Done a great shut down job on Peter Matera in that 93 semi.
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There was no fanfare at the start, but thatâs in the context of the whole draft thing wasnât an âeventâ, and back then clubs routinely had much bigger lists and draftees may or may not ever turn up. It was a very different world.
Once he played, the vibe was he was good. But it wasnât hype levels, Iâd imagine @theDJR probably recalls having a materials class in Casey Plaza lecture theatre at RMIT back in the day. He was an AFL footballer who was known to Essendon supporters, but he could walk through the caf at RMIT without anyone batting an eyelid. But Essendon supporters knew he was good, that he had fantastic hands on the air, always played in front, and always had time.
It was a different time though. AFL saturation, internet saturation etc didnât work. And Essendon had plenty of other messiahs, so there was no need to make Hird anything other than âa good kid who shows a bitâ
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Kicking 1.5
But we didnât have a CHF at the time, so his overhead marking and floating across packs were very exciting to see come through.
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Agreed. I remember the H-S running an article late in 93 about Essendonâs âhorseshoeâ forward line, where they didnât have a CHF, and I was indignant. Hird was a gun CHF and the media were refusing to see it!
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Taberner rips us apart.
Heâs actually a decent player that is injured a lot.
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I agree, His 2020 season was very good.
I think this is quite insightful. I remember not getting hyped about players until they played a few good games in the 1s. Now in the age of information we are so much more knowledgeable we can watch a vid online of kindy footy and predict AFL careers 20 years later.
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You were much more likely to get hype at the time about us getting n established SANFL or WAFL star, but they may also might never come.
I donât know what year (scratch that I have the internetâŚ). In the 1989 draft we drafted Wanganeen at 12, but there was plenty of hype about us drafting Darren Smith at 11, because he was an established 24yo CHF from Port Adelaide. 18yos werenât hyped at that time, because who would even know if they were any good.
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Misread that bit about drafting Wanganeen at 12, and thought, geez things were different then.
Always believed a 15 year old Timmy was the youngest player weâd got our hands on.
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We did line up as a horseshoe quite often though, with a huge vacant space at centre half forward.
Please donât suggest Onlyfans.
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My recollection of Hird was that he played ok in his debut against the Saints at Waverley, then got injured.
Late in the year, we got pantsed, then bent over the park bench and didnât even get flowers by Hawthorn. Hird came back in the next week against Melbourne and took about 15 marks.
Next year, starred in the pre-season wearing #49, and then early seasonâŚdid the hamstrings midseason but he was recognised as a real up-and-comer by midâ93.
Iâm not sure I believe Sheeds when he said the rest of the list committee wanted to dump Hird at the end of '91 but he alone had faith. He had a dicky knee in the U/19âs in '91 but if you show anything in the U/19âs, youâre not getting dumped.
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Look at Misitiâs fourth senior quarter, handball column. He had played forward for the first three quarters, and then got shifted into the middle.
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Note that the communications specialist stuffed up the last sentence regarding his father and grandfather.
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Daniher came equal second in our best and fairest in 2016 and was our leading goalkicker in 2014, 2015 and 2016, hes played 108 games and kicked 191 goals despite being cut down by injury in his prime. He did not only have 1 good season, he definitely had 2 and arguably had 4.
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BuggerâŚI was out by a week. I went to that North game but was in Port Douglas the previous two matches (so must have been the time of the Barcelona Olympics).
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How is that articleâŚsuch a different time.
And to think you could read all of the body of the article and have no idea whether or not Carry played.
And Hirdâs 15 marks meant something back then.
Imagine being someone under younger than (say) 40, and thinking Hirdâs best football was as a midfielder.
He improved every year from the time he joined until he got OP. But it was only in 2016 and 2017 that he had what you might call good seasons.