your revisionist history is complete and utter bollocks. I don't disagree that Hafey didn't ask some players to go to the swans as why wouldn't he. But the way Hafey was treated at Geelong by the Board and the 'pat each other on the back' brigade of former Geelong players at the time was a disgrace, and the club got what it deserved as a result.
Hafey knew that four of Geelong’s stars – including Williams – were out of contract, so he wasted little time in arranging big offers to each of them to switch clubs.
Williams later claimed that he would have been happy to stay at Geelong (and told the Cats that he would stay) for a reasonable increase in contract from $45,000 to $50,000 per year. Unbelievably, they refused, saying that a rise for one meant a rise for all, and that was out of the question. Geelong was near broke at this time. So Diesel became a Swan - on somewhere near twice the money that Geelong had paid him. No revision here, it's the truth. Goggin was the man responsible for stuffing up the Williams deal, but Hafey can never be exonerated acting out his revenge by poaching players and decimating the club. I know all about the mates rates culture at Geelong and in the 1970's and 80's they were a very insecure club and rarley made appointments from outside the realm. Olsson being the first exception.
How Sqaure boy Diesel became a Swan
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GOLDEN Squares Greg Diesel Williams, then a senior Geelong player, spent a busy off-season during the summer of 1985-86.
When Geelong dropped Tommy Hafey and he was snapped up by the Sydney Swans, the canny coach knew which leading Cats players were coming out of contract.
So he had a word in the ear of Swans boss Dr Geoffrey Edelsten who was prepared to use money --- heaps of it ---- to mould a team which could win its way into the VFL finals.
Williams hadnt had any luck in the early 80s convincing the Carlton brains trust he was a league footballer. But after leaving the Square and getting those knockbacks from the Blues he actually got his start in the then VFL at Kardinia Park.
Outlined in his book Diesel: The Greg Williams Story the dual Michelsen medallist tells how Edelsten nurtured the grand plan of VFL bosses Allen Aylett and Jack Hamilton once South Melbourne had been shifted to the Harbour City.
And Williams was one of the marquee players involved in Edelstens build-up during those early Sydney days.
WILLIAMS writes that as soon as Edelsten appointed Hafey, Hafeys manager Danny Finley contacted him along with three other out-of-contract Geelong players in Andrew Bews, David Bolton and Bernard Toohey.
"Andrew was a local bloke from North Geelong and not really interested. But the rest of us were keen to know more.
I was particularly interested because I was having trouble negotiating a new contract with Bill Goggin, Geelongs former champion rover and later coach. He'd become football director and was the real power around the place.
I had just won the clubs best and fairest award but was being paid considerably less than several other players --- Gary Ablett, Brian Peake, John Mossop, the South Australian Bruce Lindner and even my old mate, Mick Turner.
I felt I was entitled to a better deal, Williams wrote. So he contacted another teammate in former champion Golden Square full-forward Ron Best to find out how he thought Williams, Toohey and Bolton should proceed.
Ron suggested that David Bolton and I drive up to Bendigo on the Friday night, discuss the matter at his place and maybe give the Doc a call."
Best ended up making the call and it was arranged for Bolton, Toohey, Williams and their wives to meet Edelsten at the Menzies at Rialto Hotel in Melbourne.
"At the meeting the Doc was very frank, very open. He said yes to all our inquiries --- money, accommodation, everything."
Then came the quandary, Williams says. The offer was in the region of $100,000 a year, more than double the money Geelong was paying him.
"But I really wanted to stay at Geelong. All I asked was to raise my pay from $45,00 a year to $50,000. But Goggin wouldnt have it so they let a lousy $5000 take me away."
Ron Best arranged for his friend Andrew Fairlie, a solicitor in Rochester and also a Richmond Football Club director, to tie up the legal side of things with Sydney. He clinched a four-year contract for Williams and three-year deals for Toohey and Bolton.
Hafey had contacted Gary Ablett personally and asked him to attend the meeting at the Rialto along with Bews. Ablett failed to show up.