Coach ahead of the curve
Garry Davidson 1954- 2020
TASMANIAN Football Hall of Fame inductee Garry Davidson has been remembered as a coach ahead of his time by a host of North Hobart greats.
Davidson, who coached the Demons at the beginning of their golden era and took the club to the 1987 and 89 statewide premierships in his three years at the helm, died in Western Australia last week from a heart attack. He was 66.
He also led Glenorchy to the 1983 flag, having returned to his home state the previous year after playing 40 VFL matches for Geelong and Richmond.
Five premiership Demons — Mark Devine, Darryn Perry, Dan Keegan, Terry Moore and Leigh Collidge — gathered at North Hobart Oval on Monday to reminisce on their time under Davidson.
“Looking back, it was only a three- year window when he was coaching, but three of the best years of my life and had a lot of fun and a lot of success,” Devine said.
“I think he’s obviously had a great history of coaching young people and we had a fairly young team at that time.
“He was probably just a bit ahead of the curve in his preparation. He was very meticulous, provided a lot of feedback, very well thought- through game plans from one week to the next about who we were playing.”
Perry, who was among the Demons’ best on grand final day in 1987, shared a similar view.
“He was very shrewd, he didn’t miss a trick at training, the intensity was high,” Perry said.
“His attention to detail match day was second to none and I think that we were probably better prepared than any other club in Tasmania.
“It’s probably a tragedy that he didn’t coach in Melbourne, VFL. He was certainly above his time here in Tasmania … probably will go down as one of the greatest coaches ever in Tasmania.”
Keegan said he would forever be “indebted” to Davidson for backing him in the 1989 win against Hobart.
Despite finding his niche as a tagger in the latter part of the season and shutting down North Launceston star Steve Goulding, Keegan was on the selectors’ chopping block until Davidson stepped in.
“I was 31 years of age and I had never played in a premiership,” Keegan said. “I was born and bred in North Hobart — my dream as a kid was to play in a premiership with North Hobart.
“I had a good game in the second semi when we beat North Launceston …
I felt I was pretty safe for the grand final.
“I heard a few years later that some of the selectors thought they had already played the hand with me and were going to drop me for the grand final, which I didn’t know.
“Had it happened, I would have been absolutely devastated but ‘ Davo’ just stood up and said, ‘ nup, he’s in the side. I’ve already told him he’s in the side’.” always so