Robbo: There’s been a history of bad blood between Essendon and North Melbourne
Once the fiercest rivalry in the game, the spark around clashes between North Melbourne and Essendon had dimmed with the two clubs’ lack of success. But it’s back — and set to explode at Marvel Stadium Mark Robinson writes.
Mark Robinson
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It was a memorable for many reasons.
North Melbourne under coach Denis Pagan had beaten up Kevin Sheedy’s Essendon for several years, the most infamous moment coming when Micky Martyn dragged James Hird for 20m by the collar inside the Essendon forward line.
That was in Round 14, 1998, and an infuriated Sheedy declared post-match: “That will never happen again at this football club.”
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They were a fearsome mob, these Kangaroos.
Former player Dean Laidley said this week the '96 Kangaroos premiership team was the toughest team he had played in.
“There was skill among each other, but gee it was tough,” he said.
Dustin Fletcher vividly recalls the Martyn-Hird incident.
“Sheeds made us watch it over and over,” Fletcher said.
“I remember that one as clear as day.”
If Essendon were ever going top the Kangas, they had to be tougher and more willing than their opponents.
The next year, in Round 17, 1999, Sheedy had a barbarous plan: “Let’s go after Wayne Carey like North Melbourne went after Hird.”
Legend has it Sheedy summonsed his attack dogs in Dean Wallis, Dean Solomon, Paul Barnard and Barry Young and told them to harass Carey.
To push and bump and get it in the face of the champ. It did and didn't work.
The Bombers won by 26 points. But Carey kicked 10.5.
Sheedy said post-match they wouldn’t be poking that bear again.
Fast forward 20 years and the Kangaroos can lay claim to be the toughest teams in the competition once more.
Herald Sun colleague Mick McGuane asked if the Bombers could match that aggression — or at least deal with it — at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
Dermott Brereton says it will be a hell of a task.
“They are incredibly tough, they play to their strengths, they are just brutal,” he said of Rhyce Shaw’s team.
“Jack Ziebell has gone back to playing real brutal footy.
“When he ran into Hunter Clark last week, he knew exactly what he was doing. He went over the line of the ball to take Clark with him. He did it legally, but his No.1 objective was to put punishment on the St Kilda body opposite him.
“He made a choice to play brutal footy.”
Like everyone, Brereton is impressed with Shaw. He says Shaw coaches an effective “simplistic style”.
“They play the narrow side of the ground predominantly, they’ll always kick to the loose man if they can, they will centre up and take it through the corridor if they can, but they are low-risk, high-intensity at the contest.
“To be blunt about it, their best players are those players who create trauma, Cunnington and Ziebell.”
Brereton listed Jed Anderson, Cameron Zurhaar, Trent Dumont, Marley Williams, Scotty Thompson and Luke McDonald as liking to “ping in”.
“Last week, even Mason Wood levelled a player in a tackle,” he said.
“That reminded me of Jarryd Roughead on Dan Hannebery in that Grand Final, same sort of tackle. Now, when has Mason Wood ever, ever decided to tackle like that?”
Essendon and North Melbourne don’t like each other.
So much so, there’s some people at North Melbourne who refuse to say the word Essendon?
They call them “the other team”.
The disdain from the working-class suburb of North Melbourne for the well-to-do who lived up Mount Alexander Rd has long resided in North Melbourne’s heritage.
In 1896, the Bombers had North Melbourne excluded from the new competition, the VFL, successfully arguing two teams weren’t needed from the inner north-west corridor.
The Kangas were eventually admitted in 1925.
As neighbours, it wasn’t very neighbourly from the Bombers.
People outside of North Melbourne probably don't care about the club’s hatred of Essendon, and that’s because they’re not North Melbourne people.
The same people probably don't care about the “Shinboner” spirit either, and that’s because they don’t understand it.
In the brief period under Shaw, the Shinboner attitude is very much alive and flourishing.
He’s unlocked the spirit underpinning performance and it’s why, when John Longmire rejects North’s overtures to coach the team in 2020, which is widely anticipated, Shaw will be installed as the full-time senior coach.
He gets it Rhyce, or has one insider said this week, has the Shinboner spirit got him?
Whatever the case, it's becoming increasingly likely there won't be a “process” to look a for new coach.
Because the new coach is already there.
“They have all grown a leg under Rhyce Shaw,” Brereton said.
“He's done nothing wrong.”
He says there’s style, strategy and toughness in football.
“You need toughness,” he said.
“Ability is king, your ability to play the game is king, but when there’s two players with the same ability, which one wins the contest? The tougher, the harder, the nastier, the one who creates more carnage for his team.
“There are very few premiership teams ever that you look at and say, they were softish.”
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Essendon is ninth on the ladder with 32 points and North Melbourne is 10th with 28 points.
The Bombers have won the past three matches against the Kangaroos by 58, 17 and 27 points, their speed a telling factor.
Operation Wayne Carey 20 years ago might be supplanted by Operation Half-back, with North sure to put energy into Adam Saad and Conor McKenna, and bodies into Zach Merrett, Andy McGrath and Dylan Shiel.
Essendon's confidence has grown after two gritty wins over Greater Western Sydney and Sydney in their past two matches.
“You’d have to say North are favourites today,” Fletcher said.
“Essendon has been winning, they haven't been great games, but they have been great wins. They’ve been tight and they've been reasonably tough.
“There's no doubt this is a big one for the Bombers.”
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