Adelaide Crows’ defining moment No 16: The day Blight put his players on notice - and changed the football language
IT was the day Malcolm Blight subjected ruckman David Pittman what is now a legendary spray. But that outburst may have been a big spark for the Crows’ drive to a premiership. It is No. 16 on our list of the club’s 25 defining moments.
ADELAIDE’S campaign to win the AFL premiership in 1997, as coach Malcolm Blight made his start at West Lakes, not only re-defined the Crows but changed so much of Australian football. As The Advertiser reflects in the club’s 25th anniversary season on the 25 defining moments that shaped the Adelaide Football Club on and off the field, the events at the MCG on April 5, 1997 not only marked the Crows but also the game’s language. It was the day Blight made “Pathetic Pittman” a cliche to define a performance that drives a coach to despair. In this case, there was far more to the infamous Blight post-game spray of ruckman David Pittman than was first imagined.
Blight arrived at Adelaide in the summer of 96-97 determined to shake the playing group, as highlighted by his decision to sack five players - including captain Tony McGuinness and inaugural captain Chris McDermott - before he settled at West Lakes.
By the end of his second game, a 28-point loss to Richmond, Blight was looking for more blood. Pittman did not trouble the statisticians bar for five hit-outs against the Tigers, prompting Blight to fume in his post-match interview with Neil Kerley.
He said Pittman had turned in “the most pathetic effort from a ruckman I’ve seen in my entire life in footy - he has to live with that”.
Pittman recalls the moment that put the entire Adelaide playing squad on notice - and the consequences - with Michelangelo Rucci.
Michelangelo Rucci: First up, how often does the “Pathetic Pittman” line follow you?
David Pittman: I have it once a year. Congratulations on being the first this year. Somehow I now don’t think this will be a one-off for this year.
Rucci: Let’s go to the start then. What did happen on April 5, 1997 at the MCG?
Pittman: We need to go back a bit further. I had groin surgery in the off-season of 1996-97. So I was rushed into that game because we had no big men. Aaron Keating, Matthew Robran, Brett Chalmers, Shaun Rehn - all of them unavailable. My pre-season amounted to one trial, I played against Brisbane (23 hit-outs in a partnership with Keating) ... and we go to the MCG to play Richmond.
Rucci: We know how that game starts - a seven-goal blitz by Richmond and Blight looks far from happy in the coach’s box. What did happen on the field?
Pittman: At the first centre bounce I felt something in my calf grab. As I ran I could feel it tighten up. Peter Jonas, our runner, came out to ask what was wrong. I said, ‘I think I’ve torn my calf’. I don’t think Peter wanted to know about it or wanted to tell Malcolm about it. I’m sure Malcolm saw me as laconic and Peter was not the one wanting to tell him I needed to come off the ground. But I couldn’t jump. I was trying to jump off my wrong foot. You manage as best you can, but I knew Malcolm was not going to be happy. Nor was I for that matter.
----------------
THE LIST SO FAR
No. 17: The 148-point turnaround
No. 18: First and only minor premiership
No. 19: First Showdown win — The Comeback. 1997.
No. 20: 2002 epic semi-final win against Melbourne
No. 21: Modra wins the Coleman
No. 22: Carey chooses Adelaide
No. 23: The Demolition of Fremantle
No. 24: Independence from the SANFL
No. 25: 1993 preliminary final loss to Essendon
---------------
Rucci: Clearly Blight wasn’t happy. How soon did he vent his frustration?
Pittman: I copped it a bit - at quarter-time, half-time and three quarter-time. It was about then that I thought he was crazy.
Rucci: And at the end of the game?
Pittman: That night, after we made it home from Melbourne, (football manager) John Reid rang me and said, “We’ve had a situation”. He told me about Malcolm’s television interview. I was not confused - I understood the whole workings of a football club. What did puzzle me was we were just two games in - and I was asking myself, “If he did not rate me, why would have he not got rid of me (with the other five) earlier?” And that was central to our conversation on Monday afternoon. If he wanted to question my effort in that quarter, I was ready to say I had sent the message in the first five minutes about my injury.
Rucci: Did Malcolm want to get rid of you?
Pittman: He told me what he expected and what he wanted of his players. It was a healthy discussion. We clarified things. I understood where he was coming from. He did not change the way I played, but I feel he changed the way the football team behaved. That moment imposed a certain steeliness in the club. There was a perception about the club, the team and some players. Malcolm probably thought I was too laconic. He probably had that view of a few of us. Nigel Smart, me. Malcolm changed the intensity in the group that day. He made it clear he would not accept us being poor. Six months later we were premiers.
The Crows’ 25 defining moments were selected by inaugural captain Chris McDermott and Chief Football Writer Michelangelo Rucci
AT THE MCG
RICHMOND 7.5 10.6 15.9 19.14 (128)
ADELAIDE 3.0 8.3 12.6 15.10 (100)
BEST Richmond: Campbell, Richardson, Nicholls, Charles, Gaspar, Daffy,
Bowden, B. Gale, Naish. Adelaide: Smart, Williams, Ricciuto, Jarman,
Jameson, James.
SCORERS Richmond: M. Richardson 6.3, Nicholls 3.3, Daffy 3.1, Charles
2.1, Merenda 1.2, Naish, Campbell 1.1, Holland, Manfield 1.0, Kellaway
0.1, rushed 0.1. Adelaide: Modra 5.0, Smart 3.2, Williams 2.2, Rintoul
1.2, Vardy 1.1, Standfield, Cook, Bickley 1.0, Ricciuto, McLeod,
Jameson 0.1.
INJURIES Richmond: Bourke (shoulder), Powell (back).
REPORT: Jarman (Adelaide) by field umpire Ellis for allegedly striking Rogers
(Richmond) with a fist to the head during the third quarter.
UMPIRES: Gavin Dore, Tim Shearer, Martin Ellis.
CROWD: 61,138.