcast of the Twin Towers.
Speaker 1: So that was the Twin Towers and so I just
Speaker 1: turned the TV on when the report was of the
Speaker 1: first tour getting hit and sitting there and as most
Speaker 1: of us did, watched the second plane going in and thinking,
Speaker 1: hang on, that's another one. So yeah, everything got flipped
Speaker 1: up side down. And then because I was feeling sorry
Speaker 1: for myself because I lost one weeks football, and then
Speaker 1: the obviously the World Trade Center tragedy was panning out.
Speaker 4: You had the ball in your hands at the end
Speaker 4: of the two thousand and one Grand Final, take us
Speaker 4: through your members of that game.
Speaker 8: Going to score.
Speaker 2: So I've done it.
Speaker 3: But he's had a ball in his hands, Bruce. I've
Speaker 3: been a history here these.
Speaker 2: Matthews has been to the top of the mountain for a.
Speaker 6: Second time as coach, once a Collegwood and now he's
Speaker 6: done the impossible Brisbane.
Speaker 2: I have won the Premiership the game.
Speaker 1: Just on reflection, what a what an experience to run
Speaker 1: out on the grounds in front of packed mcg So
Speaker 1: we got off to a reasonable start. A few of us,
Speaker 1: sort of me miss missed a few shots early.
Speaker 2: When in halftime down I can't remember.
Speaker 1: What the what the score was at three quart a time,
Speaker 1: but we started to kick ahead and you would have
Speaker 1: heard that theory that Lee has that if you're more
Speaker 1: goals in front than there are minutes remained on the clock,
Speaker 1: you've won the game. I reckon late in the game,
Speaker 1: we're trying to work out at Harway Home, and thing
Speaker 1: yes and kicked a couple more goals.
Speaker 2: I got.
Speaker 1: I got moved, I think because like I was the
Speaker 1: oldest in the field, Brownie was the youngest. Brownie was
Speaker 1: the only teenager that day. So I got moved up
Speaker 1: the field and I took a mark in front of
Speaker 1: the worn stand and remember looking inside. I remember seeing
Speaker 1: Chris Scott and I thought, no, I could slaughter that.
Speaker 2: So I'm not going to.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to check that.
Speaker 1: And I think I was just going to boot it
Speaker 1: long to the punt road end goals just kicked as
Speaker 1: long as I could. I don't know whether in my
Speaker 1: mind I could see the scoreboarder. I don't know where
Speaker 1: that's a figurement of my imagination, but I knew it
Speaker 1: was late.
Speaker 2: New was late in the game.
Speaker 1: And with that thought, the final siron went, and that
Speaker 1: final siren just had eclipsed everything I'd ever experienced in sport.
Speaker 1: And I think same for my teammates. For fans, because
Speaker 1: to get to that stage all everyone.
Speaker 2: Has their ups and down.
Speaker 1: So I'd had mine, all my teammates that had theirs,
Speaker 1: the passionate Fitzroy supporters or the Brisbane Bear supporters, with
Speaker 1: all their turmoil. They'd gone through the fact that it
Speaker 1: was nineteen forty four sinto the last Fitzroy flag, the
Speaker 1: ups and downs of the merger. That final siren just
Speaker 1: was such a great sensation, an adrenaline rush. And Lee
Speaker 1: Matthews always said that with team success, the individual get
Speaker 1: rewarded as a byproduct, and it's sort of we're all committed.
Speaker 1: We had the core group of our team had committed
Speaker 1: to these roles and being predictable and trusting each other.
Speaker 1: Siren went, And yeah, I mean it was just amazing
Speaker 1: because of all those people that help you get there.
Speaker 1: And the other thing was it six years, six years
Speaker 1: down the track. In that period, whether it was that
Speaker 1: moment or not. Long afterwards, I realized, shit on one
Speaker 1: hundred percent healthy again, because I just was trying to
Speaker 1: chip out it every day sort of thing to get
Speaker 1: a little bit better. Then I finally realized, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm following, I'm healthy, and so yeah, it was an
Speaker 1: amazing period and a great, great moment, great celebrations over
Speaker 1: the next period of time, and even like I remember
Speaker 1: months later sitting having a coffee or sitting on the
Speaker 1: beach at Lullabar and thinking, shit, one, how good is that?
Speaker 1: Because for so much of my career you're looking at
Speaker 1: other people do it and you think, well, that's just
Speaker 1: what other people do, that's other players playing premierships.
Speaker 2: So to have that.
Speaker 1: Experience with that group of individuals that had invested in
Speaker 1: the team plan, it was amazing, amazing experiences.
Speaker 6: Tell us to Lynch of Darrel Lakeland, they're old enough
Speaker 6: to know better. There's Murph Williams just to say they're
Speaker 6: throwing them from the two bard seats.
Speaker 4: Tallis to Lynch, just defend the trainer's gone out to him.
Speaker 3: And this is how it all started.
Speaker 4: Ship How oftrome do people say, Darrel Wakelan tell me
Speaker 4: about it daily.
Speaker 3: Weekly.
Speaker 2: Without exaggeration, be weekly.
Speaker 3: How do you reflect upon it?
Speaker 4: Given it was quite quite and you go, I need
Speaker 4: to find my way to influence this contest somehow.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think it was that.
Speaker 1: I think i'd Warren Treed, Druid marked the ball center
Speaker 1: wing or half of our halfward flank in front of me.
Speaker 1: I think it was ridiculously I've tried to get there.
Speaker 1: I was never going to get there. Popmquad, which I
Speaker 1: don't think was an issue going into the game. They
Speaker 1: actually going into that game, although I had some back issues,
Speaker 1: it was the best I felt going into a Grand final.
Speaker 1: So I felt fine. But then I snapped my quad
Speaker 1: and my games are over. I'm done. It's a bad snap.
Speaker 1: And I think, oh, Darryl was always a very good,
Speaker 1: niggly sort of defender. And I know whether he even
Speaker 1: niggling on the way back. And I probably said, look,
Speaker 1: i'm a little bit down the dumps at the moment,
Speaker 1: and you not niggled me at the moment. He didn't
Speaker 1: listen to something like that, and yees, some in becile
Speaker 1: in my head snapped and yeah, that was most embarrassing,
Speaker 1: regretful part of my football career. And yeah that's something
Speaker 1: something obviously it's going to pop up a lot something.
Speaker 1: I'm enormously embarrassed and regret that incident.
Speaker 4: Well, you weren't that player, as we said, you know,
Speaker 4: a single charge for striking and a single charging charge,
Speaker 4: so it was it like you were a thuggage player
Speaker 4: in anyway.
Speaker 1: It was just again, we have things in context, and
Speaker 1: we talked about nine to eleven and then twiny hours
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff. In my own little
Speaker 1: mind at that time, my world was ending, because you know,
Speaker 1: you're thinking of this dream of four flags in a row,
Speaker 1: and wouldn't it be great to be out there and
Speaker 1: play well and then snap of the quad, my game's over.
Speaker 1: And yes, just yes, My injury in that context was enormous.
Speaker 1: In the context of life, wasn't that big. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I made a mistake. It felt like a an out
Speaker 1: of body experience, almost like thankfully I didn't land any
Speaker 1: and it was almost like you think, what are you
Speaker 1: doing down there? And yeah, So it was something I
Speaker 1: deeply regret and it wasn't great.
Speaker 4: Seven charges, ten weeks, fifteen grand. Did you you knew
Speaker 4: you're retiring? Did you pay the fifteen grand? I found
Speaker 4: to pay the fifteen grand?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I don't know whether I had to, but.
Speaker 3: It would have been an interesting test case if you retired.
Speaker 3: It isn't it?
Speaker 2: It was raised, really was.
Speaker 1: It was raised because of the attempted strikes being included
Speaker 1: that we challenged it and I don't think there was
Speaker 1: a case or QC back in the time offered to
Speaker 1: fight it for me, and I just said, nah, how
Speaker 1: about we just accept it, pay the money and sort
Speaker 1: of just drift off. So yeah, there was there was
Speaker 1: no thought from me of challenging it or I just yeah,
Speaker 1: capt the cup, the.
Speaker 2: Fine I think I I think I rang Andrew Demitrio
Speaker 2: and apologize for it, because yeah, you don't want that.
Speaker 1: The ironic thing was the next year, I did a
Speaker 1: couple of speaking gigs the Grand Final week for the
Speaker 1: AFL and they'll roll on that footage out.
Speaker 3: You didn't get paid fifteen grand out of it?
Speaker 2: No, I did not.
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 1: I got a little something, but I thought it was
Speaker 1: a bit of a contradiction to find me then use
Speaker 1: that vision.
Speaker 4: So you knew you were retiring leading in I think
Speaker 4: AKA might have revealed it in a column, but you
Speaker 4: wrote when you Craig McCrae was also retiring, you wrote
Speaker 4: a lovely letter to him. Just take us through the
Speaker 4: timing of that, you know, basically saying to him, my
Speaker 4: love you, but this is my last game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So he said that Grand Final week last year,
Speaker 1: I was in an interview I'd completely forgotten about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't remember it, but he told me about it.
Speaker 1: I think that was and that's just a reflection on
Speaker 1: the bond that we had as a group. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was hard to step away, but I'd sort of
Speaker 1: just got to that stage where I felt that I'd
Speaker 1: given everything to be I mean, you can pull the
Speaker 1: piers and probably just coast along, but I think I'd
Speaker 1: invested everything in the people around me.
Speaker 2: And I used to love training.
Speaker 1: Although some of my teammates might argue that, but I
Speaker 1: used to love going to training. But when I started
Speaker 1: driving home from training and think, oh I'm cooked, and
Speaker 1: he was time to give it up. And so but
Speaker 1: it meant a lot to me all those people around
Speaker 1: me that had helped me. And again I was sort
Speaker 1: of saying, observe the other end of the ground. There's
Speaker 1: players all over the field that you know, what you
Speaker 1: go through at training, what you go through with the
Speaker 1: ups and downs, and we all go through ups and downs,
Speaker 1: whether it be with injury or families or whatever, and
Speaker 1: I think we're such a supportive group that Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I guess that's that was the motivation for the
Speaker 1: for the note, just to say thanks, and we work
Speaker 1: very closely together as ford pocket and full forward and
Speaker 1: yeah he thrived and me dropping.
Speaker 2: A lot of marks.
Speaker 4: Tell us about Tasmania because you you are the football
Speaker 4: director of the Tasmanian Devil's team.
Speaker 2: It's great. I think it's great to be a part
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: I think Tasmania being one of those states that is
Speaker 1: passionate about its AFL footy. It's been enormous contributor to
Speaker 1: the game over one hundred and fifty years. Some of
Speaker 1: the iconic games of the national game are Tasmanians. We
Speaker 1: only got to look at the team of last century
Speaker 1: and Darryl Bordock and Ian Stewart and Royce Peter Hudson,
Speaker 1: Royce Hart and to the modern players of the Roye
Speaker 1: Waltz and Maddie Richardson and Rodney ed and Darren Pretch.
Speaker 1: I just the list goes on. The board members that
Speaker 1: had the concept, the idea of the ten fifteen dollars membership.
Speaker 1: Where we are this day, I think we're last week.
Speaker 1: We're one hundred and ninety five thousand members. It's amazing
Speaker 1: and I get that. I men, you guys may be
Speaker 1: members because you want to see a Tasmanian team, and
Speaker 1: now you're probably not going to be members when we
Speaker 1: run out day one, but it was great to harness
Speaker 1: that passion and for people to get involved say yeah,
Speaker 1: we're behind you, to get going. And I think that's
Speaker 1: where the one hundred and ninety five thousand obviously a
Speaker 1: majority of Tasmanian residents. There's thirty odd thousand Victoria, there's
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand in Queensland. They're from fifty eight countries around
Speaker 1: the world. Really yeah, and I think Tasmanians are passion
Speaker 1: about where they come from. Like you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of us have moved away from Tasy, but we're still Tasmanians.
Speaker 1: Like I love where I live in Queensland, but I'm
Speaker 1: not a Queensland or I'm a Tasmanian. I think that's
Speaker 1: why we got members from fifty odd countries around the world,
Speaker 1: because they might be working in Eastern Europe or something
Speaker 1: like that, but they're still Tasmanian. And I think that's
Speaker 1: that passion is why I think will be a success.
Speaker 2: But we've got to be true.
Speaker 1: To that history and recognize that Thanks for listening to SACKED.
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