The memories flow on a historic night at the Australian Football Hall of Fame ceremony and we have our very own inductee here at the desk.
Look who's back. The rapid return of Sam Darcy as the Bulldogs look to get going and mount this second half challenge.
And the art of coaching in the moments of high tension when as a firm hound required and when do you step back?
We'll ask Sino and horse. We've talked about is this step into it, embrace all of it, hit in the room and pat.
It's unedifying for a senior coach to do that. They're on the side of Courtia with the brain, take the man on. They played the best footy I've ever seen at the start of the season and injury said President left. The couple said, of course they do.
It is the stuff that legends.
Are made of.
What is holding the ball?
I don't think I could answer it clearly right now that I can do something.
Wrong, you know, And I need to get on the board.
Sexy the fans lover and with no fans no through sixty year old.
He has previously been five total Australian long serving captain and Demon's Team of the Century member as of tonight, he's Australian Football Hall of Famer Jarry Lyon.
That's great to see to.
See you again, Jared, thank you, I Steen colleagues here in this studio, thank you.
Great to celebrate like winners. Yep, we did, we did.
I sort of wandered out very late. Hodge and crew still in tow and Revolt and Crewe Brown just lording over everyone. Jonathan and Fox boys were well represented and my boys were just right slap bang amongst them. It was a great night and you did a wonderful job too, Jared. I can't imagine now how much work you've done preparing for that.
So there are a lot of unanswered questions as a turn out. I thought most of them would be Peter dally, But yes.
Just on the down low, right, did you drop a sneaky.
I was last on, as you well know, and it was a long way because you're a bit nervous, and then I got up and almost forgot that it was a televis I pulled.
Very nice all right.
Well, as we get into it tonight, we're not going to rush. There's plenty of football to deal with and we will soon enough, but we thought we might just start with a little bit of reminiscing from a night a reminiscing.
All I ever wanted to do was be a footy paper. That's it.
That's really simple.
That's all I wanted in life was to be a footy paper. Pretty simple and complicated. From the moment I could go.
Fac to get drafted.
You just want to play a game and then to go through and be able to achieve what we did as a group. You sort of sit back and pinch yourself because you did it start a night. What Nick said before is when you read it all those names, you sort of you do you pinch yourself to sort of sit and realize you're in the same group as them, which is surreal.
I don't imagine how hard it would have been to tell your thirteen year old daughter that she couldn't play the game that she loves anymore, and twenty seven years later she's standing next to you in the Hall of Fame.
It's just.
I had no ambition to come to Victoria at all. I was just house Australian and I was very happy in the cup that I was with, but also my lifestyle wouldn't have worked in Victoria.
And rather than feeling like you know, I walked away with the game still owing me something, I walked away feeling like the game gave me absolutely everything. And I'm just feeling with so much attitude for the game and for the people involved in it.
How perfect an ending to the story was.
It controversy to say this, but as a mother it's controversial, but it was the best day of my life.
Nirive Old and Luke Aji I was picking a team to play for my life, they'd be amongst the first two I'd pick, no question about that. So to be inducted on the same night he is unbelievable. I'll tell you what. I'd be very happy to play with Daisy Pears and Aaron Phillips as well. So and I'd happy to go on a footy troop. Peter Darley own that it was the most perfect line of all and.
Gaz that that group you're bonded with those forever more and what a.
Group they are.
Yeah, it's so cool.
OK.
I know you can get a bit of SYRAPHI and all this, but it's just so humbling, Like it was in a room full of megastars, and they all sort of defer to you to make sure you get a night to remember, which they will have been through at some stage. So yeah, I feel I had a great I have had a great close affinity with Nick for a long time obviously, and over the Melbourne days I was a Hawthorne man, so Luke Codge is everything you
want to be in a footballer. And the connection with Aaron Phillips and her dad Greg, who I alluded to I played on in my first year, so it just came full circle.
So awesome.
Just it's just so cool, and I love watching all the families that come with Nick had at Big Crew and his family were Aaron Errands and Daisies and everyone else's. So it was just I knew it would be a big night, in a great night. It was exceeded expectations.
So from the moment that the chairman gives you the call, which is totally unexpected, over the twenty six years and then the way and then to the night itself is I don't know, when you're reflecting years to come, how will you reflect on this in the course of your career.
So I think individually it's as.
High as you get.
You had to have your Nikki there with me and my boys and everyone else, and my mom and dad and people.
I love.
It's I only think the Premiership can only be the thing that tops it. I would imagine individually your brown Law metal of course, But so yeah, this will go down as one of those nights I remember forever in a day. And you know we were up at breakfast this morning. He was sore heads and reflecting and telling war stories from the night before that they're the best moments. Jared and the boys have got their cameras out, and you know that Thomas my Son's going dipp I love me,
Dipper wouldn't leave me alone. And then Lee Matthews is sitting there having a chat like us. I just love seeing all that.
You've always been super careful not to talk about your career very much, just to snippet you.
Had nothing tonight. I do understand that.
But if we played these highlights, and I did like.
The cinema as the boys thought, it was only ever on a stretcher, which is not true. But it does it give you, does it put you back?
The thing you said that most struck me was this made you feel like a player again, That is true.
I'd imagine, as you said, that's twenty six years since I finished playing. So life moves on, and I've immersed myself in this career now for the best part of it. Been really lucky to stay intimately involved. And this is an intimate job that we have. We're at the footy every week and we're dealing with players and coaches. So from that point of view, I'm scratching the hitch. But
footy had been left well well behind. But as I was sort of sitting down writing a few things, and it did occur to me that I just felt it took me back to being a footy player, because you have to go back to you. I know you're going to ask me questions about it. So I honestly don't reminisce or re live in the past too often, but for no other reason than that, I don't. But I did, and I think that's the beauty of the night. And a few of the players came up and said the
same thing. And I've got a beautiful message from Bucks today who said he loved that because you know, had had I that come around a year or two after I'd just retired, it would be a whole different perspective. But my perspective now is it's a beautiful part of my life and it's a great, big.
But it's not the only part.
And but as on this night, for ever more, for as long as I can walk, I'll be going along there and putting my footy shore it's on over the under my dinner suit and being a footy player again for one day a year. And I think that's that's almost the best part about all of it.
Indulge me one more. You've indulged me a lot.
I know the question I didn't get to last night as a follow up because time was a essence. What was the first coaching job that you were offered?
Well, I wasn't offered, but I went to Adelaide and spent a day over there with the club about it. I don't know, three or four weeks after I retired. So Ross Dellen was a cab He was a board member from Coban originally, and I went over and had a day at the club and went out for dinner with them and just great people, really great people, and enjoyed it. Did a little bit of work on that list. But I wasn't really a coach here. I think they're
interested to pursure it, but I wasn't. I was only thirty one or so, so I came back home to Melbourne. But I enjoyed that whole process. And you know, I read John Reid's a terrific fella, so I love going over there and having a chat with a crow. So that kind of was the first experience of it all, but it wasn't from my end, wasn't close happening.
And then Melbourne and Richmond at various times had a little nibble as well.
Yeah, that was a bit further down the track. And you know, I think those if I wanted to pursue that, that was pretty real. But I'm happy to have done what I've done. Not brave enough. Always say that when people talk about it, what in your coach? Well, I wasn't brave enough. That's why I've got unbelievable admiration for all those that jumped in feet first, because it's you know, it's NonStop and the twenty four hour day, all that
stuff is. I like to do this, but I like to go home and shut the door.
So I'm so thrilled for you.
I appreciate it.
I really congratulations.
All right, the rest of our show, so someone Horsey and to join us shortly. We've got the teams for some killer and the bulldogs. Shall we explore a bit of farming? Was another great.
Passion, Yes, a great passion. I might get.
Exposed here today hangers Clark and Mason Redmond, that country life.
He's a real farmer jar.
He might expose him. But there's a good cause behind all.
Yes, yes, And then after us, first they'll take the look into the events of rounds.
What are we up to? Fourteen?
I'll be watching Joey Montagne's performance tonight very very closely, jered he was having a first crack and.
A last crack, very nice, all right, d Day who was a d Day four thanks to Ossie Broadbound.
Well, I went to the Port Adelaide Melbourne clash and I'll have a look at this and I reckon the loser of this game is going to find it really hard to be absolutely contending at the end. So put Adelaide found a bit of form and had a win on the weekend, the Demons desperately short against the ladder leader. It's over in Adelaide on then Dunghill both of these sides would expect to win this game, Jared, I think that would be.
Fair to say.
And the loser is a long way back, So Jason Haunt Francis looks like he's moving pretty well. Is he expected to be back? That's a big shot in the arm for them for years.
And the short turnaround for Melbourne.
So when we left Monday night, there are two different parts. Is Collinwood are heading to their bye after laying it all out there Melbourne, I've got to travel on a six day before they get to them.
That is true. So, but Adelaide would even more fancy themselves, I would imagine so. And then you've got to get over the heartache off at one point loss and they've been the news of it, the captain and they're full back. So I think that's D day for me.
What about you?
I've started obsessing over Friday night. I can't decide is it Hawthorne or is it Adelaide. So this is so perfectly poised the classic eight point game because it's the four you get before you deny the others. How much of what Hawthorne did against the Dogs put things right, the re establishment of the pressure game and the return to form.
For some players, it is third versus six.
They're one game behind Adelaide if they if they get beaten, there's suddenly eight points behind in the race for the top four. If they win, then they draw alongside Adelaide. So how big a step did the Crows take because of the bizarre nature of the last fifteen minutes is should they win? Well, they did win, so that plants that does it establish them as a top fourteen?
They get to test their credentials.
Add into that, the last two times in Loncester and these teams have met, they've been three point results either way, So they've played a pair of thrillers and I imagine Friday night will be pretty much the same.
That's interesting, and the top eight credentials have been questioned. Both these teams are one and four against top eight teams going into last week. They both got a scalp impressively or not. So they're two and four and they're up against each other again. So no, that'll be a beauty.
So that's Friday night.
Let's start our agenda at Thursday night, And really, Sam Darcy is the story here. It's the second time the Bulldogs and the Saints have played. He got injured in the first one on Easter Sunday night, and he'll be back for the second one, which just tells you how rapidly this has come to hand. All Darcy's heard he's grabbing at his left knee.
Oh, he was in a real pain, Jared, real pain.
I think the game will suffered great loss for this afternoon or this evening when Sam went down. I mean, he's the biggest, brightest, shining star we've got right now in the competition.
Yeah, it seems ready to go. He'll be in the team when it's announced this afternoon. Now he's trying to hide that he's a cub and he might be the next big thing.
He's done a really scrupulous and professional job on rehabilitation from that injury, and so we were welcome him back and look forward to having him part of tomorrow.
Right, good choice on the DJs guest who's back? Sandarsis back? So round six it happenings back for round fourteen. It means he only missed six games. We lived through this in real time where it looked for all the world and he'd been told for all the world it was a knee reconstruction and we're going to see him this weekend.
We're with a chair.
This is a Seculta thinking we'll see him and see. They would have thought, don't have to deal with him unless we get the finals, and here we are.
Six weeks later.
I do you know, we said before I show and reminisced about that night and everyone everyone thought he'd done, even down to the I think the Western Bulldogs, Medicos, certainly Luke and the family that we had those pitchers of them in the rooms. And then I went out a half time actually to do an interview and bumped into him and he had this resigned look on his face.
So it is so uplifting that his back, and it's so important that he's back because they can't afford to misstep against this se Kulta side.
Tomorrow night.
You just saw McCrae back for Seculta. So he had the punctured lung in the game in Perth, and Soccer hasn't played since round nine against Carlton. Philippo's out there, so Darcy and Heinz has played the three games in his career in the middle phases of what we've seen so far and Harms is injured and Gardener just wasn't quite ready for it.
So that game goes.
The Dogs won by seventy one points, and we just crunched a few of those numbers that the damage that they did at stopping it was so phenomenally lopsided.
Forty four to twenty three clearances cent abouts twenty to six, And as you rightly point out, there'd be a few coaches better place to sit back and go to work on those numbers than ross Lyon in the space of six weeks. So fore warned is always fore armed in these situations. And then Luke Beveridge knows better than anyone exactly what Rosslyn has been able to go to work on, So it'd be fascinating from a coaches box point of
view to see it all unfold. There are players that just didn't perform last week for the Western Bulldogs who dominated this game. Was Marcus Bontepelli's first game back, just announced himself, so this could be the first time we see bonton Pelli and Darcy play from start to finish for the year for the Western Bulldogs, which would give them great heart. But the Saints have be taking some great heart as well from their last outing, which is a big.
They just plotted in the scheme to bring Melbourne down. So plot and scheme again is looking at the coaches votes from that game and a couple of the players that were reference So Fraser got five, Sanders got four there too. Who need to get back into the fray for the Dogs is maybe they've become a little more peripheral as it's gone along Dale Williams Libertoire who was rarely poor last week, so their only bad loss for the season was against Hawthorne. We would absolutely expect them
to rebound. But I mean, it is a bit. It's one of my pet hates in footys that there's only six games that have elapsed between when these two teams met the first time and.
The second time. That that does my drawer is crazy.
But anyway, they'll go to work on it and as I said, to be able to in the space of six weeks, go and just study all that. But Norton was mayor and Norton is another known that we can throw up here because when Sam went off, we all sort of said, well, this is your moment, and he had a moment. He kicked three could have had five and he's had a bit of an up and down season and was poor again the week before. So this is their time. But there's when round? What do we
do around four? There's no time, no, no, there's games up. Absolutely this is it. Don't make a move.
That's the start of the round.
Tomorrow night, right here on Fox Footy, when Saint Kilda and the Western Bulldogs meet. Our coaches are about to join us, Adam Simpson and John Langmire the art of coaching in a couple of tricky scenarios. When to just leave things one off alone, When to offer the right ferm hands
The gold