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Mark Jackson

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JackFlash said:
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

I would take a different view -i would lay all the blame on Edelsten -a guy with a very shady past -at the time he didnt even have the money required to pay for the licence fee for the Swans . The Swans ended in a total mess -with players and staff cars being repossesed

Hes offered 100% more than the going rate -Private ownership is a disaster -look at Tinkler and the 2 Newcastle teams -they could both end up being Liquidated who knows

I read that Manchester City -who are privately owned -and last year won their 1st title in 40 years -for the financial year -lost 150 million pound-thats going to end in tears -the oil price better not crash

What Goggin did was exactly what Peter Hudson did at Hawthorn -they were broke -he was called in to stabilize the joint and other the new contracts . He offered Brereton a responsible amount -miles less than he was getting -what happened -Brereton left -but the Hawks didnt go broke

in​
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Please don't open the Greg Williams wound. Because of it we probably missed out on at least one premiership.

Anyway, back on Jacko. I did hear lots of unverified stories about his time at the club. I have no way of knowing if they were true or not, but even if half of them were true I can see why the club was glad to move him on.

But football wise he was ok. Good target, but could not or would not chase defenders.
 
CF said:
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.
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Hafey used his inside knowledge in an attempt to decimate our club. He went after every player he knew was out of contract. It was an act of sporting bastardry not seen before or since. Coaches get sacked all the time. As Malthouse often says there are two types of coaches - those who have been sacked and those who are about to be. Being sacked is no reason to attempt to bring a club to its knees. I lost all respect for that man at that time.
 

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AM said:
Hafey used his inside knowledge in an attempt to decimate our club. He went after every player he knew was out of contract. It was an act of sporting bastardry not seen before or since. Coaches get sacked all the time. As Malthouse often says there are two types of coaches - those who have been sacked and those who are about to be. Being sacked is no reason to attempt to bring a club to its knees. I lost all respect for that man at that time.
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it's a dog-eat-dog game at times; Geelong has suffered as much as most teams when it comes to losing promising players over the past 3 decades; sometimes we profited handsomely at the draft table, other times we were bent over with inadequate compensation.

i cast my mind back to how i felt, as an 11/12 yo kid, when i read about Williams, Bolton, Toohey *and Andrew Bews* going to Sydney for the '86 season; i was fricken horrified, i remember that sickening feeling surprisingly well.

Fortunately Bews stayed, but the three we lost would have walked into our best 22 for the next few years, Williams obviously, but Toohey was a very solid defender and would have shored up our shaky defense along with Mark Bos, and Bolton, who, if memory serves may have been a bit younger and more inexperienced than the other two, went on to become an exciting, attacking player for the Swans.

I've enjoyed reading about Jacksons antics and the his off-field shennanigans; agree with all that has been said; he was raw but not lacking in ability, a very good shot at goal, but someone who put himself before the team (and the game !)
 
Turkey Tom said:
Please don't open the Greg Williams wound. Because of it we probably missed out on at least one premiership.

Anyway, back on Jacko. I did hear lots of unverified stories about his time at the club. I have no way of knowing if they were true or not, but even if half of them were true I can see why the club was glad to move him on.

But football wise he was ok. Good target, but could not or would not chase defenders.
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Quite happy though to run the length of the ground to join in a blue
 
Hafey's time at Geelong is being massively over rated by some here. He was, and clearly is, a good bloke who had a great coaching career. But had is the word there. Elite football and coaching had passed him by by the time he got to Geelong. His training methods were starting to become obsolete, and he didn't adapt to the strategic changes and style changes that were starting to take shape by the mid eighties. This is clear in his love for Jacko - a good example of a FF whose style of play was fast becoming redundant. Sure Jacko had talent, but the great FF's that were just about to break out played a different game to a different structure. They were fast over 10 meters for the lead (like a Dunstall or even lockett). Jacko was dead set slow. Just bomb it long and hope Jacko wins the contest. That was the idea for a while.

Devine could see that the Jacko's playing style was heading the way of the dinosaur, and that his individualism was at the heart of a wider culture problem at Geelong. So he got rid him. He made the right decision. That we were relying on a clown (talented though he could be) to draw a crowd in 83-4 is actually nothing to crow about.

Oh, and people put the boot into Devine. His recruitment drive netted Brownless, Bairstow, Hocking, Stoneham, Excell, Cameron, Scott, Denham. Can't imagine 89 turning out so well without that lot.
 
Nankervis brothers said:
Hafey's time at Geelong is being massively over rated by some here. He was, and clearly is, a good bloke who had a great coaching career. But had is the word there. Elite football and coaching had passed him by by the time he got to Geelong. His training methods were starting to become obsolete, and he didn't adapt to the strategic changes and style changes that were starting to take shape by the mid eighties. This is clear in his love for Jacko - a good example of a FF whose style of play was fast becoming redundant. Sure Jacko had talent, but the great FF's that were just about to break out played a different game to a different structure. They were fast over 10 meters for the lead (like a Dunstall or even lockett). Jacko was dead set slow. Just bomb it long and hope Jacko wins the contest. That was the idea for a while.

Devine could see that the Jacko's playing style was heading the way of the dinosaur, and that his individualism was at the heart of a wider culture problem at Geelong. So he got rid him. He made the right decision. That we were relying on a clown (talented though he could be) to draw a crowd in 83-4 is actually nothing to crow about.

Oh, and people put the boot into Devine. His recruitment drive netted Brownless, Bairstow, Hocking, Stoneham, Excell, Cameron, Scott, Denham. Can't imagine 89 turning out so well without that lot.
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Hafey might or might not have been a "good" coach, but he was unsuccessful.
Devine was unsuccessful (9th, 6th, 9th).
As a query, why do you say "His" recruitment drive? Geelong's Wikipedia page says "Geelong's recruiters demonstrated that they had adapted to the new system of the player salary cap introduced in 1985 and the AFL Draft introduced in 1986".
 
Mark Jackson was a better footballer than most give him credit for. He loved playing for Geelong, he loved Tommy Hafey, I loved him, members loved him and privately he rarely spoke in a high pitched voice like he did in public. Clever man, who with an innovative management group carved a great life for himself outside of footy with TV ads/music clips (a bit dodgy)/boxing/US TV show - The Highwayman etc. Yes he may have been an individual, but he got kicked out of Geelong for basically standing up for Neville Bruns out at Princess Park (now Visy) when Lethal Leigh went ballistic and busted his jaw. Jacko was the scapegoat for the club at a time when we were run by wannabe's whose personal business interests from the GFC were of more importance than that of the rank and file supporters and members of the club. This thread has opened up a lot of personal anger for me at the time when it was hard to justify to your mates about Geelong especially after 1980 and 1981 finals debacles. We slowly rebuilt a half decent team with Hafey and he rightly or wrongly took Toohey, Bolton and Diesel who were offered ridiculous money to move North with him to play with the good doctor in Sin City. Yes it was only 5k that Diesel wanted ... this is fact! We got Devine as coach... What a joke! The gag going around at the time was that Devine's missus coached the Catter's and had more influence over the playing group than he did! Funny story also about G.Ablett snr coming late to training for the 50th time and Devine telling him one more time and he will be on his way to the Brisbane Koala Bears...he replied that Devine had more chance of ending up at Brisbane Bears then he did!! LOL. Geelong at the time hated outsiders and were perceived rightly or wrongly as a very mediocre country club. The social club and football club were at loggerheads and there was a lot of infighting and powerplays. Hafey was a great bloke had time for everybody. Jacko was a breath of fresh air who could actually play and was a 'deadeye' shot for goal. God it was great to go watch him play...Those were the days! They make 07/09/11 that much sweeter...



J
 
Remember reading Jacko's autobiography about 10-15 years ago. Found it at a garage sale or in an op shop somewhere. Interesting read. He said when he was at Melbourne, he and Gerard Healy were going pretty much head-to-head in terms of topping the goalkicking for the Demons, and he was a few goals ahead going into the last game of the season when his teammates decided to keep looking for Healy rather than him, and Healy ended up pipping him by a goal or two.

He may have been unorthodox in his approach (and that's putting it mildly), but you couldn't argue with his record. IIRC, he was one of the few players to kick at least one goal every time he stepped out onto the park.
 
OK, no more pussy-footing around, if nobody else will do it, I'll attack the elephant in the room.
Was he the ugliest footballer ever to play for Geelong?
 

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FredLeDeux said:
Could be a whole new thread here.
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Sounds like a good idea.... maybe even a poll when we get a top 5 from fellow posters! :D

Scratcher Neal without his 'falsies' would go close in my book. Buddha's hairstyle of the day probably saved him!
 
Catters4me! said:
Sounds like a good idea.... maybe even a poll when we get a top 5 from fellow posters! :D

Scratcher Neal without his 'falsies' would go close in my book. Buddha's hairstyle of the day probably saved him!
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Of course, there wouldn't even be a contest if we'd succeeded in our efforts to recruit Craig Lambert!
 
Hard to compete against this. You can put any hair colour to it and it will still get him into the top 5!

BTW: Scratcher was my favourite player at Geelong when I was a tacker ( #35 first jumper)... til the human step ladder Mark Bos took over as my favourite (#24... still got it!). Girls used to go ga ga over Mark Bos.

See for yourself!

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