The Matthews / Bruns incident. What was it that caused the aftermath ?

[boncer34]

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Seems like it got worse the longer the quarter went I guess.

 

[Cyclops]

Leigh has admitted there is a lot of things he is ashamed of when he played.

Sorry I missed this, it's a good point.

Matthews is a pretty honest person. He has the respect of a wide range of people as a coach.

He was part of a shake up at Collingwood and was effective because he gave and took criticism unflinchingly. We revere him, almost as much as Brisbane does.

He was able to command respect from a wide range of characters: Sheedy and Malthouse had this quality too, there weren't too many players they couldn't get something out of.

Good leaders aren't always nice people, and as a player he was known for cruelty and selfishness: Brereton tells a story about Matthews warning him to stay out of his way and there was nothing nice about it.

 

[Jane Doe]

Sorry I missed this, it's a good point.

Matthews is a pretty honest person. He has the respect of a wide range of people as a coach.

He was part of a shake up at Collingwood and was effective because he gave and took criticism unflinchingly. We revere him, almost as much as Brisbane does.

He was able to command respect from a wide range of characters: Sheedy and Malthouse had this quality too, there weren't too many players they couldn't get something out of.

Good leaders aren't always nice people, and as a player he was known for cruelty and selfishness: Brereton tells a story about Matthews warning him to stay out of his way and there was nothing nice about it.

His book is a good read and he freely admits there is a lot of things he did on field that he is ashamed of

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Kevin Sheedy is on record as saying the only time he ever shat himself on a footy field is when he saw Leigh Matthews’ tree trunk thighs charging towards him. I’m sure his not the only player of that era to share the sentiment.

Not too many of those that Matthews hit ever saw his tree trunk legs coming towards them.

 

[Macca180]

Yep, agree very much.

Ablett was such an enigma, could take a licking and not hit back, or respond, or get on the front foot, or even lash out randomly.

Us Pies have howled about TD but his hits on Brown and Starcs in the 1990 GF were out of character. He was hard but fair, but that game was slipping, and his team mates were drooping. I think he felt he had to do something and when Brown barrelled into that brawl (started by Kelly and Banks bullying Sporn) he quietly clocked him.

The hit on Starcs was just desperation, our number 27 was tearing it up, so "in for a penny* he gave him a one-two on the chin.

TD was no thug, and it'd be silly to judge him on that day alone. Compared to our rogues gallery of thugs he was an angel. We had Kelly (symptomatic carrier of white line fever, or as it is also known, a sniper and a bully) Millane who thought punching your opponent was normal conduct , Banksy who took offence if you breathed near him etc etc.

Speaking of Long, he waded into that brawl and pulled blokes apart. I think Shaw had a dip but Long was actually a boxer and put his mittss up and everyone quieted down.

Kickett was very upset, flew in (missed everything- in Bay 38 we thought he clocked Brown) and squared up to Morwood who was a cool head.

It was interesting to see how everyone reacted differently, there was plenty of demonstration but it wasn't like 1985 (I was only a few rows back from that one, scored some tickets and took a Hawk mate). That's was about 8 or 10 massive smacks, some very nasty knees (Brereton and others) blokes scrabbling on the deck, and the umps broke it up quick smart. 1990 dragged on because Brown was down and it was quarter time.

Back in the day it was just expected that a fight start at the beginning of a GF. It was normalised.

 

[Freomaniac]

He could mark, kick and lead...teamwork he was less good at. Massive ego, no club could win a flag with him on the field.

Just noticed I said liar, meant lair.

Jacko had kicked 76 goals in 1981 for the demons. Lead the goal kicking that season for the demons.

Kicked 76 goals again in 1982 for the demons. But Gerard Healy kicked 77 goals. Jacko was bitter about that. on the open mike Episode, Jacko claimed he helped healy kick 30 to 40 of those goals in 1982 pinch hitting as a ruckman in the forward 50 to help tap it to healy to he can create and kick goals.

Jacko can do the "team thing" in the right circmstances.

 

[Cyclops]

Jacko had kicked 76 goals in 1981 for the demons. Lead the goal kicking that season for the demons.

Kicked 76 goals again in 1982 for the demons. But Gerard Healy kicked 77 goals. Jacko was bitter about that. on the open mike Episode, Jacko claimed he helped healy kick 30 to 40 of those goals in 1982 pinch hitting as a ruckman in the forward 50 to help tap it to healy to he can create and kick goals.

Jacko can do the "team thing" in the right circmstances.

"Jacko says" look fair enough, I didn't see a lot of him, but when I did he always acted like a jackass.

A quick look at his wiki article shows he was booted out of his WA side a few days before they played in a Grand Final over there, he walked out on Geelong in a sook and was sacked mid season by the Saints. He was an idiot, and probably a ****ing idiot.

His being an idiot doesn't excuse Matthews in any way.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Allan Jeans is often described by the circle jerk who follows him as "an old-school cop." Everyone understands what that means.
Encouraged violence, especially against those not in a position to defend themselves.

Listening to that interview with McKenna he sounds like he has an Afrikaaner accent

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Jeans comes across as a cnt

You would be too if you were in charge of cleaning up Victoria Police, only to have Kevin speedy accused you of being corrupt too

 

[Gavin Excell]

You would be too if you were in charge of cleaning up Victoria Police, only to have Kevin speedy accused you of being corrupt too

He's a horrid cnt

 

[pazza]

I seem to recall Bruns had done something in a previous incident and you know how elephants never forget. Lethal's response was over the top.

Jackson should not have been reported for squaring off with Ayres. Had Ayres been reported for his cheap shot, that would have ended the thing before anything else started.

 

[Freomaniac]

"Jacko says" look fair enough, I didn't see a lot of him, but when I did he always acted like a jackass.

A quick look at his wiki article shows he was booted out of his WA side a few days before they played in a Grand Final over there, he walked out on Geelong in a sook and was sacked mid season by the Saints. He was an idiot, and probably a ****ing idiot.

His being an idiot doesn't excuse Matthews in any way.

Yeah Mark Jacko Jackson was on 4 VFL lists, he got games in 3 of those 4 clubs.

Jackson showed he could play. But I agree, he acted like a Jackass or a absolute crazy person on the field.

 

[Sttew]

Yeah Mark Jacko Jackson was on 4 VFL lists, he got games in 3 of those 4 clubs.

Jackson showed he could play. But I agree, he acted like a Jackass or an absolute crazy person on the field.

I remember when he played for Geelong Jacko was not likeable. Not a great personality and looked like a thug!

He debuted for Geelong in the same game as Gary Ablett Senior and an unknown kid from Bendigo, Greg Williams. They stole the limelight from Jacko which probably pissed him off.

 

[Chief]

They stole the limelight from Jacko which probably pissed him off.

He was a vary "do you know who I am!?" type of person later in life.

 

[Shane Heard]

Listening to that interview with McKenna he sounds like he has an Afrikaaner accent

Lol.
I’ve always thought that too. He had this very distinctive hardarsed cop-like delivery in his speaking too. Devoid completely of mirth and cheerfulness.

I love the story Dipper tells of Jeans violently putting him against a wall in his office as a young player and giving him the drill to stop acting like a big head smartarse around the club.

Dipper said he started crying and begging for forgiveness.

 

[Shane Heard]

He was a vary "do you know who I am!?" type of person later in life.

A total narcissist imbecile was Jackson.

 

[Cursed Cat]

I never attended all that much live VFL footy when I was a kid due to my geographical disadvantages, but I saw a bit here and there (mainly Hawthorn games despite being a Cats fan).

I was at this game though, 10 years old, nearly 11.

My memory is of a small but restless and agitated crowd baying for blood for much of the day, usually directed toward Mark Jackson, who looked like he had little interest in playing footy and plenty of interest in starting shit for the sake of it.

He certainly wasn't alone as a firestarter though, as there were cheap shots and late shots dealt out indiscriminately throughout the first three quarters of the match.

In the last quarter of course, it erupted.

I'd seen violence at the footy before, in fact the most graphic thing I'd seen prior to the Bruns/Matthews match was witnessing a random bloke summarily getting his nose busted at one of the beer stands within the bowels of Princes Park just a few weeks prior. Stuff like that leaves an impression on you.

However this day and this display was that rare case when a previously bloodthirsty crowd dimmed it's din to near-eerie silence as things escalated and the Footy itself was forgotten.

The umpires would have taken a full 10 minutes trying to get things under control to an extent, as spotfires broke out all over the ground and serious punches were thrown.

I didn't see the actual Bruns/Matthews incident, nor the Steve Hocking retribution.
I don't exactly recall but I was probably trying to keep track of Gary Ablett's involvement.

My biggest locked-in memory from that game though is just the general quiet around the ground as the chaos went on and on under a dull grey Melbourne sky.

Neville Bruns had been our best player that year, too, was my memory. Never the same player afterwards; Matthews himself was near the end of his career.

 

[threesixpio]

I love Lethal.

But I’m not one eyed enough to say that this was ok. From a legal perspective the boxing case of Pallente is the law around these things and the police had the discretion to charge. The law is clear - it was clearly beyond an officiating of contact in a game. The ball was nowhere near there.

These days the police have backed off due to “better officiating and larger penalties” but I personally think the AFL is dreadful with intentional acts. See the Barry Hall strike for example. And then we don’t reward legal toughness like amazing tackles.

Sorry Lethal - and please be nice to me if we cross paths