SACKED podcast: The day Damian Drum gave Sydney Swans coach Ron Barassi a spray

Ron Barassi is the most revered name in Australian rules football, but that didn’t stop Damian Drum unloading on the then-Swans coach. He reveals the astonishing story on SACKED.

Damian Drum reveals the day he sprayed Ron Barassi.

Former Sydney assistant coach Damian Drum has paid tribute to the mad genius of trailblazing Swans coach Ron Barassi despite witnessing his razor-sharp tongue in his pre-match addresses.

Barassi’s sprays directed at his players across his career were legendary as he coached four clubs – Melbourne, North Melbourne, Carlton and then finally Sydney in 1993-1995.

Drum told the Herald Sun’s Sacked instead of being a figurehead brought north for publicity he was integral to Sydney’s list build as he point-blank refused to trade away the welter of young draft selections.

He said he also taught him key lessons in compartmentalisation after quickly moving on after a ferocious verbal encounter between the pair, who mostly got on like a house on fire.

PART ONE: DAMIAN DRUM REVEALS 1989 GRAND FINAL SECRET

PART TWO: DAMIAN DRUM ON ALMOST TAKING OVER AT COLLINGWOOD

Drum believes he owes his senior coaching career to Barassi’s mentoring because he empowered his full-time assistant with taking training while providing invaluable support.

Barassi was seen to have mellowed when he moved north at 57 years of age to coach Sydney but his trademark honesty was never far away.

“Some of the stories about ‘Barrass’ are the best stories of all time because he had this no-bullshit filter,” Drum told the Sacked podcast.

Assistant Sydney Swans AFL coach Damian Drum during training at the SCG in 1998.

“He was incredibly raw. He would rather have an argument than tell a lie.

“There was one game where we were getting ready to run out and he was going through the players and giving them a little gee-up. ‘Plugger, you have to keep moving around a bit more. Paul Kelly, you work hard but you have to work harder. Daryn Cresswell, you have to be tight on your opponent.

“And he gets to Mark Bayes, the most loved player in the team, the laconic centre half back. And he says ‘Bayes, if this team was any f—--- good you wouldn’t be getting a game’. And I was thinking, ‘No, no, no, not just before they run out.’

“He was very harsh because Mark was laconic. He was a good player and much-loved by his teammates. He would drift around the back line and someone would flick him a handball and he would kick it 75m down the ground laces-out.”

Drum pulled Barassi aside as they left the meeting room.

“I said, ‘Bayes is the most loved player in the room and you just told the whole team they are no good before they run out’, and he said, “Well they aren’t’.

“Then the argument gets personal. We get into this horrendous argument (back and forth). ‘You f—--- idiot. What would you know? You think you have done this but you are past it’.”

As they left the rooms Drum was accosted by a reserves players’ uncle, who complained Drum was ruining his nephew’s career.

Barassi stepped in to strongly defend his senior assistant and made clear he was the best thing going for the Sydney reserves side.

Ron Barassi stood up for Damian Drum despite the reserves coach giving him a spray moments before.

Drum: “You stood in front of the aggressive uncle and defended me. I had just spent the last five minutes calling you every name I could think of. He said, ‘But that had nothing to do with that’. He could compartmentalise things and it was the biggest lesson I ever learnt. Don’t let one thing influence something else.”

Drum said the Swans would have been under intense pressure to rise up the ladder but Barassi, one of footy’s most innovative thinkers, knew a youth-led resurgence was Sydney’s only path.

“The emergence of Paul Kelly can’t be understated and he just became the most inspirational captain a club could ever hope for,” Drum said.

“Andrew Dunkley wasn’t a great kick but he became a seriously good full back and guys like Stuart Maxfield and Paul Roos came in. All of a sudden we had a seriously good team because ‘Barassi’ has insisted we take our early draft picks.”