FTA-TV Open Mike

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Having met Alec Epis a few times, I was really looking forward to tonight's Open Mike. Kooka's an incredibly charismatic bloke. I vaguely remember him as a footballer but can recall how popular he was at Essendon in the 1960's. Great work by Michael Sheehan for having Kooka on. I had high expectations and it delivered a thoroughly enjoyable half hour.
 
Probably the most entertaining episode I've seen this year.
 
Damon_3388 said:
Didn't find it particularly interesting at all TBH.
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You appear hard to please.

Let's see.....
Digging for gold & has a gun battle with guys in trucks
Rejected by Collingwood & spends 2 years out of the game to play with Essendon
As an 18yo moves from Kalgoorlie, in the 1950's
Plays under a false name in the notorious violent Sunday comp that attracted gambling
Wayne Harmes old man tells him to stand behind him & be ready to belt anyone who gets by
Has a blew with John Coleman that ends up with the Doc getting a broken jaw
Gets a dummy from the Collingwood cheer squad
Gives Tuddy the dummy
In best three @ age 31 in his last game in a losing GF
Walks into the secretary's office to retire & gets told he was already 'retired'
On the Essendon board & tries to have Sheedy sacked
Helps players like Manton & Lloyd despite not bring an assistant coach
Told an opponent he (Epis) was on fire & the opponent should change flanks to avoid a hiding
The said rival kicked 4 in the first quarter
Never married & lets Sheehan know that doesn't mean anything
Now a very successful wine maker
Plus quite a big more....

Seriously if one did not appreciate what Epis brought to the Open Mike table, then you are a very shallow follower of the game.
 
Scoopar said:
You appear hard to please.

Let's see.....
Digging for gold & has a gun battle with guys in trucks
Rejected by Collingwood & spends 2 years out of the game to play with Essendon
As an 18yo moves from Kalgoorlie, in the 1950's
Plays under a false name in the notorious violent Sunday comp that attracted gambling
Wayne Harmes old man tells him to stand behind him & be ready to belt anyone who gets by
Has a blew with John Coleman that ends up with the Doc getting a broken jaw
Gets a dummy from the Collingwood cheer squad
Gives Tuddy the dummy
In best three @ age 31 in his last game in a losing GF
Walks into the secretary's office to retire & gets told he was already 'retired'
On the Essendon board & tries to have Sheedy sacked
Helps players like Manton & Lloyd despite not bring an assistant coach
Told an opponent he (Epis) was on fire & the opponent should change flanks to avoid a hiding
The said rival kicked 4 in the first quarter
Never married & lets Sheehan know that doesn't mean anything
Now a very successful wine maker
Plus quite a big more....

Seriously if one did not appreciate what Epis brought to the Open Mike table, then you are a very shallow follower of the game.
Click to expand...

Them I'm a very shallow follower of the game :cool:

It was alright. Wasn't really excited or enthralled by it.
 
Good to hear the positive reviews. Will watch when I get a chance, did it talk much about his relationship with Sheedy? Sheedy had a real go at him in his book that came out a few years back.
 
Hellgood said:
Good to hear the positive reviews. Will watch when I get a chance, did it talk much about his relationship with Sheedy? Sheedy had a real go at him in his book that came out a few years back.
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They touched on it. Out of a 30 minute interview (could easily gone an hour I think) they probably spent about 5 minutes on it I reckon.
 

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Damon_3388 said:
No. The episodes with recently retired players have always been the worst ones.

I just didn't find this one especially interesting. No big overarching judgement required.
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Do you even BF bro?
 
Didn't care for first 3-4 minutes about Italy, dragged on IMO. Good though to hear about football in a different era.

I wonder if any clubs have been under-represented on Open Mike. I might go back and check.
 
I guess it shouldn't really matter what others think, but it does strike me a touch narrow minded if one cannot sit down and hear a guy like Alec Epis and not be fascinated by his life in footy. I reckon Kooka has a lot more amazing stories than those discussed in the show. In the list of highlights, I forgot to mention the Somerville incident - that enabled Epis to play in the 1962 GF.

But it does get one wondering about others from that who would be a fascinating subject. One I can think of is John Dugdale who finished up at North in 1970, after 248 games, unfortunately 3 years prior to Barassi coming over. Dugdale became an asssistant to Barassi through the golden years of the 1970's. Both of his lads Glen & Dean played for North. John won the club goal kicking 7 times and was captain for 3 years. He coached North for one game in 1977 when Barassi was unavailable.

And staying on the Italian player theme, (ie: Alec Epis), Tony Polinelli would be very interesting. Polinelli started on the bench in Geelong's 1963 premiership team and was a member of the 1967 GF team. Super quick he won the Bendigo Thousand Gift (Caulfield Cup of pro-running in its day) in 1966 before running 2nd to Bill Howard in the 1966 Stawell Gift. It's rumoured Polinelli would smoke a pipe at half time.
 
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Scoopar said:
You appear hard to please.

Let's see.....
Digging for gold & has a gun battle with guys in trucks
Rejected by Collingwood & spends 2 years out of the game to play with Essendon
As an 18yo moves from Kalgoorlie, in the 1950's
Plays under a false name in the notorious violent Sunday comp that attracted gambling
Wayne Harmes old man tells him to stand behind him & be ready to belt anyone who gets by
Has a blew with John Coleman that ends up with the Doc getting a broken jaw
Gets a dummy from the Collingwood cheer squad
Gives Tuddy the dummy
In best three @ age 31 in his last game in a losing GF
Walks into the secretary's office to retire & gets told he was already 'retired'
On the Essendon board & tries to have Sheedy sacked
Helps players like Manton & Lloyd despite not bring an assistant coach
Told an opponent he (Epis) was on fire & the opponent should change flanks to avoid a hiding
The said rival kicked 4 in the first quarter
Never married & lets Sheehan know that doesn't mean anything
Now a very successful wine maker
Plus quite a big more....

Seriously if one did not appreciate what Epis brought to the Open Mike table, then you are a very shallow follower of the game.
Click to expand...

One of the best. See there is a book on Coleman being released, I'll certainly check to see if the Kooka incident gets a mention.

Missing seasons to get a clearance to Vic by WA country kids wasnt unusual, Wayne Richardson comes to mind.
 
Scoopar said:
But it does get one wondering about others from that who would be a fascinating subject. One I can think of is John Dugdale who finished up at North in 1970, after 248 games, unfortunately 3 years prior to Barassi coming over. Dugdale became an asssistant to Barassi through the golden years of the 1970's. Both of his lads Glen & Dean played for North. John won the club goal kicking 7 times and was captain for 3 years. He coached North for one game in 1977 when Barassi was unavailable.
Click to expand...

Could jump.

637388-john-dugdale.jpg
 
Won't happen, but love to see a couple of South Australian specific (although Knuckles and Cornes were done)

- Barrie Robran
- Russell Ebert
- David Granger
- Grenville Dietrich
- John Cahill
 
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