When the first siren sounds at the MCG on Saturday, Gerard Neesham will be in either the sandy savannah of the Kalahari Desert or a lodge in Maun, a village in Botswana that is the gateway for tourists on safari to the Okavango Delta.
asserted
that → sound → Delta
His exact location will depend on what his friend – former Western Bulldogs cult hero Danny Southern, whom Neesham considers as a “guru” on Africa – can tell him about the internet connection on the fringes of the Kalahari.
asserted
Neesham → depend → Kalahari
“We’ll be watching,” Neesham told this masthead from his lodging in Maun during a rare moment with internet connection on his vacation.
asserted
Neesham → watch → vacation
“If I can’t watch it somewhere else, I’ll stay where I am.
asserted
I → watch → it
I’m going to watch it and hope like hell we win.”
asserted
we → go → hell
That Neesham is in Africa – with his wife, Heather, on a holiday planned a year in advance – observing lions, elephants and hippos during Fremantle’s charge to what their faithful hope will be a landmark first flag is fitting for a club with as quirky a history as the Dockers’.
asserted
faithful → plan → Dockers
A club with deep working-class roots forced to do it the hard way by the league, Fremantle have always done things differently.
asserted
Fremantle → force → things
No other club has purple as their colour.
asserted
club → have → colour
They were the first to wear green on their jumper, and broke convention by not having an animal as their moniker.
asserted
They → wear → moniker
Oh, and their song, is widely derided by opposition fans but loved by the Dockers faithful.
asserted
song → deride → faithful
“It was a bit out there, wasn’t it?” club great and foundation Docker Shaun McManus said.
asserted
McManus → say → ?
The Dockers broke the mould because they were told to by the AFL.
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they → break → AFL
They also wanted to.
asserted
They → want → ?
Named after the port city, Fremantle embraced the town’s blue-collar heritage.
asserted
Fremantle → name → heritage
Many had thought Fremantle would be known as the Sharks, a red herring perpetuated by WA football great and former South Fremantle coach Mal Brown.
asserted
Fremantle → think → Brown
The Mariners, Dolphins and Doctors were also bandied about.
asserted
Mariners → bandy → ?
Keen to keep their real name under wraps, the club did little to set the record straight.
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club → keep → record
They also wanted to avoid bad press through any association with the notorious Painters and Dockers union.
asserted
They → want → union
“We did help things along a bit by encouraging people to think the Sharks, through Malcolm Brown,” the Dockers’ first chief executive David Hatt told this masthead this week.
asserted
executive → help → masthead
“We kept Dockers pretty low in the priorities because you may remember that there was a serious problem with a union.
uncertain
you → keep → union
“There were some people who were trenchantly against Dockers because they thought it gave the wrong image, but we didn’t.”
Though purple and white are the Dockers’ official colours, there will be more than a smattering of red and green in the crowd at the MCG.
asserted
purple → be → MCG
The colours acknowledge the signalling flags of dockers guiding ships into harbour.
asserted
colours → acknowledge → harbour
The idea of the song, derived from a traditional Russian folk song, was to illustrate hard-working people pulling together, Hatt said, and the “heave-ho” reference an acknowledgment of the rally cry to inspire rowers to paddle harder.
asserted
reference → derive → rowers
Music, though, was low down the list of priorities for the fledgling Dockers, who were given what Hatt describes as “clearly the worst player rules to any new franchise – before, then or after”.
asserted
Hatt → give → franchise
West Coast, the establishment club in Perth, were an on-field powerhouse in the early 1990s when the Dockers were founded.
asserted
Dockers → found → 1990s
From their pre-draft selections, the Eagles secured future stars including Don Pyke, Peter Sumich, Glen Jakovich, Mitchell White and Jason Ball – all of whom became premiership players.
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all → secure → whom
Fearful of the creation of another WA juggernaut, the other 15 clubs gave the Dockers very little.
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clubs → give → little
In the 1994 draft, they had picks one and four and the first two picks in each round.
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they → have → round
As a comparison, next year Tasmania have picks one, three, five, seven, nine, 11 and 13.
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Tasmania → have → picks
While the cornerstone of the Dockers’ list came from the four aligned WAFL clubs to which they had unlimited access, they could also sign a maximum of 12 uncontracted players over two years from other AFL clubs.
uncertain
they → come → clubs
This did not work out as hoped.
asserted
This → work → ?
Future hall-of-fame inductee Andrew McLeod was traded to Adelaide for Chris Groom, who played seven games.
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who → trade → games
By recruiting Todd Ridley, Tony Delaney and Dale Kickett from Essendon, the Bombers gained access to goalkicking greats Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas in 1994.
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Bombers → recruit → 1994
They were also unable to lure the elite over the Nullarbor, the exception being their first captain Ben Allan, who was Hawthorn’s best and fairest in their 1991 premiership year.
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who → lure → year
“Ian Collins, the former football manager of the AFL, informed us that we were given player rules which guaranteed us to win either zero or one game in our first year,” Hatt said.
asserted
Hatt → inform → year
Ross Oakley, the AFL’s chief at the time of the club’s inception, said the Dockers were not set up to fail but “we always thought we should’ve given them more”.
“If you bring a new team into the competition, you want to make them successful,” Oakley said.
asserted
Oakley → say → competition
“It’s a case of how successful.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
What we didn’t want to do was make them so strong that they would damage the competition for other clubs that might have been struggling.”
uncertain
that → want → clubs
The Dockers comfortably exceeded expectations, due in considerable part to Neesham’s enterprising coaching.
asserted
Dockers → exceed → coaching
Neesham, who adopted methods from his career as a water polo international, was ahead of his time.
asserted
who → adopt → time
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
