Phil Walsh death left Mark Williams shattered, but their family ties live on
Cy Walsh was found to have been mentally incompetent when he killed his father, then Adelaide coach Phil in 2015. While he remains shattered by his friend’s death, Mark Williams finds solace in his son’s visits to Cy’s psychiatric facility.
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Mark Williams remains shattered by the death of his great mate Phil Walsh, but finds solace in the fact one of his sons regularly visits Walsh’s son in an Adelaide psychiatric facility.
Cy Walsh was found to have been mentally incompetent when he stabbed and killed his father Phil in 2015.
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Williams will never forget the early-morning July phone call that delivered the shocking news — one of the most tragic moments in the game’s history.
“I was in bed, I was rang at 7 o’clock in the morning by Chad Cornes,” Williams told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast. “Yeah, it was tough.”
“I have a beautiful photo of Cy and my oldest son … (they) are about the same age.
“You look at them, and my son ends up being a criminal lawyer … my son goes and visits Cy now, which Meredith (Walsh’s wife) loves.
“It’s such a terrible thing, and for Meredith and Quinn (Walsh’s daughter) it is a heartbreak every day.”
Williams’ connection with Walsh started in 1983 when the pair were teammates for a season at Collingwood before they teamed up later at Brisbane.
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He never figured Walsh would end up as a senior AFL coach, even when he coaxed him to across to Adelaide to become a Port Adelaide assistant coach.
“I honestly couldn’t see senior coach in Phil because he was very polarising with opinion,” Williams said.
“He would much rather look at stats and vision and all that stuff than be front of page and working with and manage people.”
“To his credit, he was a genius. And could do whatever he set his mind to.
“He learnt along the way. He could work with one or two players — with Chad and Kane Cornes — and he had them in the palm of his hands.
“He could manage the media brilliantly, and certainly (the same) when it came to game plan and strategy and planning.
“He was an innovation manager and we would send him overseas and he would come back with stuff that was always interesting.”
Williams was “honoured” to be deliver a eulogy at Walsh’s public funeral, but such was his grief it had to be a video tribute.
“I went to the private funeral the day before … that was the funeral that I was at,” he said.
“The public one … I just couldn’t bury my mate twice. That’s why I had that video.”
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