TOPIC:

Watching those games of Sean's from the early Eighties, got me to thinking, was Todd the great recycler or the great motivator?

All be it that there was something in the water in the Bomba Valley in those days in the amount of natural talent they had but you add these players to the mix and no wonder Swans were a power house.

Any I missed?

Leigh Brenton
Tony Solin
Gerard Neesham
Michael Johns
Kim Hetherington
Graham Melrose
Barry Kimberley

Devonleigh wrote: Watching those games of Sean's from the early Eighties, got me to thinking, was Todd the great recycler or the great motivator?

All be it that there was something in the water in the Bomba Valley in those days in the amount of natural talent they had but you add these players to the mix and no wonder Swans were a power house.

Any I missed?

Leigh Brenton
Tony Solin
Gerard Neesham
Michael Johns
Kim Hetherington
Graham Melrose
Barry Kimberley

He was a magnet for players from other clubs who wanted success. Ever though I wouldn't have necessarily put Melrose, Neesham or Solin on the list, I would include Ken Marshall and, later, Ken Bell.

Some pretty astute recruiting from Toddy as we were continually being raped by vfl clubs.
A bit of background on some of those named Dev-
Toddy after a look at and then clean out of the list 77/78 needed to add some experience to the playing squad hence targeting his old EF skipper Melrose who was leaving North Melbourne to come back home to WA.
Neesham had had a break from footy in 78 playing water polo overseas and felt on his return EF showed little interest and so followed his first League coach JT to SD.
Tony Solin was playing footy in Darwin with Neeesham and hadnt been at SF for a few years playing instead at Kwinana in the SFL and so followed Neesham to SD.
Most of those players named above were also involved in a trade for their services, we didnt get them for nothing eg-
Graham Melrose (SD) - Mark Olsen (EF) SD leading goalkicker from 1976-79
Barry Kimberley (SD) - Ross Fitzgerald (P) SD Premiership player 1982
Kimm Hetherington (SD) - Clinton Pike (EF)
Leigh Brenton & Mick Johns were mid season pick ups who were not getting a game at their respective former clubs and decided to try their luck at SD.
He would have coached Melrose, Neesham, Brenton at EF so knew them quite well.
It must also be remembered we lost a plethora of players to the vfl in this era certainly more than we picked up to replace-
Simon Beasley
Craig Hoyer
Craig Holden
Garry Sidebottom
Alan Sidebottom
Mike Richardson
Ian Williams
Phil Narkle
Mike Smith
Peter Kenny
Leon Baker
Daryl Sutton
Gerard Neesham
Brad Shine, Murray Rance, Jon Fogarty, Peter Sartori all went East before the WCE came about as well.
And throw in a host of retirements- Stan Nowotny, Alan Cransberg, Ed Blackaby, Ron Boucher, Keith Narkle, Gordon Casey, Steve Gillespie, Gary McDonald etc.
Toddy knew he had to replace some of these greats and did so with some what turned out to be astute recruiting but it should be noted there were some misses as well- Brett Farmer, Chris Allen, Wayne Simms, Kim Trew.....

In hindsight though BH SD did get Neesham, Melrose, Hetherington and Brenton for nothing....all 4 provided SD with success....Olsen and Pike provided EF with nothing...obviously swings in roundabouts these trades....with Thommo and Sewell as EF forwards and Judge and Taylor to help, surprised EF even went for another forward in Olsen for a trade,

Interesting you class Baker as a loss to the ES mate....didn't he originally come from the ES?..and didn't most of those retirements play in a one or two of those three flags for SD?...eg Nowotny, K Narkle, Boucher, Blackaby, Cransberg etc..SD also recruited well from the ACT from memory....SD losses were staggered over time as were the incoming replacements...so little rocking of the boat occurred come end of the day...but more out of good management then recruiting luck....Toddy had a good eye that is for sure and ran a tight ship.....

Melrose was 31 when he came back to WA Freeze whilst Olsen was about 26 so the Old Easts hierarchy under coach Brad Smith would probably think they were going to get a few more years out of Olsen then just 1 game where he got badly injured. Also Thomson would have been well into his 30s back in 1980 as well so Olsen was going to be his long term replacement you would have thought.
As it turned out the likes of Browning, Bennett, Sterrett & Lockyer were coming through the ranks at EF and they all turned out decent players up forward not long after so it wasnt long term pain for EF in that regard, plus Big Ron brought over a handy key position player in Colin Waterson as well in 82.

Freezin wrote: In hindsight though BH SD did get Neesham, Melrose, Hetherington and Brenton for nothing....all 4 provided SD with success....Olsen and Pike provided EF with nothing...obviously swings in roundabouts these trades....with Thommo and Sewell as EF forwards and Judge and Taylor to help, surprised EF even went for another forward in Olsen for a trade,

Interesting you class Baker as a loss to the ES mate....didn't he originally come from the ES?..and didn't most of those retirements play in a one or two of those three flags for SD?...eg Nowotny, K Narkle, Boucher, Blackaby, Cransberg etc..SD also recruited well from the ACT from memory....SD losses were staggered over time as were the incoming replacements...so little rocking of the boat occurred come end of the day...but more out of good management then recruiting luck....Toddy had a good eye that is for sure and ran a tight ship.....

Freeze Leon Baker played in Wa's south west 1977 to 1980.South Bunbury where he won the competitions fairest + best in 1977.

gtrxuone wrote:

Freezin wrote: In hindsight though BH SD did get Neesham, Melrose, Hetherington and Brenton for nothing....all 4 provided SD with success....Olsen and Pike provided EF with nothing...obviously swings in roundabouts these trades....with Thommo and Sewell as EF forwards and Judge and Taylor to help, surprised EF even went for another forward in Olsen for a trade,

Interesting you class Baker as a loss to the ES mate....didn't he originally come from the ES?..and didn't most of those retirements play in a one or two of those three flags for SD?...eg Nowotny, K Narkle, Boucher, Blackaby, Cransberg etc..SD also recruited well from the ACT from memory....SD losses were staggered over time as were the incoming replacements...so little rocking of the boat occurred come end of the day...but more out of good management then recruiting luck....Toddy had a good eye that is for sure and ran a tight ship.....

Freeze Leon Baker played in Wa's south west 1977 to 1980.Carey Park where he won the competitions fairest + best in 1977.

Played in a couple of Premierships with South Bunbury as well if I recall GTR and they were in our country zone of course!

Beasley Hutton wrote:

gtrxuone wrote:

Freezin wrote: In hindsight though BH SD did get Neesham, Melrose, Hetherington and Brenton for nothing....all 4 provided SD with success....Olsen and Pike provided EF with nothing...obviously swings in roundabouts these trades....with Thommo and Sewell as EF forwards and Judge and Taylor to help, surprised EF even went for another forward in Olsen for a trade,

Interesting you class Baker as a loss to the ES mate....didn't he originally come from the ES?..and didn't most of those retirements play in a one or two of those three flags for SD?...eg Nowotny, K Narkle, Boucher, Blackaby, Cransberg etc..SD also recruited well from the ACT from memory....SD losses were staggered over time as were the incoming replacements...so little rocking of the boat occurred come end of the day...but more out of good management then recruiting luck....Toddy had a good eye that is for sure and ran a tight ship.....

Freeze Leon Baker played in Wa's south west 1977 to 1980.Carey Park where he won the competitions fairest + best in 1977.

Played in a couple of Premierships with South Bunbury as well if I recall GTR and they were in our country zone of course!

The first time he arrived at Essendon was 1984.He was never at the dons before that.

"It must also be remembered we lost a plethora of players to the vfl in this era certainly more than we picked up to replace-
Simon Beasley
Craig Hoyer
Craig Holden
Garry Sidebottom
Alan Sidebottom
Mike Richardson
Ian Williams
Phil Narkle
Mike Smith
Peter Kenny
Leon Baker
Daryl Sutton
Gerard Neesham"


Could we say with all those transfers Swans was making a lot of money and could therefore afford to go shopping for replacement players?

Also remember they won another G/F just 6 years after '84 meaning they could afford to retain their players.

Thoughts?

Reason I’m banging on about this is that I believe that Swans club management at this time must have been exceptional and maybe didn’t get the kudos they deserved?

South and East Fremantle, Claremont and Subiaco could only get returns of one grand final at three attempts whilst Swans got a 75% return on 4 G/F’s or 80% if you include 1990.

Was it Enright who was president?