Jeff Kennett: ScoMo must make the most of this Giant moment
Greater Western Sydney Giants have made the most of their opportunities to reach the Grand Final. Now our government should show the same resolve to become a major player in our region, writes Jeff Kennett.
Opinion
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As he soaks up the flattery and praise from our friends in the United States of America, surely when he gets away from the limelight, Scott Morrison must be thinking: “How good are those Giants?”
Unseen, unheralded, quietly going about their work, they are also driven, ambitious, confident and composed on and off the field.
The Giants have reached the biggest stage, the Grand Final, with a desperate and pulsating performance last Saturday, holding on when others could have buckled.
ScoMo knows all about that kind of commitment. He lived it during the election campaign and still does today.
On Saturday we won’t hear the guttural roar from the fans of the two biggest AFL teams and century-old rivals, Collingwood and Richmond.
But we will hear a roar of expectation and hope. Richmond, of course, will be strong favourites with the pundits and those TV bookies who are constantly spruiking the odds.
Richmond fans will be driven by their love of the mighty yellow and black. They will be passionate and relentless, just like their coach, Damien Hardwick.
And here’s an interesting footnote: whoever emerges triumphant on Saturday — Dimma’s Tigers or Leon Cameron’s Giants — both coaches will have worked under the master, Hawthorn’s Alistair Clarkson. In fact every premiership coach for the past seven years has been either Clarkson himself or one of his former assistants: Luke Beveridge at the Bulldogs, Hardwick at Richmond and Adam Simpson at the West Coast Eagles.
Saturday will make it the past eight coaches. I may be biased but it says something about the discipline, culture and KPIs of my mighty Hawks.
Clarkson has been an AFL innovator who has constantly pursued improvement in every aspect of the game. He is a role model, a man constantly seeking to improve his knowledge and skills.
Clarkson leaves nothing to chance and he leads in a style that brings people along with him. He sits easily with other greats of the club like John Kennedy and Allan Jeans as a Hawthorn legend.
But this Saturday a new era begins. After only eight years as an AFL team, the Giants have reached a Grand Final. They came from nothing, winning only three games in their first two seasons and acquiring consecutive wooden spoons. They were led initially by other giants: Essendon premiership coach Kevin Sheedy and, behind the scenes, they were under the guidance of businessman extraordinaire,
Tony Shepherd.
Tony is an old mate and confidante of mine. This week, whatever happens on Saturday, he has bragging rights and they are well deserved. The Giants would not be there without his steady hand and wisdom.
I believe the Giants could be seen as a metaphor for Australia. We are a thriving, prosperous nation with so much to give and to gain. We punch well above our weight. We are envied. Like the Giants we are young, eager and energetic. It’s our time.
That means Morrison and his team have plenty to work with and it’s time for big ideals and big ideas.
We are a drought-ravaged continent. The greatest security issue we face is not from foreign places or people but a lack of water. We cannot grow as a nation or survive without it. It is the biggest long-term issue we face and “trickle down” economics will not deliver the broad vision we need from our government, a vision that will give us the national water and agriculture policy we need.
It’s not about the Murray River. It’s about harnessing the flooded plains and northern water.
Other nations have acted while we prevaricate. It won’t be on ScoMo’s mind on Saturday, but it should be on Sunday.
Saturday’s Grand Final will be a great day whatever the result and it will change lives, even though it’s only a game of football.
Imagine what we could do as a nation if we could harness even a fraction of the passion we give our teams and direct it to a vision for the nation, one that embraces water and agriculture.
We are starting decades behind our competitors such as Israel, New Zealand and the US; but with the kind of focus shown by GWS, we might still become a major player in our region.
Go GWS! Go Australia!
I SAID some months ago I would wait until the changes to the Punt Rd-Swan St intersection were completed and had settled in before I passed a judgment.
Well, here’s that judgment: I give the project one out of 10.
It is a disaster! At any one time there are more than four vehicles coming from any direction.
Turning right out of Brunton Ave slowed down to a crawl as invariably the right lane in Punt Rd is blocked; vehicles going in and out of the city along Swan St have been reduced to one lane; Olympic Bvd, which runs east-west from the Swan St Bridge to Swan St is a chaos of traffic lights which can take up to 20 minutes to negotiate.
Right turns from Olympic Bvd into Punt Rd have been banned and drivers wanting to get onto Punt Rd must now travel over it until they can turn right, come back to Punt Rd to turn left and continue their journey.
Whoever designed this nightmare must have done it remotely — with their eyes closed — from somewhere like Darwin. It seems to me they have a grudge against Melburnians.
Perhaps this is all part of a plan to employ frustration to stop us using our roads.
Have a good day.
Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria and president of Hawthorn Football club.