Richmond president Peggy O’Neal on Dusty’s text messages, watching from home and how the Tigers have learnt in a tough year
Peggy O’Neal won’t be there to watch in-person on grand final day but she’s still expecting a text from Dusty. The Richmond president opens up on staying connected, what another Tigers flag will mean and the ‘unfortunate’ late-night strip club incident.
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Peggy O’Neal is expecting a text message from Dustin Martin on Saturday.
She doesn’t know what time it will lob on her mobile, but she has a fair idea what it will say.
“We’re going to win.”
This is the first time in the past four years that the Richmond president will not be sitting ringside to watch her beloved Tigers slug it out for footy’s greatest prize.
Instead, she will be sat at home cheering on her team against Geelong at The Gabba through the TV.
O’Neal - who received a FaceTime call from a jubilant coach Damien Hardwick after their preliminary final win over Port Adelaide - recently revealed that Martin typically sends a text before games.
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“It’s just part of the game-day ritual or something, which always makes me feel better,” she laughed.
“I usually hear from, if it’s not him, one of the players. Sometimes I’ll talk to (CEO) Brendon (Gale) and I talk to Brendon right after the game.
“I’ve been watching it on television all the time.”
The American-born president, who lives in the heart of Richmond and fell in love with the game and club in the early ’90s, will miss the buzz and “colours” of walking to the MCG.
“I’ll be watching at home, like most of Tigerland will be watching from home this year. That’s just the way the circumstances are,” she said.
O’Neal has backed her boys to have learned lessons from the toughest of years, including allegations of players groping one another during the team song and youngsters Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones being sent home after becoming embroiled in an altercation outside a Surfers Paradise strip club at 3am.
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She called it “unfortunate” and “disappointing” and said under the circumstances, “it would not be a surprise if there weren’t problems from time to time” but “the measure is you’ve got to deal with it and get on”.
“What it is, is an opportunity to learn a lesson,” the president said.
“The measure is what you do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again and when they talk about culture, the culture is ‘the way we do things around here’.
“And we don’t do things like that around here. And what you do now to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
“It was unfortunate, disappointing, all of those things. Everybody rallied, and we now find ourselves playing in another Grand Final, and I think that’s a huge testimony to how hard people worked and how much they wanted to be standing at this time of the year.”
O’Neal said how the team had responded since ultimately said the most.
“Any premiership is satisfying, because that’s what you play for – to reach that ultimate,” she said.
“But in the circumstance where people have had to move interstate, people have sacrificed families back here and in other parts of the country, when people have had to live in really unusual circumstances in hubs in Queensland and South Australia just to get the season underway, the football frenzy … everybody was willing to do what they needed to do to make it work, from the players, administration, coaches.
“Because everybody had to agree that it was worth doing, and that we would apply ourselves to do it.”
O’Neal was also full of praise for the club’s ceo and coach.
“The leadership of Brendon and Damien (Hardwick) cannot be underestimated, the way that they’ve developed a very inclusive workplace with really good people to do their expertise really well,” she said.
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Cats families’ epic quarantine Grand Final mission
- Nick Wade
Maree Selwood wasn’t going to miss the chance to see son Joel strive for the coveted title of premiership captain.
Even if it meant going via Darwin to get around Queensland’s hard border.
The parents of four Geelong Cats players have made their way into Queensland for Saturday night’s Grand Final after rolling the dice with Darwin quarantine.
Eight Cats family members spent 14 days together in quarantine at the Howard Springs facility, about 30km out of Darwin, before arriving in Brisbane last week.
Joining Bryce and Maree Selwood in the camp-style set-up were Patrick Dangerfield’s parents Janette and John; Cam Guthrie’s parents Suzanne and Andrew, and brother Ben; and Sam Menegola’s mum Di.
The travel party left the day before the finals series started on a leap of faith.
Mrs Selwood said it was a gamble she and Bryce were willing to take.
“Joel works so hard,” Mrs Selwood said.
“He puts his heart and soul into it every game and (a premiership) would be just amazing, really amazing.”
The Darwin diversion was their only way into Brisbane given the hard border closure for Victorians seeking to enter Queensland.
Mrs Selwood did her research about quarantining and put the call-out to fellow Cats parents, which the Dangerfields, Guthries and Menegolas took up.
They arrived in Darwin on September 30 – a day before Geelong’s qualifying final against Port Adelaide – and were immediate whisked away by bus for the 25-minute drive to the quarantine facility.
The camp set-up allowed them more freedoms of normal hotel quarantine, such as being able to get outside for fresh air and mingle with others in their section.
The Geelong families were grouped in one block.
They endured the loss to Port Adelaide but rejoiced in the win over Collingwood the following week.
It was an inclusive vibe: when the Cats played, they were able to sit outside and turn their TVs around to experience the match together.
Each guest had to pay $2500, everyone had their own air-conditioned room and all meals were provided.
Masks were compulsory beyond the verandah and they were required to take two COVID-19 tests.
“It turned out OK,” Mrs Selwood said.
“For something out of a bad situation, it was the best way to do it.”
It meant for a nervous night when the Cats played the Pies, but John Dangerfield always had faith.
“I think Geelong were always confident they could get the job done in that second week, that gave us confidence as well,” he said.
“Plus the quarantine was much better than I could have imagined.”
The families were out in time to watch Geelong qualify for the Grand Final by beating Brisbane at the Gabba last weekend.
“We said when we were coming up that if it didn’t work out, then at least we’ll have a holiday in Brisbane,” Mrs Selwood said.
“We were going to China in May – that was going to be our holiday this year – and that never happened, so it was a no-brainer. We just put that money into doing quarantine for two weeks,” Mrs Selwood said.
The wives, partners and children of most players are already in Queensland after the AFL ran large-scale quarantine hubs in August and September.
Clashing work commitments meant Bryce nearly didn’t come, before some Father’s Day persuasion from youngest son Scott convinced him it was worth the gamble.
Scott, currently working with Collingwood, has remained in Queensland after his Magpies commitments were finished for the season.