Back to Geelong Part 1
The 1949 season represented something of a watershed, not just in the history of the Geelong Football Club, but in the development of the code of Australian football itself. Reg Hickey, one of Geelong's and the game's greatest ever players, who had captained the Cats to their last flag in 1937, took over from Tommy Quinn as the team's non-playing coach. He was a man with very definite ideas on how the game should be played, and although it would take a while for the players to catch up with those ideas, the eventual upshot was that Geelong managed to obtain a significant jump on the opposition, implementing and perfecting a style of play which was at once both revolutionary and effective, an all too rare combination:
Speed and sensational ball handling were Geelong's secret weapons.......This Geelong team was no fluke. Reg Hickey had planned it, step by step. Geelong sides were traditionally fast. This was the answer, but it was not blind speed. Hickey carefully chose his speedsters, and then drilled them. Every kick and every move was part of a pattern. Mobile rucks and a long striding half back line got the ball forward, and the forwards fanned out to provide a host of opportunities. (See footnote 6)
Underlying these strategies, and in a sense a key to their success, was a training philosophy which verged on the modern:
Remember that you play only as well as you are fit. The three quarters player lacks the will to win. If he's finished physically he can't go on with the job when the call is greatest.
So again I say, never slack your training.
Some people talk of teams going stale. Personally I don't think any team goes stale if they retain their interest to improve.
It's hard to come up fighting Saturday after Saturday if you are being whipped. To lose five or six matches on end is a 'killer'. I've been through it, and I can sympathise.
But there's only one remedy. Get up with the field. The field won't come back to you. So it's back to the old grind, training, developmental work, and more training. (See footnote 7)
In Hickey's first season in charge, 1949, the Cats played intermittently well, winning 9 of their first 15 games to appear in a strong position to contest their first finals series since 1940. However, an injury to key defender John Hyde badly unsettled the team, and contributed to a horror run of 4 successive losses which effectively de-railed the Cats' season.
A key to Geelong's improvement in 1950 was the recruitment from Essendon of talented full forward George Goninon whose senior opportunities at Windy Hill had been limited owing to the presence there of the greatest full forward in the game, a certain John Coleman. Goninon's arrival proved especially timely as the Cats' primary goal kicker of the previous decade, Lindsay White, snapped his Achilles tendon in a match against South Melbourne and never played again. Afforded greater responsibility in the wake of White's departure, Goninon's form improved, and his overall contributions to the team effort increased, as the season wore on.
|
Bob 'Woofa' Davis. |
With 10 wins
from 18 home and away matches Geelong qualified for the finals in 1950 in 4th
place. A 13.10 (88) to 6.8 (44) 1st semi final defeat of Melbourne
was not
only the Cats' first finals win since the 1937 grand final, it was also very
definitely a strong hint of things to come. However, the fact that the
side was not quite yet the finished article was starkly demonstrated a fortnight
later when it bowed out of the premiership race by 17 points "in a spirited
game" (see footnote 8) against North
Melbourne.
The Hickey 'pace and space' formula finally clicked in 1951. With experienced and highly gifted individuals like future 'Team of the Century' members Bob Davis, Fred Flanagan and Bernie Smith now at their absolute peak as footballers, Geelong had a nucleus of talent unequalled anywhere. The supporting cast was not bad either, comprising as it did defenders of the calibre of Bruce Morrison, John Hyde, Russ Middlemiss and Norm Scott, a ruck division which included Tom Morrow, Russell Renfrey, Loy Stewart and Jim Norman, explosive wingmen in Syd Tate and Terry Fulton, polished and assiduous rovers in Peter Pianto and Neil Trezise, and of course the unfailingly accurate George Goninon to finish things off. |
Goninon it was who virtually proved the difference between the combatants on 2nd semi final day, contributing half of Geelong's 22 goals in an 82 point annihilation of Collingwood. Eleven goals in a finals match equalled the all time VFL record established by Harry Vallence of Carlton in the Blues' 20.10 (130) to 5.12 (42) 1st semi final defeat of Collingwood in 1931 (see footnote 9). According to future VFL chief commissioner Jack Hamilton, who was at full back for the Magpies when Goninon entered his name in the record books:
It was the worst day I have ever had. I had handled Goninon quite easily in two matches in which we had met earlier in the season (see footnote 10) and was confident of being able to subdue him again. As it turned out, George couldn't do a thing wrong and I couldn't do a thing right. Geelong had the ball on their forward line for most of the match and I had no chance of stopping some of the passes that were delivered to him. His kicking was superb, he was credited with 11.1, but it should have been 12.0. One of his shots went straight through the middle and the goal umpire signalled a behind! It wasn't my place to argue. (See footnote 11)
Two factors combined to bolster the Cats' confidence in advance of their grand final showdown against reigning premiers Essendon, which had ended Collingwood's season with 2 point victory in the preliminary final. The first was that Bomber spearhead John Coleman, the biggest superstar in the VFL, would miss the match after having been suspended by the VFL tribunal for striking Carlton's Harry Casper in the last minor round game of the year. Coleman had averaged more than 4 goals a game in 1951, and it went without saying that, without him, the Bombers would be a significantly less troublesome opponent. The second boost to the players' confidence came from classy and irrepressible back pocket Bernie Smith being awarded the Brownlow Medal, the first Geelong player since 'Carji' Greeves, in the Medal's inaugural year of 1924, to be so honoured.
The old Brownlow-Young grandstand.
The 1951 grand final started well for Geelong as George Goninon had a goal on the board within a minute of the opening bounce. Full of confidence, the Cats surged forward again and again, but their next half a dozen shots for goal all resulted in minor scores. Meanwhile the Bombers, with virtually their only coherent forward foray of the term, goaled through Hutchison. Goals for Geelong late in the term through Norman and Goninon gave the Cats a 3.8 (26) to 1.0 (6) quarter time lead, but given the extent of their superiority they should have been much further in front.
Perhaps predictably, Essendon proceeded to punish Geelong's waywardness during the 2nd term, adding 5.2 to 1.2 to lead at the main break by 4 points. With the match very much in the balance the Geelong players were forced to dig deep, which they duly did to run the Bombers off their feet in a decisive 3rd quarter. At three quarter time the Cats led by 27 points and looked home, and so it ultimately proved, although not before the Bombers had received a late lift by the entry to the arena of their legendary champion 'King Dick' Reynolds. Inspired by Reynolds, Essendon got within 5 points late in the final term, but Geelong was able to steady and pull away to secure an 11 point victory, 11.15 (81) to 10.10 (70). The victors were best served by their defensive trio of Hyde, Morrison and Smith, rovers Pianto and Trezise, centreman Leo Turner (another member of the club's 'Team of the 20th Century') and ruckman 'Bill' McMaster. George Goninon top scored with 4 goals. Whether the presence of John Coleman in the Essendon team would have made a difference to the eventual result is a tantalising question, the answer to which will necessarily vary depending on your allegiance. Nevertheless, what cannot be denied is that Geelong under Hickey had developed into a marvellous team. Indeed, with Bernie Smith having won the Brownlow, and George Goninon, with 86 goals, having been the league's top goal kicker, the Cats had secured a prestigious treble which only Collingwood, in 1927 and 1929, had previously accomplished.
| After the grand final Geelong
visited Adelaide where it met SANFL premiers Port Adelaide in a challenge match.
The Cats won a tough, high standard encounter by 8 points, 8.14 (62) to 6.18
(54).
With more or less the same group of players as in 1951 Geelong continued to dominate, and indeed to improve, the following year. Only 2 home and away matches were lost this time around, compared to 4 the previous season, and with the defence in particular displaying extraordinary impenetrability, many of the wins were achieved with redoubtable conviction. Only twice, against Carlton in round 7 and Essendon at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in round 8, did the Cats have tallies in excess of 100 points kicked against them. They tuned up for the finals with a 10.17 (77) to 3.14 (32) strangulation of Carlton in front of a Kardinia Park record crowd of 49,109, and thereafter 'did it on the bit' with 54 and 46 point finals wins over Collingwood. In the grand final, watched by a crowd of 82,890, "the Magpies pitted their courage and determination against Geelong's superior speed, skill and system, but it wasn't enough. Geelong established an early lead, and the result was a foregone conclusion" (see footnote 12). An incident which epitomised Geelong's superiority, as well as exemplifying the team's style of play under Hickey, occurred early in the 3rd quarter after the Magpies had started to show signs of getting back into the game: |
The great Bernie Smith. (Click to enlarge.) |
Highlight of the match was a third quarter dash of 100 yards around the outer wing by Davis (Geelong). Starting on the half back flank, Davis raced around the wing, bouncing the ball as he went at top speed, and leaving Collingwood players far behind.
Tackled near the half forward flank, he handpassed to Worner, who passed back to Davis, and the ball eventually finished in the teeth of goal. (See footnote 13)
Davis later gave his own version of the incident:
Ah, I remember it well! I had seven or eight bounces in that run and then let fly with a running drop kick - my favourite form of disposal. As a boy I had always dreamed of playing in a grand final at the MCG and of launching myself on an extended run downfield. The funny thing is that I recalled this dream as I was bouncing the ball and dodging my Collingwood opponents. (See footnote 14)
Following this incident, Geelong went on to add 6 goals for the term to Collingwood's 2, effectively laying to rest any doubts as to where the 1952 VFL pennant was heading. The last quarter was a cakewalk as the Cats kept Collingwood goalless as they careered to a 46 point win, 13.8 (86) to 5.10 (40). Geelong's fair headed half back flanker Geoff Williams was best afield, with rover Neil Trezise, change ruckman Norm Sharp, back pocket Bernie Smith, and 5 goal full forward George Goninon also prominent.
Writing in 'The Argus', Hugh Buggy summarised the reasons behind Geelong's supremacy thus:
Geelong, the team whose blistering pace has given football a new meaning in the last two years, romped away from Collingwood in the League grand final on Saturday to win its second successive pennant.
To achieve this new club record, Geelong had to wear down a tenacious and aggressive Magpie side that battled on, yard by yard, with the desperation of despair.
It was a triumph richly deserved by a sternly disciplined Geelong 'machine', which plays a clean exhilarating game, entirely free from dirt, spite, and the murky reprisal.
It was a fitting reward, too, for a team which has been a model of consistency, and one which stepped up the tempo of the game to a pitch no rival could either excel or equal. (See footnote 15)
Geelong, if the saying can be stomached, appeared to 'have the wood' on the Magpies, having emerged victorious from each of the last five meetings between the sides. The 1953 season, however, was to see Collingwood achieve conclusive revenge, beginning with the round 14 home and away clash at Kardinia Park. Going into the match, which was played in conditions more suited to open air mud wrestling than football, the Cats had remained unbeaten for 26 games, spread across two seasons, a VFL record. However, "the Magpies turned Mud Larks and beat the seemingly invincible Cats 10.15 (75) to 7.13 (55)" (see footnote 16).
If this was the first crack to appear in the Geelong armour, a potentially more injurious one appeared three weeks later when South Melbourne handed the Cats their biggest hiding for over a year, in the process making them look tired, hesitant and lacking in confidence. Qualification for the finals was never in doubt, and indeed the side already had enough wins in the bank combined with a sufficiently hefty percentage to ensure a top place finish. However, the sudden decline in form was as bewildering as it was alarming and badly timed.
Football, like most sports, is evolutionary in nature. That is to say, the criteria for success are continually being modified and redefined. Geelong in the early 1950s had set new standards with a fast, open, run on style of football which certain other teams had swiftly endeavoured to copy, but without ever achieving the same degrees of fluency or success. Sides like Collingwood and Footscray, however, adopted a totally different tack; instead of 'if you can't beat them, join them', they endeavoured to counteract, stymie and undermine. Such an approach required considerably less pure football talent than the method favoured by Geelong, but it did at least possess the supreme virtues of being (a) easier to implement, and (b) much more in keeping with the traditional, hard-nosed, unspectacular Victorian ethos which held that 'good football was pressure football'.
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Alistair Lord, Geelong's third Brownlow Medallist, who made his senior debut for the club in 1959, and won the Medal 3 years later. (Click to enlarge.) |
Despite having what Bob Davis
regarded as a stronger all round team than in either of the previous two seasons (see
footnote 17), Geelong in 1953 ultimately came unstuck at the hands of a
Collingwood side which had been well schooled in the traditional 'Victorian
football values' of persistence, hard work, and channelled aggression. In
the 2nd semi final, the Cats, with their confidence still perhaps impaired by
their tentative performance against South Melbourne a few weeks earlier, were
harassed and intimidated virtually to a stand still by a tenacious, vibrant
Magpie outfit. Collingwood won 13.12 (90) to 8.12 (60), and although
Geelong ultimately qualified for a 3rd consecutive grand final with a 26 point
preliminary final defeat of Footscray, they again found the Magpies too hot to
handle. Admittedly, a determined last quarter effort brought the final
margin back to just 12 points, but at the end of the day there could be little
doubt that the Hickey formula had finally found its measure.
Reg Hickey remained at the helm at Geelong for a further six seasons, but the club's halcyon era was well and truly over. At first, its decline was gradual - consecutive 3rd place finishes in 1954 and 1955, followed by a drop to 4th in 1956 - but in 1957 and 1958 the Cats experienced the indignity of their first non-wartime wooden spoons since 1908. The 1959 season brought marginal improvement - 5 wins from 18 matches, and 10th spot on the ladder - but Hickey had had enough, and opted to step down as coach. (Had he been in charge forty years later, it is doubtful if he would have been afforded this luxury.) |
The man to whom the Geelong committee turned to resurrect the club's fortunes was, like Hickey, one of the club's most celebrated products. Captain of both of the club's most recent premiership sides in 1951 and 1952, Bob Davis had only retired as a player a season ago. Known as 'the Geelong Flier', or 'Woofa', he was one of the most exciting footballers of his era, and the 1960s would see him enhance his considerable reputation still further, this time in the coaching arena.
Where now?
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6. The Clubs by John Ross and Garrie Hutchinson, page 192. Return to Main Text
7. From 'Best Football Comes From Hard Work and Concentration' by Reg Hickey, in The Sporting Globe Football Annual 1953, page 52. Hickey's belief that a winning team need not go stale was perfectly exemplified by Geelong in 1951 and '52. Return to Main Text
8. The Road to Kardinia by Russell H.T. Stephens, page 146. Return to Main Text
9. Vallence equalled his own record a year later, as did Collingwood's Ron Todd in 1938 and 1939. The closest anyone in the modern era has come to matching these feats was Garry Lyon's 10 goals for Melbourne in the Demons 1994 1st semi final trouncing of Footscray. Return to Main Text
10. Collingwood had beaten Geelong 14.18 (102) to 7.8 (50) at Victoria Park in round 3, with Goninon, who was playing his first match for the season, failing to kick a goal. In round 14 at Kardinia Park the Magpies had won again, 4.7 (31) to 3.11 (29), with Goninon managing 2 of Geelong's 3 goals for the day. Return to Main Text
11. Stephens, op cit, pages 148-9. Hamilton's comments were made in an interview in 1966. Return to Main Text
12. Ross and Hutchinson, op cit, page 193. Return to Main Text
13. 'The Geelong Advertiser', 27 September 1952. Return to Main Text
14. Woofa by Bob Davis (with Jim Main), page 67. Return to Main Text
15. Ibid, pages 66-7. Return to Main Text
16. Stephens, op cit, page 162. Return to Main Text
17. See Davis, op cit, page 71. Return to Main Text
