The Bomberopoulos Report

HIRD TALKS

TONY Lockett's groin was shot. He couldn't kick the ball 50m. There was no chance - or so I thought.

As Lockett's kick sailed over my head to score the point that would end our 1996 season, I was in shock.

Shock that a game we had in the bag had been let go, and shock that a season that promised so much had finished a week earlier than it should have.

As we walked off the SCG, our heads bowed and dreams shattered, we tried to block out the pandemonium that was going on around us.

The local fans were delirious and the Sydney players were out of control. The Swans, a team that was a basket case three years earlier, was through to its first Grand Final as Sydney.

In the rooms after the game, "Sheeds" lost it as I have never seen before. Rick Olarenshaw copped a verbal spray that would have brought me to tears.

After that we all hid in the showers fearing our turn was next. The feeling after the game was strange. The disappointment was as much about getting so close as it was about losing.

Any time you reach a preliminary final you have had a pretty good year. But pretty good does not win premierships and we felt that year we were at least good enough to make it to the Grand Final.

Compare 1996 to 1999 - a year that we lost the "unloseable" prelim - and the emotions are very different.

In 1996 we were not the best team. North Melbourne was better than us and deserved its premiership.

In 1999 it wasn't as clear-cut. North may well have beaten us in the Grand Final, but it would have been one hell of a contest between bitter rivals from the north-west of Melbourne.

Leading into the 1999 preliminary final we were unbackable favourites. The day was meant to be a celebration for Premier Jeff Kennett at the polls and the Bombers at the 'G.

Unfortunately no one told Carlton or Steve Bracks.

The game started poorly for Essendon and from my vantage spot in the coach's box (I missed all but two games that year because of a stress fracture in my foot), it was obvious from the start this was not going to be an easy win for Essendon.

Carlton had come out firing, hitting the contest hard and playing through their main man in "Kouta".

By the last quarter the coach's box was still calm. But when the siren sounded to end the game and our season - again losing by just one point - we were stunned.

I remember sitting next to assistant coach Mark Harvey, who was next to Sheeds, just waiting for someone to say something. No one did.

It seemed to take forever before Sheeds said: "Well that's footy for you. You learn a lesson every day, and, Hirdy, make sure you MAKE IT HURT FOR THOSE BLOKES. THIS HAS GOT TO DRIVE US ON TO NEXT YEAR."

The first preliminary final I played in at AFL level was in 1993 when we came back from 40 points down at halftime to beat Adelaide.

That win was as rewarding as the '96 and '99 experiences were disappointing.

Coming into the rooms at halftime, in my mind the game was lost.

We had a young team, but the experienced guys who were still smarting from losing to Collingwood in the 1990 Grand Final were incredible.

Sheeds was still relaxed during the break, but it was the fire that I saw in captain "Bomber" Thompson's eyes that got us going.

Bomber didn't say a lot normally in the rooms, but that day he inspired his team through words and actions.

He looked us all in the eye and demanded an effort befitting a team that wears red and black. His final words as we broke from the huddle, were: "Win this one and next week you will win the Grand Final."

In hindsight that was the most inspired I have been by a captain in my life.

I was involved in five preliminary finals; we won three and lost two. In a lot of ways they are the hardest games to play. In only one of them did we win easily - in 2000 against Carlton. The following year we scraped through by the skin of our teeth against the Hawks.

No matter how well we played in the weeks leading up to the game, or in the Grand Final, in the prelim it seemed almost impossible to relax into a rhythm and play with any sort of freedom.

Look at Geelong last year. The Cats barely scraped past Collingwood before wining the Grand Final by a record margin.

As much as you tell yourself not to worry about the next week, it is hard to remove the thought from your mind that a win will put you into the biggest game of your life. Some players fear injury, a report or bad form. Others just think too far ahead.

This week sees the Hawks take on St Kilda, and the Bulldogs try to strangle the Cats.

As much as Hawthorn and Geelong are favourites, I am sure we will see two tight contests, with an upset on the cards.