Bright urges Falcons to seize the day
GEELONG Falcons’ first premiership coach, Terry Bright, has implored those players who will not be drafted this year to embrace grand final day.
The Falcons play in their first decider since 2000, which was their second premiership in the TAC Cup.
Bright coached the side to the 1992 premiership, which boasted nine AFL draftees.
But the 219-game Geelong forward said it was those players that would miss out on the draft that must embrace the flag chance on Sunday.
“They’ve always been one of the top sides in the competition; it surprises me they haven’t played in more grand finals, but I think the end result is how many boys get drafted,” he said.
“But for the ones who don’t get drafted, I think it’s a great experience to play in these big games. And they go back to be better players wherever they go to; back to their country clubs or the VFL, the experience does them the world of good.”
Bright recalled the fond memories of 1992, which was the first year of the Victorian under-18 competition.
“We were combined with Ballarat at that time,” he said.
“It was all new — I think there were five metro sides and one country side, which was Geelong-Ballarat. After that, all the other country sides came in the next year, I think.
“At the start of the year we were getting beaten by the Western Jets, but by the end of the year we had caught up to them and got them in the grand final.
“We were probably in control most of the day — we won by 42 points. But if you looked at the records during the year, we probably played the Western Jets two or three times and they beat us pretty convincingly early.”
Bright, now 59, remembers the early morning trip from Geelong to the MCG for the day.
“We played at the MCG as a curtain raiser to the reserves,” he said. “The boys left Geelong at 6am and you would have thought it (the game) was 2pm in the afternoon. We played early and had a great win.
“It does have fond memories and the boys all loved their time at the Falcons.”
Bright’s son Michael joined the Falcons in a leadership and development role this season, and Terry has kept a close eye on their progress.
He said he would be proud to see them succeed on Sunday.
“I’ve always kept an eye on how the Falcons are going and it’s just been a great pathway for boys to make AFL footy,” he said.
“It’s a credit to Mick Turner and the rest of the people who have been there for many years to keep it to the standard they’ve kept it.”