‘We can’t lose a Tiger’: Michael ‘Disco’ Roach on the mend after triple bypass surgery

What started as a small chest pain ended in surgery for Tiger legend Michael Roach. He’s now doing fine, but it’s Disco’s hope his story prompts others to get heart checks.

Courtesy of a leap that could take him into the MCG stratosphere, Michael “Disco” Roach became accustomed to headlines back in his 1980s halcyon days with Richmond.

But seeing yourself on the front page of the evening Herald taking a skyscraper was a vastly different experience than lying in an Epworth Hospital bed in February, watching the 6pm Channel 7 news proclaim “Tiger legend Michael Roach is fighting for his life”.

At the time the 64-year-old wasn’t actually “fighting for his life” after successful triple bypass surgery four days earlier, but in an eerie twist of fate the Channel 7 prediction came true within an hour of it being put to air.

Roach, the kid from Longford in Tasmania who booted 112 goals in his club’s 1980 premiership season, started to worry when he noticed his surgeon and friend Martin Hiscock quietly conferring with a group of eight or nine in the corner of his room.

Michael Roach flies high over Phil Maylin in 1982.

Michael Roach’s epic and now legendary 1979 mark.

“My son Tom was sitting in the room and he had been rung earlier by Channel 7. I had said to him ‘play it low key Tom’ but their report went to air saying I was fighting for my life, which I wasn’t,” explained Roach this week.

“But not long afterwards I was. Martin Hiscock came in and was whispering to a group, which prompted me to say ‘Tommy, I’m in trouble here’ because the only other time I had seen a group of people looking away and whispering was when Tony Jewell dropped me at Richmond in 1986. Nobody wants to make too much eye contact with you.

“The next thing Martin Hiscock said ‘we need him downstairs in 20 minutes’ so they could stop the blood clots from moving in my lungs. Martin explained my vital signs were looking very ordinary, my blood pressure had dropped and my heartbeat was off the charts. Then he said ‘we can’t lose a Tiger’ which I will never forget (Hiscock is a passionate Richmond supporter).

Hiscock was good to his word, the pair five weeks later going to Round 1 to cheer on the Tigers against Richmond, with Roach walking into the MCG very close to his playing weight of 100kg from when he retired in 1989 after 200 games and 607 goals. He won two Coleman medals (1980-81) and seven Richmond goalkicking awards, with the Tiger goal award being named after him but Roach remains a very grounded and modest person.

Richmond players with the premiership cup after the 1980 Grand Final.

Hence his initial reluctance to participate in this interview, the tipping point being his story might prompt someone else to get a check-up which could save their life. His warning came just prior to Christmas last year when he was labouring up Anderson Street in a regular Friday walk around The Tan with mates.

He commented breathlessly to his friend Steve Pirrie that he had some soreness in his right shoulder, with Pirrie telling him to get it checked out: “My parents are both alive in their middle to late 80s with no heart history and I had a CT Scan five years earlier that highlighted no worrying signs,” said Roach.

Six weeks later he completed a bike ride and on arrival home started watering some plants before pain arrived in the middle of his chest. Roach reached for a can of coke in the fridge thinking a burp would relieve the pain, and when that didn’t work he tried some Eno. He explained his plight to wife Kerri who observed he was out of colour.

Michael Roach with wife Kerri and son Thomas. It was Kerri who noticed Roach was looking poorly, sending him to Epworth emergency.

“So I walked out my backdoor and into Epworth emergency which is next door. They did a blood test and discovered I’d had a little heart attack, which led me to think I’d had a warning. So Martin Hiscock said ‘Disco’ we’ll go in and probably find a blockage and put a stent in.

“After what seemed like just a minute he said I can’t do this, you have six blockages and as such this is a job for my wife (Professor Silvana Marasco). On the Thursday I had a triple bypass and woke up to find out everything had gone smoothly. That was until Monday when I was in Atrial Fibrillation which often occurs after open heart surgery. And that’s when the fun started with the blood clots.”

Roach was then in ICU for a week and hospital for a few more days before walking home and beginning his recovery, something that has progressed positively two months on.

He remains popular with his Tiger teammates, Brian Taylor being one of the first in to see him after surgery. Roach smiles when he thinks of their friendship given the pair had gone head to head for the full forward position between 1981-84.

Roach with all the footy jumpers for the clubs he has played for. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We have always been mates despite being rivals, and the reality is we both best suited to full forward, Brian should have been a full forward in his own right all of his career. In 1982 Mark Lee broke his thumb so they put me in the ruck where I thought I was going OK until I came up against Simon Madden and Mike Fitzpatrick.”

Like Taylor from WA, Roach was an interstate teenage prodigy who by age 16 had nine of the 12 VFL clubs chasing his signature. After playing a good game for the Longford seniors in a final, a South Melbourne official arrived at the family home with a brown paper bag containing $7000 and a number 10 jumper (the number Bob Pratt had worn for the club when kicking 150 goals in 1934).

MICHAEL ROACH ON

That mark: My mum (Betty) missed it because she had a headache and had left her seat for a few minutes. When she returned dad (Terry) said “young Michael took quite a nice mark’, Mum was really upset. On the way to my home after the game mum went into a milk bar and came out beaming with three papers where the mark was on the front page.

Pay to watch: Wayne Carey. He is the one player I have gone to the MCG just to watch. When he played well North never lost. Gary Ablett Sr was more brilliant but Geelong could lose, even when he kicked 14 goals. You know what, Jack Riewoldt has been a great player, winning his club goalkicking 11 times. How many players better that (Gordon Coventry 16, Matthew Richardson 13, Jason Dunstall, Matthew Lloyd and Bill Mohr all 12).

Hardest opponents: Geoff Southby could do everything I could do but do it better. Geelong’s Gary Malarkey is extremely underrated. He was much shorter than me but he was smart, blocking my run or pushing me under the ball. I think Malarkey suffers because Geelong didn’t win a flag in his time. And I never enjoyed playing on Ronnie Andrews (laughter).

Best Tigers: Geoff Raines, Dale Weightman, Matthew Richardson, Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt, given KB (Kevin Bartlett) and Bourkey (Francis Bourke) were towards the end of their careers. Geoff Raines would always be in the centre in my team, whereas Maurice Rioli could have played anywhere. We have 100,000 members and I reckon “Richo” is responsible for 30,000 of them.