Fat Pizza's Trivia Question #356

[Fat Pizza]

What unfair advantage helped Fitzroy coach, Robert Shaw to outsmart Essendon’s Kevin Sheedy for the first 40 minutes of the Essendon v Fitzroy clash at the MCG in round 10 of 1993?

[Tim the Toolman]

Do you know, when I heard Sheeds was going to give his 3rd quarter speech on TV for last week's game I actually thought of this as a trivia question myself!

The answer: Robert Shaw could hear every word that Sheeds was saying to his runner via his own phone.

Shawy brought it to the attention of Sheeds (great bloke wasn't he?) and Essendon went on to snuff us out of the game and hence the finals race as this game was one we needed to win to have any chance of making the final 6 that year. Ironically, Paul Salmon snuffed us out of the race 12-months earlier with a late goal in the bog at North Hobart Oval.

We ended up the season with about 10 wins and 10 losses from memory and if there were a final-8 we would've played finals for perhaps one more time which may have got more people on board as members etc...?

So you could say if Shaw had a bit more mongrel in him, ssshhhh those of you who said he was anyway, then maybe we would still be around? :rolleyes:

Woohooo!!! I finally got a FatPizza question right!!!! :)

[Fat Pizza]

Do you know, when I heard Sheeds was going to give his 3rd quarter speech on TV for last week's game I actually thought of this as a trivia question myself!

The answer: Robert Shaw could hear every word that Sheeds was saying to his runner via his own phone.

Shawy brought it to the attention of Sheeds (great bloke wasn't he?) and Essendon went on to snuff us out of the game and hence the finals race as this game was one we needed to win to have any chance of making the final 6 that year. Ironically, Paul Salmon snuffed us out of the race 12-months earlier with a late goal in the bog at North Hobart Oval.

We ended up the season with about 10 wins and 10 losses from memory and if there were a final-8 we would've played finals for perhaps one more time which may have got more people on board as members etc...?

So you could say if Shaw had a bit more mongrel in him, ssshhhh those of you who said he was anyway, then maybe we would still be around? :rolleyes:

Woohooo!!! I finally got a FatPizza question right!!!! :)

That's an excellent answer, Tim. Well done. It was such a tough question, I was a bit hesitant to ask it, but it is also a great Fitzroy story.

There was a crossed line in the telephone link between the coaches & their runners, allowing Shaw to hear all Sheedy’s instructions and then send the Fitzroy runner out to counter all Sheedy’s moves, sometimes before the Bombers’ runner had even arrived. With Fitzroy 5 goals ahead, 10 minutes into the 2nd quarter, Shaw told Sheedy about the crossed line. Fitzroy led all day, until a last-minute goal from Darren Bewick allowed the Bombers to snatch a win.

[Mobbenfuhrer]

Fitzroy led all day, until a last-minute goal from Darren Bewick allowed the Bombers to snatch a win.

Bewick's done that to us twice then eh? Cause he did it to us in Tassie, too, in slush.

[Wild Kangaroo]

Bewick's done that to us twice then eh? Cause he did it to us in Tassie, too, in slush.

Chris Naish from Richmond and Brian Royal from Footscray used to do it all the time as well. I used to hate it

[Tim the Toolman]

We were well in contention up to that point in 1993. I remember earlier in the season a reporter in the Herald Sun actually said we would definitely be playing finals! It was a bad patch later in the season that finished it off and in the last 4-rounds we beat capital cities: Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide & Melbourne! I remember really wanting Lynchy to have a great last game as he was one of the favourites for the Brownlow but a Melbourne player threw sand in his eyes and his last game was pretty ordinary even though we won.

That particular Essendon game was a Friday night match at the G and it drew the biggest home & away crowd for a Fitzroy game in years. I reckon there was at least 50,000+ that night? I'd like to know the crowd figures if anyone has them handy please?

As with Bewick kicking the winning goal, I remember at Hobart and at the G, distinctly, Paul Salmon kicking very important goals late in each game from marks about 30m in front of goal. Geez he loved playing against the Roys.

[Mobbenfuhrer]

As with Bewick kicking the winning goal, I remember at Hobart and at the G, distinctly, Paul Salmon kicking very important goals late in each game from marks about 30m in front of goal. Geez he loved playing against the Roys.

Wasn't it him that grabbed the winning goal in that night series match which went to extra time, too? Or was it one of the Danihers?

[MaroonBoy]

That particular Essendon game was a Friday night match at the G and it drew the biggest home & away crowd for a Fitzroy game in years. I reckon there was at least 50,000+ that night? I'd like to know the crowd figures if anyone has them handy please?


I was there that night. It was 50,000. Lost by 4 points. A cracker of a game. Of course had we won, we would have gone on to take the flag, then gone back-to-back in 94 and maybe even given Collingwood's record 4 flags- in-a-row a shake. At least that's what i thought at the time!

[Levo]

That particular Essendon game was a Friday night match at the G and it drew the biggest home & away crowd for a Fitzroy game in years. I reckon there was at least 50,000+ that night? I'd like to know the crowd figures if anyone has them handy please?

.

attendance 50, 567

[Tim the Toolman]

Cheers Levo. Wasn't a bad guess on my part then! :thumbsu: