In episode 69 of the Press Box, The Examiner's sports team discusses the AFL grand final and debates who will be the Devils' first coach in 2028. Video by Aaron Smith (2/10/24)
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of the Pressbox episode 69.
00:12My name is Ben Hand.
00:13Joining alongside me once again is Brian Allen and Josh Partridge.
00:16We've cut off the backs of a pretty forgettable AFL grand final to be honest, but obviously
00:22one that Brisbane richly deserved.
00:25But before we get to any of that, we've got to go to everyone's favorite segment, numerology.
00:29So lads, I'm going to take you back, I'm going to paint a picture for you where we're getting
00:40rid of the pluses and minuses again.
00:41We're going to an iconic moment in Tasmania in Australian sport.
00:45The high-to-be status as the finisher, James Faulkner, playing against England in Brisbane
00:52at the Gabba.
00:53I think everyone already knows what I'm talking about here in 2014.
00:56Australia were down and out.
00:57Mitchell Johnson had just gone out, Clint McKay came to the crease, we were nine down
01:01and needing a lot to win.
01:04James Faulkner hit 69 not out in a remarkable display of batting, sixes and fours against
01:11Tim Bresnan.
01:12A couple of really iconic shots and Clint McKay just stayed in there and we got the
01:18win.
01:19Obviously a very famous summer with Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris.
01:21I now know what I'm watching when I get home tonight, so thank you Ben.
01:25I hope I've inspired a few other people as well.
01:28We do have, obviously, the AFL grand final to look back on.
01:32Brisbane premised the first time in 21 years under Chris Fagan.
01:36Josh, take me through, or take the audience through, I suppose, how you saw the game pan
01:42out.
01:43Well, it was just that seven goal to one second quarter.
01:46Any game of football, if it's seven goals to one in a quarter, you're going to win.
01:49That was really where Brisbane took the game away from Sydney after a pretty close first
01:53quarter, especially given Brisbane had the first couple of shots on goal and all that
01:56kind of thing.
01:57But, yeah, it was just that quarter just really took the game away from them.
02:01Despite a couple of Sydney players' best efforts, especially Tasmanian Robbie Fox, he was brilliant
02:06once again on the grand final stage in the two grand finals that they've been absolutely
02:10demolished in.
02:11He's been fantastic, but Brisbane were just way too good.
02:15Yeah, and obviously, Brian, the spectacle on the field from the players wasn't exactly
02:22entertaining for the neutral viewers, but there was a pretty good spectacle going into
02:27the game.
02:28Yeah, yeah.
02:29Look, the game itself was a fizzer, really.
02:32It was over at halftime and, yeah, I mean, for me, I went to the South Lawny luncheon
02:39on Friday and talked to a few of the personalities that were speaking at that and, yeah, we were
02:44talking about, like, what do you think of the current entertainment package of footy
02:48and there was various opinions and I suppose, yeah, there was a lot made of Katy Perry playing
02:54an American pop star and a real proven performer.
02:59She's been doing the job for so many years.
03:02So, yeah, there was anticipation ahead of that and I guess my experience watching, I'm
03:08obviously a footy lover and probably I'm definitely focused on just the footy itself, but to have
03:15Christina Noo and Mike Brady up there, Gazalia, as usual, I was ready for the first bounce
03:22after that.
03:23I was pretty psyched up.
03:24But, yeah, obviously, they're big on their pre-Grand Final entertainment now and Katy
03:30Perry, I thought, did an excellent job.
03:33She was very professional, yeah, a real proven performer and, yeah, by the end of it, my
03:39daughter and I were having a dance to Firework and, you know, she's only learning to talk
03:44but she was kind of singing along, so, yeah, it was a special moment in that sense.
03:51So, yeah, probably got a lot out of that and then, yeah, I thought later, because the game
04:01didn't really live up to its hype, that it was probably really good that they did put
04:06a lot of effort into the pre-Grand Final entertainment because if you're a ticket holder and they
04:12do cost a lot of money or you put the investment of time in to watch the game, then, you know,
04:20the fact that there was that pre-game entertainment helped make it worth it.
04:25Yeah, exactly right and obviously, Katy Perry, Tasmania Indel's number one ticket holder,
04:30so I thought that that sort of pre-interlude going into the game as well, the way she opened
04:37herself up to media was really good too.
04:40I suppose the main Tasmanian connection, obviously, other than Robbie Fox, as you mentioned there,
04:44was Chris Fagan breaking all sorts of records or maybe, has he, as in terms of whether he
04:50was the first to be not playing at the level, which obviously has been discussed at length,
04:55but, you know, first non-playing coach, effectively, and the oldest coach to have won a flag.
05:04What an amazing achievement.
05:06He has really worked his way up the hard way to get to this level.
05:11Assistant coaches and then Director of Football at Hawthorne, he's had such a great era of
05:16success and it led me into writing a column yesterday about how I think the Devils just
05:22have to throw everything at trying to get him his contract runs until the end of 2026
05:28in Brisbane.
05:29So, yeah, you know, I think he has the temperament, he gets Tasmania, I think he ticks a lot of
05:35boxes.
05:36I wrote a lot about my reasoning and stuff like that.
05:38Josh, is that, I suppose, an option you'd first go to?
05:41Yeah, I think, and as you said in your column, it doesn't necessarily have to be the coach.
05:46I mean, the stuff that he's done behind the scenes as well at Hawthorne and things like
05:50that, I think it's certainly a possibility and you just watch the impact that he has
05:54on the players.
05:55I saw an interview with Kyle Oman before the game who described him as a father figure
05:58and all that kind of stuff.
06:00So, he's just a fantastic human being that's obviously had an impact on players from whether
06:06they're 18 or whether they're 35, in Dane Zorco's case, he's had an impact on his entire
06:10playing list.
06:11Yeah, I really look at the Kevin Sheedy approach, how much the inaugural GBS players talk about
06:16how much he set up the culture of the club, not just obviously the on-field coaching,
06:20it was everything else that went with it.
06:22He just got how to build an AFL winning culture and I think Chris Fagan has proven time and
06:27time again he can do that.
06:29But, more on that later.
06:31We'll first go to you Brian for just one of the emerging talent segments going out there.
06:38Brian's Extremely Difficult Sports Quiz.
06:47Look, it's a grand final special of course, so get your buzzers ready.
06:53But yeah, we'll start with the first question.
06:55How many goals in a row did the Lions kick in the second quarter to essentially win the game?
07:00Six.
07:01Ben's got it.
07:03Will Ashcroft was taken at what pick in the 2022 draft?
07:08Two?
07:09Yes.
07:10As a father-son.
07:11Question three, Queenstown's Chris Fagan embraced with who following the final siren?
07:17Lee Matthews.
07:18Pardo.
07:20Question four, which injured Swans player was subbed off in the third quarter?
07:24Logan McDonald.
07:28What a storming performance.
07:30Who did the Lions sub into the game?
07:32Conor McKenna.
07:33Yes.
07:35It's a 3-2 win to Pardo this week.
07:37Well done.
07:38In hot form, Josh Barker.
07:39I think that's the first clear win.
07:41I think we've had a tied...
07:43You had a 0.1 win last week.
07:46But that was a well-played contest, Josh.
07:50You're in hot form.
07:52And just yet another barnstorming segment of BEDSQ.
07:55So watch out for it next week.
07:58And that takes us on to the landmark segment, obviously.
08:02It's a great lead-in.
08:03It's Henny's Hard Hitters.
08:04So guys, as we were talking about before, Chris Fagan is such a great achievement for
08:16a man who clearly deserved that success.
08:19Henny's Hard Hitter for this week is, will Fagan be the Tasmanian Devil's first coach?
08:27And if not, who?
08:28I'll start with you, Josh.
08:30I don't reckon he will be.
08:31I reckon they'll, as I mentioned before, kind of settle him into a behind-the-scenes kind
08:34of role.
08:35And I think the name that's kind of been thrown around that I've seen is Nathan Buckley.
08:38And I think by the time Tassie come into it, I think he'll be invested enough to want another
08:44shot at the AFL stuff.
08:45Because he wasn't that bad of a coach.
08:47So I reckon that's roughly where they'll go.
08:50I'm going to back in Fagan in the Kevin Sheedy role.
08:53Not with the intention of coaching for years and years.
08:56With the intention of coaching the first two, set the foundations up.
09:01And yeah, it helps a lot that he's a local.
09:05Yeah, absolutely.
09:06I think, yeah, I'm going to sort of hedge my bets a little bit.
09:09I think he will definitely be part of that Devil's setup.
09:12I think he will be slightly more behind-the-scenes.
09:14He will be a head coach for at least a decade by the time that comes around.
09:17So he might be ready for a break.
09:19But I think if not head coach, he'll certainly be a director of coaching or maybe an assistant coach.
09:25And if that is the case, then I actually think they might try and go for someone like Alistair Clarkson.
09:31I know he's obviously contracted with North Melbourne at the moment.
09:34But he is always expressing support for a Tasmanian team.
09:38And his intention to maybe be a part of that someday.
09:41And I think the Devils could do a lot worse than a four-time premiership coach.
09:46Could be a five-time one then.
09:47Well, wishful thinking, I think, for North supporters.
09:51We'll just quickly wrap up with, I was at today, the Tennis World Launceston.
09:56A great announcement that they've got the Launceston International back at, well, Launceston.
10:02And it's been played at Burnie the last few years while they've been waiting for a new clubhouse.
10:06It's been well overdue. Been a saga that's gone on for about a decade, if not more.
10:10So that's great news. They're also adding in a junior tournament too.
10:12So there will be two tournaments as part of a five-week festival of tennis following the Australian Open.
10:19There will be two tournaments at Burnie, same set-up, as well as another one at Devonport.
10:23And obviously the Hobart one remains.
10:25So it's a great moment.
10:27Obviously, slightly unfortunate, Josh, that Burnie Loop have dropped their licensing to one tournament standard worse.
10:37But in terms of the health of the sport in the North, it's a really good thing.
10:41Yeah, it's massive.
10:42I mean, we've got a couple of junior talents that are playing in junior ITF tournaments.
10:48Young and George Anderson, Alicia Dale and the females as well.
10:51They've all been playing junior ITF.
10:53So for them to get that crack in their home state will be unbelievable for them.
10:57Yeah, the whole, you can't be what you can't see sort of phrase comes to mind.
11:01So that's all we have time for this week.
11:03We'll catch you guys for Episode 70 next week.