O’Brien ‘pretty calm’ but still irked
BROADBEACH coach Craig O’Brien says he will be a calm voice in the box when he takes control of a Gold Coast team on game day for the first time since the 2011 grand final that led to a four-year ban.
O’Brien is at the helm of the Cats’ QAFL team that will play Mount Gravatt at Dittmer Park in Round 2 of the season on Saturday. Broadbeach had a bye in Round 1.
O’Brien was slapped with a four-year ban from coaching in after a controversial grand final loss to Noosa in the 2011 AFLQ Premier League decider while coaching Palm Beach Currumbin.
The mentor was livid when gun Lions midfielders Brad Hewat and Brad Hards were given red cards in the opening 15 minutes of the game and the team never recovered, going on to lose 16.6 (102) to 5.6 (36).
The Lions lost the free-kick count 41-14.
O’Brien said he wouldn’t be losing his temper again, and opened up about the 2011 grand final ahead of his return.
“I’m pretty calm now. I have been coaching for a long time now,” he said. “I have a good bunch of guys around me.
“I just got frustrated and I thought the clubs I coached at were poorly treated.
“Two of our best payers were sent off in the first 15 minutes from a fight, and none of their players were sent off.
“It cost us a grand final win. Noosa were the best team that year and it was always going to be hard, but when we were blatantly cheated out of having a chance, half the crowd left.
“Noosa had a dirty player who whacked a couple of our blokes behind play.
“Our guys retaliated. “The emergency umpire ran on the ground to tell the umpire to send the Noosa bloke off, and next minute the Noosa runner told him something and he (the emergency umpire) came back off.
“As that happened a melee broke out and the umpire picked two of our best and sent them off for the day. “They ruined the day. “That is why I thought Queensland footy, at that stage, wasn’t run by the right people and I’d had enough.” O’Brien did not appeal. EX-VFL players Max Spencer and Matt Gahan will feature in the PBC backline in the QAFL clash against Sherwood on Saturday at Salk Oval.