2001: Gloves off over a fight for respect

This opinion piece by The Age’s late columnist Robert Walls was first published on April 21, 2001.

Shane Strempel.Credit: Greg Wood

Much has been spoken and written of the time 10 years ago when I had Shane Strempel put the gloves on at a training session. Let me say, it’s no big secret.

Hundreds of people have known about it and putting the gloves on at the Bears was commonplace back in the early 1990s. Shane, who treated the club and his teammates with a lack of respect, needed to be put in a position of dealing with some controlled aggression.

He needed to know that he had to pay a price for his indiscretions, and he needed to be given an opportunity to earn some respect.

For 10 or 12 minutes, he sparred/boxed five or six different opponents. I stood within five metres of him throughout, ensuring that he was in a safe situation. There were to be no haymakers or round arms.

The Brisbane players had used boxing gloves for several years as part of their training, so they knew right from wrong. For the first seven or eight minutes, Strempel handled himself well. Obviously he tired and for the last five minutes, he copped a few whacks to the face and chest.

Not once did he fall, he wasn’t cut by the large gloves and the only sign of wear and tear, apart from a blood nose, was a fatigued body.

At the end of the session, he walked into the rooms with everyone else. The pats on the back proved he had earned some respect.

Yesterday, I watched a re-enactment of the episode on Robert Dickson’s players’ association documentary video.

It was a glorified version of what happened and did not show the safety aspects or the correct finish.

The eerie foggy night shown in the re-enactment was a far cry from the balmy Queensland evening, and the shadowy figures boxing in the background looked very dramatic. But Dickson has got what he wanted: publicity for his project.

Strempel’s training episode, while tough, was much safer than some of the kamikaze body hits that coaches have ordered over the years.

Sometimes coaches can be caught in a difficult position. The supporters and officials want to see aggressive, full-on players. If a player isn’t that way inclined, can you turn them into on-field demons?

Two players I coached in the 1980s at Carlton, Mil Hanna and Warren McKenzie, were by nature quiet young men. They needed to toughen up to survive on the football field. So I drove them. For years, they endured gut-wrenching tackling, smothering and contesting sessions each Tuesday night. And they did harden up. And they did play in premierships.

Was it worthwhile? You would have to ask them.

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