Into another zone – 1984 Preliminary Final

By DION HAYMAN

A freak Tony McGuinness checkside goal on the run proved the unlikely inspiration for Norwood’s astonishing comeback victory in the 1984 preliminary final, en route to its history-making premiership from fifth place on the ladder.

That’s the view of Neville Roberts, who booted five goals for the Redlegs in their 18-point win against Glenelg.

The Tigers were without Peter Carey for a second match, controversially suspended in the qualifying final for attempting to strike Central’s Brett Hannam. The Bays had hauled themselves off the mat after a horrific first 45 minutes when they slumped to 1.12 in response to Norwood’s 5.3.

Bizarrely, Alan Stringer’s flying miss on the run would have made it 1.13 but he received a somewhat fortunate free kick after being pulled down by Garry McIntosh while shooting for goal. Stringer converted and the Bays’ sputtering engine finally clicked into gear. It took Glenelg into the lead late in the second quarter, only for a deft flick by Roberts that released a running Glen Vardanega.

Norwood led by five points at the main break but Glenelg continued its resurgence at the resumption. Goals from Stephen Copping and McGuinness, at the seven-minute mark, stretched the Tigers’ lead to seven points. Two minutes later, Stephen Kernahan outpointed John Hall at a boundary throw-in and McGuinness sped past, gathered and executed an astonishing checkside kick at full throttle, punching the air in delight. But Roberts said it was the moment that changed everything.

“They all started yapping,” he recalled. “McGuinness is running around with his hand in the air, No. 1, they’re doing all that. I think what it did was it actually put us all into another zone. We always used to joke about Glenelg being ‘sunglasses and sports cars’, always frontrunners. And they weren’t really guilty of that stuff. It doesn’t matter. That’s just how we psychologically used to get ourselves into a zone. We thought, ‘That’s enough ammunition for us. You think you’ve got the game won in the third quarter? You’ve gotta be kidding yourselves!’ It was an enormous motivator for us, almost the reverse of what you might expect when someone kicks a freak goal.”

McGuinness could have had a third goal but missed from a similar spot with a drop punt taking Glenelg to 8.18 to Norwood’s 7.9. But the Redlegs, who had been behind in their first two finals, roused themselves again.

Norwood won the ball at half-back from Bruce Winter’s kick-out and skipper Danny Jenkins ran the length of the ground to provide an option. He ultimately marked a Vardanega free kick in the forward pocket and immediately handballed to Jim Michalanney, whose 20-metre left-foot pass found a leading Roberts. Two minutes later, Roberts goaled again and this time the mercurial Michael Aish was the provider, as he so often was.

Aish’s memory of the game is crystal clear, to the point of recalling Glenelg’s half-time score. “Wayne Stringer got a kick from (Mark) Hewett and he kicked to (David) Marshall but he’s overcooked it,” Aish remembered. “I came over the top and just kept running forward and found Neville and Neville doesn’t miss too many.”

His recount undersells the quality of the mark – Aish at full stretch, knees into the back over a right-angled Marshall, before just maintaining his balance and hitting Roberts with a 35m pass. It was exquisite. Aish booted two goals himself in a 15-minute blitz as Norwood broke Glenelg’s spirit, closing the quarter with 6.1 to 0.1. He finished the day with 24 kicks, seven marks and 15 handballs to lead the Redlegs into the grand final. It came just a fortnight after he destroyed South in the elimination final with 36 touches and a career-high seven goals, a game he rates alongside the 1981 elimination final against West as his best.

No wonder he enjoyed playing sides like Glenelg rather than Central, which automatically assigned Trevor Roe to shadow him. “Trevor was an exceptional runner, probably a better runner than me, very fit as well and very disciplined the way he went about not really looking at the ball. He just looked at you,” Aish said. “Glenelg backed themselves in, which certainly made it more enjoyable for me.”

Sydney, Brisbane, Essendon, Richmond and St Kilda were all desperate to lure Aish east. “I went to Essendon for a week and slept on a mattress on Tim Watson’s floor,” Aish recalled. “But I had considerable anxiety. I should have had that anxiety addressed but I didn’t. Do I regret not going? Probably. But I look back even today at what the Norwood footy club means to me because of my dad and what he was able to achieve and my brother and sons and all that, it was always going to be an incredible part of my life.”

The freakish rapport Aish carved with Roberts seemed instinctive but it was actually the product of hours of toil. “Every Thursday night after training, Neville and I would go to the side and we would smash balls at each other,” Aish said. “We’d do that for our hands work. Then we’d get someone to kick out from goals and we’d compete in the air. Neville was exceptional if he got in front of you. He’d hold his hands back and lock you in and you were never going to get around him.”

Roberts was acting on advice garnered from a Norwood legend. “The one thing I learned when I arrived at Norwood, Johnny Wynne said to me, ‘you’ve gotta get a deal with these guys like Aish and (Keith) Thomas and Gags (Phil Gallagher)’ and I thought, ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ Roberts said. “What he was talking about was basically some chemistry. We did end up with some incredible chemistry.”

The Redlegs also possessed incredible belief. “Norwood had a reputation for being able to win close finals,” Roberts said. “When I first went to Norwood, the one thing I learned about them was you’re never out of the game. I honestly believe it was the personality and culture within the footy club at the time.

“I think the one thing we had was our sleeping giant (club secretary) Wally Miller, the mentor to everybody. He gave us confidence just by looking at him. He would diagnostically be able to tell you why we’re playing so well. He’d say, ‘there’s nothing wrong with the cattle, the rest is up to you’. And I think Balmey (coach Neil Balme) was a great galvaniser of people. Our strategies were minimalistic. Our biggest strategy was we used the footy, we kicked it to someone in our jumper, that helped a lot. I think Balmey was the one who took Wally’s skill sets and belief in using the footy.”

Roberts, looking back on Norwood’s astonishing feats of the 1984 finals series, recalled thinking to himself on the drive home after one game, “you know what, we can win this”.

“It was an incredible period.”

NORWOOD  4.3    7.8 13.10   16.11      (107)

GLENELG  1.8    5.15    8.19    11.23        (89)

BEST – Norwood: Aish, Hein, Laughlin, G. Thomas, Gallagher, Roberts.

Glenelg: Marshall, Kernahan, McDermott, McGuinness, Duthy, Symonds.

SCORERS – Norwood: Roberts 5.3, Laughlin 3.0, Aish 2.2, G. Thomas 2.1, Vardanega 2.0, McIntosh, Gallagher 1.0, Payne 0.2, K. Thomas 0.1, rushed 0.2. Glenelg: McGuinness 2.3, Garton 2.2, Symonds 1.3, A. Stringer, Hall, Marshall 1.2, Copping, Kernahan 1.1, Gibbs 1.0, Kidney, Holst 0.1, rushed 0.5.

UMPIRES – Laurie Argent, John Hylton.

CROWD – 30,601 at Football Park.