Ben Edwards?

[Reveler]

Anyone know the story of this guy? Taken at #7 in the 1995 AFL draft then delisted before the start of the season!

I was just looking through a list of FFC players and it's no wonder we were shithouse from 1995-2001 with the foundation we started on. Crazy memories!

 

[Clay Davis]

This is a pretty good page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fremantle_Football_Club_players

 

[Peter Bellend]

Anyone know the story of this guy? !

"Banging" Ben Edwards is a heavy weight boxer. Pretty much considered the "hardest puncher" in Australia. Most well known for knocking out John Hopoate (fight is on youtube - this guy can seriously throw a punch) but he is also a former kickboxer.

 

[clivenator26]

Very slightly built aboriginal kid, not sure if he wasn't good enough or his attitude wasn't up to standard.

Imagine if this happened in todays game, the recruiting people would be shot.

 

[Clay Davis]

Looking back, the 1995 AFL Draft was very poor all round.

 

[Rob]

Of all the **** ups under Neesham, IMO this was the worst.

Not only was he delisted before the start of the season, being a Claremont player we could have picked him up for free before the draft as a zone selection. To use such a high pick on him was deadset criminal.

 

[The Night Shift]

Where's the neesham defenders..?

 

[Tundrawolf]

Where's the neesham defenders..?

How can you defend the indefensible???

 

[raffrox]

How can you defend the indefensible???

Some people manage to do it.

Which always spins me out.

 

[Freo Shark]

He almost single handedly destroyed the club and has set it back generations. Mind he wasnt alone for fools down there.

 

[FarmersWife]

He almost single handedly destroyed the club and has set it back generations. Mind he wasnt alone for fools down there.

It's not Neesham's fault that he was given the job. It's the people who put him there. And the people who put him there probably aren't to blame either. It's probably the people who put them there. If you follow what I'm saying, you would know I'm talking about the WAFC.

It's no secret that the WAFC wanted to ride the WC success wagon for as long as possible, which they did until the recent off-field collapse of the WC empire. Freo were always there for competition, to give WC more appeal. A Freo that functioned without making a profit would still bring dollars to the WAFC, through the WC channel.

And then maybe we can go a step further to blame the AFL, for giving the licence to the WAFC and for giving us virtually nothing to set us up with. I'm sure you're all feeling the same way about the Gold Coast concessions - bitter. The AFL know that they need to have the Gold Coast team hit the ground running, because they don't have the passionate supporters of the Fremantle area to survive a sustained period of limited success. We were given nothing near the sort of love the Gold Coast have been given.

No wonder Andrew McLeod walked out of the interview with Neesham when he was asked to take his earing out. Neesham was sitting in a pathetic demountable office. I would have been asking who the F... Neesham was as well. Do you blame Neesham for being a no-namer, or the WAFC for giving us demountables...and next to no facilities.

Freo were set up to be poor. The AFL gave us nothing because they knew that we would fight our way into a competitive state. The WAFC gave us minimal assistance, because they adopted Freo to keep their biological son WC company. The board at Freo were just useless, and the coach had never taken a team interstate.

In a case that stinks of conspiracy, it's not surprising the WAFC offices were situated in the Subiaco Freemasons Hall until recently.

 

[yakamoto]

We did amazingly well considering all of the above. By 1997 we had a very competitive side and would have made the finals if we had not been crippled by injuries. Neesham has been by far our best coach to this point in time.

 

[Sman-21]

Yes neesham did some terrible things but he didnt exactly have the resources to get good people surrounding him to help with drafting etc.

Also was along way ahead of his time, he was the first to get a bunch of tall quick athletic players and playing the playon on most occasions gamestyle.
That is now in fashion.

Essendons team reminds me of our team in the early neesham era.

 

[Dr Ralph Dagg]

It's not Neesham's fault that he was given the job. It's the people who put him there. And the people who put him there probably aren't to blame either. It's probably the people who put them there. If you follow what I'm saying, you would know I'm talking about the WAFC.

It's no secret that the WAFC wanted to ride the WC success wagon for as long as possible, which they did until the recent off-field collapse of the WC empire. Freo were always there for competition, to give WC more appeal. A Freo that functioned without making a profit would still bring dollars to the WAFC, through the WC channel.

And then maybe we can go a step further to blame the AFL, for giving the licence to the WAFC and for giving us virtually nothing to set us up with. I'm sure you're all feeling the same way about the Gold Coast concessions - bitter. The AFL know that they need to have the Gold Coast team hit the ground running, because they don't have the passionate supporters of the Fremantle area to survive a sustained period of limited success. We were given nothing near the sort of love the Gold Coast have been given.

No wonder Andrew McLeod walked out of the interview with Neesham when he was asked to take his earing out. Neesham was sitting in a pathetic demountable office. I would have been asking who the F... Neesham was as well. Do you blame Neesham for being a no-namer, or the WAFC for giving us demountables...and next to no facilities.

Freo were set up to be poor. The AFL gave us nothing because they knew that we would fight our way into a competitive state. The WAFC gave us minimal assistance, because they adopted Freo to keep their biological son WC company. The board at Freo were just useless, and the coach had never taken a team interstate.

In a case that stinks of conspiracy, it's not surprising the WAFC offices were situated in the Subiaco Freemasons Hall until recently.

All of that may be true, and I suspect it is but Neesham and McNeil were knuckleheads/completely out of their depth in terms of football/list management and it took a long time to work his clangers out of the system. then you add in a WA football mindset that just wasn't suited to VFL style football in the late '90's and you have our history in a nutshell.

When you consider the longest serving/best players from his era were McManus and Parker, and the complete lack of respect those players get on this Forum then you get a sense of it wouldn't have mattered what concessions we got, Neesham would have squandered them.

As an aside, the defenders of Drum as a prospect should note that when McManus was last dropped he racked up over 40 possessions. As did Schammer and Headland. Good AFL players completely dominate the WAFL when they go back. Even James Walker used to look good.

 

[Belnakor]

Tlo used to look like a superstar in the WAFL.

Neesham pioneered the kind of playstyle they use now

 

[Billy Hunt]

Where's the neesham defenders..?

I’M HERE

Just remember there were only two applicants for the coaching job, Neesham and Ken Judge. Neesham was a coach who was asked to be a coach, talent scout, recruiter, list manager and marketing manager with no money, no training facilities, no support staff, NO F*** ALL!!!

Now look at his record 1995 8 wins - 1996 7 wins – 1997 10 wins – 1998 7 wins

How many wins have we had this year ???

 

[ThePope]

This page lists it all too. Sobering reading for Gold Coast fans seeing what benefit we got from the "uncontracted player" rule.

Assuming that it's the same guy, not just a common name, WAFLonline shows Benjamin Edwards playing for Claremont from 1997 to 2000, so maybe he was injured in 96?

I've asked this question numerous times in the past but never got a complete answer.

 

[WCE2012]

Connolly was really the backbreaker. Freo managed to recover a little from the neesham rabble, then along came that imobocile to trade away the future. well done chris oh and cheers for Naita chris

 

[legitimatic]

Connolly was really the backbreaker. Freo managed to recover a little from the neesham rabble, then along came that imobocile to trade away the future. well done chris oh and cheers for Naita chris

I'm sure it takes one "imobocile" to spot another, you are seriously just posting fail after fail

 

[WCE2012]

I'm sure it takes one "imobocile" to spot another, you are seriously just posting fail after fail

A spelling error well done BF is hardly representitive of intelligence. You're a testament to that. You knew what i was on about flog, but you just chose to ignore the facts

 

[legitimatic]

A spelling error well done BF is hardly representitive of intelligence. You're a testament to that. You knew what i was on about flog, but you just chose to ignore the facts

To be honest I had no idea what you were on about, I don't think even you knew what you were on about.

"imobocile"

 

[Freo Blood]

Connolly was really the backbreaker. Freo managed to recover a little from the neesham rabble, then along came that imobocile to trade away the future. well done chris oh and cheers for Naita chris

I think Karmichael Hunt will pick up the game faster the NicNat. You guys have blundered the last couple of drafts - no class amongst your lot and you know it

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

It's not Neesham's fault that he was given the job. It's the people who put him there. And the people who put him there probably aren't to blame either. It's probably the people who put them there. If you follow what I'm saying, you would know I'm talking about the WAFC.

It's no secret that the WAFC wanted to ride the WC success wagon for as long as possible, which they did until the recent off-field collapse of the WC empire. Freo were always there for competition, to give WC more appeal. A Freo that functioned without making a profit would still bring dollars to the WAFC, through the WC channel.

And then maybe we can go a step further to blame the AFL, for giving the licence to the WAFC and for giving us virtually nothing to set us up with. I'm sure you're all feeling the same way about the Gold Coast concessions - bitter. The AFL know that they need to have the Gold Coast team hit the ground running, because they don't have the passionate supporters of the Fremantle area to survive a sustained period of limited success. We were given nothing near the sort of love the Gold Coast have been given.

No wonder Andrew McLeod walked out of the interview with Neesham when he was asked to take his earing out. Neesham was sitting in a pathetic demountable office. I would have been asking who the F... Neesham was as well. Do you blame Neesham for being a no-namer, or the WAFC for giving us demountables...and next to no facilities.

Freo were set up to be poor. The AFL gave us nothing because they knew that we would fight our way into a competitive state. The WAFC gave us minimal assistance, because they adopted Freo to keep their biological son WC company. The board at Freo were just useless, and the coach had never taken a team interstate.

In a case that stinks of conspiracy, it's not surprising the WAFC offices were situated in the Subiaco Freemasons Hall until recently.

yep... thats about right

in hindsight, if we were allowed to we should have just driven ten truck loads of money to kevin sheedy's door and begged him to come over.... then we wouldnt be in the mess we are now... thats a fact

but you know what, as much as it sucks balls to be where we are at the moment, i still think we have the best and most loyal supporters in the league, much better than being one of those spoilt, champale sipping, arrogant, toss-flog, nuff-nuff eagles supporters, we will have our time... and when we do we will know we have arrived and we'll appreciate it more than what any other supporter could.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

I’M HERE

Just remember there were only two applicants for the coaching job, Neesham and Ken Judge. Neesham was a coach who was asked to be a coach, talent scout, recruiter, list manager and marketing manager with no money, no training facilities, no support staff, NO F*** ALL!!!

Now look at his record 1995 8 wins - 1996 7 wins – 1997 10 wins – 1998 7 wins

How many wins have we had this year ???

is that right?, if so i never knew that, was only 11 at the time so didnt really take much notice