How Tyson Goldsack is helping Port Adelaide beat to the right drum heading into finals
After more than a decade at Collingwood, Tyson Goldsack was meant to captain Port Adelaide’s SANFL team in 2020 – but he’s now playing a crucial role behind the scenes in the Power’s premiership push.
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Those who know Tyson Goldsack weren’t the least bit surprised when they learnt he was behind the drum that is now part of Port Adelaide’s post-match team song.
Searching for any spark they can find to maintain energy in what has been a trying season with 4.30am alarms, pre-dawn flights, and living restrictions meaning they haven’t gone anywhere other than the supermarket or the beach since June, it was Goldsack’s idea to jazz up the weekly celebration with a musical instrument.
His former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse said “he always had a good ear for music”.
Former teammates Travis Cloke describes him as “authentic and true to himself” and Jarryd Blair as “a bit of an eccentric-type operator”.
“Not outrageous, but just the sort of bloke you want around, always up for a good time and will have a laugh with anyone,” Blair said.
WATCH THE POWER BEAT THEIR DRUM ABOVE
Current Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was more direct.
“You’ve got to know Goldy to understand strange,” he said.
“You’ve just got to know the man, that’s what he is, he’s a great man, but ... strange.”
The drum started two weeks ago after the Power’s win over North Melbourne in Brisbane and Goldsack brought it out again after Port Adelaide toppled Essendon at home on Saturday night.
It might be Goldsack’s drum, but he has anointed defender Hamish Hartlett as the drummer.
“He thought I’d be the best man to carry out the duty,” Hartlett said.
“He plays his beat as we walk back into the changerooms post-game and then he hands it over to me for the song.”
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Ollie Wines described it as “quite odd”.
“I don’t know where he (Goldsack) got it from or if that’s what Hartsy does but he grabs it and starts banging along, I’m not sure it will be a permanent fixture to be honest,” Wines said.
But Tom Rockliff thinks it might be here to stay.
“It seems that way, I think the boys in the rooms definitely get up and about for it and the supporters love it as well,” he said.
“You’ve got to try different things, you’re not supposed to circle up, so we just start to clap and the drums and away we go.”
In this unprecedented season impacted by COVID-19, teams have been told by the AFL not to even link arms to sing the song.
That’s despite high-fiving, hugging and tackling each other for two hours on the field.
“Lots of clubs talk around that now, how you maintain your energy and enthusiasm and this year is like no other, it’s been really challenging to create some of that connection and bond so Goldy takes credit for that,” Hinkley said.
“I’m wondering what the next instrument he’s going to bring and as long as we keep using it I’m really happy, I don’t mind what it is.
“He brings a lot of experience (from) a successful club and he knows those moments when you’re looking for a bit more and he’s brought some things to our team during the week that go unseen.”
Goldsack has been a valuable addition to Port Adelaide, which has gone from 10th to top and premiership contender in the past year.
After playing 165 games in 12 years with Collingwood, a move to SA was always on the cards when he retired given his wife is from Adelaide.
Still more than capable of playing good footy, he was recruited by Port Adelaide to captain its SANFL team with the intention of being looked at in this year’s mid-season draft, similar to Cameron Sutcliffe’s journey 12 months earlier.
But when COVID hit and cancelled the club’s SANFL season, Goldsack was given more off-field responsibility and now works closely with Brett Montgomery and the defensive group who train hard on the field and have fun off it including a weekly ‘backline quiz’ which gets very competitive.
At 33, Goldsack still trains with the Power’s team and is able to provide direct feedback to the coaching staff.
“He hasn’t lost it at all, I think he potentially even played on the weekend against the Crows in that (trial) game so he’s been really good for us and another breath of fresh air into the group,” Rockliff said.
“He’s been outstanding.
“It’s probably the most unique circumstances for him to transition into it, at the start when we were away in the hub he wasn’t really on the tools at all and might have been working with the guys back here.
“But he’s slipped into the defence group to help Monty and all the guys love him, he’s a fun-loving type of guy who gets on really well with the playing group and I dare say if we had the mid-season draft he probably would have been picked up.”
Goldsack completed coaching and player welfare courses before he retired and Port Adelaide liked what he would offer them because of his unique journey in footy.
Overlooked in his draft year, Goldsack was eventually selected by Collingwood as a 19-year-old with Pick No. 63 in 2006 – the same year Travis Boak, Robbie Gray and Justin Westhoff arrived at Alberton.
Thirteen years later he retired as a 2010 premiership player who had also dealt with injury–- he remarkably came back from a knee reconstruction in just five months in 2018 to play in Collingwood’s qualifying, semi, preliminary and grand finals.
“Let’s be honest, he was never the most talented footballer but it was the hard work he put in behind closed doors,” Cloke said.
“He was a skinny, pasty red-headed kid who didn’t have the most talent but he made things work for him and that’s what I really admired about him.
“We started 12 months apart at the Pies and built a friendship, or I would say a relationship because we had a lot in common, travelled overseas together many times and that blossomed through football but also away from the club.
“He was always there by my side when things were going good but also bad.
“And it was a bit of a coincidence because the day I spoke to the Western Bulldogs about finishing up my career there he was on his way to my house with his wife and daughter.
“So it was kind of bittersweet because the guy who I’d spent most of my footy career with and shared everything with was there in that moment when I realised I was wrapping it all up.
“The important thing about Goldy is he’s honest and true to himself and you don’t get that in footy often anymore, he was always that as a player and now as a coach so he’s authentic.”
Blair uses the word “genuine” to describe Goldsack.
“His career was interesting, he’d deal with injuries, he’d be in red-hot form, play forward, play back, the wing, and he operates that way in life, he moves across all different circles and everyone is happy to have him involved,” Blair said.
“My favourite part about the bloke is he’s genuine, he cares and it’s on his radar to check in and follow up what other people are going through.
“He thinks ‘that guy might be having a s*** time’ and he follows up regardless of who they are.
“I nearly wrote my car off in the carpark at training one day, I hit the kerb, I was having a s*** time, I’d been in the twos for most of the year and was pretty much done.
“It was 4pm and I remember sitting there with Goldy waiting to get towed.
“He could have gone home to his kids and said ‘let me know how you get on with the tow truck’, but he was happy to wait with me, he actually organised it for me.”
Described by insiders at Port Adelaide as a “ripping guy who knows when to roll up the sleeves and when to have fun”, Goldsack became a premiership player in the most extraordinary of circumstances in 2010.
He played in Collingwood’s preliminary final win over Geelong then was dropped for the drawn grand final against St Kilda, only to be recalled a week later to replace Leon Davis in the rematch which they won.
That day he snuck forward and also kicked the first goal at $87-1.
He also stood on the MCG in the dying moments of the 2018 grand final and watched West Coast’s Dom Sheed slot the set shot from the pocket to snatch victory from his team.
If there’s someone who knows something about taking your chances when it’s presented in footy it’s Goldsack, and if Port Adelaide is listening to him then chances are it is beating to the right drum.
REDEMPTION: WHY PORT CAN BURY THE CATS IN FINALS REMATCH
Port Adelaide is staring at a rematch with Geelong at home in the first week of finals having secured a top-two finish and with a rival coach declaring them a genuine premiership contender.
If results go as expected in the final round of the regular season next weekend including Port Adelaide beating Collingwood, the Power will finish on top of the ladder and most likely play fourth-ranked Geelong who belted them by 10 goals just last month.
If the Power loses to the Magpies which is not impossible given Collingwood is still fighting for its season, they would most likely drop to second and still retain their double chance and two home finals but may host third-ranked Richmond first-up.
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Port Adelaide’s non-selected AFL players had a trial game against a composite Hawthorn and Crows team on Sunday and got through unscathed.
Zak Butters, who is serving a two-game AFL suspension, dominated with three goals while Jackson Mead, Boyd Woodcock and Jarrod Lienert were others who impressed.
The only injury concern from Saturday’s win over Essendon was to key defender Tom Clurey who sat the last five minutes of the game on the bench after appearing to cop a corkie to his hamstring and he will be sent for a scan.
Coach Ken Hinkley has no plans on resting his players against Collingwood next week, mindful of flirting with form and the bye weekend before finals.
“If someone is in doubt (injury-wise) clearly we wouldn’t take a chance,” he said.
“(But) we don’t look to rest, we’re not that club, we’ve never looked to rest or rotate young, old, whatever, we’ve pretty much tried to reward performance and effort and the boys who get that opportunity will play pretty well next week I hope and protect that opportunity.”
Port Adelaide moved from fifth to fourth favourite for the flag after Saturday’s 50-point win over Essendon and Bombers coach John Worsfold said any talk they weren’t a genuine contender was ridiculous.
“Who comes up with this stuff?” Worsfold said post-match.
“You sit on top of the ladder because you beat the opposition you play every week, this year you’re only playing each team once so the ladder tells a story of how good you are.
“They’re not there (top of the ladder) because they’re fluking it, they’ve worked hard at this for six or seven years, they’ve committed to it and stuck at it, and that’s what I’m saying you’ve got to be prepared to do that.”
Wines hitting the mark in run to finals
Hinkley also had high praise for vice captain Ollie Wines who is in career-best form.
In the past three games Wines has averaged 26.6 disposals, 10.3 contested possessions, and six clearances.
“Trav (Boak) obviously there’s been a lot said about him and Rock’s (Tom Rockliff) been great too, but I just really like recognition for Ollie Wines,” Hinkley said.
“I think he thoroughly deserves the credit he’s been given the last couple of weeks, he’s been in great form and he’s really committed to our footy club.
“I’m just proud of him because everything hasn’t gone perfect for Ol’ and he’s had to fight through the last 18 months or two years but he’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play in the last five or six weeks.”
Two rucks the way to go
And Hinkley said he was sold on playing two ruckmen after Peter Ladhams returned from his Covid ban with good affect alongside Scott Lycett.
“I think by bringing Ladhams in you can be pretty comfortable (in assuming) that we like him coming into the side,” he said.
“With the position they have to play it’s pretty tough and if you look at the competition, having the extra support in that area does help you too.”
Hinkley also said he didn’t mind his players flying the flag for Darcy Byrne-Jones when they remonstrated with Essendon players late in the game, as long as they remained disciplined.
“I thought it triggered our want to keep competing, which I did actually like the fact that when Darc was getting attacked a bit that was good.
“That was a bit of banter in the game from both sides and I liked the way our boys stood up for each other, and in member recognition round for us our fans were pretty happy to see a Port Adelaide team go to fight in a fair way.
“Look after each other, be men together, play properly and be careful.”
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