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

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From the 70s, it may spur some memories, sung whenever they left earshot.
"I'll sing you a song it won't take long.
All coppers are cxnt ... stables"
Repeat.
Drink.
 
Catsace said:
I was only 4 at the time of the Greening incident, but 17 in 1985 with the Rd 12 game. Jacko niggled a lot, but in the end there was lots of aggro and the Matthew's hit on Bruns was the crescendo. Steve Hocking also as a young player belted Matthews after the event, breaking his nose. McKenna and Jeans did have a very terse interview, and maybe that was something McKenna wanted to get off his chest. To put the timeline into context, the Hall hit on Staker is longer ago now than Greening's hit was in 1985. Coupled with the fact that John Greening was an absolute young star, to be felled in his prime and just about never play much again was a huge thing. He was only 22 or so, every chance the Pies sides of the late 70's and early 80's could have won a flag or two with a late 20's and early 30's star in the side. Most Gen X fans would probably have little to no memory of Greening, his is a case of 'if only'. It would be like say someone like Nick Daicos now having his career ended by a vicious hit. Standards though nowadays do protect the player a lot more thankfully.

One final memory of the Rd 12 game, was Gary Sr getting a week for the vicious act of kicking the footy over the boundary fence, for the crime of time wasting....a suspendable offence that season.
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McKenna was commentary on that game and made a point of singling out Jacko for started the shenanigans well before the Bruns hit.

I remember Lethal talking in a doco “ 150
Years of Australian football “
about the hit and he had no real explanation for it.


He just did it and regretted it instantly as he says “ I knew they would be coming for me” ( Cats players)…and they did ..instantly.

5 mins later after an all in brawl , Mathews was taken off the field covered in blood with a mangled nose. The Geelong players punched the living suitcase out of him.

But most punters don’t understand that Mathews played on the very edge of insanity. He hated anyone touching him or beating him.
If you read his bio its clear he was on a mission to destroy any opposition player that was on him ..every game…from a young age.

The ultra competitive nature he had boardered on obsession. He got whacked all the time and conversely dished it out to anyone in his orbit.

But as he got older, defenders learned not to poke the hornets nest and tried to beat him on contest alone at the ball.

Placid Essendon favourite Nobby Clarke in the 84’ GF an example. Not that Nobby beat him comprehensively or anything..but he sure as hell didn’t niggle or annoy the great man.

Because the man was built like a Sherman friggin’ tank later on in years and would smash you into a another universe if you gave him the shits.

The only other player I can recall since watching footy since 1977 who was close to Lethal’s brutality was Gaz Snr and Worsfold.
 
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TheEscapeClub said:
Last game was with Carlton;)
Click to expand...
In his last 6 years of football, McKenna played with 6 different clubs.

Collingwood, Devonport, Carlton, Geelong West, Port Melbourne and Northcote.
 
Shane Heard said:
McKenna was commentary on that game and made a point of singling out Jacko for started the shenanigans well before the Bruns hit.

I remember Lethal talking in a doco “ 150
Years of Australian football “
about the hit and he had no real explanation for it.


He just did it and regretted it instantly as he says “ I knew they would be coming for me” ( Cats players)…and they did ..instantly.

5 mins later after an all in brawl , Mathews was taken off the field covered in blood with a mangled nose. The Geelong players punched the living suitcase out of him.

But most punters don’t understand that Mathews played on the very edge of insanity. He hated anyone touching him or beating him.
If you read his bio its clear he was on a mission to destroy any opposition player that was on him ..every game…from a young age.

The ultra competitive nature he had boardered on obsession. He got whacked all the time and conversely dished it out to anyone in his orbit.

But as he got older, defenders learned not to poke the hornets nest and tried to beat him on contest alone at the ball.

Placid Essendon favourite Nobby Clarke in the 84’ GF an example. Not that Nobby beat him comprehensively or anything..but he sure as hell didn’t niggle or annoy the great man.

Because the man was built like a Sherman friggin’ tank later on in years and would smash you into a another universe if you gave him the shits.

The only other player I can recall since watching footy since 1977 who was close to Lethal’s brutality was Gaz Snr and Worsfold.
Click to expand...
I think it’s underrated how hard Worsfold was. Eagles aren’t winning those premierships without him.
 
demondavey said:
I think it’s underrated how hard Worsfold was. Eagles aren’t winning those premierships without him.
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The skill and flair of McKenna on one side and the brutality of Worsfold on the other. From memory, Worsfold was always fair too, just ******* hard.

I remember he tackled someone in the middle of the ground in Perth one day, it was completely fair but was probably the hardest tackle I had ever seen and the umpire pinged him, I don't think the umpire knew what for, just that it was so ******* hard that there must've been something wrong with it.
 

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demondavey said:
I think it’s underrated how hard Worsfold was. Eagles aren’t winning those premierships without him.
Click to expand...
Mate …he was the very definition of a human battering ram.

Just like Mathews, Gary Snr..Darren Millane..Voss, Archer...Dipper..Merv Neagle …just thick layered men built to run into things and never get hurt as long as you’re going faster than your intended prey.

Laws of physics and all that.

They would line blokes up and send them to Pluto.

Glorious stuff.
 
Shane Heard said:
McKenna was commentary on that game and made a point of singling out Jacko for started the shenanigans well before the Bruns hit.

I remember Lethal talking in a doco “ 150
Years of Australian football “
about the hit and he had no real explanation for it.


He just did it and regretted it instantly as he says “ I knew they would be coming for me” ( Cats players)…and they did ..instantly.

5 mins later after an all in brawl , Mathews was taken off the field covered in blood with a mangled nose. The Geelong players punched the living suitcase out of him.

But most punters don’t understand that Mathews played on the very edge of insanity. He hated anyone touching him or beating him.
If you read his bio its clear he was on a mission to destroy any opposition player that was on him ..every game…from a young age.

The ultra competitive nature he had boardered on obsession. He got whacked all the time and conversely dished it out to anyone in his orbit.

But as he got older, defenders learned not to poke the hornets nest and tried to beat him on contest alone at the ball.

Placid Essendon favourite Nobby Clarke in the 84’ GF an example. Not that Nobby beat him comprehensively or anything..but he sure as hell didn’t niggle or annoy the great man.

Because the man was built like a Sherman friggin’ tank later on in years and would smash you into a another universe if you gave him the shits.

The only other player I can recall since watching footy since 1977 who was close to Lethal’s brutality was Gaz Snr and Worsfold.
Click to expand...

Matthews stats and goals are off the charts, I firmly believe that it's in part because opponents gave him space because they were scared of tackling or bumping him.
 
Osho said:
Jeans had more than the one skeleton in the closet.

It was well known if unstated at the time Jeans' teams went knuckle more than most. Plenty of other offending clubs it has to be said. The most exhausting game of footy I ever saw was the 71 GF in which another St Kilda defender went the knuckle on perhaps the greatest FF of all time. The Hawks had their own crew of brutes and handed it back ++.

Jeans was a policeman, rising to senior seargent in the Vic Police force. This community responsible position added to the pressure on him to behave properly. And Jeans resented the question In those days police could fairly easily use their position, if you know what I mean, and there was that underlying feeling in the Peter Mac interview, something like shutup or else was how I intetpreted watching the interview at the time.

I also felt at the time Tommy was especially taciturn. Was it the fact that Jeans in his position was the cause, with his smouldering passive aggressiveness?

My favourite part of the interview was the end, when known pacifist Captain Blood entered the scene with gifts for the guests and did his best to calm the emotions.
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That would be the recently departed Kevin Neale who king hit Huddo in the 71 GF.
 
TheEscapeClub said:
Matthews stats and goals are off the charts, I firmly believe that it's in part because opponents gave him space because they were scared of tackling or bumping him.
Click to expand...
No doubt indeed. Even as a skinny kid he was tough as hell.

By the time he was 25 he was built like a brick shithouse.

You just couldn’t hurt him. You’d bounce off him if you went the crunch. He knew how to protect himself and took evasive action if you ran at him.

Like all great players they has 360 degree awareness of what’s around them. Even if you were lucky to get a hit in they would come back at you instantly and remind you how big a mistake you just made.

Boarderline psychopaths.

Gaz Snr the king of them all.
 
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