Fletch
Page 21
Were we naive? In many ways we were, but it’s not like we didn’t ask questions. I never thought once during the whole process that Dank was giving me an injection that wasn’t legal. Every time I asked something, he would pull out a book and explain it. If he had ever said something was borderline I would have jumped off his bench and been straight out the door before he could blink.
The problem is that we may never know what we were given. This is something I will think about for a long, long time.
I had been lucky throughout my career because I’d always enjoyed footy no matter what. But the past two and a half years were the toughest and most anxious of my life. For the first time footy felt like a job. That’s not how I’m going to leave the game. I’m going to leave it proud to have played for 23 seasons at the Essendon Football Club. I’m going to leave it the way I started – just having fun with my mates.
*
It was too early to be receiving a text message. The clock on my mobile told me it was 6.25 am on Tuesday 12 May. Who would be sending messages now?
When I clicked on it, I froze. It was from Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell. ‘WADA are appealing.’
I stared blankly at the screen for a few moments. It was starting again.
TEAMMATES AND OPPONENTS
DUSTIN FLETCHER’S BEST ESSENDON TEAM
Back: Mark Johnson
Hard, with the ability to annoy and harass. If Kevin Sheedy told him to do something, 99 per cent of the time he’d get it done.
Fullback: Dean Wallis
Toughest person I played with . . . and not just on the field.
Back: Mark Thompson
Not overly loud on the field – he might only say a few words to you the whole game, but Bomber also had the ability to just look at you in such a way as to make sure you did your job and when he did say something, it sure would wake you up.
Halfback: Damien Hardwick
White line. Old school. And he hated people touching his legs. Damien wouldn’t even get a rub, certainly no rehab. If you had to do 3 × 10 sets on the bench press, he’d just do 30 straight out.
Centre halfback: Mark Harvey
Tough. He looked after me and had an innate ability to draw people to him. On the ground in a game or out on the tiles afterwards, I would follow him anywhere.
Halfback: Sean Wellman
Personality-wise we were pretty similar and he had a dry sense of humour like I do. Sean was a better player than people thought.
Centre: Michael Long
A freak. Michael was someone who, if he spoke, you would listen to him straight-up. He had an instinctive ability to get a story across in a sentence and that drew people to him – teammates, opponents and footy fans alike.
Centre: Joe Misiti
Joe was a ball magnet and always was, a fact proved when he won the best and fairest in the under-19s when he was just 15. Sheedy used to ride him . . . Joe just backed it up.
Centre: Gavin Wanganeen
There are not too many blokes you can throw straight into a back-pocket position who have never played there before. But Sheeds dropped Gavin in the back pocket in ’93 and he went on to change the way the position was played.
Half-forward: Scott Lucas
He was a thumping kick so not known for his handballing but Scotty worked really hard on all aspects of his game and was a smart player.
Centre half-forward: James Hird
When the game was on the line and needed to be won by a single act of brilliance or sheer tenacity, Hirdy would always be the first one to get up there, put his head over the ball and get his side a free kick.
Half-forward: Gary O’Donnell
The ultimate professional. Someone I wish I could have followed a little bit more when I first started.
Forward: Mark Mercuri
A hugely talented athlete and one of the best players I shared a ground with. He and Joe Misiti were both good local boys who evolved into exceptional footballers.
Forward: Matthew Lloyd
Lloydy wasn’t good at anything else – he couldn’t hit a golf ball to save his life! But he was a natural footballer and his ability to time a mark and hit the contest at exactly the right time was second to none.
Forward: Darren Bewick
Possessed a finely tuned ability to read the play and kick goals when the team really needed them.
Ruck: John Barnes
I got on really well with Barnesy. From a footy perspective, his skills and running ability were fantastic. He was like an extra on-baller.
Ruck rover: Jobe Watson
He always had ripping hands but in the space of a short time Jobe also improved his body strength and kicking skills far beyond the natural gifts his old man had given him. If you talk about blokes with the knack to win games for you over and over, he’s up there with Hirdy.
Ruck: Jason Johnson
I loved playing with Jase. He was hard as hell and didn’t deviate from the job at hand.
Interchange
Adam Ramanauskas
Rama had a background in basketball and you could see those skills in his footy. He was a very good kick (just ask Lloydy) – if Rama had it he would put it on a pin, lace-out.
Dean Solomon
Hard man and a bit like Harvey and Longy in that people are drawn to him. He had a great sense of humour too and would love to have a beer and a laugh, anywhere, anytime.
Sean Denham
Like Jason Johnson, Sean would do anything to get you over the line.
Mark McVeigh
Unlucky to miss out on the premiership. He put his heart on the line every week and all his teammates, and all the Bombers fans, knew it.
TOP FIVE OPPONENTS
Gary Ablett
‘God’ had more natural ability than anyone I’ve ever seen on a footy field. He’d snap one out of the ruck on his right foot, then snap one out on the left. He could take such a strong mark out on the lead, kick torpedo goals, jump on your head and also scramble on the ground.
Jason Dunstall
Playing at Waverley one-on-one against him was one of the hardest things I encountered in AFL. Quick and strong . . . yet not as tall as a lot of people think.
Tony Lockett
‘Plugger’ was scary. In a football sense, between 10 metres and 40 metres, he was much quicker than people thought. I knew once he got it he would just go back and slot them. It didn’t matter if he was 30 metres out or 50 metres plus, Lockett would calmly walk in and do the same kick over and over and over, and normally it sailed straight over the umpire’s head.
Tony Modra
Modra was in the Ablett league in terms of the amount of things he could do. Kicked a lot of soccer goals. He was also good to have a yarn with on the field.
Stephen Kernahan
Growing up, I looked up to him. Kernahan had the wonderful ability to straighten up a whole team – everything Carlton did seemed to go through him. He wasn’t a great kick off the boot but slotted plenty. He was tall and big but he moved with great agility for his size.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are many people who have helped make this book happen. I want to thank those who gave up their time to recall the good times we shared together, including Curtis Stone, Chris Anstey, James Hird, Kevin Sheedy, Matthew Lloyd, Adam Ramanauskas, Scott Lucas, Bruce Reid, Mark McVeigh, Dean Wallis and Mark Harvey.
None of this would have happened without the support of the Essendon Football Club. I would like to thank every player, coach, trainer and official who has helped me over the journey.
My wife, Suzie, and our two boys, Mason and Max, have been there every step of the way and I can’t wait to share more good times ahead.
And a special thanks goes out to my family, father Ken and mother Rosemary.
I would like to thank Scott Gullan for all his time and effort in the writing process and his family, Tess and Noah, for their understanding when he was absent trying to piece together my story.
I’d also like to thank my long-time manager Michael Quinlan for his continued support.
About Dustin Fletcher and Scott Gullan
Dustin Fletcher was born a couple of kilometres from Essendon’s home ground of Windy Hill. From that moment, the son of former Essendon captain Ken Fletcher seemed destined to pull on the black and red jumper in the AFL. In 1993, after debuting as a 17-year-old while still at school, he went on to play at fullback in the premiership side that year and started an extraordinary journey that saw him become one of the greatest defenders in the modern era.
Fletcher was the recipient of the Crichton club champion medal in the Bombers’ premiership year of 2000. He was named an All-Australian on two occasions and represented Australia in four international rules series. In Round 1 of the 2014 season Fletcher’s 379th game broke the Essendon all-time club record. In May 2015, aged 40, he reached the incredible milestone of 400 games, becoming just the third man in the game’s history to achieve the feat.
Dustin is married to Suzie and has two sons, Mason and Max.
Scott Gullan is an award-winning sports writer for Melbourne’s Herald Sun. He has covered AFL football, the Olympic Games and world athletics championships over the past 20 years. His first book was the bestselling autobiography of Olympic champion Cathy Freeman, Cathy: Her Own Story. He also wrote The Mission, The Mission 2 and Greatness, charting the inside of Geelong’s 2007, 2009 and 2011 premiership victories. His latest works include Geelong great Matthew Scarlett’s autobiography, Hold the Line, and Believe, the inspirational story of Olympic hurdles champion Sally Pearson. He lives in Barwon Heads with his wife, Tess, and son, Noah.
First published in Australia 2015 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Dustin Fletcher 2015
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