Club pays tribute to ’Jammo’ in last game

ALMOST half an hour had passed and a third premiership cup was firmly in his grasp.

Yet Heath Jamieson still had his game face on.

As a jubilant St Joseph’s team and the faithful poured into the changerooms beneath the Reg Hickey Stand, Jamieson remained a picture of concentration.

He was a coach to the very end. The players dived into the Eskys, collecting and cracking cans of Carlton Draught one by one. They linked arms in readiness for a second and the most powerful rendition of the song. But they were made to wait.

Jamieson, standing in the centre of the circle, was taking a headcount. He wanted to make certain every single one of his boys was part of it. No one was going to miss out.

They burst into song, spraying beer to every corner of the room. They hugged, cheered and some even cried. Seconds later, they were all gone.

Jamieson, the coaching staff and the victorious 22 went behind closed doors. This moment, as it should be, was for the Joeys players and coaches. Those outside the four walls will never know what was said. But Nick Maxwell, a ring-in coach for the day, encapsulated the message beautifully post-match.

It was all about the belief of the group, the never-say-die attitude that culminated in a premiership against all odds.

“He said, ‘They dominated and we had every right to be six or seven goals down but we stuck fat, kept cracking in and we kept our pressure up’,” Maxwell said of Jamieson’s final words as coach.

“At halftime he was really positive. He could’ve easily given 12 blokes a spray because there were guys who hadn’t contributed in that first half, but he said, ‘if you haven’t, you’ve got half a game to turn it around’.

“A lot of those guys who’d had quieter games stood up in that second half. He said he was really proud that they kept believing and never thought they weren’t a chance in the grand final. “They kept chipping away.” With his four local footy flags under his belt, Jamieson bows out in style.

But it was the way in which he drove Joeys to Saturday’s premiership that impressed Maxwell the most.

“I think it explains Jammo in a nutshell,” Maxwell said.

“He’s been the underdog quite a few times, and even when he came to St Joseph’s early on, he had a strong, steely focus of what he wanted to do and that was to rebuild the club and start with youth.

“He played about 40 players in that first year and went 4-14 — so we struggled in that first — but it was a stepping stone and from then we saw a lot of those guys come through and eight of these guys have played in three premierships now.

“Yeah, we’ve topped up and had some players come in, but a lot of it has been done by his coaching and also his oneclub, whole-club attitude towards the group.

“That’s something at Joeys that we really value, e, to have someone that values es how important the juniors are, how important the women men footballers are and how important the netball all program is, and as a senior coach, he’s the one that drives that.

“He’s been great along those lines and as a coach he’s been sensational. He’s coached more games es than anyone in the history of our club and coached more flags than anyone. He deserves es any accolade he gets.”

Arriving at Herne Hill R Reserve in 2013, having previously led Queenscliff to a drought-breaking premiership, Jamieson rebuilt the club from the ground up.

Joeys would finish ninth in Jamieson’s maiden season at the helm before breaking through to September the following season. The dynasty kickstarted the next year — the club has now won three premierships in four years.

Chris Nicholls, the bench coach and one of Jamieson’s right-hand men, has been there since the beginning.

“As soon as he came to the club there was no division between the two groups,” Nicholls said. “We had a 12 o’clock group and a two o’clock group but we were always together. Everyone was focused on the journey. His skill to make everyone feel important at the club was magnificent. People gravitate towards ‘Jammo’.

“He’s an absolute genius at football and getting the best out of the boys, not only on the footy field, but in life. He’s just a winner.”