When Victorian AFL Teams Jump The Shark
On Monday at around 5:30, and it will also be shown 2 hours earlier as well, The Fonz will be jumping the shark. Have a look at TV1 if you want to see that. At one point in time every Victorian AFL team was successful, but they performed their own shark jumping which now results in them languishing down the bottom of the standings.
Some of the teams brought failure onto themselves, others had it forced onto them. A lot of these events were not the fault of the clubs but they did unexpected damage to them. Some did alter the team's fortunes but not as drastically as they could have, some even provided a surprisingly positive outcome years later. Others were very humorous, at least to a few of the people involved.
In AFL, Jumping The Shark could equal a significant play in a game, misusing a draft pick, a bad hiring, a terrible trade or just some bad luck.
There are plenty of reasons why the Victorian teams have slipped from the top of the league, feel free to provide more moments by leaving a comment. The inventive, polite and interesting shark jumps will be added to the post there.
The Fonz did jump the shark and he was never able to return to the happy times he enjoyed in previous days. While Fonzie might not be able to get back to the top, there is still a chance for some of the Victorian teams to win again. They will need to make smart choices, work hard and hope that the interstate teams start to jump sharks of their own.
Carlton
The Biggest Shark Jump: Trading for Devonport.
They had just won everything and decided to trade their future, a first round pick, for Craig Devonport. Carlton's success for many years involved taking the Saints' good young players and sending their old guys to Moorabbin to retire. This trade switched the roles, so now the Saints are more successful while Carlton languishes on the bottom.
A Recent Shark Jump: Leaving their home.
Plenty of people ruined this for the Blues, obviously their administration but also the local council and the AFL and other clubs and the often mentioned residents. A stadium with a big underground carpark, lights and a better design would have helped Carlton and other clubs.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1995
Other sharkworthy mentions:
Nearly every draft pick they have made since 1995. The draft picks that were taken off them. Mick Martyn. Trading for Lappin, another mistake from St Kilda. The M & M light Blues. Hamill splitting. Signing Ackland, continuing the curse from the Saints. Taking the former president's name off his stand. The current leadership group, it's nearly half the team. Angwin. The Pagan-Mitchell cold war. The Fevolas, an unrivalled publicity machine. The guy who designed The Legends Stand.
Collingwood
The Biggest Shark Jump: Hiring Tony Shaw as coach.
The reason that the guy with the lethal reputation was brought in was because not only was he a very successful footballer and a very strong individual but also because he was from outside the Collingwood system. Giving Shaw the reins sent the team back to the bad days before Matthews arrived to coach.
A Recent Shark Jump: Abandoning Victoria Park.
They sell lots of coffee and have a nice gym at the former home of the NBL's North Melbourne Giants, but it isn't really Collingwood.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1990
Other sharkworthy mentions:
Brereton, he was a bit past it. Losing Nick Davis. Trading Mal Michael, only to face him in the Grand Finals. The Kinnear guy who didn't play, it might have been Mark. Brett Chalmers. Giving Mark Richardson so many second chances. Sending away Rocca, the older one. Rhyce Shaw falling over in the Grand Final and gifting the goal to Lynch. Not trading for Lockett. Getting rid of Rupert Betheras.
Essendon
The Biggest Shark Jump: No more thugs.
When Essendon would win there would be more than one player who was ready to do Sheedy's bidding, and sometimes that meant an unexpected and unprovoked physical clash that could turn a game and help Essendon win. There is no Merrett or Wallis now.
A Recent Shark Jump: Taking Carlton's rejects.
Camporeale had a reputation as a good player, which was started due to sitting on the bench for a winning Grand Final team. Murphy had a big reputation from a couple of early games with Richmond. Allan had a reputation, nobody knows why. Essendon were certainly scraping the bottom of Carlton's barrel, they could have done much better and drafted Trent Sporn after Carlton delisted him or they could have traded for that guy who looked like Rod Stewart, Jon McCormick might have been his name.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 2000
Other sharkworthy mentions: The ugly fat, red stripe uniform. Mark Bolton's invulnerability to delisting. Mark Fraser.
Geelong
The Biggest Shark Jump: Newman's white boots.
The Geelong team used to be made up of tough players like the Lord twins, but that changed when Newman put on his shiny white boots. The team concept was put to the side, and over the years the attention has now gone to players like Mark Jackson and Bill Brownless.
A Recent Shark Jump: "Bomber" Thompson
It is not going to be easy when a coach is referred to by another team's name. You wouldn't have Cat Stevens coaching Collingwood or Tiger Woods coaching the Blues.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1963
Other sharkworthy mentions: Colbert running out. Sending draft picks to the Eagles for their underperforming forwards. Off the field stuff, too many players to mention individually. Hocking becoming cat food for a day. Wade, who did a Colbert to the Kangaroos a generation earlier. The 1989 Grand Final that just needed to go for another minute. The Nick Davis goal a couple of years ago.
Hawthorn
The Biggest Shark Jump: Tuck off the team.
He had plenty of football left in him, it couldn't have been worse for Hawthorn if they had an old Michael Tuck instead of Simon Crawshay or that guy that Dermott might have introduced to his shoe, Tallis.
A Recent Shark Jump: Crawford and Vandenberg as captain.
One of them wants to be a Broadway star, the other might squeeze into their best 22, they are certainly not in the class of Tuck or Matthews.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1991
Other sharkworthy mentions: Not correctly evaluating Shane Tuck's talent. Moving out from the Hawthorn area. Taking Alex McDonald with the top pick. Some of their preseason jumpers.
Kangaroos
The Biggest Shark Jump: Wayne Carey.
A very strange story, at least they got a draft pick from it.
A Recent Shark Jump: Laidley as the coach, year after year.
He is not the most welcoming person in AFL, anger and hardness served him well as a player but it doesn't help the profile of his club that he coaches.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1999
Other sharkworthy mentions: Losing their identity, they should be called North Melbourne. Trading away McKernan, and trading for McKernan. Hay.
Melbourne
The Biggest Shark Jump: Barassi.
George Lucas might have used Barassi's move from Melbourne to Carlton as the basis of the Anakin Skywalker character who turned away from the Jedi to join forces with the electric, little Emperor. Thanks to the Ewoks, the Jedi did recover but there have not been any furry guys who have helped the Demons back to the top, with the possible exceptions of Nathan Carroll and Joe Gutnick.
A Recent Shark Jump: Voting to merge.
When a majority of members give up then good times are not on the horizon.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1964
Other sharkworthy mentions: Keeping Travis Johnstone around. Jim Stynes putting Buckenara closer to goal. The score in the 1988 Grand Final. The gambling problems. The little stickers that their members stick on their cars. Losing players to Fremantle. Greg Healy's brother. Steven Armstrong's 2006 AFL Grand Final and Martin Pike's many, many big games elsewhere. The Grinter incident. Todd Viney's headband.
Richmond
The Biggest Shark Jump: The stars say goodbye in 1982.
The Tigers lost some of their biggest names to Collingwood after the 1982 season. The Cloke of darkness fell on Richmond, it used to Raines finals at Richmond but now there is a drought.
A Recent Shark Jump: Kent Kingsley
Kent Kingsley might play as many, or even more, games this season for Richmond than Darren Gaspar will. An odd idea for a youth movement.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1980
Other sharkworthy mentions: Tambling instead of the great Lance. Most of their many coaches in the past two decades. Home games under the roof. Wayne Campbell's TV show, the one on Channel 7. Nathan Brown arriving. Saying goodbye to Rodan. Planning for season 2011.
St Kilda
The Biggest Shark Jump: Losing their big, angry full forwards to Sydney.
While they did get something useful in return, the Saints did lose a lot when Lockett left. A few years later the does was repeated when Hall followed.
A Recent Shark Jump: Getting kicked out of their home.
A very recent one, this will hurt the Saints but it will probably hurt the Moorabbin community more.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1966
Other sharkworthy mentions: Becoming a retirement home for former Carlton footballers. Timmy. Winmar going off, against the Carlton players and then his own teammates. Lockett throwing the crutches. The injury-prone Koschitzke, and Hamill, the Clarkes too. Dean Rice's knee. Jayson Daniel's kicking.
Western Bulldogs
The Biggest Shark Jump: Oakley tells Footscray to join, or possibly to be taken over, by Fitzroy.
The Fitzroy Bulldogs might now be playing at Waverley with Jonathan Brown, Marc Murphy and Brad Johnson in the forward line. Or they might not be playing at all. While the Bulldogs did survive, the proposed merger did not help them bring in sponsors and players in the years that followed.
A Recent Shark Jump: Wallace jumping.
It doesn't help with a club's stability when the coach announces that he is out of there, and then says that he should stick around and still coach. The grass wasn't greener for him, and the Bulldogs managed to survive once again.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1954
Other sharkworthy mentions: "Stealing" Jade Rawlings with a sneaky trade to ensure he was there in the preseason draft. Playing small for the past decade, Croft was not a full back and Murphy is not a centre half forward. Chris Grant getting votes but no medal. Charging huge prices for tickets to their games at Princes Park, there was only 12,000 people there for a reason. Nathan Brown leaving. Losing Footscray from their name.
Some of the teams brought failure onto themselves, others had it forced onto them. A lot of these events were not the fault of the clubs but they did unexpected damage to them. Some did alter the team's fortunes but not as drastically as they could have, some even provided a surprisingly positive outcome years later. Others were very humorous, at least to a few of the people involved.
In AFL, Jumping The Shark could equal a significant play in a game, misusing a draft pick, a bad hiring, a terrible trade or just some bad luck.
There are plenty of reasons why the Victorian teams have slipped from the top of the league, feel free to provide more moments by leaving a comment. The inventive, polite and interesting shark jumps will be added to the post there.
The Fonz did jump the shark and he was never able to return to the happy times he enjoyed in previous days. While Fonzie might not be able to get back to the top, there is still a chance for some of the Victorian teams to win again. They will need to make smart choices, work hard and hope that the interstate teams start to jump sharks of their own.
Carlton
The Biggest Shark Jump: Trading for Devonport.
They had just won everything and decided to trade their future, a first round pick, for Craig Devonport. Carlton's success for many years involved taking the Saints' good young players and sending their old guys to Moorabbin to retire. This trade switched the roles, so now the Saints are more successful while Carlton languishes on the bottom.
A Recent Shark Jump: Leaving their home.
Plenty of people ruined this for the Blues, obviously their administration but also the local council and the AFL and other clubs and the often mentioned residents. A stadium with a big underground carpark, lights and a better design would have helped Carlton and other clubs.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1995
Other sharkworthy mentions:
Nearly every draft pick they have made since 1995. The draft picks that were taken off them. Mick Martyn. Trading for Lappin, another mistake from St Kilda. The M & M light Blues. Hamill splitting. Signing Ackland, continuing the curse from the Saints. Taking the former president's name off his stand. The current leadership group, it's nearly half the team. Angwin. The Pagan-Mitchell cold war. The Fevolas, an unrivalled publicity machine. The guy who designed The Legends Stand.
Collingwood
The Biggest Shark Jump: Hiring Tony Shaw as coach.
The reason that the guy with the lethal reputation was brought in was because not only was he a very successful footballer and a very strong individual but also because he was from outside the Collingwood system. Giving Shaw the reins sent the team back to the bad days before Matthews arrived to coach.
A Recent Shark Jump: Abandoning Victoria Park.
They sell lots of coffee and have a nice gym at the former home of the NBL's North Melbourne Giants, but it isn't really Collingwood.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1990
Other sharkworthy mentions:
Brereton, he was a bit past it. Losing Nick Davis. Trading Mal Michael, only to face him in the Grand Finals. The Kinnear guy who didn't play, it might have been Mark. Brett Chalmers. Giving Mark Richardson so many second chances. Sending away Rocca, the older one. Rhyce Shaw falling over in the Grand Final and gifting the goal to Lynch. Not trading for Lockett. Getting rid of Rupert Betheras.
Essendon
The Biggest Shark Jump: No more thugs.
When Essendon would win there would be more than one player who was ready to do Sheedy's bidding, and sometimes that meant an unexpected and unprovoked physical clash that could turn a game and help Essendon win. There is no Merrett or Wallis now.
A Recent Shark Jump: Taking Carlton's rejects.
Camporeale had a reputation as a good player, which was started due to sitting on the bench for a winning Grand Final team. Murphy had a big reputation from a couple of early games with Richmond. Allan had a reputation, nobody knows why. Essendon were certainly scraping the bottom of Carlton's barrel, they could have done much better and drafted Trent Sporn after Carlton delisted him or they could have traded for that guy who looked like Rod Stewart, Jon McCormick might have been his name.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 2000
Other sharkworthy mentions: The ugly fat, red stripe uniform. Mark Bolton's invulnerability to delisting. Mark Fraser.
Geelong
The Biggest Shark Jump: Newman's white boots.
The Geelong team used to be made up of tough players like the Lord twins, but that changed when Newman put on his shiny white boots. The team concept was put to the side, and over the years the attention has now gone to players like Mark Jackson and Bill Brownless.
A Recent Shark Jump: "Bomber" Thompson
It is not going to be easy when a coach is referred to by another team's name. You wouldn't have Cat Stevens coaching Collingwood or Tiger Woods coaching the Blues.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1963
Other sharkworthy mentions: Colbert running out. Sending draft picks to the Eagles for their underperforming forwards. Off the field stuff, too many players to mention individually. Hocking becoming cat food for a day. Wade, who did a Colbert to the Kangaroos a generation earlier. The 1989 Grand Final that just needed to go for another minute. The Nick Davis goal a couple of years ago.
Hawthorn
The Biggest Shark Jump: Tuck off the team.
He had plenty of football left in him, it couldn't have been worse for Hawthorn if they had an old Michael Tuck instead of Simon Crawshay or that guy that Dermott might have introduced to his shoe, Tallis.
A Recent Shark Jump: Crawford and Vandenberg as captain.
One of them wants to be a Broadway star, the other might squeeze into their best 22, they are certainly not in the class of Tuck or Matthews.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1991
Other sharkworthy mentions: Not correctly evaluating Shane Tuck's talent. Moving out from the Hawthorn area. Taking Alex McDonald with the top pick. Some of their preseason jumpers.
Kangaroos
The Biggest Shark Jump: Wayne Carey.
A very strange story, at least they got a draft pick from it.
A Recent Shark Jump: Laidley as the coach, year after year.
He is not the most welcoming person in AFL, anger and hardness served him well as a player but it doesn't help the profile of his club that he coaches.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1999
Other sharkworthy mentions: Losing their identity, they should be called North Melbourne. Trading away McKernan, and trading for McKernan. Hay.
Melbourne
The Biggest Shark Jump: Barassi.
George Lucas might have used Barassi's move from Melbourne to Carlton as the basis of the Anakin Skywalker character who turned away from the Jedi to join forces with the electric, little Emperor. Thanks to the Ewoks, the Jedi did recover but there have not been any furry guys who have helped the Demons back to the top, with the possible exceptions of Nathan Carroll and Joe Gutnick.
A Recent Shark Jump: Voting to merge.
When a majority of members give up then good times are not on the horizon.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1964
Other sharkworthy mentions: Keeping Travis Johnstone around. Jim Stynes putting Buckenara closer to goal. The score in the 1988 Grand Final. The gambling problems. The little stickers that their members stick on their cars. Losing players to Fremantle. Greg Healy's brother. Steven Armstrong's 2006 AFL Grand Final and Martin Pike's many, many big games elsewhere. The Grinter incident. Todd Viney's headband.
Richmond
The Biggest Shark Jump: The stars say goodbye in 1982.
The Tigers lost some of their biggest names to Collingwood after the 1982 season. The Cloke of darkness fell on Richmond, it used to Raines finals at Richmond but now there is a drought.
A Recent Shark Jump: Kent Kingsley
Kent Kingsley might play as many, or even more, games this season for Richmond than Darren Gaspar will. An odd idea for a youth movement.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1980
Other sharkworthy mentions: Tambling instead of the great Lance. Most of their many coaches in the past two decades. Home games under the roof. Wayne Campbell's TV show, the one on Channel 7. Nathan Brown arriving. Saying goodbye to Rodan. Planning for season 2011.
St Kilda
The Biggest Shark Jump: Losing their big, angry full forwards to Sydney.
While they did get something useful in return, the Saints did lose a lot when Lockett left. A few years later the does was repeated when Hall followed.
A Recent Shark Jump: Getting kicked out of their home.
A very recent one, this will hurt the Saints but it will probably hurt the Moorabbin community more.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1966
Other sharkworthy mentions: Becoming a retirement home for former Carlton footballers. Timmy. Winmar going off, against the Carlton players and then his own teammates. Lockett throwing the crutches. The injury-prone Koschitzke, and Hamill, the Clarkes too. Dean Rice's knee. Jayson Daniel's kicking.
Western Bulldogs
The Biggest Shark Jump: Oakley tells Footscray to join, or possibly to be taken over, by Fitzroy.
The Fitzroy Bulldogs might now be playing at Waverley with Jonathan Brown, Marc Murphy and Brad Johnson in the forward line. Or they might not be playing at all. While the Bulldogs did survive, the proposed merger did not help them bring in sponsors and players in the years that followed.
A Recent Shark Jump: Wallace jumping.
It doesn't help with a club's stability when the coach announces that he is out of there, and then says that he should stick around and still coach. The grass wasn't greener for him, and the Bulldogs managed to survive once again.
Their Last AFL Premiership: 1954
Other sharkworthy mentions: "Stealing" Jade Rawlings with a sneaky trade to ensure he was there in the preseason draft. Playing small for the past decade, Croft was not a full back and Murphy is not a centre half forward. Chris Grant getting votes but no medal. Charging huge prices for tickets to their games at Princes Park, there was only 12,000 people there for a reason. Nathan Brown leaving. Losing Footscray from their name.
It’s The Fonz. (picture from wikipedia)
Thank you for that, but there are plenty of other moments that could have been used. Like when the Bulldogs lost several stars to the Bears team and also the Victorian teams missed drafting players that teams like the Eagles and Crows would take in the rookie drafts, like Dean Cox and most of the Crows' defenders.
For those who missed it, Fonzie did make it over the shark in today’s episode.
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