A TON OF TALENT
HOW A YOUNG GUN KICKED ON
WHEN I named Billy Brownless and Gary Ablett as halfforwards in my team, some readers were stumped about the upcoming choice of full forward.
They clearly overlooked Larry Donohue, but I haven’t.
Big Larry gets the nod in front of the big sticks, especially as I selected his great mate Paul Sarah in a forward pocket last week. You can’t have one without the other in the team.
And I’m playing favourites here as I enjoyed their company when I was the Addy footy writer in the late ’70s.
Apart from topping the ton in 1976 with 105 goals, Donohue went close again with 95 in 1978. And in the year in between — 1977 — he had 46 on the board after the first 11 games before a drop in form saw him return just 17 in the second half of the season.
Donohue’s goalkicking feats see him remembered as a full forward but he played mostly as a ruckman and centre half-forward in his junior days at local club Thomson.
He was a big boy at underage level standing out from the rest of the players as soon as you cast your eye over an under-15 game.
The quips flew: “Has someone checked that kid’s birth certificate?” and “Where did he park his car?”
Young players with a physical advantage seem to progress quickly and Larry was no exception. He made his debut for Geelong in 1973, two weeks short of his 18th birthday.
The footy landscape changed quickly, too, and Donohue discovered he was not the only big bloke on the ground and there was a significant rise in class as Geelong played host to the reigning premier Carlton.
He lined up on Bruce Doull and spent some time opposed to Brent Crosswell, managing to grab one mark and three kicks.
At three-quarter time new coach Polly Farmer sent Donohue to a back pocket where he picked up the resting ruckman, Carlton captain-coach John Nicholls.
The contrast could not have been more stark: Larry was 17 and Big Nick was starting his 17th season.
If Donohue felt at all overwhelmed by the occasion, he at least had Sarah for company. The young lads did not have good days but they went on to enjoy many outings together.
The best came from 1976-1978 as Donohue hit his straps after being installed at full forward by new coach Rod Olsson.
When the Cats moved the ball quickly into the forward line, Donohue led smartly and 263 goals flowed across those three seasons.
He was a beautiful kick often splitting the middle from 50 metres out on the way to bags of five or more in 10 games in 1976. The best haul was 9.6 in Round 12 at Kardinia Park as the Cats thrashed South Melbourne by 104 points.
The magical 100-mark was well and truly in sight when Donohue booted five goals in Round 19 to reach 91 for the season. Just nine goals were required in three games to bring up the ton in the home and away season, but footy’s version of the “nervous nineties” befell the spearhead.
Donohue managed just two goals in each of Rounds 20 and 21 so he needed five in the final game at Kardinia Park when the Cats took on Hawthorn.
He took nine marks, giving himself nine excellent opportunities, but the jitters surfaced after Donohue had notched 4.1 and he finished with a wobbly 4.5.
Fans who were poised to jump the fence to run onto the ground to celebrate the milestone with Donohue were stymied, but the individual anticlimax was offset by the team’s 25-point win.
The wobbles continued early in the elimination final against Footscray at VFL Park the following week as Donohue missed his first two shots meaning he had kicked six behinds in a row while on 99.
Happily, a mark and an accurate kick late in the first term did the trick and he joined the 100 club, etching his name in the history books. IN writing about Billy Brownless a few weeks ago I noted an amazing stat from a game in 1994 when he scored eight goals from eight kicks.
Researching this week’s column, I discovered Larry Donohue achieved the same 100 per cent result with eight from eight in Round 10, 1976.
The same afternoon Paul Sarah notched four as the Cats kicked 19.8 (122) to Melbourne’s 13.15 (93). B: HB: C: HF: F:
The best Donohue-Sarah show came the next season when Larry (8) and Ferret (7) helped Geelong to 21.17 (143) also against Melbourne 13.15 (93).
Another ripper saw Larry (8) and Sarah (5) lead the Cats to 26.11 (167) against South Melbourne 24.11 (155) in Round 20, 1978.
It was always great to watch the pair produce the occasional goalfest.