News RIP Neil Sachse

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Glaeken Oracle said:
(Compare O'Keefe's actions for the rest of his life to those criminals Neale and O'Dea from St Kilda, who also altered the lives of opponents, but both with malicious intent. In successive weeks in 1972, one destroyed the career, and caused life-long challenges, for one of the brightest stars of the game, and the other permanently blinded a young Bulldog and ended his career as well.)
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Which two players did the criminal Sainters take out? And how?
 
Dry Rot said:
Which two players did the criminal Sainters take out? And how?
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I can’t recall what Neale did, but what O’Dea did is pretty infamous.

Collingwood had a player called John Greening who at the time was the star midfielder of the competition - basically that era’s Dustin Martin or Bontempelli.

Collingwood were playing the Saints at Moorabbin and Jim O’Dea - back pocket player for the Saints - king hit Greening miles behind the ball.

Greening suffered horrendous injuries and actually went into a coma.

He eventually came back after some time out but was never the same player.
 
Leon said:
I can’t recall what Neale did, but what O’Dea did is pretty infamous.

Collingwood had a player called John Greening who at the time was the star midfielder of the competition - basically that era’s Dustin Martin or Bontempelli.

Collingwood were playing the Saints at Moorabbin and Jim O’Dea - back pocket player for the Saints - king hit Greening miles behind the ball.

Greening suffered horrendous injuries and actually went into a coma.

He eventually came back after some time out but was never the same player.
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Neale swung a haymaker at a young kid Boyle as they tracked a ball near the boundary.
Boyle lost an eye , finished his career.
 

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Leon said:
I can’t recall what Neale did, but what O’Dea did is pretty infamous.

Collingwood had a player called John Greening who at the time was the star midfielder of the competition - basically that era’s Dustin Martin or Bontempelli.

Collingwood were playing the Saints at Moorabbin and Jim O’Dea - back pocket player for the Saints - king hit Greening miles behind the ball.

Greening suffered horrendous injuries and actually went into a coma.

He eventually came back after some time out but was never the same player.
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Thanks Leon

Dry Rot - it’s alleged that “master coach” Allan Jeans, a copper, told his player O’Dea, also a copper, before the game that they had to stop Greening to stop Collingwood. The (alleged) instructions from Jeans was to use whatever method he could. Greening was having a stellar season, and was a favourite for the Brownlow (ended up with 14 votes from 13 completed games - the king it in round 14 occurred in the first few mins, and team-mate Len Thompson won the Brownlow that year). Before the game, Saints were 2nd, Pies 6th and half a game outside the five. To give you an indication of Greening's form, in rounds 9 and 10, he'd had 46 and 45 possessions, kicking 6 goals in one game and 4 in the other - as a mid-fielder/half-forward.

Stephen Boyle, Neale's victim, was permanently blinded by another deliberate king hit, after a promising start as a half forward, kicking 10 goals in the first 6 games of his career, until the assault. I remember him playing reserves later, trying to play with sight in one eye, but obviously that is a major handicap in any sport, let alone a ball sport. I don't know how Jeans, O'Dea or Neale could sleep at night.

Anyway, I don't want to detract from the tributes to Neil Sachse. I'll just reiterate that Kevin O'Keefe has integrity and compassion.

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Even at 12, Neil was wearing RWB, for his junior team in SA, Gepps Cross (this photo from this article: https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/neil-sachse-45-years-on/ - it's a good read from someone that knows Neil well):
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Glaeken Oracle said:
Thanks Leon

Dry Rot - it’s alleged that “master coach” Allan Jeans, a copper, told his player O’Dea, also a copper, before the game that they had to stop Greening to stop Collingwood. The (alleged) instructions from Jeans was to use whatever method he could. Greening was having a stellar season, and was a favourite for the Brownlow (ended up with 14 votes from 13 completed games - the king it in round 14 occurred in the first few mins, and team-mate Len Thompson won the Brownlow that year). Before the game, Saints were 2nd, Pies 6th and half a game outside the five. To give you an indication of Greening's form, in rounds 9 and 10, he'd had 46 and 45 possessions, kicking 6 goals in one game and 4 in the other - as a mid-fielder/half-forward.

Stephen Boyle, Neale's victim, was permanently blinded by another deliberate king hit, after a promising start as a half forward, kicking 10 goals in the first 6 games of his career, until the assault. I remember him playing reserves later, trying to play with sight in one eye, but obviously that is a major handicap in any sport, let alone a ball sport. I don't know how Jeans, O'Dea or Neale could sleep at night.

Anyway, I don't want to detract from the tributes to Neil Sachse. I'll just reiterate that Kevin O'Keefe has integrity and compassion.

View attachment 946208

Even at 12, Neil was wearing RWB, for his junior team in SA, Gepps Cross (this photo from this article: https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/neil-sachse-45-years-on/ - it's a good read from someone that knows Neil well):
View attachment 946210
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If those stories at the start of your post are true, why have they been buried?
 
Dry Rot said:
Was it just an unlucky accident or was his opponent culpable in an obviously dangerous and deliberate hit?
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ossie_21 said:
I don’t think linking it would be appropriate, but you can find footage of it. O’Keefe didn’t really do anything wrong but it was all factors working together that ended up with the worst result
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The video is in post #3. Horrible accident, but it doesn't look much different to other collisions with players who put their heads over the ball :(
 
Freshwater said:
If those stories at the start of your post are true, why have they been buried?
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Not buried, the story about Jeans has been around for years, heard it a sportsman's night first, a long time ago. It's also been discussed on BF a few times over the years, just search for Greening threads. I also heard from a non-Saints player of the era that they were generally regarded as thugs, and opponents weren't scared to face Neale on the field, just concerned for their health and livelihood, as he did most of his "manly" hitting of opponents when they weren't looking. It takes a pretty "courageous" 189cm 99kg thug to king hit a 178cm, 71kg 18yo kid in his 6th game (Boyle).

Stephen Boyle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Stephen Boyle's son Tim played for the Hawks for several years. He used to write for The Age, wrote an article once about what happened to his father. Reading between the lines, several Saints aren't exactly held in high esteem in the Boyle family. Greening is also on the record as considering what happened to him as a violent assault.

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John Greening - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

It was a different era in terms of physical clashes, but king hitting an unaware victim was as gutless then as it is now, on field or off.
 
Allan Jeans tells the story about a team meeting before the 1971 GF where he was talking about Peter Hudson’s ability to kick goals and a voice from the back row “near” where Cowboy Neale was sitting said “ he can’t kick goals if he is unconscious “. It was a different time and it is a better game for its passing.

Also to be fair talking about the Neale and O’Dea incidents reflect on what happened to Sachse . It was an accident, tragic but accidental.
 
All our thoughts are with the Sachse family .

Pre season I attended a scratch match V Hawthorn at Morwell. The expectations were immense, we had just recruited 2 interstate guns in Neil Sachse and Peter Featherby. We had the makings of a team heading finals with Dempsey,Quinlan, Huppatz, Stephen Power , Sandilands, Welsh, Park etc etc.
The boys were never the same after Neil's tragedy.

Best Wishes,
Stephen
 
SPower said:
All our thoughts are with the Sachse family .

Pre season I attended a scratch match V Hawthorn at Morwell. The expectations were immense, we had just recruited 2 interstate guns in Neil Sachse and Peter Featherby. We had the makings of a team heading finals with Dempsey,Quinlan, Huppatz, Stephen Power , Sandilands, Welsh, Park etc etc.
The boys were never the same after Neil's tragedy.

Best Wishes,
Stephen
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Templeton and Round were also there too. Pretty handy players.
 

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Not sure of the protocols with current circumstances, but Neil Sachse's funeral was live streamed yesterday by the funeral directors. Seems a bit voyeuristic tbh, but he was a public figure in a way, at least to some football supporters and disability groups. I only watched the segment with a eulogy by the co-author of his book, Michael Sexton, and a montage of photos towards the end. In spite of the hand he was dealt, a life well lived.
 
Glaeken Oracle said:
Not sure of the protocols with current circumstances, but Neil Sachse's funeral was live streamed yesterday by the funeral directors. Seems a bit voyeuristic tbh, but he was a public figure in a way, at least to some football supporters and disability groups. I only watched the segment with a eulogy by the co-author of his book, Michael Sexton, and a montage of photos towards the end. In spite of the hand he was dealt, a life well lived.
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Thanks for mentioning the funeral service. I found it online. It was a very touching tribute to Neil.
 
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