1985 reserves Grand final

[pazza]

Speaking from the Bomber POV...why would you play Handley, Dunstall and O'Halloran, when you could have played Byrne (onto Madden), moved Langford to play on Salmon and still had room for Knights/Eade/Buckenara?

 

[Crock]

Bucky injured his knee early in the '83 GF, and missed all but 1 game late in '84. In '85 he missed the first 4 games but played right up to the Second Semi Final. I'm not sure if he was injured and came back to play in the GF, or if he was dropped. For memory, 1985 wasn't a great year for Bucky by his own standards, kicking 27 goals in 19 games.

1986 saw him back to his best in a premiership year.

A year to get over the physical injury and another year to get over the mental scarring!

 

[mrcurly]

A year to get over the physical injury and another year to get over the mental scarring!

Dead right, he seemed to be hobbling for most of that season and unwilling to stretch out. Lost pace and confidence.
I thought that ressie grand final was like an all or nothing test for his body toward the end of the game.
I think he was frustrated at missing the big one and ended up proving a point, to himself and the selectors that he could still perform at the top level.

As for the previous post, those (missing) names are all legendary, but form during that season was the limiting factor, remember even Lethal lost pace and confidence in his twilight. O'Halloran was a fantastic player, though in '85 he had probably his only form slump, regardless of that i thought he was the sort of hard nut required for a GF. Handley was probably the lucky one out of the bunch, his pace was needed to combat some of the Essendon speedsters - maybe rocket could have taken his spot.

In the end we will never know whether the champs left out could have lifted for the GF, i think the end result would have been losing both the seniors and reserves.

BTW -
Bennett - a pretty decent half forward/ruck rover with a very accurate boot, played a few games before transferring to Essendon from memory.
Sullivan - was the U19s captain and another decent player, would probably have been a regular in 10 of the other senior sides. Did the same as Bennett and headed to Essendon.

The GC or GWS would salivate at fielding a team of the strength of our '85 reserves.

 

[Jane Doe]

David O'Halloran's last 2 games were actually Grand Finals (1984 & 1985). He has been either injured or in the ressies all year in 1985. I think the reason for his recall in 1985 was the fact that we were worried by Salmon up forward.

 

[Back Where We Belong]

Spectacular game from Bucky. took what could have been Mark of the Year if it was in the seniors. Knightsy was awesome in his last game. Was on the ground for the cheer squad and got a photo of him in a Carlton jumper. Showed it to him and his wife Julie couldn't stand it. Also had a beer with Roger Ellingworth that night and pointed out to him he had won back to back reserve premierships. (Melbourne in 84). Completely slipped his mind. Lot of players, especially Bucky quite upset because a physio they closely worked with was killed in a car accident that week. (hence the black armbands)

 

[Crock]

•Hawthorn's players in the Reserves Grand Final:
Malaxos, Greg Dear, Bennett, Knights, Curran, Byrne, Eade, McGrath, Howard, Bailey, Morrissey, Considine, Ellingworth, Abbott, Flintoff, Wittman, Guerts, Buckenara, Robertson, Teal and Sullivan. Emerg Jencke, Collins

If I remember correctly, this was Greg Dears first year at the club. He was a young raw recruit who would not have been physically ready to take on Essendons big men

 

[amcleod]

A memory I have of that game is an amazing goal kicked by a young bloke who had only played a couple of senior games to that stage - Jimmy Morrissey. If I remember right he was being pressured right on the goal line, so he handballed backwards, ran around the goal post (it might have been the point post), gathered the ball and booted it through. Totally bamboozled everyone and was an early pointer to the "Freak"-ish talents he showed later. Was a greatly under-estimated footballer unfortunately !

 

[slumhawk]

Wasn't Brett Lovett an emergency or on the bench for this game? We discarded him at the end of the season, went on to play 235 games for Melbourne, came fourth in the Brownlow one season and represented Victoria on 6 occasions...

 

[stemline]

Hawthorn 4.3 7.6 9.12 18.16 (124)
Carlton 3.3 8.4 12.10 16.12 (108)
Goals: Buckenara 8, Knights 4, Bennett 2, Abbott 1, Considine 1, Sullivan 1, Wittman 1.
Best: Buckenara, Eade, Bennett, Dear, Malaxos, Sullivan, Knights.

 

[Crock]

Wasn't Brett Lovett an emergency or on the bench for this game? We discarded him at the end of the season, went on to play 235 games for Melbourne, came fourth in the Brownlow one season and represented Victoria on 6 occasions...

Don't think we discarded him, think it was more lack of "perceived" opportunities and Melb getting into his ear (along with Flintoff and Duursma)

Brett was a good player but, if my memory serves me correctly, Melb had another Lovett "Glenn" at the same time who was probably a better than Brett.
I wonder if you're getting them mixed up?

 

[BaliHawk]

Brett Lovett was definetly an emergency for the '85 reserves GF team, he played in our 3rds and 2nds but couldn't get a game in the seniors so left to go to Melbourne at the end of that year. The other Lovett was not as good as Brett (Glenn I think).
Brett was a tough uncompromising half back flanker, much in the Andy Collins/Peter Schwab style and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, would have been a Hawks Premiership player otherwise I reckon.

 

[mrcurly]

Wow, my memory is totally shot! this was not the year Rubber had a shocking form patch. I can recall he was perservered with in the seniors despite marks bouncing off his chest and losing the ability to read the bounce of the ball, which seemed bizarre as he was one of the most reliable defenders, and surest handlers of the ball in the game. He eventually came good again.

I can't imagine Hawthorn circa 2010 having a backman of his ability and physique running around in the reserves, just shows the depth we had in our list in the 80s.

 

[Lurkalot]

[youtube]LSU67WaOYps[/youtube]

Early stages of the '85 Reserves GF.

Pretty ho-hum stuff, but got a giggle at 'Curly' Austin's kicking style.

 

[Hannabal]

Don't think we discarded him, think it was more lack of "perceived" opportunities and Melb getting into his ear (along with Flintoff and Duursma)

Brett was a good player but, if my memory serves me correctly, Melb had another Lovett "Glenn" at the same time who was probably a better than Brett.
I wonder if you're getting them mixed up?

Brett was better than Glenn who spent much of his life on the sidelines with hamstring strains. That said, Glenn was good midfielder. One of the earlier chrome domes.

Brett lacked pace, but he's the best handballer I've seen at Melbourne in my time. Very, very good half back flanker.

 

[grumbleguts]

Just re-watched this game on Youtube.
A few classic moments.

A one handed mark by Buckenara in the second quarter that was the typical uncanny thing you expect from him. (just after the 40 minute mark of the video.)

But the amazing thing for me was when Don Scott said "I'd take Bennett off" and within 4 minutes Bennett was involved in 3 hawthorn goals, one kicked by himself and two brilliant goal assists. three minutes later he kicked another. Insane how players bob up and bite you like that.