No Gavin Exell ...

[austinmccrabb]

Let us turn back to "happier" times for a moment.

Does anyone know why Gavin Exell was dropped for the 1989 finals series after the qualifying final v Essendon? He may have only kicked one goal in that game but should he have been dropped?

Is this the only case where a 60-70 goal forward would be dropped for crucial finals games. Was our goal-kicking machine that strong? History says yes... we kicked 22 goals in the first semi against the Dees, 24 against Essendon in the prelim and 21 goals in the GF after his departure.

Could you imagine Essendon dropping Scotty Lucas in 2000?

Let's not forget Exell bagged 9 against the Hawks in round 6 in 89. And followed up with another huge bag against the Saints in round 7. Could he have been the difference?

Exell broke his leg against the Hawks in that fateful last round of 1987. He would have had motivation to go ballistic in the GF!

Gavin Exell (he of a magnificent mullet) could have been the man.

Of course Exell was part of the replacement full forward structure in early 1991 when Ablett retired for half the season. Playing out of the square in tandem with Dwayne Russell. And Billy Brownless lurking across half forward. It proved successful for a while. Had it continued Exell could also be commentating on channel 9.

Then we got rid of him, he went to Fitzroy, he got poked in the eye and never played again in the AFL.

That's my take on it anyway...

 

[James88]

Great thread which I uncovered yesterday when doing some nostalgic reading on-line about the blond flyer in the hooped number 17 from 1987-1991.

Happy to research and get back to you as to why he did not appear after the 1989 Qualifying Final. I was 15 at the time and I remember the 1989 season clearly. I recall he was dropped after we were flogged by Essendon at the MCG in the Qualifying Final. Which seems harsh in retrospect when he booted 63 goals at that stage of the season which included, in the lead up to the Qualifying Final, 5 goals against North at KP in round 21 and 3 against Richmond at KP in round 22.

David Cameron did OK when he came back after the Qualifying Final: 3 goals against Melbourne in the Semi-Final, one goal against the Preliminary Final demolition of the Bombers, and two goals in the Grand Final, including the last goal of the game which he kicked after seeming to take an eternity to line up. So I suppose the end result was good for Geelong. Difficult to think of who else could have been omitted from the team to allow Exell to play. I seem to remember that Scott was in good form before the Grand Final, Hamilton did very well in the Qualifying Final (a good game in the Grand Final too), Stoneham and Brownless were playing well before the Grand Final, and Lindner was playing across half-back.

Let us turn back to "happier" times for a moment.

Does anyone know why Gavin Exell was dropped for the 1989 finals series after the qualifying final v Essendon? He may have only kicked one goal in that game but should he have been dropped?

Is this the only case where a 60-70 goal forward would be dropped for crucial finals games. Was our goal-kicking machine that strong? History says yes... we kicked 22 goals in the first semi against the Dees, 24 against Essendon in the prelim and 21 goals in the GF after his departure.

Could you imagine Essendon dropping Scotty Lucas in 2000?

Let's not forget Exell bagged 9 against the Hawks in round 6 in 89. And followed up with another huge bag against the Saints in round 7. Could he have been the difference?

Exell broke his leg against the Hawks in that fateful last round of 1987. He would have had motivation to go ballistic in the GF!

Gavin Exell (he of a magnificent mullet) could have been the man.

Of course Exell was part of the replacement full forward structure in early 1991 when Ablett retired for half the season. Playing out of the square in tandem with Dwayne Russell. And Billy Brownless lurking across half forward. It proved successful for a while. Had it continued Exell could also be commentating on channel 9.

Then we got rid of him, he went to Fitzroy, he got poked in the eye and never played again in the AFL.

That's my take on it anyway...

 

[James88]

Typo: meant to say that Hamilton did very well in the Semi-Final.

Great thread which I uncovered yesterday when doing some nostalgic reading on-line about the blond flyer in the hooped number 17 from 1987-1991.

Happy to research and get back to you as to why he did not appear after the 1989 Qualifying Final. I was 15 at the time and I remember the 1989 season clearly. I recall he was dropped after we were flogged by Essendon at the MCG in the Qualifying Final. Which seems harsh in retrospect when he booted 63 goals at that stage of the season which included, in the lead up to the Qualifying Final, 5 goals against North at KP in round 21 and 3 against Richmond at KP in round 22.

David Cameron did OK when he came back after the Qualifying Final: 3 goals against Melbourne in the Semi-Final, one goal against the Preliminary Final demolition of the Bombers, and two goals in the Grand Final, including the last goal of the game which he kicked after seeming to take an eternity to line up. So I suppose the end result was good for Geelong. Difficult to think of who else could have been omitted from the team to allow Exell to play. I seem to remember that Scott was in good form before the Grand Final, Hamilton did very well in the Qualifying Final (a good game in the Grand Final too), Stoneham and Brownless were playing well before the Grand Final, and Lindner was playing across half-back.

 

[sarah.13]

And your conclusion is what ???

 

[CatAttack84]

David Cameron did OK when he came back after the Qualifying Final: 3 goals against Melbourne in the Semi-Final, one goal against the Preliminary Final demolition of the Bombers, and two goals in the Grand Final, including the last goal of the game which he kicked after seeming to take an eternity to line up.

The amount of time he wasted with that last kick still bothers me to this day. Players are so much more time aware these days.

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

I loved the bit where it said "happier" times

 

[winty]

While we're reminiscing, this is slightly off topic, but I am still amazed that Garry Hocking was able to play in the grand final that year. I watched both the semi final and prelim final from that year recently, and Buddha was reported in both (once for striking and once for charging I think), yet obviously got off both charges. He sure seemed to be an angry young man back then, as he seemed more intent at stages to bowling blokes over than going for the ball.

 

[Sttew]

I loved the bit where it said "happier" times

He meant, "the age of innocence"

 

[joe444]

Holy moly.

On reporting - it was 80s football. If you didn't kill someone, you were okay. Hocking, in that context, knew where to draw the line.

But seriously - we misused Excel. I'm not sure who we chose over him. If it was Hamilton, fair enough (has a Grand Final bench ever played a more important game than Hamilton and Flanigan?).

My memory is that he lost form late in the season. But any player who can kick nine goals in a game should have been treated better.

 

[The rabbi]

.

My memory is that he lost form late in the season. But any player who can kick nine goals in a game should have been treated better.

I thought that he got lazy and decided to wrestle with fullbacks in the square instead of leading into space. His performances dwindled late in the season.

 

[James88]

Dug up some old articles about the 1989 finals series.

Exell was dropped after Geelong's 76 point loss to Essendon in the Qualifying Final. He lost form in the second half of the year, being dropped three times after round 15.

Exell played in the Geelong reserves' side in the 2nd Semi-Final, which won through to the Grand Final. He broke his jaw in the 2nd Semi-Final match against Carlton and was unavailable for selection for the rest of the finals. Geelong went on to lose the Reserves Grand Final to Fitzroy by 2 points on the fateful day of Saturday, 30 September 1989. The Geelong seconds side was good on paper, chock full of players who had played senior football at that stage, or who would go on to play senior football for the Cats in 1990 - McCrabb, Gurrie, Marty Christensen, Rogers, Morgan, Baldwin, Troy, Phillips, Hinkley, Brown, Tony Malakellis, Alderdice, Michael Kol, Gary Cameron, Mansfield and Tim Bourke.

Therefore, the conclusion is that Malcolm Blight was unable to call on Exell for the 1989 Grand Final against the Hawks. Hypothetically, if he were available, I'm doubtful he would have performed better than D Cameron.

 

[Partridge]

Of course Exell was part of the replacement full forward structure in early 1991 when Ablett retired for half the season. Playing out of the square in tandem with Dwayne Russell. And Billy Brownless lurking across half forward. It proved successful for a while. Had it continued Exell could also be commentating on channel 9.

Don't know about the rest (I do remember the broken jaw during the finals in 1989), but he wasn't full forward in 1991. Brownless was, and had his best ever season - 81 goals and All-Australian selection.

 

[Vdubs]

Speaking of Exell, whatever happened to Marcus Baldwin?
We were at his first game v Melbourne where we were getting beaten, MB came on in the last/4 , kicked 3 goals, and was rarely sighted in our team since.
He looked accurate and promising.
Then nothing.
Or have I missed a great chunk of mediocrity?

 

[MrRockett24]

Dug up some old articles about the 1989 finals series.

Exell was dropped after Geelong's 76 point loss to Essendon in the Qualifying Final. He lost form in the second half of the year, being dropped three times after round 15.

Exell played in the Geelong reserves' side in the 2nd Semi-Final, which won through to the Grand Final. He broke his jaw in the 2nd Semi-Final match against Carlton and was unavailable for selection for the rest of the finals.

EXACTLY....They actually had him a thier stars of the past or whatever its called on JB & Billy on MMM last week.

JB Posted the exact same question...WHY NO GF FOR HIM...Billy said the exact same thing...broken jaw in Semi.

 

[year of the cat]

My recollection is that it certainly wasn't a controversial decision to leave Exell out from those 3 remaining finals. When you consider we flogged both Melbourne and Essendon in the SF and PF how could he have possibly be brought back in for the GF when our forward line was functioning so well?

Unless you were prepared to move Stoneham to CHB (which may have been a good move since our backline was undersized and "undertalented" in that period), then there was no room for another tall forward in any case. Perhaps the move of Stoneham to CHB instead of Schulze should have been tried.

 

[OldStyle2007]

Didn't Excel do his knee earlier in the season and was out injured?

 

[catman 71]

Holy moly.

On reporting - it was 80s football. If you didn't kill someone, you were okay. Hocking, in that context, knew where to draw the line.

But seriously - we misused Excel. I'm not sure who we chose over him. If it was Hamilton, fair enough (has a Grand Final bench ever played a more important game than Hamilton and Flanigan?).

My memory is that he lost form late in the season. But any player who can kick nine goals in a game should have been treated better.

Must have been the days pre-"hanging judge" Neil Busse!

If a player sneezed, and the snot hit another player, Busse gave that player a ten-week suspension.

He should have become a judge after footy, and "soft" sentencing would be a thing of the past.

 

[Olden_Polynice]

There's some bloody good memories in here! I struggle to remember back to 2010

 

[James88]

Good one. I had no idea Exell was on that Triple M segment recently. Good to have the research confirmed by the man himself!

EXACTLY....They actually had him a thier stars of the past or whatever its called on JB & Billy on MMM last week.

JB Posted the exact same question...WHY NO GF FOR HIM...Billy said the exact same thing...broken jaw in Semi.

 

[re cat]

I'm you young to remember

 

[James88]

The Baldwin I mentioned in the 1989 Reserves Grand Final Geelong side was Peter Baldwin, who played a few senior games for Geelong in 1987 and 1990, wearing 44.

Off the top of my head, I don't know whether Marcus is any relation to Peter. Marcus Baldwin kicked 3 goals with his first three kicks in the Melbourne game you mentioned in round 21, 2000 at the MCG, wearing the number 46 jumper. He didn't do much in our nail-biting win over the Swans at KP in round 22. He was dropped for the Elimination Final against Hawthorn the next week to make way for Barry Stoneham, who played his last AFL game in that 9 point loss.

Baldwin was on the rookie list for the 2001 season and he played in rounds 7-9 against Carlton (bad loss at the MCG), Fremantle (OK win in the West) and Richmond (very good win at KP against a good side that season, King booting 6). The stats show that he had little impact. I seem to recall him playing off the bench.

It's likely he was delisted after the 2001 season because the club had several tall forward options on the list in 2002, such as Kingsley, C Mooney, Graham, Mensch, Playfair, McCarthy.

Speaking of Exell, whatever happened to Marcus Baldwin?
We were at his first game v Melbourne where we were getting beaten, MB came on in the last/4 , kicked 3 goals, and was rarely sighted in our team since.
He looked accurate and promising.
Then nothing.
Or have I missed a great chunk of mediocrity?

 

[re cat]

The Baldwin I mentioned in the 1989 Reserves Grand Final Geelong side was Peter Baldwin, who played a few senior games for Geelong in 1987 and 1990, wearing 44.

Off the top of my head, I don't know whether Marcus is any relation to Peter. Marcus Baldwin kicked 3 goals with his first three kicks in the Melbourne game you mentioned in round 21, 2000 at the MCG, wearing the number 46 jumper. He didn't do much in our nail-biting win over the Swans at KP in round 22. He was dropped for the Elimination Final against Hawthorn the next week to make way for Barry Stoneham, who played his last AFL game in that 9 point loss.

Baldwin was on the rookie list for the 2001 season and he played in rounds 7-9 against Carlton (bad loss at the MCG), Fremantle (OK win in the West) and Richmond (very good win at KP against a good side that season, King booting 6). The stats show that he had little impact. I seem to recall him playing off the bench.

It's likely he was delisted after the 2001 season because the club had several tall forward options on the list in 2002, such as Kingsley, C Mooney, Graham, Mensch, Playfair, McCarthy.

They are brothers.

 

[The rabbi]

I'm you young to remember

I suspected that.

 

[re cat]

I suspected that.

oops typo

 

[OldStyle2007]

http://footybets.com/players/player_season_detail/Gavin+Exell/12355/#1989