Past #6: Shannon Grant - Sydney '95-'97 - traded to NM for W. Schwass - 243 games for NM (301 overall)

[rooloc]

Agree poor effort. I thought he might have been part of the panel or at least a special guest. No taped interview from the club or players or past coaches was very poor didn't even pump up of the Game.

Any player that gets to 300 deserves more than that and Shagga i think was the fifth fastest player to reach 300 and a matchwinner.

Go Roos

 

[snapperbowler]

Being a fairly low key person it may have been all Shagga and the club wanted.

I heard JB on the radio this week and he said that they offered Shagga to pick how he wanted to run on the ground etc and he said that he didn't want any fuss.

 

[gokangas]

Being a fairly low key person it may have been all Shagga and the club wanted.

I heard JB on the radio this week and he said that they offered Shagga to pick how he wanted to run on the ground etc and he said that he didn't want any fuss.

Maybe so, but I doubt it. And that has little influence on the highlights package. Nine could have put together a much better highlights package and added a few grabs from his media conference this week. It was just poor work that did not do justice to a 300 game career including a premiership and Norm Smith medal. Shagga deserved better.

 

[Mekon]

You're all being a bit harsh on Nine. No it wasn't a great tribute, but it was no more or less that anyone else that has got to 300 recently(except crawford, who is one of the "staff")

 

[blackshadow]

Well that was a fizzer!

 

[gokangas]

You're all being a bit harsh on Nine. No it wasn't a great tribute, but it was no more or less that anyone else that has got to 300 recently(except crawford, who is one of the "staff")

Harsh? It was crap and did not do justice to the career, especially given the way they previewed this great tribute. Compare that to what Harvey received.

 

[Z_K]

Geez, we love a whinge don't we?

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Harsh? It was crap and did not do justice to the career, especially given the way they previewed this great tribute. Compare that to what Harvey received.

Harvey is a special case, well over 350 games played, no issue with him getting more attention.

I think it was more than Andrew McLeod - outstanding player with two Norms - received. Short but sweet, that couple of minutes showed the skill and passion that have electrified North people for years and got games up off the mat.

I didn't have a problem with it - probably helped that I recorded it and only watched that segment, didn't sit through the rest of the tripe on offer to get there.

 

[hundini]

Harvey is a special case, well over 350 games played, no issue with him getting more attention.

I think it was more than Andrew McLeod - outstanding player with two Norms - received. Short but sweet, that couple of minutes showed the skill and passion that have electrified North people for years and got games up off the mat.

I didn't have a problem with it - probably helped that I recorded it and only watched that segment, didn't sit through the rest of the tripe on offer to get there.

Agree.
Sure could have been more, but meh.
Although it does make me realise how much we will miss him.

It restores the balance after Archer's send off last year (although well deserved).

 

[gokangas]

Harvey is a special case, well over 350 games played, no issue with him getting more attention.

I think it was more than Andrew McLeod - outstanding player with two Norms - received. Short but sweet, that couple of minutes showed the skill and passion that have electrified North people for years and got games up off the mat.

I didn't have a problem with it - probably helped that I recorded it and only watched that segment, didn't sit through the rest of the tripe on offer to get there.

Fair call H2H.

 

[giantroo]

Shame he won't reach 250 with North. Only played 241 now and 300 altogether. But welldone on a wonderful career Shagga. Truly an inspiring individual!

 

[jobbidiar]

the thing that makes me laugh with 9's "tributes" to players who have played 300 or so games lately is they usually show footage from when they had the rights....saw makepeace in one of the clips last night same with Jason McCartney, talk about cheap arses

would of been nice if they had of done a interview with him, maybe he didn't want all the fuss as others have said on here already.

 

[BoomerBrownlow_29]

The Kangaroos Auction site currently has a Shannon Grant 300th game match worn guernsey for sale, looks like a ripper, anyone here looking to have a bid?

http://integrated.imgecommerce.com/...fid=6091560&cftoken=59528129&dts=298200829352

 

[Mekon]

the thing that makes me laugh with 9's "tributes" to players who have played 300 or so games lately is they usually show footage from when they had the rights....saw makepeace in one of the clips last night same with Jason McCartney, talk about cheap arses

would of been nice if they had of done a interview with him, maybe he didn't want all the fuss as others have said on here already.

Based on their balanced and constructive critique of 7 recently, I doubt they'd get clips at a fair rate

 

[Kangalicious]

Geez, we love a whinge don't we?

Between this an the 'we've got too many fit and ready players to chose from, what a disaster' thread I am beginning to wonder if some people on here are ever happy.

The highlights package was fine. A reasonable range of Shagga hairdos on display, and every goal a corker. There wasn't an interview - but anyone who thinks that was because channel 9 didn't ask is wrong.

 

[Divado]

North board: biggest whingers on BF.

 

[Ghostwriter]

Is there only one or 6? If theres only one it should pull 10k I'd reckon.

 

[johnson252525]

Looks like it's the only one - and the only Grant 300 game auction item.
I reckon it will go for $7000

 

[kitty_11]

I was looking out for it last night, but must have blinked and missed it. Ah well, I'll just have to settle for last night's montage of el presidende with cheesy make-up, wacky hairdos and in his mankini again...yikes

kitty

 

[The Filth Wizard]

• THE little man who sits on Shannon Grant's shoulder has been telling him all year to play on in 2009.

Even after a public declaration of retirement this week, the little bloke wanted to be heard, wanted to drown out the competing opinion in his world - the voice of reason that resides in Grant's head.
The shoulder-sitting little man, the fun-loving outgoing risk-taker, had more than held his own against the one in Grant's head in the past. On this occasion, though, he had no hope.
Grant had long been of the view that this, his 14th, would be his final AFL season.
At best, five matches - beginning today at the MCG when North Melbourne plays Port Adelaide - remain in his 31-year-old body. Worst-case scenario is two games, and whenever that last game arrives, Grant knows he will be able to go no more.
But don't take that as a man limping to the line.
Listening to him talk passionately this week about his time in football that has taken him to the highs reserved for the very best, one is left with the impression he honestly believes the defining moment of that outstanding career may well come next month.
"I may have announced my retirement, but it's not over - there is, possibly, the biggest five weeks of the club's career to go," Grant told the Herald Sun this week.
"It is a huge period for the football club and I am so focused on that. I have no intentions of just rolling with the punches over the next five weeks. I am here to contribute and help the club achieve what I believe it can achieve this year."
Grant's CV puts him in elite class. Norm Smith Medal. All-Australian. Best-and-fairest. Premiership player. As of 1.10pm today, 300 matches. More than 350 goals. Three Grand Finals with two clubs. There's no Brownlow, but he did lead a count until the Round 14 stage one year.
He's been a teammate of Wayne Carey and Tony Lockett, coached by Ron Barassi and Denis Pagan.
Throughout, he has had fun. Sometimes too much fun, sometimes wrong-time-wrong-place fun. It's landed him in the bad books a few times, but there's never been anything too serious.
The latest incident came at a bad time for him and North. At a club sponsors' golf day in June, his behaviour led to a one-match suspension from his club.
The ban left him vulnerable in his quest to reach 300 matches this year, and worse, saw his dedication, in his 14th AFL season, questioned.
Grant: There was plenty going on, and I let myself down. For a long time after that I stewed over it, because I probably knew deep down back then that I was probably going to give it away this year, and I was worried that I might have undone a lot of the good work that I had strived so hard to achieve over so many years. I was very disappointed with myself. It was unfortunate, there is nothing I can do about it now. It was certainly the biggest kick in the guts I have had in my career. I was embarrassed by it, and it was a good wake-up call.
DB: What did you wake up to?
SG: That I needed to grow up a bit and address a few things going on in my life. For probably a long period of my life, I hadn't been doing that, had put a few things in the too-hard basket. It probably brought a lot of things to a head and made me really think about what I wanted to do and what I wanted to achieve and where I wanted to go in life.
GRANT wouldn't go in to specifics, but it is fact he was not alone in the throwing of bread rolls during dinner. To many, North Melbourne hung Grant out to dry in suspending him, given there were several other incidents of poor behaviour by club people that day.
Captain Adam Simpson explained that, in isolation, Grant did little wrong that day.
"His indiscretion was that little, you'd almost laugh at it; he was a bit loud on the table, but the problem he had was that there was a policy in place where a few guys had been put on a final notice, and something had to be done on this, it was as simple as that," Simpson said.
Coach Dean Laidley, who made the final call on Grant, is also adamant his player not be condemned for the golf day.
"It would be an injustice for much to be made of that," Laidley said.
"He made a mistake, we all make mistakes, but I know for a fact through this mistake, Shannon has become a better person, a much more mature person. And as hard as it was for him, it is only going to help him having gone through those sorts of experiences."
Laidley and Grant share a close relationship. They're blunt characters; both call it as they see it in their regular talks.
Laidley will miss Grant when he departs, as much for their off-field rapport as for what he has always provided him on the field.
"I'll miss a lot about Shannon -- the phone calls and the chats, and I'll also miss not having him out there in a game," Laidley said.
"His performances in big games, his ability in big games to turn those games through his actions, is something that has always been very, very special.
"Throughout his career, he has kicked crucial goals, whether they be late in a match or at stages where you just need to stop the opposition.
"That's his trademark, and I can't think of too many who have been better at that.
"And over the journey, don't let anyone underestimate what he did when he played through the midfield. At the end of the day, a player gets ranked on how he plays in finals and big games, and Shannon sits alongside anyone. One other thing -- he has always set standards on the training track."
Grant grew up in Ascot Vale, played junior footy at Flemington until he was 15, then under-18s for Western Jets.
At 17, he was drafted by the Sydney Swans, taken at No. 3 in the 1994 national draft.
The Swans, with Ron Joseph in the seat as general manager and Ron Barassi as coach, chose well that year -- Anthony Rocca was selected at No. 2, Matthew Nicks at 21, Michael O'Loughlin at 40.
But it was a selection the club made in trade week that was to not only forever change the course of Australian football in the New South Wales capital, but shape the early years of Grant's career.
Joseph, somehow, had convinced Tony Lockett to leave St Kilda in arguably the most momentous piece of football trading in its 150-year history.
"He was the biggest presence in the game at that stage; the first time I met him was at the airport as we were both heading to Sydney to begin our careers with the Swans," Grant said.
"He came up to me and introduced himself. I didn't have the balls to go up to him, I was a shy 17-year-old who had just been drafted.
"It was intimidating. He introduced himself, introduced himself to my family, grabbed my boarding pass and went and changed it. I sat next to him on the plane, 1A and 1B, and spoke to him all the way to Sydney.
"He was an amazing bloke to have on your team, I struck up a good friendship with him, was always at ease with him."
DB: Carey or Lockett?
SG: You can't compare 'em.
DB: Yes you can, you played with them both.
SG: No.
DB: OK, pretend they're standing over there against the wall, you've got first pick in the draft, who do you take?
SG: Can't do it.
DB: Come on, you crumbed to both of them . . .
SG: I really don't want to do this, but if I have to, I'd say Wayne Carey. That's just on pure football talent. But I'm not happy I've had to do that.
GRANT was in the Carey crew that was as tight a group as any seen in football, until Carey began his demise as a person of influence at North.
DB: I've heard it was not uncommon for the North players of that time to do a recovery on the Saturday morning after a Friday game, and then while you were getting cleaned up, decide on the spur of the moment to go to Sydney for the weekend . . .
SG: That happened, but not often. We played hard, we trained hard, and yes, we partied hard -- that was what we did, and that was what had been accepted in football and was still accepted then.
DB: In your eyes, is it for the better that things have changed?
SG: No doubt. Football changed for the better, so you change for the better.
DB: The bond you guys of that time had off the field, was it the key to what happened on the field?
SG: It still carries through to today, and it could have only happened because of it being a very special football club. North has always -- always -- been built around the people who are at the place. It has certainly helped us through the years.
DB: Carey, who was obviously central to that bond of the 1990s, is no longer there. How is it different now?
SG: It's different because there are really only three of us left from that time -- myself, Simmo and Boomer (Brent Harvey). The group is so much younger.
DB: When you look back on those times now, given what happened, what is it you feel?
SG: They were good times, at the time, but even to this day you just shake your head and I reckon that's where we leave this topic because it's just sad . . . so much hurt and sadness that affected so many lives.
FRIENDSHIP. It's a word that means a lot to Grant, and one that includes the names Adam Simpson, Ron Joseph, Peter Bell, Matthew Capuano, Wade Chapman and Jess Sinclair under that banner in his life.
Then there's family -- mum Di, dad Bobby, older sister Tara and older brothers Stewart, Brad and Nick. Daughter Anderson is 4 and son Archer, 1.
SG: Mum's probably been my biggest supporter.
DB: Don't think you need to use the word "probably".
SG: Ha ha. No, I don't. Make that "without doubt". She has been incredibly supportive, sacrificed a lot from a young age to bring up her family. We've always been close. I owe a lot to my family.
GRANT enjoyed his three seasons in Sydney, where he played against North Melbourne in the 1996 Grand Final, but sought a release back to Victoria at the end of 1997.
In a trade that remains one of the boldest -- as well as ultimately beneficial to both sides -- since the inception of the national draft, North swapped Wayne Schwass for Grant.
"By that stage, I was managing both of them, and it was Schwatta who was the instigator," Joseph said.
"He wanted to make a break and grow in a way different to what he had done at North.
"He wanted to be his own person and felt he had to leave North to do that, and Sydney came along and it suited him down to the ground.
"The deal was with Shannon, who didn't have the score on the board at that stage, but had always shown he was capable.
"Denis Pagan had a huge view of him and in the end just said, 'Let's get in and get the deal done'.
"If your recruiting helps you win a premiership, as it did with North having Shannon in '99, when he had a huge year and won the Norm Smith, then you've got to say it is a good deal.
"That deal was done 11 years ago, too. He hasn't got many games left, but he's still going bloody well, isn't he?"
Having been part of a losing Grand Final team in 1996 with Sydney, Grant made it none from two Grand Finals when North kicked itself out of the game against Adelaide in 1998.
He had little impact in those matches, and carried mental scarring as a result, and then varied his Grand Final week approach in 1999, with telling results.
Four goals against Carlton secured him the Norm Smith Medal.
DB: What's next for you? Will there be a role at North?
SG: Not sure, there's too much to focus on this year without worrying about the next.
DB: I've heard you've been doing some coaching work at the Calder Cannons . . .
SG: Yeah, and I love it. I'd love to stay in footy, something in the development or coaching side of the game. I feel I have a good understanding and knowledge of the game, and I feel I'd be good at it. I'm certainly passionate about it.
AS HE winds down his storied career with North, Grant is increasing the amount of time and information he is sharing with two young men with whom he has formed a special bond.
Lindsay Thomas and Matthew Campbell have become his special projects. He finds their personalities infectious and is in awe of their footy potential.
Their bond began soon after Grant's much-replayed miss from the goalsquare against Collingwood in Round 1 last year.
Grant may have struggled with himself as a result of that kick for a few weeks, but that didn't stop Thomas and Campbell offering their opinion.
"They still take huge delight in bringing it up, " Grant said.
"They say, 'Gee, thanks for the memories of our first game, Shagga, we would have played in a winning game if it wasn't for you'.
"I just shoot back at Lindsay, 'Well, we would have been five goals up when I had that kick if you had have kicked straight'. (Thomas kicked 0.6 in that match.)
"That's what I'll miss, that sort of stuff. And they are great kids, those two. They've got big futures.
"I've tried to help 'em out a bit, and it has been great for me the past two years having that rapport with them.
"They love their footy, they want to learn, they have a cheek about them that I like."
DB: What's your biggest achievement?
SG: I hope it's still to come, but I'm reasonably proud of what I've achieved, and I reckon all the way through I've been honest to myself and who I am and where I have come from."

Damian Barrett

 

[The Filth Wizard]

Personally, I think we should see how we go if just the little man who sits on Grant's shoulder retires.

Barrett may have stumbled on the truth behind Shagga's problems this year... little pixies.

 

[FrangaRoo]

Awesome article. well done Damo.

Hopefully should get everyone pumped enough to head to the G today to celebrate his 300th.
Should also get everyone pumped to knock back a few cans afterwards too.

Onya Shagga

 

[gokangas]

Excellent stuff - typical Barrett quality. Nice layout in the Hun too.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Is Damien Barrett a North supporter?

 

[numchuks]

Ahhh, I'm gonna miss ya Shagga