Heroes and heartbreak: 25 footy storylines that defined 2018
There was a time when Nathan Buckley was viewed as an intense individual whose my-way-or-the-highway determination wasn’t always good for the team — He smashed that perception to smithereens in 2018.
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2018 was another year of footy fairytales.
Collingwood couldn’t quite pull off a premiership to match the Western Bulldogs and Richmond, but West Coast’s triumph was no less remarkable. And the Magpies’ year was full of remarkable drama, from Jordan De Goey’s redemption to the “USA USA USA” chant that reverberated around the MCG during the preliminary final.
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There were some heartwarming moments, more than enough heartbreaking ones, and an unusually high dose of incredible goals, trades and fabulous finishes.
Then there was the unexpected emergence of teenager Jack Higgins’ as the AFL’s new leading motivational speaker.
Recap the biggest moments of an incredible 12 months below.
1. SHEED THE SHARPSHOOTER
Has there ever been a more important transition of play in the history of VFL-AFL Grand Finals? As the clock ticked down on the 2018 decider, Jeremy McGovern dragged down a towering mark in defence and split the middle with a precise kick to Nathan Vardy. His kick into attack was found a leaping Liam Ryan, who played on immediately. The kick forward was marked by Dom Sheed, having been shepherded by Willie Rioli. Sheed’s goal from a pinpoint angle was one for the ages and helped deliver West Coast’s fourth flag.
2. THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATHAN BUCKLEY
There was a time when Nathan Buckley was viewed as an intense individual whose my-way-or-the-highway determination wasn’t always good for the team. He smashed that perception to smithereens in 2018. From his care for his players, public affection for his sons, use of an ancient Japanese philosophy Kintsugi, consoling of a cheer squad member when the Grand Final banner broke and of runner Alex Woodward, it was classy stuff from Buckley and it almost delivered a flag.
3. GAFF THAT SHOCKED THE FOOTY WORLD
The most controversial on-field moment came in a Round 20 Western Derby when, in a moment of madness, Eagle Andrew Gaff lashed out and struck teenage Docker Andrew Brayshaw. Brayshaw suffered a fractured jaw, had four displaced teeth and was eating through a straw for weeks. Gaff was condemned and banned for eight matches, which ultimately cost him a place in West Coast’s premiership side. The Brayshaw family showed great restraint when others wouldn’t have. Ultimately, that moment played a role in convincing Gaff — who was being courted by North Melbourne as a free agent — to stay with West Coast and start to rebuild his reputation.
4. A COLLECTIVE DISASTER
Few Grand Final runners-up have crashed as heavily the following year as Adelaide did so spectacularly in 2018. And it wasn’t hard to find the reason why. As much as the Crows denied it throughout most of their lamentable season, a preseason cult-like camp (as many called it) divided the football club. The methods of the camp, run in conjunction with Collective Minds, a “mind performance” company, angered some of the players. The fallout saw the Crows end to their deal with Collective Minds and acknowledge their mistakes, as the team crashed to 12th on the ladder.
5. STATE OF THE GAME
It was the season-long debate that threatened to bring revolutionary changes to the game. The AFL Competition Committee delved into possible remedies to make footy more attractive and to increase scoring. Trials were held at clubs and in the VFL, but Gillon McLachlan backed away from talk of in-game trials in some AFL matches. The most controversial proposal — extending the goal square to 18m — was thankfully shelved, as we saw more free-flowing football in the second half of the season. In all, nine rule and interpretation changes were made, including starting positions for centre bounces, the scrapping of the hands-in-the-back rule and revamped rules for kick-ins.
6. SNOW SEASON OVER
Having not played finals since 2006 — when John Howard (remember him?) was still Prime Minister — the Demons finally burst through to the 2018 finals. It didn’t end the way fans wanted it to, thanks to the all-powerful Eagles, but finals victories over Geelong and Hawthorn will give Simon Goodwin and his team plenty of confidence heading into 2019. Melbourne has endured so much recent pain, and 2018 went part of the way towards the redemption that has been long sought.
7. THE LYNCH MOB
Every club in the AFL coveted Tom Lynch throughout the 2018 season, but the Gold Coast co-captain always seemed destined to end up at Punt Rd. It was one of the ongoing stories of 2018. Richmond, Collingwood and Hawthorn were the most interested suitors, and the drama turned almost farcical when news crews captured Magpies list manager Ned Guy visiting Lynch’s family at Blairgowrie. But the Tigers won out — as most long suspected — as the club looks to revamp its forward line in 2019.
8. RIOLI RETIRES
Even though there had been speculation that it might happen long before it did, nothing quite prepared Hawthorn fans — or footy fans in general — for the premature retirement of Cyril Rioli. A four-time premiership player, a forward who helped change the game with his pressure and his ability to influence the contest without always having to hit the stats sheet, the Hawks star carried on a great family tradition. In the end, it was family, and a desire to be closer to them in the Top End, that brought about his decision to quit the game in July after 189 games and 275 goals.
9. FOR MAGGIE
One of the most emotional moments of the season came when a grieving Travis Varcoe kicked a goal in the qualifying final against West Coast in Perth, not long after his sister Maggie passed away following a tragic football accident. Every Collingwood player rushed to him to share the moment they knew meant so much to him. He backed it up with the first goal of the Grand Final.
10. GAZZA’S SECOND COMING; KELLY GETS HIS CHANCE
Gary Ablett’s return to Geelong was one of the compelling stories of the season. The “holy trinity” of Ablett, Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield didn’t deliver a flag — or even a finals win — but maybe the fairytale finish isn’t done yet. His trademark goal and 39 disposals in Round 1 brought the house down. Ablett didn’t quite have the impact that he wanted, but Geelong found a diamond in mature-aged recruit Tim Kelly. Kelly had a brilliant debut season, but was desperate to return home to WA for family reasons. A trade couldn’t be resolved, so he will remain a Cat in 2019.
11. AMERICAN PIE
In a year in which big men reasserted themselves as powerful forces again (Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy, take a bow), it was the preliminary final performance of a 211cm Texan that had AFL recruiting officers renewing their passports. Mason Cox took eight contested marks and ruled the air in a stunning game against Richmond.
12. DE GOEY’S FIGHTBACK
He started the year with a drink driving offence that saw him banished for a time and threatened his position at the club. He ended up with a new contract and as one of the most watched and dynamic players in the competition. Jordan De Goey and his return to favour at Collingwood was one of the redemption stories of the year. Now he needs to back it up.
13. ROBBO’S COLLAPSE
St Kilda defender Dylan Roberton’s collapse at Geelong had teammates fearing the worst and fans watching in serious concern. While Roberton did not make it back to playing this year — he is on track for a 2019 return — his comeback to training one day at Moorabbin was greeted with the biggest roar imaginable from a group of players on the training track. Just imagine what it will be like when he plays his next game of AFL footy.
14. BEAMS’ BIG YEAR
Dayne Beams shone a light on the emotional struggles and the mental health issues players endure when he spoke about the loss of his father. His powerful message and bravery in speaking publicly about his demons resonated with the community in a way that has filtered down to the lower levels of the sport. He gave up the Lions captaincy as he dealt with his issues, but still played good football. By season’s end, he had sought a return to his former club Collingwood, after earlier delivering an emotional speech at the Lions best-and-fairest. A trade was finalised and he will be back in black and white next year.
15. TRADE FRENZY
Beams wasn’t the only one who switched clubs during what turned out to a bumper trade period. Lachie Neale, Chad Wingard, Ryan Burton, Jesse Hogan, Rory Lobb, Steven May, Kade Kolodjashnij, Jack Hombsch and Sam Mayes all found new clubs in a series of interconnected deals, as Hawthorn, Melbourne, Fremantle, Gold Coast, Brisbane, GWS and Port Adelaide had to work to find the right outcomes. And in separate deals Tom Scully found himself at Hawthorn, while Dylan Shiel chose Essendon above Carlton and St Kilda.
16. THE LATE GOALS
It seems fitting that in a year that ended with a stunning late goal from Dom Sheed, we’ve had some classic last-minute and after-the-siren goals that turned the fortunes of matches. There was Jeremy McGovern’s matchwinner against Port Adelaide in Round 21; Steven Motlop’s miracle Showdown goal with 21 seconds left in Round 8; and Zach Tuohy’s cool goal after the buzzer that beat the Demons in Round 18. Then, there were the misses. Max Gawn’s shot in Round 1, Harry Taylor in Round 15 and Cam Rayner in Round 5.
17. THE COMEBACK
Sydney’s Alex Johnson was almost a permanent fixture in the rehab rooms for the best part of six seasons, before making one of the season’s most emotional comebacks. The Round 20 match against Collingwood marked 2136 days since his previous game, the 2012 Grand Final, with five knee reconstructions and 12 knee operations in between. Johnson had 15 disposals as the Swans won narrowly.
18. THE COMEBACK ENDS
Footy can be a cruel game. Just a week after emotional high of his return, Johnson landed awkwardly as he chased Melbourne’s Jesse Hogan, suffering yet another serious knee injury. Just as he had got his footy career back, it was taken away from him again. The footy world rallied around him as he had his sixth reconstruction. Sadly, the Swans cut him from their list at the end of the season.
19. DOUBLE TROUBLE
There was more heartache for West Coast’s Nic Naitanui and Carlton’s Sam Docherty as both players suffered back-to-back knee injuries. Nic Nat went down in Round 17 in the game against Collingwood, and it looked at that time as if the Eagles’ flag hopes crashed with him. Docherty spent 2018 on the sidelines — and in a part coaching role — after his training mishap last November. Cruelly, he had to endured a similar fate when his knee gave way in a routine training drill in December, meaning the new co-captain will almost certainly miss all of next year.
20. HEAVY MEDAL
Tom Mitchell had more of the ball in 2018 than any footballer before him, and rightly won football’s highest honour, the Brownlow Medal. The possession machine had a record 848 disposals from 24 games and a record 54 touches in a game in the Round 1 clash against Collingwood. Extraordinary.
21. MIRACLE RETURN
Tyson Goldsack’s season — and potentially his career — seemed over when he suffered an ACL injury during a pre-season game. But the veteran refused to give in to his body. Convincing the medical staff he was ready to go, the veteran made a miraculous comeback for the Magpies’ first final, and he played an important role in all four finals.
22. SNAGS GALORE
Has there been a more refreshing addition to the AFL ranks in recent years than Richmond’s excitable teenager Jack Higgins? His honesty, self-confessed love of kicking “snags”, and freakish ability to nail the goal of the year out of nothing against Collingwood endeared him to not only Tigers supporters. As he raced over the goal line in Round 19, he had the good sense to drop the ball (or throw it?) back into play before scissor-kicking through the sticks. Dustin Martin’s sublime boundary line goal in the qualifying final deserves a mention too.
23. GENERATION NEXT
The five clubs who overlooked Jaidyn Stephenson in last year’s national draft would have had cause for throwing something at the TV when the Collingwood teenager bagged five goals in his fourth game against Adelaide this year. By season’s end, a few of them may have been cursing themselves even more as the lightning quick, highly-skilled young talent won the Rising Star and played all 26 of the Magpies’ games.
24. RONKE’S RIOT
Ben Ronke will never forget his third AFL game. Neither will anyone who saw it. The unheralded Swan — well, he was unheralded then — kicked a matchwinning seven goals to help sink Hawthorn in one of the most stunning individual performances of the season. The 20-year-old rookie kicked his team’s first five goals then nailed the sealer with one minute left.
25. MORE THAN GAME
For all the divisions that football can sometimes display, we get many other moments that bring people together in trying times. We saw it throughout 2018. Gary Rohan, Rory Sloane and Taylor Walker, and their wives, endured unimaginable heartache, but found great support from the AFL community. Rohan and wife Amie lost one of their newborn twins, Willow, to a rare disease only hours after her birth. When Gary cradled his other twin, Bella, as he ran out of his 100th game against North Melbourne soon after, there was barely a dry eye in the SCG. Then there was the support Port Adelaide’s Todd Marshall received. Having lost his mother to cancer late last year, he endured a double blow when his father passed away suddenly in April. In his first game back the Port Adelaide crowd staged a minute’s applause at the 13-minute-mark, the same number as Marshall’s jumper. Making it even more special was Bulldog Hayden Crozier, who embraced him midgame.
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