Monkey on open Mike

[Damon_3388]

I don't recall the incident referred to but I do remember a Geelong ruck named Hooper around early 90's. He was intro'd on the news as a bad ass from WA with accompanying footage showing him laying an awesome clothesline on an opponent in the wafl.

Others in the Open Mike thread seemed to have determined it may have been Damian Bourke, who never played against Collingwood again after 1991, despite remaining in the AFL through 1995.

Stephen Hooper, Pick #1 in the 1990 National Draft, never played against Collingwood during his short AFL career.

 

[Trickster]

Even so, could we have fielded the same size (minus Monkey, but with Pavlich and Michael), and still succeeded in that era? Who could have been the second ruck option? I can't see any real standout ruck options from the 1999, 2000 or 2001 Drafts who would have had an impact in 2002.

Pavlich and Michael hurt us but Monkhorst retired in 2000 so it would have been almost impossible for him to go another two seasons. But he had slowed considerably.

Getting McKee was not a disaster, the tragedy of it was we traded our pick 3 for Richmond's pick 7. If we traded second rounds we would have been fine. The funny part was Richmond passed on the Pav and got Fiora. I think WCE rookie listed Cox in one of those drafts but it's a stretch to say we should have got him.

Our trading and recruiting in those Shaw years was terrible. I think we even gave a first rounder for olarenshaw who hardly got on the park. I don't think we had much in the cupboard of rucks. We had a Michael Gardiner who only played a few games and Mark Richardson who occasionally played there and though he played in 2002 he was also on his last legs. I think he went through all those years and didn't play a final.

 

[Damon_3388]

Pavlich and Michael hurt us but Monkhorst retired in 2000 so it would have been almost impossible for him to go another two seasons. But he had slowed considerably.

Getting McKee was not a disaster, the tragedy of it was we traded our pick 3 for Richmond's pick 7. If we traded second rounds we would have been fine. The funny part was Richmond passed on the Pav and got Fiora. I think WCE rookie listed Cox in one of those drafts but it's a stretch to say we should have got him.

Our trading and recruiting in those Shaw years was terrible. I think we even gave a first rounder for olarenshaw who hardly got on the park. I don't think we had much in the cupboard of rucks. We had a Michael Gardiner who only played a few games and Mark Richardson who occasionally played there and though he played in 2002 he was also on his last legs. I think he went through all those years and didn't play a final.

Thinking about it even further since I mentioned it in my earlier post, Spider Burton probably would have been a really good option, even if only to bridge the gap between Monkey and Fraser coming on.

 

[Swooop]

Came across as a really straight up guy - his openness was a breath of fresh air.

Sad someone like him was lost to the Club and he was a very big part of winning in 1990.

Awesome when he described how even as a 21yo kid in the heat of the moment that day, that he was aware of the hush in the crowd after a late goal when he realised that the Pie army dared to believe it was actually going to happen.

And nothing or no-one was going to take it away from us this time.

Unless you lived through the heartbreak of the 70's and 80's, it is probably impossibly hard to understand just how soul destroying that era was, losing GF after GF, some in the most hideous of circumstances, so 1990 was just unimaginably overwhelming.

Great viewing, and love him or hate him, Mike Sheahan does a very good job of bringing the character, especially the foibles, of the interviewee to life.