AFL 2021: Melbourne legend Ron Barassi’s big Grand Final call

They’re one win away from drought-breaking glory and footy legend Ron Barassi says a Melbourne Grand Final win would mean so much to Demons fans.

Ron Barassi, the man who captained Melbourne to its last premiership success in 1964, is all in on the modern-day Demons to break their 57-year flag drought, the longest in the AFL.

The Demons trounced Geelong on Friday night to book a Grand Final berth beckoning, Barassi said it would mean the world to him – and long-suffering Melbourne fans – if the club could wash away 57 years of heartache and pain.

“We’ve waited so long; it would mean so much to so many people,” Barassi told News Corp in an exclusive interview.

“It would be absolutely beautiful … It would be fantastic if we can win one after all these years.

“Can we win it? Hell yeah! We are going to win it.”

A fiercely determined look flashed across the 85-year-old’s face as he urged the Demons on with his arms raised.

Barassi captained Melbourne to its last premiership success in 1964. Picture: David Caird

It was the same steely-eyed expression that struck fear into the hearts of his opponents for so many years, but always gave his teammates so much comfort.

While the AFL Legend won’t be able to travel to Perth to watch the team prepare for its shot at glory, he will be there in spirit with skipper Max Gawn – Melbourne’s first All-Australian captain since Barassi in 1961 – and the 2021 team.

Barassi’s absence hasn’t stopped him from sending a powerful message to the young Demons, urging them to leave no stone unturned in the quest for a long-awaited 13th VFL-AFL premiership.

“I’d say to them to listen to their coach (Simon Goodwin) like we used to listen to Norm Smith, and make sure they play their best (game) ever,” Barassi said. “Beat your opponent and leave nothing out there.”

Holding the 1964 Grand Final Premiership cup.

Barassi in full flight.

Barassi then launched into a word-perfect, stirring rendition of the club’s theme song – ‘It’s a Grand Old Flag’ – which he has sung with passion for as long as he can remember.

His dad, Ron Sr., played in the club’s 1940 premiership side but was tragically killed at Tobruk less than a year later.

He grew up desperate to emulate his late father as a Melbourne footballer. He did so much more than that, going on to play 204 games with the Demons, winning six premierships, before a long and celebrated coaching career at four clubs.

Whenever he sees the Melbourne guernsey now, he thinks of his father, whom he can barely remember as he was only five when he was killed in the Second World War.

The footy great is hoping the Demons break their premiership drought this year. Picture: David Caird

“I look at a Melbourne jumper and wish my dad was able to put his body into it,” he said. “If they win the flag, I’ll be thinking of him.”

Barassi, as a Carlton coach, once famously ordered his players to shave or else, but he has given the bearded Gawn his stamp of approval.

“He looks good, I like him,” Barassi said of Gawn who is aiming to become the first Melbourne captain to hold up a premiership cup in almost six decades.

Barassi wore his father’s revered No. 31 jumper in all but one of his games with the Demons and he is pleased the current custodian of the guernsey, Bayley Fritsch, is doing so well.

Barassi says a Melbourne flag would mean so much to so many people. Picture: David Caird

“I like the sound of him … he kicks goals like I did,” Barassi said with that trademark cheeky grin.

He doesn’t remember too much about that four-point Grand Final win over Collingwood in 1964, which came about after a late goal was kicked by Melbourne’s Neil Crompton.

Barassi struggled in the first half of that game, once saying that it was one of the few times in his football career when the pressure leading into the Grand Final weighed on him.

“I had played in seven Grand Finals before this, so it was not inexperience,” he said. “I was absolutely as flat as a tack. It remains one of the great mysteries of my career.

“I was probably the worst on the ground up until half time, (but) fortunately I played better in the second half.

“It was such a relief to win that match because I would have blamed myself if we had lost.”

He would barely have believed it if someone had said to him back then that the Demons wouldn’t win another flag in the next half century, given Melbourne had won six of the previous 10 flags.

But as he pumped his clenched fist and belted out another bar of the theme song – emphasising “every heart beats true for the red and the blue” – Barassi said he hoped the drought was finally about to break.

Originally published as AFL 2021: Melbourne legend Ron Barassi’s big Grand Final call