Don’t do anything stupid like I did last year
– North Melbourne’s Jason McCartney to Melbourne’s David Swarz in the dying moments of the 2000 preliminary final
Peter Crackers Keenan carries the burden well. When asked he doesn’t shirk the memory, recollections recalled honestly in his sloppy drawl, a great voice for football. It’s been more than three decades since Keenan belted Hawthorn’s Don Scott in the 1978 semi final. The satisfaction of that right fist has long faded. Regret is something Keenan will carry til death.
Much has been made of North Melbourne’s rivalry with Hawthorn in the seventies. Opponents in three grand finals, 1975-76 and 1978, the Hawks were skilful, relentless, bigger bodied men, complemented by players like Leigh Matthews, Michael Moncrief and Don Scott. Renowned for being tough at the man and the ball, Hawthorn’s reputation was sullied by cowardly acts, cheap shots behind the play executed mainly by Matthews when his targets weren’t looking or expecting to be hit.
North was skilful, an offensive masterpiece when in form. Crucially, North seemed devoid of players who would take it, physically, to the opposition. Hawthorn had enforcers. North didn’t. Through seasons 1975-78, North played 14 finals and lost six, all to the Hawks. Using the parlance of our times, Hawthorn owned North.
Argument can be made for timidity due to the intimidation. Despite the occasional home and away victory, North seemed to wilt under Hawthorn’s physical pressure, not so much at the man and the ball, but at the man off the ball, or at the man when he wasn’t looking. In an era of blindsided umpires, and prior to the advent of trial by video, players were routinely whacked without recrimination.
In 1978, North finished on top despite losing David Dench to a knee injury in round three, naturally, against Hawthorn. Dench needed a reconstruction. Amazing how injury strikes at the heart of football clubs. Other players like Steven Icke, Stan Alves and Keenan would miss large slabs of the season.
Under the final five system, North earned the week off and watched Hawthorn hammer Collingwood by 56 points in the qualifying final. A week later, on 16 September, the Hawks led the semi final by 22 points at quarter time. North kicked four goals in the second term but trailed at half time by 25 points. The margin at the final change was 20 points. Hawthorn won by 14 points.
Brent Crosswell broke his arm during the semi final and missed the rest of September. A four-time premiership player, Crosswell was motivated by big games, with the ability to play forward or defence. Another utility, Stephen Icke tore his groin muscle.
It would get worse when Keenan, deep in the back pocket, tussled with Don Scott, turning remonstration and a few words into a punch, a big right hand, landing it on Scott’s left cheek. Scott went down. Keenan comically feigned a sore back. The umpire reported him anyway.
By game’s end, with Crosswell in hospital, Icke limping and Barassi evaluating another September loss to the Hawks, Keenan knew his campaign was over. The tribunal appearance was formality, two weeks the verdict. Keenan cried tears of grief and shame in front of the tribunal members.
Almost three decades later, on 8 July 2008, Keenan discussed his poor record on the ABC, admitting he wasn’t nicknamed Crackers because he loved fireworks. He was prone to stupidity, violence on the football field, hitting people.
‘Probably the most famous one was when I whacked Don Scott,’ Keenan told the ABC. ‘He’d just cleaned up one of my rovers… I didn’t like it and I turned around and said, next time I get a chance, you’re finished and I belted him.’
Whack.
Keenan can probably recall the sound of his fist on Scott’s face, remember seeing him on the ground and the umpire blowing his whistle as Malcolm Blight was about to clear the ball. North’s captain Keith Greig was about fifteen metres away from the incident, close enough to see the punch and watch Scott flop to the ground. Greig was horrified.
‘The first thing I said to Crackers was you’ve cost us the grand final,’ Greig said.
All footballers know and understand the rules, yet they routinely get suspended for random acts of violence. Throwing punches or elbows on the field isn’t tough, putting the head over the ball is.
Any satisfaction Keenan felt at whacking Don Scott quickly dissipated. From the free kick, Scott’s shot for goal drifted out of bounds on the full. As Keenan ran out the game he carried the belated consequence of fear, of letting down his teammates and coach, Ron Barassi.
‘Probably cost my side a premiership and my ex-team mates still believe to this day, I think,’ Keenan told the ABC. ‘We had a very good year that year. I played in the Victorian side and all the rest and they believe I lost the game for them and I have lived with it ever since.’
Keenan loves North Melbourne, he’s a life member and remains close to those he played with. ‘You’re stay teammates forever,’ he said. He’s particularly close to Wayne Schimmelbusch. A few years ago they went overseas to watch the Tour De France. The trip involved drinking. At the weekend on NIRS, Keenan described the long-term heartache his punch continues to cause.
‘When Wayne Schimmelbusch gets emotional he says you cost us a premiership,’ Keenan said. ‘And he’s probably right.’
1978 was a good year for Keenan. From 17 games he gathered 190 possessions, took 107 marks and had 216 hit outs. He drifted forward enough to kick five goals and picked up six Brownlow medal votes.
His semi-final protagonist, Don Scott, played 24 games in 1978, getting 361 possessions, taking 80 marks and kicking 15 goals. Despite being short for a ruckman, 190cm, Scott’s athleticism allowed him to get 438 hit outs and five Brownlow medal votes.
In the semi final, Scott gathered sixteen possessions, took one mark and had 19 hit outs. Keenan had 11 possessions, six marks and 19 hit outs. The honours, aside from the punch, were about even.
Watching the highlights of the 1978 semi final, it doesn’t seem right that Keenan was reported and Leigh Matthews wasn’t. Lethal Leigh, a brilliant footballer, carried an unfortunate penchant for violence. In the semi final he should’ve been reported for whacking Graeme Melrose during the second quarter. From a turnover in the centre, Melrose had grabbed the ball and took off for a run, deftly dodging Matthews.
In typical Matthews behaviour, illegal, gutless and unnecessary, he swung his right arm, whacking Melrose with a primitive coat hanger, fist and forearm in a savage arc to the face. How dare you dodge me, was the intent. Melrose went down. North’s Gary Cowton bumped Matthews. John Byrne briefly tangled with Michael Tuck, but no North players were willing to hit Matthews back.
Matthews ran forward following the brief fracas, untroubled by his opponents or the umpires, who saw the incident but decided a forearm to the head didn’t warrant a report.
Keenan’s mistake was a blatant punch the umpires couldn’t ignore.
Given North’s injury woes, his indiscretion was pointless and senseless. Getting reported during the home and away season is aggravating for teammates, coaches and supporters. Getting reported during the finals is a cardinal sin.
With Keenan, Icke and Crosswell missing, Barassi played Mick Nolan, Doug Smith and Maurice Boyse in the preliminary final victory over Collingwood.
In the grand final, North had more kicks, more hand passes and took more marks than Hawthorn. The stats prove they had enough of the ball, but Blight tore his groin on the cricket wicket in the first quarter, confined to the bench for the rest of the game. Already undermanned, Blight’s loss crippled the forward line. Phil Baker, with six goals was North’s only effective forward.
Don Scott had 13 possessions, 28 hit outs and kicked three goals. Mick Nolan gathered 16 possessions, five marks and 21 hit outs. Hawthorn won the grand final by three goals. Scott, in Keenan’s absence, was able to drift forward and hurt Nolan on the score board. His three goals were crucial.
Following the grand final, Barassi coached the Victorian team in the All-Australian carnival in Western Australia. Keenan wasn’t allowed to change with the Victorian team. Barassi banished him to the opposition change rooms.
‘I had a great year,’ Keenan said. ‘I got on well with Barassi, he was a great coach but after the 78 grand final Barassi wouldn’t talk to me.’
Barassi was a volatile coach, tough but fair. He didn’t tolerate idiocy. Keenan’s teammates believed he cost them the premiership. Barassi did too.
‘I didn’t like the way I was being treated,’ Keenan said. ‘Essendon found out I had a get out clause in my contract so I left.’
Gone. Just like that. Whacked out of the club because he didn’t like how he was being treated. Premierships are a serious business. Keenan had lost the respect of his peers and his coach. Scott and Hawthorn must’ve been doubled over with laughter with Keenan’s belligerence in the semi final and the penalty.
But to blame Keenan solely for the premiership defeat is a little too much vilification. North, it must be remembered, was without Dench, Icke and Crosswell. John Burns was injured in the preliminary final. Barassi was forced to make five changes from the semi final side to the grand final side. Simply, North was missing a lot of good players. Nolan, as good as he had been, wasn’t as skilful or quick as Keenan. His stamina was questionable.
Simply, North’s depth couldn’t cover Keenan. Missing the grand final, being accused of costing his club the grand final must hurt Keenan, but the pain might be tempered by his luck in 1977 when he played in a premiership. Others aren’t so lucky.
Five players, Ross Glendinning, Maurice Boyse, Ray Huppatz, Graeme Melrose and Doug Smith had never played in a grand final before. None of those five would ever play in a premiership. Had Keenan played, those five men might be remembered as premiership players. Their destiny could’ve been completely different and Keenan could be to blame.
North went into the grand final with a weakened side, but injury isn’t always preventable. Suspension is. That punch has become a lifelong regret, an infamous moment, completely unnecessary, the moment North lost the grand final.
‘I’ve often said we should’ve won more grand finals,’ Keith Greig said. ‘But Hawthorn people also say they should’ve won more.’
Glendinning crossed to North from Western Australia. A clearance wrangle ensured he sat out season 1977, missing out on the premiership. He played 190 games for North. Maurice Boyse played 50 games, kicking 50 goals. He also played with Essendon and Sydney. Boyse was never a star. Ray Huppatz came from Footscray and played 12 games in 1978, two in 1980. He was one of North’s best in the 1978 grand final.
Graeme Melrose, another Western Australian, played 111 games for the Kangaroos. He missed the 1977 finals with a knee injury and was desperate for a premiership in 1978. Doug Smith played 54 games for North. The 1978 grand final was Smith’s seventh game. He was a rookie.
Had Barassi had better players to chose from, Boyse and Smith wouldn’t have played in the 1978 grand final. Neither would Nolan. Barassi was disappointed with the grand final loss. Had injury and stupidity been absent, North might’ve won back to back flags.
History, though, doesn’t remember injury. Keenan’s punch is remembered as the sole cause of that defeat.
Keenan has membership on a sad football list involving a group of talented and unfortunate men. In VFL/AFL history thirty-one players have missed grand finals due to suspension. Fourteen of those missed out on playing in a premiership. Carl Ditterich missed St Kilda’s only premiership in 1966, perhaps the biggest tribunal casualty in history.
The list of players who missed grand finals due to suspension provides some interesting quirks:
For decades following retirement, Peter Keenan taught footballers how to ruck, actually running around on the ground with a young Jim Stynes, telling him where to run and what to do. For years he called games on ABC and NIRS. He’s a sought after public speaker.
Inevitably, the conversation drifts to that punch, a big right hand remembered infamously. Having eked out a career in the media, Keenan is compelled to discuss the incident. That he does so with honesty is admirable, but listening to him dissect that punch is difficult.
Two seconds of madness will never be forgotten. Keenan should be remembered for more than that, but few players are accused of costing their team a premiership. It’s a heavy burden, a life time of guilt and remorse.
Leigh Matthews kicked four goals in the 1978 grand final, one of Hawthorn’s best. He whacked Graeme Melrose and somehow wasn’t reported.
1978 just wasn’t North’s year. Keenan can tell you all about it.
If you want to watch Leigh Matthews clobber Graeme Melrose, click on the link below – it happens at 43 seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S19c80Fm9Jk
| 55 | Dave (5) |
| 54 | Anne (5), Stevo (5), Adam L (5) |
| 53 | Matt B (4), James (5), Russ (5) |
| 52 | Wayne (5), Sandra (5) |
| 51 | Jim (7) |
| 50 | Andy (5), Matt (4) |
| 49 | Dallas (3), Eric (4) |
| 48 | Adam G (4) |
| 47 | Graeme (4) |
| 45 | Paul (5) |
| 39 | George (5) |
MELBOURNE
GEELONG
WESTCOAST
COLLINGWOOD
SYDNEY
HAWTHORN
NORTH MELBOURNE
CARLTON
