Drouin go back to back in ‘91-92
By the end of the night, he was walking out as the senior coach of the side.
“When I got to the bloke’s house, I thought we were just having a talk about footy and maybe becoming a Drouin player. I’d had my go really, I was 30 at that time, then, the next thing I knew they wanted me to coach the club,” he laughed. “So, I took it on.”
For years, Drouin were well known for making the final, but not winning it. Hodge said that the tide turned in 1991 when he introduced training camps to the side.
“We had a lot of cricketers in the side who would only turn up to training after the season. They hadn’t done much, so I thought instead we’d get a proper preseason in, so we went away on a training camp as a whole team, that galvanized the side, we got super fit,” he said.
They had the talent, there was no question about it. The side in 1991 had 10 players make interleague, a feat that would be hard to surpass in the coming decades. They just needed that extra edge.
Drouin’s Civic Park hill would become synonymous with the side. “Hodge’s Hill” as it would be known, became one of the most important places for the side.
When he came to Drouin, Hodge said that the difference in fitness between Warragul and Drouin was enormous.
“These blokes would do four laps of the footy oval and think it was a tough night. Graham Gahan at Warragul used to have us doing 10 laps, then go over and do 20 200 metre sprints after training,” Hodge said.
Then, he discovered the Civic Park hill and knew it was an opportunity to bring his side together.
“When I found out there was a hill at the back of the oval and it was well kept and steep, well we were over there quick,” he said. “Talk about being galvanised, we’d link arms and pull each other up that hill no matter what, we’d always say, nobody is training this hard.
The side was learning to not just play for themselves, but to play for each other. They were becoming a genuine team, meshing under the tutelage of Hodge and the committee.
By the time September rolled around Drouin found themselves on top of the ladder, dropping just the one game when Hodge rested his interleague players.
Up against Cora Lynn in the grand final, Drouin supporters looked up at the scoreboard as the three-quarter time siren blew, showing their side holding a 10-goal lead, an insurmountable one really.
As supporters flocked to the Drouin huddle, they began congratulating the players with handshakes, which Hodge immediately put a stop to.
“I went crook when supporters began doing that in 1991. The job wasn’t done, it was only three-quarter time and while we were up 10 goals, we needed to keep going and we did,” he said.
They’d finally broken through. For the first time since 1978 Drouin would hold the premiership cup aloft, beating Cora Lynn by 16 goals.
“It was just one of those super talented sides. We were super fit. I’ve talked to a few people and some old sages from around the region like Garfield and Nar Nar Goon say that the 1991 Drouin side is the best they’d seen,” Hodge said.
“Having the camps, the pre-season and the commitment from the young Drouin players was really good. We had a really good age group, most had played 70 games and were around 22 years old, we had a great mix,” Hodge said.
The Drouin supporters, players and committee members couldn’t believe they’d won a final, let alone life member Cheryl Atkins who had followed Drouin for years.
Cheryl died just weeks after the grand final victory in 1991, but she was able to see her beloved Hawks hold the premiership cup one more time.
“I remember after that game, the whole team went over to Cheryl, she was sitting on the wing we all hugged her after that win, that was a really special thing I remember,” Hodge said.
In 1992, Hodge faced something that would plague Drouin going forward. His side was gutted, with 10 players moving on to other clubs after the premiership season.
Despite losing 10 talented players, they had six or seven ready to go in the reserves side, who had also won the flag in 1991 without losing a game.
“We had probably six players in that reserves side who could have easily played seniors, the team was really deep, so in 1992 when we lost those players, they got their opportunity to step up,” Hodge said.
In 1992, Drouin snagged Steve Carey from Warragul, while also adding Leigh Lambert and Michael Gahan to replace those who left.
Drouin then experienced what it was like to be the hunted side. Teams would lift an extra 20 per cent against them, making them earn every victory.
As the season end drew nearer, Drouin faced some adversity.
A clerical error saw a player left off the team sheet, which the opposition decided to pursue.
“It was a simple clerical error on the team sheet, of course the opposition took it to the ninth degree, and we lost our premiership points that game. If we weren’t in danger of losing first or second spot, it didn’t matter too much, but we just felt so bad for the person involved,” Hodge said.
After losing percentage through the deduction, Drouin were out for revenge and it came at the expense of Longwarry.
Drouin booted an astonishing 37 goals, to run away 219-point winners in the second last round of the season.
“Yeah, we developed an us versus them mentality, we felt the whole league wanted to get us, we wanted to make a statement that day,” Hodge said.
As the finals rolled around, archrivals Pakenham were touted as the favourites to win the flag that year and met Drouin in the second semi-final.
Across the 92 season, Pakenham defeated Drouin three times.
“We wanted to beat Pakenham in a final. They were always massive games, they were played on a Sunday and were always physical, each one was like a final,” Hodge said.
Drouin threw everything they had at Pakenham and turned the tide, they dispatched the rival by 53 points and found themselves with a real chance at back to back premierships.
Pakenham never recovered, as Garfield topped them in a prelim final to face Drouin the next week.
While Drouin would go in as heavy favourites, the rain came tumbling down during the week, evening the clash.
“It was just 50/50 then, Garfield were just so tough in those conditions,” Hodge said.
Hodge would always take a different approach to many, not governed by what other coaches or committees would see as the normal.
Drouin got together at 9am on grand final morning and oddly, held a training session.
“When it was going to be so wet, we trained on Saturday morning before the game. We used to do it a lot, I learnt that from Bart Cummings. He’d breeze the horses up in the morning, get them going, he won 13 Melbourne Cups so it must have worked,” Hodge said. “My philosophy was get the players together early, they’re sitting there overthinking things, so we got the balls kicking around to get used to the wet conditions,” he added.
It paid off, handsomely.
In 1992, there was only one ball used in the game, and Drouin took advantage of their clean skills before the ball became a soggy mess, kicking the first five goals.
However, Garfield would return fire in the second quarter, bringing the margin back to a manageable 19 points and Drouin needed a steadier after half time.
That came from Steve “Scooter” Bethune. Bursting off the bench, he got on the end of a kick and slotted home his first major, before backing up in the next minute, kicking a second to crush the spirit of the Stars.
“We brought Scooter off the bench in that third quarter and he went bang bang, he was the fresh player coming on and he broke the deadlock there, it was a really important moment that,” Hodge said.
Drouin had done it. They’d gone back to back, something that was incredibly tough to do.
“I suppose I was very satisfied to win both years, all clubs lifted to try and beat us in 1992, it was probably a less brilliant side than 1991, so to win and show we had the depth was great,” Hodge said.
Hodge coached for a further four years and battled again as Drouin lost a further 11 players after 1992.
For Hodge, his time at Drouin was a big part of his life and continues to be today.
“It was a huge part of not only my life, but my family’s life. I was very privileged to be there and be a part of that era. I can’t say I did it, it was presidents, committees and others alongside us, it was a really strong great place to be. They were great memories, I loved my time there,” Hodge said.