Glenn McFarlane highlights top 10 instances of coaches in heated exchanges with players
IN the wake of Brad Scott’s run in with Tom Rockliff, GLENN MCFARLANE looks at memorable instances of heated coach-player on-field exchanges.
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NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott stood firm under pressure this week when he refused to apologise or express any regrets over confronting Brisbane’s Tom Rockliff for his verbal spray on Kangaroo Brent Harvey after the final siren last week.
Scott was cleared of any issue by the AFL.
But he’s not the first coach to have a run in over the years with players, and, in one famous case, a rival coach.
1. THE MALTHOUSE-MILNE ROW, 2011
A heated exchange between Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse and St Kilda forward Stephen Milne at quarter-time of a clash at Etihad Stadium became one of football’s biggest stories in 2010. Malthouse was fined $7500, while Milne and Magpie assistant coach Paul Licuria were also fined $3000. All three were found guilty of “engaging in aggressive or threatening conduct” under AFL Player Rule 29.1 as players, officials and coaches exchanged heated words during the break.
2. THE SHEEDY THROAT SLIT, 2000
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy stormed onto the Etihad Stadium field and gave a “throat-slitting” gesture aimed at Eagle Mitchell White as the two sides were heading in for their half-time break. White had had a run-in with Bomber Mark Johnson shortly before the half-time siren had sounded. Sheedy was vocal in his expressions at White and would later claim a “seagull” had flown into Johnson’s eye. He would be fined $7500 by the AFL, but would later meet with and patch up his differences with White.
3. KILLA BLOWS, 1964
North Melbourne coach Alan Killigrew and Geelong ruckman Geoff Rosenow came to blows in a famous fight in the Cats’ players’ race at Kardinia Park. ‘Killa’, as he was known, was placed on a six-month good behaviour bond, while Rosenow — a policeman — also copped the same penalty.
4. THE JONES-JEWELL JOUST, 1980
Imagine two coaches throwing round-arm punches at each other during a final. Couldn’t happen? Well, it did, in the 1980 qualifying final at Waverley. In a few mad seconds at a break in play, Carlton’s Peter ‘Percy’ Jones and Richmond’s Tony Jewell threw a few inaccurate punches before being dragged away by those around them. It was sparked by a few tense passages of play and also the departure of team motivator Dr Rudi Webster from one club to the other over the previous summer.
5. SHEEDY TAKES ON GUBBY; MATTHEWS TAUNTS TD, 1990
In one of the wildest brawls in modern Grand Final memory, the quarter-time brawl in the 1990 Grand Final ranks right up there. In recent years Sheedy, who was coaching Essendon, has admitted he threw a punch at Collingwood football manager Graeme Allan, who would later work with him at Greater Western Sydney. And Magpie coach Leigh Matthews used the half-time break to chide Terry Daniher as the two teams headed to their respective races, saying that the knocked out Gavin Brown would be back out there to get him.
6. CLARKO’S LLOYD LASHING, 2009
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson copped a suspended $5000 fine for his berating of Matthew Lloyd after the Essendon forward had knocked out Brad Sewell during a final round clash at the MCG. Clarkson stalked the boundary after the game and yelled a few insults at Lloyd, saying he should retire rather than face Hawthorn again. Clarkson was found by the AFL to have breached Player Rule 29.1 in acting in a “threatening or aggressive manner towards Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd as he was leaving the field”. Current AFL football operations manager Mark Evans was then at Hawthorn, and managed to drag the coach away. And Clarko got into more hot water in 2013 when he abused two Port Melbourne players when he was watching a Box Hill Hawks game.
7 . BARASSI-TUDDY WRESTLE, 1973
An otherwise mundane clash between North Melbourne and Essendon at Arden Street turned into a clash between two coaches just after the quarter-time break. Kangaroos coach Ron Barassi was walked off the ground after his address when he came across Essendon’s captain-coach Des Tuddenham was headed back to his position. As the Herald described it: “They argued, pushed each other and struggled ... players from both sides rushed in as the two grappled.” Barassi later recalled: “Tuddy got to within of me and I verbally gave it to him. He kept coming at me and ended up tearing a button off my blazer.”
8. THE WALLS-MERRETT INCIDENT, 1983
Fitzroy coach Robert Walls gave Essendon big man Roger Merrett one of the biggest verbal sprays at half-time of the 1983 first semi-final. Merrett had ironed out Lion Leon Harris during the second term, which infuriated Walls. As one newspaper saw it: “Walls ... let his thoughts be known strongly as he walked towards the race alongside a mob of Essendon players and officials. The subsequent jostling bout involving players, officials, police and even a photographer was a blight on an otherwise superb exhibition of finals football.” A furious Walls also threw a walkie-talkie at North Melbourne coach John Kennedy at the infamous Battle of Britain in London in 1987.
9. BARASSI AND ZANTUCK’S BLOW-UP, 1984
This was a case of a coach and one of his own players having a heated, fiery exchange following a three-quarter-time huddle. Ron Barassi had singled out Shane Zantuck, among others, for not looking the Melbourne coach in the eye during a spray. Zantuck took exception as he walked away from the huddle, and had to be dragged away by his teammates. Barassi looked back at him, furious with the response.
10. SHELDON’S DEVONPORT INCIDENT, 1992
This Queen’s Birthday clash between St Kilda and Collingwood will be remembered for Saints coach Ken Sheldon running down to the boundary line to have a heated exchange with one of his player Craig Devonport. Sheldon has long maintained it looked worse than it actually was. Whatever happened, it had the desired result with Devonport kicking the winning goal as the Saints won a classic match by one point.
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