Grand Final # 8 - 1979

[Harrysz]

Carlton 82 defeated Collingwood 77

Part way through the 1978 season, Carlton who had been playing musical coaches was languishing at the bottom of the ladder. They started the season with Ian Thorogood, then Ian Stewart and then Sergio Silvagni. Alex Jesaulenko was then appointed as captain coach. Carlton improved and finished fourth. Collingwood finished third. Collingwood met Carlton in the first semi-final and won by 15 points. Oh happy day! Collingwood de-listed Phil Carman, Len Thompson and Max Richardson at the end of 1978. Some say that was a mistake. None of them succeeded at other clubs which they joined.

In the first qualifying final of 1979, Collingwood played North Melbourne and was leading by 3 goals at halftime but then fell away and lost by 39 points. In the first semi-final Collingwood beat Fitzroy by 6 points. In the preliminary final, Collingwood was outsiders against North Melbourne but finished up winning by 27 points. That match was notable for the change in rules required after Peter Moore and Gary Dempsey wrestled heavily for the ball at every opportunity. This led to the introduction of restrictions of where ruckmen had to stand when the ball was bounced.

Collingwood against Carlton in another Grand Final! The weekend was wet. Alf Brown writing his last Grand Final prediction in The Herald picked Carlton and he said that the heavy weather would make it more difficult but Carlton would still win. In what I regard as a selection blunder, Collingwood selected Derek Shaw instead of Craig Stewart. Shaw got “doughnuts” in the Grand Final.

Early in the match, Rene Kink was reported for spitting in Alex Jesaulenko’s face. Peter Landy who was doing the TV commentary said “Rene, you can’t get away with that.” But it was clear that he hadn’t seen what had happened and he assumed that Kink had punched Jesaulenko. Kink had a poor game and his opponent was one of the best players on the ground. He was subsequently suspended for 6 weeks for spitting.

Collingwood got off to a good start in the wet conditions and at quarter-time led 2 goals 2 to 4 behinds. The same trend continued in the second quarter and Collingwood kicked 3 goals extending its lead to 28 points, which was a big lead on such a rain-soaked day. Jesaulenko who had been well-beaten in the centre moved himself to the back line and moved Wayne Harmes into the centre. This had immediate results. Harmes kicked a slashing goal (Carlton’s first) on the run and this was followed by a flurry of goals from Carlton who at halftime led by 1 point.

The third quarter was Collingwood’s worst for the game. Carlton piled on 5 goals 5 to Collingwood’s 2 goals 3 and at three-quarter time Carlton led by 21 points.

By three-quarter time the rain had stopped. Carlton had a handy lead but Collingwood would not give in. Goals came through Wearmouth, Carlson and Kink and suddenly the difference was only 4 points. Jesaulenko went off injured but this made little difference as he’d been ineffective. With Carlton kicking to the city end of the MCG, Wayne Harmes gathered the ball on the half-forward flank and banged a kick forward. The ball floated into the right forward pocket with no player nearby. Harmes chased his own kick as the ball rolled towards the boundary line and he dived to punch it back into play. This shot the ball into the goal square where Ken Sheldon gathered it and kicked a goal, giving Carlton a 10-point lead. Collingwood attacked and centre half forward Allan Edwards kicked an excellent goal – 4 points the difference. The ball was bounced and Carlton went into attack and Alex Marcou missed an easy goal and scored a point – 5 points the difference. The ball was kicked in and shortly after the siren went. This was a short quarter of 27 minutes but presumably the timekeepers knew what they were doing. Carlton premiers over Collingwood, again, this time by 5 points.

In my opinion, and I will be in a minority here, I believe that a myth has developed regarding the outcome of this match. Was the ball which Wayne Harmes knocked towards goal over the boundary line? I saw Wayne Harmes on television that night when he said with a cheeky grin “Of course the ball was out of bounds.” It was hard to tell whether he was being truthful. Most Collingwood supporters say that the ball was out of bounds and that “a blind boundary umpire” cost us the premiership. I disagree. Firstly, the ball may have been still in play. Secondly, what was Ken Sheldon doing on his own in the goal square? Where were the Collingwood defenders? Thirdly, when this incident occurred, Carlton was in front although only by a small margin. If the ball had been called out of bounds, there is no certainty that Collingwood would have overtaken Carlton and won the match. Fourthly and most importantly, Collingwood led by 28 points midway through the second quarter and by the end of the third quarter, trailed by 21 points. During that period, Carlton outscored Collingwood by 8 goals. No one ever mentions that. It’s all about Harmes and the blind boundary umpire. Yes, Collingwood’s good last quarter was a great last gasp effort but they should never have been in that position in the first place.

After the game, Carlton president George Harris asked the Carlton faithful “What’s better than beating Collingwood by 5 points in a Grand Final? Beating them by 1 point!” This disgusting exhibition of bad sportsmanship was bad enough but Carlton supporters thought it was hilarious. And then, in the first round of 1980 where Carlton was drawn to play Collingwood at Victoria Park, the Carlton cheer squad put up a large banner in front of the Collingwood home stand which read simply “5 points”. I do a fair bit of public speaking. I once gave a speech entitled “Why I hate Carlton”. I had so much material that it was difficult to hold the speech down to the allotted time of 5 to 7 minutes.

[Harrysz]

I omitted to mention that Peter Moore won the Brownlow medal in 1979. Whilst not directly relevant to the 1979 Grand Final, we don't win many Brownlows. Since then we've had Nathan Buckley in 2003 (shared with two others) and Dane Swan in 2011. Peter Moore's win was important and it should have been included in my summary.

[Boot]

Peter Moore was a generational player and his dominance as a mobile ruckman carried the Tommy Hafey led Magpies into the grand finals of 1979, 1980 and 1981 until his untimely departure at the end of 1982 to Melbourne where he won another Brownlow medal.
I think Moore was the most exciting footballer to pull on the Collingwood I have seen debut until Nick Daicos, but whilst Nick Daicos has been remarkable in his almost instant development into an elite midfielder, the excitement of seeing Peter Moore dominate as a mobile ruckman taking pack marks all over the ground then bounding away from his opposition ruckman was right up there with the mercurial Phil Carman's brief few years at Collingwood in terms of sustained brilliance on the footy ground.
Unfortunately for Peter Moore and Collingwood, those grand final teams just lacked the overall class and luck to win any of those Grand Finals, but he has had the satisfaction of seeing his son Darcy Moore lead the Mighty Pies to this years Premiership. Pity Peter didn't have a couple of other son's!!

[Harrysz]

Boot talks about luck. I'm reminded of what Tommy Hafey once said after we lost a game to Hawthorn at Vic Park by a couple of points. Leigh Matthews had put Hawthorn in front with a couple of minutes to go. The ball bounced towards Collingwood's goal at the Social Club end of the ground. Ray Shaw lead in the race to the ball and was about to pick it up and kick a goal. A Hawthorn defender in desperation pushed him square in the middle of the back. No free kick! The siren went and Hawthorn won.

The next day on World of Sport coach Tommy Hafey was asked whether he thought it unlucky that Ray Shaw wasn't paid that free kick. I have never forgotten Tommy's response - "We should never have been in a position where an unlucky umpiring decision could make a difference!" Tommy was not one to make excuses. Well, he did blame Phil Carman for us losing the 1977 Premiership but Carman not playing in the Grand Final had nothing to do with luck.

[Quincy]

[warburton lad]

The key to this loss occurred in the second quarter.

Russell Ohlsen was a former Blue who was playing the game of his life for the Magpies- he had gathered 17 kicks and one handball by midway through the second quarter when Trevor Keogh broke his jaw.

Although not a big name player, Ohlsen's dominance in the wet (his forte) had Collingwood in what should have been a match-winning position.

Prior to the 1979 season, Kevin Bartlett was in dispute with Richmond and had met with Collingwood with a view to transferring to the Pies. Would KB have made the difference against the Blues in such a narrow loss??

[Harrysz]

Russell Ohslen had a poor Preliminary Final and must have been close to being dropped but Tommy went with him. Yes he played a great game but Trevor Keogh punched him in the head during the second quarter and he was concussed. Ohlsen fainted in the rooms at half time. To his credit he played a good last quarter. Keogh got weeks for his hit but I'm sure he thought it was worth it. Obviously there were no concussion protocols at that time.

Regarding KB, my recollection is that he was available before the 1980 season rather than before the 1979 season but I may be wrong. Anyway, Tommy Hafey and Kevin Bartlett were best friends and there was no way that Tommy would want to have his best friend playing for Collingwood.