Vale Robert Walls

[iameviljez]

Matthew Richardson had his best year goalswise under Wallsy when he was coach in 1996, he kicked 91 goals.

Yes, but it’s worth bearing in mind that this might be correlation, as the tallies that won the Coleman dropped almost year on year since 1992

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Can only imagine him having a player like JHF under his wing!

JHF would shit himself and never shit bricks again regarding a routine ice bath.

This is the total opposite of the world we now live in and we need more Robert Walls in the world today not a snowflake society.

Using a man’s death to get on your high horse. Nice.

 

[Lunchtime]

Yes, but it’s worth bearing in mind that this might be correlation, as the tallies that won the Coleman dropped almost year on year since 1992

Was just pointing out that Richo had his best year goalswise in 1996 under Wallsy.

 

[Shane Heard]

I ran on for Lloyds first hundred and absolutely gave it to Mick martyn, amusing. I was caught on camera and **** me did Walls give it to me on the Monday. " I'll slow this down for you, look at this Essendon supporter backing back into a protected area". Absolute gold from walls, if I knew how to put it up on here I'd do it.
The next best bit was the walls v sheedy on talking footy where Walls absolutely owned sheedy. Owned him. Sheedy thought he could bluff his way out of everything. Completely owned him that night. Owned.
It got boring however with how much he droned on about his hate for Essendon, he was born a Bomber, season ticket holder for his formative years, but then the rich v carl years happened, he coached Fitzroy, rolled us many times, sheedy got a few back, but it was what it was.....
Pure spite.

I’ll find that footage lol

 

[windyhill]

I’ll find that footage lol

I do have it. It's the Monday review show on fox footy or Optus sports , one or the other.

 

[Worm4]

I ran on for Lloyds first hundred and absolutely gave it to Mick martyn, amusing. I was caught on camera and **** me did Walls give it to me on the Monday. " I'll slow this down for you, look at this Essendon supporter backing back into a protected area". Absolute gold from walls, if I knew how to put it up on here I'd do it.
The next best bit was the walls v sheedy on talking footy where Walls absolutely owned sheedy. Owned him. Sheedy thought he could bluff his way out of everything. Completely owned him that night. Owned.
It got boring however with how much he droned on about his hate for Essendon, he was born a Bomber, season ticket holder for his formative years, but then the rich v carl years happened, he coached Fitzroy, rolled us many times, sheedy got a few back, but it was what it was.....
Pure spite.

I do remember you telling that story over a beer. Being a teacher at Rosanna Golf Links primary back in 1982, we played footy against them and walls was coach, and was ripping into them left right and centre. And then they lost the game, and Walls would come over and talk quietly about the game and congratulations and all that stuff, and I just just in awe of him.
The sheedy/ Walls stuff was classic they just didn't like each other.

 

[BigFrizz36]

Well said.

How much bravery does a person need to have to make that choice - off the charts.

Apparently he watched his wife die of cancer quite a while ago. Suffered himself for quite a while.

Died with his loved ones with him looking out from his window towards the MCG.

 

[Flogwater]

Posted elsewhere, but I like sharing...

Robert Walls passing has saddened me. He was one of my favourite people in football, ever.

Nobody in the history of the game carried his experience in my opinion, and his forthright honesty is something I always respected and admired in him.
The fact that he experienced success at a wealthy club like Carlton and finished off his playing days at a comparatively threadbare Fitzroy where sacrifices had to be made alone gives him a degree of depth of experience.

Coaching Fitzroy to moderate success from 81-85 is an effort too-easily dismissed considering the lack of resources at the club. It was a club whose only strength was its people, and Walls clearly commanded a great degree of loyalty from those players, otherwise he would never have made the finals three times in five years.

Returning to Carlton netted him a premiership, a runners up, a third placing, and then the sack after Capper kicked a late goal at Princes Park to see the lowly Brisbane Bears defeat Carlton.

His Brisbane Bears experience is perhaps his most compelling. We will never see an under-resourced, hardly-professional club like the original Brisbane Bears, and their rise by the mid-90s was purely Robert Walls' demands for greater professionalism as well as offloading the deadwood and bringing in youth. His stories regarding then-owner Reuben Pelerman are mind-boggling.
Brisbane under Walls saw Michael Voss (1992), Craig McRae (1995), Jason Akermanis (1995), Darryl White (1992), Justin Leppitsch (1993), Chris Scott (1994) and Nigel Lappin (1994) start their careers and be developed further in subsequent years. I see Walls as crucial to Brisbane's rise as a power. All except Chris Scott were three-time premiership players (except Scott, who was not fully fit in 2003), with Voss being a Brownlow Medallist.

His story about going to McDonald's around 1991 with his sons wearing his Brisbane Bears t-shirt and the kid behind the counter asked, "Oh, you go for the Bears? You going to the game?" Walls responds with, "Yeah, I'll be there." The kid reached under the counter and gave him a heap of entry tickets.

Finishing at Richmond, his insights into the culture there are also fascinating (Richmond: The Lost Years).

I enjoyed his straightforward commentary once he had finished. His vast experience allowed him to be qualified to make comments far more than most others. Few had a broader range of experience than he.

Whether you liked him or not, his experience and insight into the game will never be matched by anybody again, and I don't think people appreciate the uniqueness or his breadth of experience.

Condolences to all of his family, close friends, and the countless people who he helped in their careers.

Great post. Thank you.

Walls was instrumental in setting the foundation for the success of the Bears/Lions a few years later.

He was refreshingly straight down the line. No BS. In particular, his articles for The Age were great reading.

Vale Wallsy.

 

[purplearmy]

Robert Walls was a legend. Tough as nails. He will be missed.

 

[revo333]

Loved it when he got stuck right into that righteous flog Kevin Sheedy on TV....

He had Essendon very salty over him for a few years and Walls won the battle every time there was a conflict.

I remember Gary Moorcroft having a sook about him straight after a game once which proved Walls was rent free in all of their heads.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

He had Essendon very salty over him for a few years and Walls won the battle every time there was a conflict.

I remember Gary Moorcroft having a sook about him straight after a game once which proved Walls was rent free in all of their heads.

So funny he was a mad Essendon supporter as a kid and was at every single game at Windy Hill for years on end

 

[RUNVS]

I guess anyone against assisted dying has never been in huge amounts of pain that can never be cured and will only get worse until you die.

I hate that Walls was at that point, but at least with the law in place Walls is no longer suffering.

 

[juice t]

Robert Walls' Open Mike interview is probably (and I'm not just saying this in light of his death), my favourite Open Mike interview. He completely changed my mind on him over the space of 30 minutes.

Going in, I didn't really rate his as a commentator, nor as a coach - he seemed to be a bit of a grumpy old dinosaur from a bygone era.

However, his honesty, frankness and openness was completely disarming, as well as his pride in his own achievements (especially at Brisbane and Fitzroy). I've never seen someone on Open Mike ever openly admit that he deserved to get the arse as a coach, or that he was a dirty footballer who owed Peter Knights an apology. And he was dead right about his achievements at Brisbane; the winning percentage wasn't great, but the trajectory was.

What also strikes out from the Open Mike (Approx 18 mins in) is that personal satisfaction Wallsy got from those players he got to Brisbane being part of that Lions team that knocked off Sheedy's Essendon in 2001
And also the fact that Sheedy's Essendon didn't recover from it

 

[SeaOfFire]

Well....yeah

As a Bears fan from their inception (and prior to them, as a QLD'er, I had chosen the Blues as my team, since back then we only saw the Match of the Day broadcast in the early 80's, and Carlton were a powerhouse, so as a kid I chose a "winning" team), his arrival was transformative, as noted by other posters.

And that season in 95, starting with the Hawks game, was just.....pure heaven.

I agree with the point that the Lions were built from the scaffolding he put in place.

He'll never be forgotten.

RIP Wallsy, you even coached the fans, the supporters and probably the business community of 90's Brisso about footy. An amazing legacy.

 

[royboys4eva]

A massive lost to the game. Massive lost to my beloved Fitzroy. No will forget what you did for our club and you were so close to getting us to the big dance in 83.

You achieved everything at Carlton and your time at the Bears will go down in folklore. You took coaching jobs that others would have run mile from. You made every team you coached better. You are a Premiership player and coach and most importantly truly admired person.

I look forward to the Blues and Lions honouring your contribution to our clubs this weekend.

RIP great man you will be missed.

 

[iameviljez]

A massive lost to the game. Massive lost to my beloved Fitzroy. No will forget what you did for our club and you were so close to getting us to the big dance in 83.

I found it illuminating in the chat with Sam Pang in the car that he talked about how the year that he came on board at Carlton, they just went out and bought Bradley, Dorotich, and Kernahan... and just the relief with how much easier winning was when you could simply go out and buy the best.

Meanwhile, the spine of his team got sold.

 

[_Mike_]

Paul Roos speaks on Robert Walls - #RIP

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Just rewatched the Talking Footy segment with him and Sheeds. The current crop of football shows really pale in comparison. That was genuine tension, not the faux-argument crap that King and Cornes love. Even Caro was fine back then, asked the hard questions of Sheeds and didnt take a backwards step but wasnt looking for a gotcha moment or big headline.

 

[Doss]

I see there was one person here who couldn’t resist feigning faux moral superiority mixed with weird God stuff while actually just being a garden variety gutter troll.

Personally, I liked Walls. He was a forthright man and a hugely significant person in VFL/AFL history.

I say hats off to him for making a brave call. If I’m ever in his position, facing a terminal diagnosis with no hope of averting that, I’ll do the same thing. There is nothing wrong and plenty right with wanting to exit this world with a modicum of dignity and not suffering horrendously. And to those who have a problem with someone doing it, mind your own business.

 

[CuttlefishMcfly]

Any forward struggling for a kick this weekend should be thrown into the ruck in his honour.

I would love to see that.

 

[sherb]

I see there was one person here who couldn’t resist feigning faux moral superiority mixed with weird God stuff while actually just being a garden variety gutter troll.

Personally, I liked Walls. He was a forthright man and a hugely significant person in VFL/AFL history.

I say hats off to him for making a brave call. If I’m ever in his position, facing a terminal diagnosis with no hope of averting that, I’ll do the same thing. There is nothing wrong and plenty right with wanting to exit this world with a modicum of dignity and not suffering horrendously. And to those who have a problem with someone doing it, mind your own business.

Same. I saw what my mother went through and, as recently as last year, what a good friend of mine went through as well. I'm not allowing myself to go through that if I find myself in a similar situation.

His passing has rightfully seen the football community acknowledge Robert Walls' enormous contribution to the game. But I'm also grateful to him for highlighting the right of someone to choose a peaceful passing, rather than one involving an extended period of pointless suffering.

So thank you on both counts Robert Walls.

 

[Shane Heard]

What also strikes out from the Open Mike (Approx 18 mins in) is that personal satisfaction Wallsy got from those players he got to Brisbane being part of that Lions team that knocked off Sheedy's Essendon in 2001
And also the fact that Sheedy's Essendon didn't recover from it

I was at that game at the Gabba and I sat there in total shock thinking how this was happening.

I’ve never recovered either.

Later I stumbled out of the Southport FC bar in the last qrt of the GF and have been wandering the earth ever since.

It’s a tragic story..

 

[Ian Dunross]

Robert Walls' Open Mike interview is probably (and I'm not just saying this in light of his death), my favourite Open Mike interview. He completely changed my mind on him over the space of 30 minutes.

Going in, I didn't really rate his as a commentator, nor as a coach - he seemed to be a bit of a grumpy old dinosaur from a bygone era.

However, his honesty, frankness and openness was completely disarming, as well as his pride in his own achievements (especially at Brisbane and Fitzroy). I've never seen someone on Open Mike ever openly admit that he deserved to get the arse as a coach, or that he was a dirty footballer who owed Peter Knights an apology. And he was dead right about his achievements at Brisbane; the winning percentage wasn't great, but the trajectory was.

Well said, it's a great interview. Also big respect to Walls for calling out Elliott post the battle of Britain game.

Coaches who take on the harder gigs, like Fitzroy, like the Bears, deserve extra respect IMO.

That quote about Roger telling Walls that he would give Walls everything he had left once he saw that Walls was legit about the Bears gig.

 

[Kappa]

250 days in hospital the past 2 years. Jeez cancer is horrific

 

[Nikita Blue]

Left this earth the same way he lived with courage, grace and honour.

R.I.P. great man.