Makings of a grand
BRENDAN McCartney was never deeply insulted by the taunts from Barwon Heads fans in the wake of the 1993 grand final.
Heckled and abused as he and the Ocean Grove coaching staff consumed the gravity of the loss, McCartney vowed to never put himself in that position again.
“It wasn’t what they said, it was the fact they said it to some pretty competitive people,” McCartney said, reflecting on the beginning of the Grubbers’ history-making dynasty.
“When you tell people they’re no good or can’t do anything, it makes them even more determined,” he said.
“There were a couple of people who were crucial in driving that. Jeff Wall was pivotal and Terry Demeo were great Ocean Grove people and they stood together and said ‘we’re not going to let this happen again’ Next year we’re going to do a better job.”
As Geelong Amateur bids to equal Ocean Grove’s BFL record of fourstraight premierships today, McCartney looked back on the glory years from 1993 to 2004.
The Grubbers played in 12 successive grand finals, losing to cross-town rival Barwon Heads in ’93 before winning four on the trot from 1994 to 1997 under McCartney.
They went down to Torquay in ’98 and Anglesea in ’99 before Mark Neeld led the next four-peat from 2000 to 2003.
The Grubbers tried for five in a row in 2004 but fell to Ammos by 46 points.
“Premierships are hard to win, but to have two blocks of four is quite incredible,” McCartney said.
“Some of them were won on the back of what happened before them.
“The players felt a responsibility that when they played at Ocean Grove they were strong and competitive and you fought to the death every time they went out there.”
Arriving at the start of 1993, McCartney moved to create a “one club mentally”, bringing the junior and senior sections together.
“The philosophies were behind giving kids a go and teaching them the game, and everything was aligned so they knew what we valued and what was important,” McCartney said.
“People worked hard. Players and coaches came and went but for 12 years we were a strong club. It was a really good time to be involved.”
McCartney’s influence was immediate, but it was his ability to galvanise the club in the aftermath of the grand final that paved the way for unrivalled success.
“There was a bit of banter and with Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove there was always a strong rivalry,” McCartney explained about the post-match exchange in ’93.
“The match committee copped some flak from some happy Barwon Heads people after the game and good on them.
“I think that drove us a little bit. We met on the Tuesday night at Ocean Grove and we reviewed what we did well, what do we need to get better.
“It started a little bit on the Sunday night when I was talking to the club about not accepting that it was OK to just make the finals. “I wanted everyone to have a think about what they could bring to the club the next year so we could progress and be even better, more competitive. “I guess there was enough of us inside the club that had a drive to bring the club its first premiership. That was the biggest motivation, to be honest. “We just wanted to win one and after that it was about building the foundations for a strong club and that’s what we became.” McCartney, these days a senior assistant coach at Melbourne as part of a long career in the AFL system at Richmond, Geelong, Essendon and the Western Bulldogs, vividly recalls the meeting when he forecast drastic changes. “We probably needed to get fitter and invest more into the conditioning side,” McCartney said of preparations for the ’94 season.
“We also needed to add specific players to the group. We were a young, local group, which was terrific, but we added three or four key players who become really good Ocean Grove people.
“They just didn’t go there for one year, they stayed for six or seven years and provided stability, because we probably got beaten up by an older Barwon Heads that day.
“But also we had three older, critical players — David Ramsay, Alan Patterson and Brett McTaggart — who provided that real on-ground leadership.
“They’d all been part of strong football communities wherever they were in Victoria. They were the three that really jelled the players and looked after them and gave them confidence, and all the youngsters grew up beneath them.”
Gunning for its fourth flag in succession and seventh in 10 years across in the GDFL, Bell Post Hill is tracking the great deeds of Ocean Grove.
While two grand finals shy of the Grubbers’ unbelievable run, the Panthers can lay claim to being the most successful club in GDFL history.
“I would think it’s a record,” GDFL president Neville Whitley said.
“I can’t think of anyone else who has played 10 in a row. North Geelong won seven in a row in the ’40s and ’50s, and North Shore won a few in the ’70s, but I don’t think either of them played in more grand finals (in a row).” AMID the euphoria of Bell Post Hill’s post-grand final triumph in 2012, Brent Grgic sought out his righthand man.
“When it ends, we’ll catch up with a beer,” a proud Grgic told football manager Tony Dosen.
That was just hours after clinching the premiership, the Panthers’ third in succession.
The pair have enjoyed many a beer since, but not while reflecting on the record-breaking deeds of their proud football club.
For in a week, Bell Post Hill will challenge for its seventh flag. The allconquering Panthers will contest their 10th successive grand final in a dynasty that stretches back to 2010.
So that beer must wait. Not that Grgic and Dosen are complaining.
“I remember when ‘Grg’ stood up on the dais in 2010 he said ‘let’s create a dynasty, why can we win the next three, four or five (flags)’,” Dosen recalled.
“I played the tape back a few weeks ago and I said to myself ‘gee, that’s a big statement when we’ve just won our first one’ but it just keeps rolling.”