Michael Hibberd: Melbourne defender opens up on his brother Geoff’s death, the Essendon 34 and Grand Final glory

When Michael Hibberd became caught up in the Essendon peptides scandal never in his wildest dreams did he expect he would be the only one of 34 players to find ultimate redemption.

No matter the obstacle or crushing setback that befell Michael Hibberd, he never once considered giving up.

Not on that disastrous day when the member of the “Essendon 34” was banned from football for a year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Certainly not when his brother Geoff died in tragic circumstances in a boating accident in April 2020 in a season Hibberd was away from his family for most of the year playing for the Demons.

In the last eight weeks of this dramatic season Hibberd was twice dropped as the Demons attempted to find the right defensive mix that blended miserly key talls with pulsating offensive drive.

And yet as Melbourne poured on those seven goals in 16 minutes to set up the drought-breaking premiership surge, there was Hibberd with “front row seats” as a Demons premiership defender.

As Hibberd prepares to accept his premiership medal once more — this time in front of 30,000 Melbourne fans at the MCG in a home-town celebration — he can still scarcely believe how the cards finally fell his way.

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Hibberd (back right) fronts the media with his then Essendon teammates during the peptides saga.

So the question for Hibberd is this: if someone told you your future involved a Demons premiership in that year in limbo after Essendon’s peptides scandal, what would you say?

“I would tell you that you are kidding,” he told the Herald Sun in reflecting on a premiership dream realised.

“During the year off I was keen to get away from footy and I remember Hurls (Michael Hurley) and I trained together a bit. We didn’t want to put on too many kilograms but we wanted to distance ourselves from footy.

“When I look back now, I am the only guy who has played in a Grand Final and the only guy who has played in a premiership since then, it’s pretty crazy.

Members of the ‘Essendon 34’ train together.

“There are some great players in that group and I still pinch myself now thinking of the sliding doors moments in footy. I left and played finals, and then we missed finals and missed finals and now I am a premiership player. It’s pretty cool.

“Things get hard and you get flat about what has happened, but I was never going to walk away from footy. It means too much to me. I got a good opportunity to go to Melbourne and I took the most of it. I have had a ball and it was the best decision for me. I had a good first year back and now I am a premiership player. I am stoked about how things have gone.”

In that first barnstorming 2017 season with the Demons Hibberd was an instant All Australian with his close-checking style and piercing left foot before three seasons of solid but unspectacular football.

But this year with the Demons playing three key defenders and with the battle for spots intense Hibberd was far from a Grand Final certainty.

Michael Hibberd jostles with Jole Smith at Melbourne training.

He played 14 games in a row from Rounds 5-19, was dropped, then recalled for Round 22 then dropped again for the more versatile Joel Smith as the Demons clinched the minor premiership in Geelong.

After 172 games over more than a decade, football was about to remind him of its cruel intentions once more.

“I played the majority of the year and then lacked a little form coming into the final rounds and guys in the VFL like Jake Bowey were pushing their claims. Jayden Hunt and (Trent) Rivers and Joel Smith were in good form. It saw me out of the team and then in footy timing is everything. I felt like I was pushing my claims to play in preliminary final week and training well and then unfortunately for Joel he went down with a hammy.”

Hibberd remembers the chaos of that fateful Perth training session as he attempted to train his way into the senior team and Smith’s hamstring failed him and emotions swirled as he processed the fallout.

Hibberd laps up the premiership win with runner Shannon Byrnes.

“We had the week off and they were pretty intense training sessions, match simulation leading into the Grand Final because we didn’t want to lose our form or touch,” Hibberd said.

“At training we have players in the 1s v the 2s and I started in the 2s and I thought, “Obviously this doesn’t look good because I am in the 2s”.

“I trained quite well and then they swapped me over. They put me in the 1s and I was wondering what happened and then I found out Joel did his hammy.

“It was bitter-sweet. Me and Joel are mates and I felt really bad for him. I know how much he was hurting but after the road I have been on, I wanted to play finals. An hour later after training Chappy (defensive coach Troy Chaplin) and Goody (Simon Goodwin) sat next to me and just gave me a look and we knew. I was pretty happy and they were happy because they knew how much it meant to me.”

Hibberd and fellow defender Steven May get the party started.

As Melbourne steamrolled Geelong in a preliminary final Hibberd played his role on Gary Rohan (one stat to half time before a hamstring injury) then blanketed Jeremy Cameron when Steven May pulled up sore with his own tight hamstring.

“After the game I knew I had played my role but leading into a Grand Final you are always anxious and nervous. Hunty was available and he had such a good year, so I thought maybe they would pick him. It was a totally different forward line to what Geelong had played. I felt I had played my role and would be pretty stiff if I didn’t get picked but it played in my head.

“We went through the match-ups pretty early in the week on a Tuesday and Chappy (Chaplin) said to me I would probably get (Cody) Weightman. So I took it early on that I was playing but then again you can’t help but run the demons through your head.

“It is hard not to think the worst when something means so much to you.”

A photo from Michael Hibberd’s wedding featuring his brother Geoff.

Hibberd eventually ran out onto the Perth Stadium’s surface in that Grand Final against the Western Bulldogs with the belief Melbourne’s best was exceptional as well as an emotional touchstone of what he had lost.

Brother Geoff’s death in that April 2020 boating accident has never been far from his mind, with Michael describing him as his hero.

“I think about him every day. I wore a wrist band (of tape) saying GH on it on Grand Final day out of respect and for the memory of him,” he says.

“It was tough with what happened with Geoff and being away in the hub away from family last year and this year as well, but it’s all worth it.

“I know how proud he would be, and how much it would have meant to him. It was sad he couldn’t witness it. I know how much he would have loved it.

“I knew he was up there watching, it has felt like that every game since and it’s sad to think of the things he has missed since his passing but I know he is up there watching and I am sure he is proud.”

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The Grand Final is still a blur of moments as the momentum tipped on its head at least twice and the Melbourne backline was under sustained assault… until it wasn’t.

“We started off so well. Then in the second quarter they came hard and it was hard not to think if they kept the momentum up we were in strife and then from 19 points down it was like whack, whack, whack. We had front row seats to the midfield and forward show. The ball just didn’t come down our end.

“In the fourth quarter as we kept piling on goals as the backline group we were trying not to get complacent and telling each other it wasn’t done yet. We were six and seven goals up, but when it got to eight goals up, we were giving each other wry smiles and thinking, “This is real”.

Michael Hibberd knocks the ball away from Cody Weightman.

“We tried to finish the job the best we could and savour the moment but knowing we had 10 minutes to go until we were premiership players was pretty surreal. It gives me goosebumps now even thinking about it.”

Hibberd says knowing you have 10 minutes to celebrate a premiership is something truly bizarre.

Knowing you can finally bask in the glory of a career fulfilled _ from Frankston VFL star to a Fothergill-Round Medal to a pre-season pick at Essendon to a premiership medal no one can take away.

“It is just unbelievable happiness. You are out there living the moment, trying to suck it all up, Trying to feed off the crowd and be happy around your teammates. Just a great 10 minutes to be there, with every goal we kicked looking around and after being in the league for 12 years savouring the moment. It was pretty surreal. Even after the game goes like a flash and you just try to make the most of it.”

On Sunday the fans will relive that jubilation _ albeit one most witnessed from their living rooms _ but Hibberd already knows how they feel.

For all the individual struggles sharing in a drought-breaking premiership has made him aware this is so much bigger than what he or his teammates achieved alongside coach Simon Goodwin.

“I am not sure how many fans will be there, but it will be pretty cool for them. Having come home, it is amazing the amount of Melbourne people who have said, “You don’t understand how happy you have made me”. It was hard to see it in Perth, you could feel some of it through social media. But coming back to Melbourne and going out to dinner with my wife or with your mates and people just shake your hand and say, “Thank you”, it’s been pretty cool.”

HIBBERD POURS COLD WATER ON DOGS TENSION TALK

Melbourne premiership defender Michael Hibberd has called on the AFL to make the premiership rematch an annual Round 1 clash as he poured cold water on reports of a rift between the two Grand Final sides.

Hibberd denied an angry edge to the rivalry between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs despite claims of tension between the two clubs at a nightclub celebration after the Demons’ win.

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Micheal Hibberd allowing the Premiership to sink in. Picture: Getty Images

He said Melbourne players singing “Freed From Desire” in the middle of Perth Stadium the week after the Western Bulldogs used it as a preliminary final was a coincidence given it was a popular post-match song for sporting teams.

The Demons are determined to be humble in victory but also aware of the building rivalry given both teams should be in flag contention in coming seasons.

Hibberd told the Herald Sun playing the Dogs on the Wednesday of Round 1 would be a perfect way to kick off the season.

“I think that should be a thing the AFL do in the future, the teams that play in the Grand Final get a blockbuster Round 1 game. I hope they do it,” he said.

“They could keep Richmond-Carlton on a Thursday and play us Wednesday or Friday. It would be good for fans and good for footy really. That would be a marquee game so I hope they do that, it would be something I look forward to.”

Hawthorn premiership defender Campbell Brown said the Dogs players had believed the Demons sung Freed by Desire to “stick it up” the Dogs after their win, with players nearly coming to blows before peace talks.

The Western Bulldogs took offence to some of the Dees post Grand Final antics. Picture: Getty Images

But Hibberd said the nightclub story was overplayed and the post-premiership singalong nothing to do with the Dogs’ preliminary final celebrations.

“(Freed From Desire) is just a banger. The cricketers do it. I remember Tyson Fury walking out to a fight with it, that’s been around for years. It has nothing to do with the Doggies. No one was being a smart arse. The song came on and everyone knew the words. It’s like Sweet Caroline.

“Maybe they think that but we weren’t trying to be smart arses in any way. If they did that’s for them to think but I know for a fact it wasn’t the intention behind it.

“I think there is a level of respect. We are going to be battling against these guys in the future and I bumped into a couple of the boys on the Thursday after the Grand final, and there was nothing but love. There were a few guys having a beer together and it was fine.

“There was a bit of crap (about tension at the nightclub). There was some talk on twitter a month afterwards and I didn’t see any of that. I don’t think there is any ill feeling in our end or my end and if there is it’s something I am not aware of.”

Originally published as Michael Hibberd: Melbourne defender opens up on his brother Geoff’s death, the Essendon 34 and Grand Final glory