The Matthews / Bruns incident. What was it that caused the aftermath ?

[TheEscapeClub]

Kevin Sheedy is on record as saying the only time he ever shat himself on a footy field is when he saw Leigh Matthews’ tree trunk thighs charging towards him. I’m sure his not the only player of that era to share the sentiment.

Not too many of those that Matthews hit ever saw his tree trunk legs coming towards them.

 

[Macca180]

Yep, agree very much.

Ablett was such an enigma, could take a licking and not hit back, or respond, or get on the front foot, or even lash out randomly.

Us Pies have howled about TD but his hits on Brown and Starcs in the 1990 GF were out of character. He was hard but fair, but that game was slipping, and his team mates were drooping. I think he felt he had to do something and when Brown barrelled into that brawl (started by Kelly and Banks bullying Sporn) he quietly clocked him.

The hit on Starcs was just desperation, our number 27 was tearing it up, so "in for a penny* he gave him a one-two on the chin.

TD was no thug, and it'd be silly to judge him on that day alone. Compared to our rogues gallery of thugs he was an angel. We had Kelly (symptomatic carrier of white line fever, or as it is also known, a sniper and a bully) Millane who thought punching your opponent was normal conduct , Banksy who took offence if you breathed near him etc etc.

Speaking of Long, he waded into that brawl and pulled blokes apart. I think Shaw had a dip but Long was actually a boxer and put his mittss up and everyone quieted down.

Kickett was very upset, flew in (missed everything- in Bay 38 we thought he clocked Brown) and squared up to Morwood who was a cool head.

It was interesting to see how everyone reacted differently, there was plenty of demonstration but it wasn't like 1985 (I was only a few rows back from that one, scored some tickets and took a Hawk mate). That's was about 8 or 10 massive smacks, some very nasty knees (Brereton and others) blokes scrabbling on the deck, and the umps broke it up quick smart. 1990 dragged on because Brown was down and it was quarter time.

Back in the day it was just expected that a fight start at the beginning of a GF. It was normalised.

 

[Freomaniac]

He could mark, kick and lead...teamwork he was less good at. Massive ego, no club could win a flag with him on the field.

Just noticed I said liar, meant lair.

Jacko had kicked 76 goals in 1981 for the demons. Lead the goal kicking that season for the demons.

Kicked 76 goals again in 1982 for the demons. But Gerard Healy kicked 77 goals. Jacko was bitter about that. on the open mike Episode, Jacko claimed he helped healy kick 30 to 40 of those goals in 1982 pinch hitting as a ruckman in the forward 50 to help tap it to healy to he can create and kick goals.

Jacko can do the "team thing" in the right circmstances.

 

[Cyclops]

Jacko had kicked 76 goals in 1981 for the demons. Lead the goal kicking that season for the demons.

Kicked 76 goals again in 1982 for the demons. But Gerard Healy kicked 77 goals. Jacko was bitter about that. on the open mike Episode, Jacko claimed he helped healy kick 30 to 40 of those goals in 1982 pinch hitting as a ruckman in the forward 50 to help tap it to healy to he can create and kick goals.

Jacko can do the "team thing" in the right circmstances.

"Jacko says" look fair enough, I didn't see a lot of him, but when I did he always acted like a jackass.

A quick look at his wiki article shows he was booted out of his WA side a few days before they played in a Grand Final over there, he walked out on Geelong in a sook and was sacked mid season by the Saints. He was an idiot, and probably a ****ing idiot.

His being an idiot doesn't excuse Matthews in any way.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Allan Jeans is often described by the circle jerk who follows him as "an old-school cop." Everyone understands what that means.
Encouraged violence, especially against those not in a position to defend themselves.

Listening to that interview with McKenna he sounds like he has an Afrikaaner accent

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Jeans comes across as a cnt

You would be too if you were in charge of cleaning up Victoria Police, only to have Kevin speedy accused you of being corrupt too

 

[Gavin Excell]

You would be too if you were in charge of cleaning up Victoria Police, only to have Kevin speedy accused you of being corrupt too

He's a horrid cnt

 

[pazza]

I seem to recall Bruns had done something in a previous incident and you know how elephants never forget. Lethal's response was over the top.

Jackson should not have been reported for squaring off with Ayres. Had Ayres been reported for his cheap shot, that would have ended the thing before anything else started.

 

[Freomaniac]

"Jacko says" look fair enough, I didn't see a lot of him, but when I did he always acted like a jackass.

A quick look at his wiki article shows he was booted out of his WA side a few days before they played in a Grand Final over there, he walked out on Geelong in a sook and was sacked mid season by the Saints. He was an idiot, and probably a ****ing idiot.

His being an idiot doesn't excuse Matthews in any way.

Yeah Mark Jacko Jackson was on 4 VFL lists, he got games in 3 of those 4 clubs.

Jackson showed he could play. But I agree, he acted like a Jackass or a absolute crazy person on the field.

 

[Sttew]

Yeah Mark Jacko Jackson was on 4 VFL lists, he got games in 3 of those 4 clubs.

Jackson showed he could play. But I agree, he acted like a Jackass or an absolute crazy person on the field.

I remember when he played for Geelong Jacko was not likeable. Not a great personality and looked like a thug!

He debuted for Geelong in the same game as Gary Ablett Senior and an unknown kid from Bendigo, Greg Williams. They stole the limelight from Jacko which probably pissed him off.

 

[Chief]

They stole the limelight from Jacko which probably pissed him off.

He was a vary "do you know who I am!?" type of person later in life.

 

[Shane Heard]

Listening to that interview with McKenna he sounds like he has an Afrikaaner accent

Lol.
I’ve always thought that too. He had this very distinctive hardarsed cop-like delivery in his speaking too. Devoid completely of mirth and cheerfulness.

I love the story Dipper tells of Jeans violently putting him against a wall in his office as a young player and giving him the drill to stop acting like a big head smartarse around the club.

Dipper said he started crying and begging for forgiveness.

 

[Shane Heard]

He was a vary "do you know who I am!?" type of person later in life.

A total narcissist imbecile was Jackson.

 

[Cursed Cat]

I never attended all that much live VFL footy when I was a kid due to my geographical disadvantages, but I saw a bit here and there (mainly Hawthorn games despite being a Cats fan).

I was at this game though, 10 years old, nearly 11.

My memory is of a small but restless and agitated crowd baying for blood for much of the day, usually directed toward Mark Jackson, who looked like he had little interest in playing footy and plenty of interest in starting shit for the sake of it.

He certainly wasn't alone as a firestarter though, as there were cheap shots and late shots dealt out indiscriminately throughout the first three quarters of the match.

In the last quarter of course, it erupted.

I'd seen violence at the footy before, in fact the most graphic thing I'd seen prior to the Bruns/Matthews match was witnessing a random bloke summarily getting his nose busted at one of the beer stands within the bowels of Princes Park just a few weeks prior. Stuff like that leaves an impression on you.

However this day and this display was that rare case when a previously bloodthirsty crowd dimmed it's din to near-eerie silence as things escalated and the Footy itself was forgotten.

The umpires would have taken a full 10 minutes trying to get things under control to an extent, as spotfires broke out all over the ground and serious punches were thrown.

I didn't see the actual Bruns/Matthews incident, nor the Steve Hocking retribution.
I don't exactly recall but I was probably trying to keep track of Gary Ablett's involvement.

My biggest locked-in memory from that game though is just the general quiet around the ground as the chaos went on and on under a dull grey Melbourne sky.

Neville Bruns had been our best player that year, too, was my memory. Never the same player afterwards; Matthews himself was near the end of his career.

 

[threesixpio]

I love Lethal.

But I’m not one eyed enough to say that this was ok. From a legal perspective the boxing case of Pallente is the law around these things and the police had the discretion to charge. The law is clear - it was clearly beyond an officiating of contact in a game. The ball was nowhere near there.

These days the police have backed off due to “better officiating and larger penalties” but I personally think the AFL is dreadful with intentional acts. See the Barry Hall strike for example. And then we don’t reward legal toughness like amazing tackles.

Sorry Lethal - and please be nice to me if we cross paths

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

In Matthew’s autobiography when recalling the game, noted that an ugly pall had descended over Kardinia Park, in no small part as a result of the antics of Jacko. Jacko had in fact, completely lost the plot. Maththew’s added that the umpires had lost control of the game and he had remonstrated with them (something he rarely did) prior to king hitting Bruns.

Lying in his hospital bed, Bruns, for his part, was asked to comment on what he thought of Matthews and in reply he said ‘I think he’s the pits’. Reflecting on that comment Matthews observed that Bruns was a hypocrite, and it was common knowledge around the league that Bruns, himself was a little sniper. No love lost there.

As a side note, I wasn’t at the game, instead listening to it on the radio. So appalled were the commentators calling the game, and I can’t remember who they, were suggesting that the game be called off.

What had Lethal riled up was a few minutes earlier he felt he should have got a free kick and gave it to the umpire at the time which added to the tension of that last QTR, was already a powder keg from all of Jacko's antics, not saying it was the catalyst for his Bruns hit but he was simmering from the missed free kick and from all the dustups that were going on. Bruns was collateral but to this day I'm still confused why he had to run past Lethal so closely. They were nowhere near the ball. Wouldnt be surprised he was mouthing off and Matthews reacted to the voice by swinging the arm back. If you watch the incident play out people should be questioning why he had to basically brush past Matthews if he wasn't either mouthing off or planning on giving a drive by of his own.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

That's the key word though. He was definitely physical. I'm not sure he was a thug at all.

The one thing Ablett didn't like or tolerate - and I met players who told me this - was being scragged off the ball. That's what Lyon was doing. You can almost see the footage (he's just out of screen), the ball was pretty close, he was getting pulled back by the jumper, and he swung an arm behind him. It wasn't a king hit 50 metres off the ball or anything like that.

He was no angel, but there were plenty of dirtier players even at Geelong. Garry Hocking and Damian Bourke were far nastier than Ablett ever was.

Tell that to Kristian Bardsley.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Again, very different stuff. Both were head to head incidents. Long’s hit on Simmonds is what happened 25 years ago when you led with your head, it was in the contest, he was hardly trying to cripple him.

Wallis punched Green in a scuffle, not sure he “crushed his throat”, quite an effort by Green to play with a crushed throat.

Neither are examples of players targeting victims with premeditated hits when they weren’t looking, which is what Jeans routinely had his players do.

Hardly trying to cripple him? It was an over the top reckless act which could have very easily paralysed him. Name the premeditated hits your referring to. Dermott premeditated hits to protect players like Platten and Pritchard. I won't dispute that but most of the other actions were during play. There's a difference between that and what your suggesting. Roger Merrett did the same thing for you blokes and I find it pretty rich for a bombers fan to highlight acts of thuggery when you guys were big culprits yourself.

 

[Dan Moody]

Hardly trying to cripple him? It was an over the top reckless act which could have very easily paralysed him. Name the premeditated hits your referring to. Dermott premeditated hits to protect players like Platten and Pritchard. I won't dispute that but most of the other actions were during play. There's a difference between that and what your suggesting. Roger Merrett did the same thing for you blokes and I find it pretty rich for a bombers fan to highlight acts of thuggery when you guys were big culprits yourself.

I think it's worth highlighting that the main perp of the acts of thuggery was more Allan Jeans than Hawthorn. Dermie was a great example of giving it out but also taking it, probably the 2 errors he'd take back if he could would be the Frawley and Tallis incidents.
In retrospect, Jeans was not an honorable coach. His record is brilliant however the Saints teams of the late 60's through to mid 70's were almost uncontrollable thugs bar a few players. Some of them had that much disregard for how they were perceived that one even felt the need to kick a dog that had run out onto the field one day at Moorabbin. That takes a special type of thuggery. A truly great coach will have well disciplined players that put team first and not individual retribution.

 

[yeahmate]

My mail is Bruns had applied the squirrel grip to multiple hawks earlier in the game which he had a reputation across the league as being quite fond of doing so much so post incident well known players from at least two other teams personally rang Matthews to congratulate him

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I seem to recall Bruns had done something in a previous incident and you know how elephants never forget. Lethal's response was over the top.

Jackson should not have been reported for squaring off with Ayres. Had Ayres been reported for his cheap shot, that would have ended the thing before anything else started.

There’s two different stories I’ve heard over the years regarding the reason Lethal lashed out like he did, and I don’t know if either of them have any roots in truth although I see someone else above has heard one of them also.

1. Involved a case of Bruns being decked as a result of Lethal having his jatz crackers given a good squeeze on the bottom of a pack moments earlier.

2. Involved Bruns having some extracurricular activities with Kelvin Mathew’s wife.

 

[Sttew]

There’s two different stories I’ve heard over the years regarding the reason Lethal lashed out like he did, and I don’t know if either of them have any roots in truth although I see someone else above has heard one of them also.

1. Involved a case of Bruns being decked as a result of Lethal having his jatz crackers given a good squeeze on the bottom of a pack moments earlier.

2. Involved Bruns having some extracurricular activities with Kelvin Mathew’s wife.

1. you could understand. 2. seems far fetched, if it happened.

Either way, to shatter the guy's jaw on the field is an extreme response. He could not have thought he'd get away with it?

 

[Partridge]

1. you could understand. 2. seems far fetched, if it happened.

Either way, to shatter the guy's jaw on the field is an extreme response. He could not have thought he'd get away with it?

Not to mention there's never been evidence of either. They're just rumours.

It's not like Matthews needed an excuse to king hit someone. He'd been doing it for 15 years.

Maybe - just maybe - he was an extremely dirty player and not enough in the media (then and certainly now) had the guts to say it.

 

[Bedi]

i blame Nick Cave for all this. It was him and that run-in at Paul Hester's party (allegedly) that sent Lethal over the edge. Before that he was such a nice young man.

 

[Cam Payne]

Leigh Matthews was a violent man and he just hit people because he was a violent man. He should have been gaoled levels of violence. That's the cause.