2001 CENTRAL MURRAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE
NYAH-NYAH WEST UNITED 13.15.93 def. TYNTYNDER 10.11.71
It was the premiership win that nobody expected.
The game that still leaves those who witnessed it scratching their head.
Very few gave Nyah-Nyah West United a chance; in fact, only the most passionate of Demon supporters even considered it possible.
In this week’s Footy Finals Flashback story, we wind the clock back 20 years to one of the biggest upsets in Central Murray Grand Final history; the day NNW United took down red-hot favorites Tyntynder.
The Demons entered the 2001 season as reigning premiers for the first time in the amalgamated club’s history after defeating the Cohuna Kangas by 33 points in the 2000 Grand Final.
After 23 long years without success, the drought was broken; and it was a moment of unbridled joy according to premiership defender Paul Walsh.
“I still remember the celebrations after the 2000 flag; there was Frank Curran and Bill Gleeson and these stalwarts of the club who were just crying as we walked up the stairs back at the clubrooms after the game, they were just beside themselves that they’d finally witnessed a senior premiership,” Walsh said.
The Nyah-Nyah West community finally knew what it felt like to taste victory; and now they wanted more.
Standing in their way though was a club that had built their foundations on success, especially in recent times, with Tyntynder’s three peat (1997-1998-1999) broken only by United’s victory the season prior.
It was a widely held opinion that Tyntynder would bounce back in 2001, especially with the team they had assembled, as acknowledged by NNW United forward Danny O’Bree recently.
“I remember that Tyntynder side, they had some amazing players. “Brad Carroll, the Kelly’s, Wes Lewis, Tony Keane, Marcus Nalder – ‘Bubbles’ Hawkins was a superstar, even though he may not have been the fastest guy at that stage, my god he was still an incredible footballer,” O’Bree said.
The Bulldogs finished the home and away season on top of the ladder; with their only loss coming against Lake Boga by just eight points and subsequently finding themselves on a 12-game winning streak heading into the Grand Final.
Doggies’ supporters had every right to be confident heading into the final game of the season, especially after they had annihilated the Demons by 148-points just ten weeks earlier, as United’s dual premiership Best & Fairest Ash Thompson explained.
“We had a lot of injuries in the middle of the year – it was just one of those games where everything they did turned into a goal and we just couldn’t do anything right. “They had a bloody good side, but that day everything they touched turned to gold; by half time the game was done and I remember ‘Bear’ just walked into the changerooms, sat on the esky and said ‘let’s just open this and forget about today really’,” Thompson said.
That loss could well be considered the turning point of their season, with Nyah-Nyah West United going on to win their remaining six home and away games and finish the season with a 13-3 record.
But as United’s coach Tony Berry explained, it was what happened in the days following that heavy loss that was the catalyst for the turn around.
“We had been doing a lot of training with Danny Uebergang at the time and he rang me on the Monday and said ‘we can’t cop that and we can’t accept that.’ “So, Danny rocked up on the Tuesday night and we all formed a ring inside the changerooms and he put the gloves on – he was in training for a fight himself so he went hard and he started with the backline and went all the way through to the forwards and then the onballers and he fought a minute long round with every player,” said Berry.
In order to get another crack at Tyntynder, the Dees first had to get over Koondrook-Barham in the Qualifying Final.
It was then onto the 2nd Semi Final at Cohuna, where the Demons would once again face the irrepressible Tyntynder, albeit this time with a different outlook, according to Berry.
“We were at selection prior to the Semi, and I said to the guys, we can’t beat this Tyntynder side twice – if we show our hand now, they’ll re-adjust and if we play them again, they’ll beat us,” Berry said.
Despite a tough opening quarter, Tyntynder would eventually get on top of United in the wet conditions to eventually go through with a 30-point victory.
But despite the loss, it was a result that seemingly gave the Nyah boys confidence.
“Leading up to the game ‘Bear’ said we don’t have to win, but we need to get within five or six goals so that these guys (Tyntynder) start to believe that we’re a chance to beat them if we get another crack at them – and we did exactly that,” Thompson said.
The Demons had one last opportunity to keep their hopes of back-to-back titles alive, but they would have to overcome their Grand Final opponents from 2000, the Cohuna Kangas, in order to earn that chance.
The Demons kicked eleven goals in the second quarter to go on and win the Preliminary Final in empathic fashion, with a 78-point victory over the Kangas.
Despite the encouraging performance, Tyntynder still went into the Grand Final as unbackable favorites, a sentiment that wasn’t missed in the lead up to the big day according to Paul Walsh.
“I think the biggest thing was the whole district were saying we shouldn’t turn up because Tyntynder were going to win and that they were the best team in the comp,” Walsh said.
“We had (former Western Bulldogs coach) Brendan McCartney come up on the Thursday night before the game and he told us that he’d asked people around Swan Hill about the game and they all said that Tyntynder were the best side.” “He said nobody rates you guys and he asked how we felt about nobody thinking we’re a chance and, in my opinion, that was one of the key moments because we all thought we’ll just go out there and have a crack – he said there’s no such thing as the better side, only the better side on the day,” Walsh said.
As Saturday drew closer, it became apparent that unfortunately one player for NNW United wasn’t going to be out there, with much loved defender Wayne Keyte unable to overcome a hamstring injury.
“He’s a great bloke is ‘Keytey’, everyone loved him and to not have him out there was tough – I still remember after the game when we’d won, he was shattered to have missed it, which was tough because for those couple of seasons he’d been an integral part of our side,” Walsh said.
While the confidence was growing within the United camp, they knew that alone wasn’t going to get them the result they craved, with their coach Tony Berry, along with Ash Thompson and Robbie Masters moving the magnets.
“We made a couple of changes to our team from that Semi Final loss – we moved Kane Evans to full-back, myself into the ruck and we set a tagger for ‘Bubbles’ Hawkins; we knew we could ambush them, but we could only do it once,” Berry said.
That tagger was none other than Darren ‘Dipper’ Featherby, a man who had twelve months earlier missed out on that drought breaking premiership win, with O’Bree recounting exactly how important Featherby’s role would be in the famous Demons victory.
“It was a huge sacrifice from ‘Dipper’ to play on Hawkins, him doing that allowed Ash (Thompson) and Matt (Curran) to roam and do their job as midfielders and provide us forwards with opportunites that you don’t generally get in country teams.” “He wasn’t the fittest fella at that stage, but for ‘Bear’ to have that confidence that he could match it with ‘Bubbles’ and really sacrifice his game and play a negative tagging role on him was huge,” O’Bree said.
“It’s easy to go to the guys that have had 35 possessions and kicked a few goals, but the unsung heroes are those that sacrificed their game for the team success like ‘Dipper’ did that day –they’re the stories of Grand Finals that sort of go unheard of or unnoticed,” said O’Bree.
Not helping United’s cause was key forward Simon Roberts getting sent off mid-way through the opening term.
Roberts was the leader of the ‘Darwin Boys,’ the group of players from up north that were recruited to Nyah in 2000 to help them win that elusive senior premiership; with Berry re-telling the story of how the Darwin connection came about.
“I actually played on ‘Robbo’ in a game in Darwin. “I was playing for Wanderers and he was playing for the Buffaloes and we’d had a pretty tight, hard game on each other – we were having a beer after the match and got to talking and I mentioned I was coming down here to coach and would he be interested in coming as well,” Berry said.
“I kind of jokingly told him to bring that kid over there because he dominated and that so happened to be Kreugs (Jason Kreuger).
Two late goals to end the first quarter saw the Demons trail Tyntynder by 27-points at the firstchange, but momentum was about to shift; and it was all thanks to one man in particular, according to Mark Corrie.
“I remember winning a couple of clearances in the second quarter and kicked it to ‘Breezer’ (Danny O’Bree) and one was a horrible kick, but he marked it right on the boundary line, then he slotted it and I just thought he’s on today, he’s our go to man.” “In the end I think he finished with seven; we knew someone was going to win it for us and he was the one,” Corrie said.
The second quarter belonged to United, with Tony Berry’s men not only slamming home four goals, but keeping Tyntynder goal less in a quarter for only the second time that season.
The Demons not only took a one-point lead into the main break, but also a significant confidence boost, according to Walsh.
“We were very confident, even at quarter time after we tweaked a bit; but ‘Bear’ was very big on do your role and everything will take care of itself.” “We basically went in at half time and thought they’ve thrown their best at us and we’re still right in this game,” Walsh said.
The third quarter is often known as ‘The Premiership Quarter,’ and in the 2001 decider, that would once again prove to be the case.
Both teams had countless opportunities in front of goal, but it would be Tyntynder who would rue their inaccuracy as they failed to make the most of their time with the wind at their back.
While Tyntynder had nine scoring shots for the term, they could only muster three goals.
Joe Jeffery started to catch alight on the wing, while Nyah-Nyah West United’s legendary midfielders Matt Curran and Ash Thompson also started to dominate out of the middle, according to O’Bree.
“Any time Curran or Thompson ever went near it, you thought you were a chance. “With those two guys, it was like throwing Jordan and Pippen back on the ground, you just know you’re always a chance of winning; that’s of the level of confidence we had in those guys through the middle,” O’Bree said.
With an eleven-point lead at the final break, Tyntynder were going to have to defend like their lives depended on it. It didn’t take long however for the Demons to gain the ascendency, with two early goals sending their supporters into raptures; and all of a sudden, the unlikely result two hours earlier was looking like a certainty.
The Doggies weren’t done with however, as Luke Kelly goaled to put Tyntynder three points up mid-way through the final quarter.
Tim Deacon, the nine-goal hero from the Qualifying Final, then marked deep inside forward fifty for United.
Unfortunately, his set sailed wide; and the parochial Nyah-Nyah West crowd sensed that could have been the match defining moment.
With the game still up for grabs and the clock ticking away, the Demons needed a hero.
That man was Danny O’Bree.
With ice running through his veins, O’Bree twice marked within a matter of minutes underneath the old scoreboard and coolly slotted both goals; and with it ensuring the cup would be heading north up the Murray Valley Highway for the second year running.
“We knew that if we could stick with them, we would win it in the second half because the weather was heating up a bit and they’d only played one game in a month,” Mark Corrie said.
“We knew they’d start off like a house on fire but if we could just stay with them, we’d grind em’ down – and sure enough that’s what happened.”
There was however one more surprise to play out for the NNW United supporters, with many in the crowd starting the celebrations prematurely after mistaking a loud noise in the dying minutes of the game as the final siren.
“I can remember the old man running out to the middle of the ground to me and yelling ‘the sirens gone’,” Thompson said.
“I can’t remember who but someone said no it hasn’t and all I remember saying to dad was ‘you bloody idiot, get off the ground.’ “To have a 110 kilo, fifty-year-old man beat every kid out to the middle to embrace his son and my reaction was what are you doing out here – anyway, thankfully he had one more effort left in him when the siren actually went!” Thompson laughed.
It mattered not, as when the siren did eventually go moments later, it sent not only the red and blue army into thunderous celebration, but the players as well.
“Geez, it was almost better than having my first kid,” Berry said.
“I just remember the massive pile on and jumping on top; and having Jimmy Gleeson under one arm and ‘Cozza’ under the other one – it was by far and away the best feeling I’ve ever had in footy; it was just euphoric.
” The hero though was Danny O’Bree, whose seven goals helped turned the game in United’s favor, earning himself best on ground honors.
But ask almost any United footballer, or club person from twenty years ago; and they will tell you it was Tony Berry who was the real hero, including O’Bree himself, the current Bendigo Pioneers coach.
“At the time, I’d probably lost a bit of faith in where I was with my footy; I debuted at 15 and I worked really hard for a few years, but then I stopped working hard and I started struggling with my game.” “Then, at 21 years old, to get a coach like Tony Berry, who drove you pretty hard was a godsend,” O’Bree said.
“He put a few stipulations on me; he was my dietician, my gym instructor as well as my footy coach, but in hindsight that’s what opened a lot of doors for me in footy.” “After that, I became an assistant coach, which I never thought of doing at senior level and that started my coaching life I guess – and now, I’ve got a full-time job coaching footy and even now I still ring him and ask him for advice,” O’Bree said.
“He held everyone accountable and he expected high standards, but he had a lot of respect from the people who worked under him; whether it was finding a boxing coach, or just finding some different method like going for a run on a golf course to provide that element of fun when you’re doing the amount of work you’re doing, I think that’s what set us up for the success we had.” “I owe a fair bit to the 2001 boys, but particularly ‘Bear,’ I probably owe everything I have to him to be honest,” O’Bree said.
It’s not just O’Bree that speaks highly of his former coach, with Paul Walsh another former Demon who can’t speak highly enough of the man they affectionally call ‘Bear’.
“Tony Berry is at the top of the tree for me; he’s the toughest man I’ve ever met as a coach, but he was also the most loyal bloke you’ll ever meet.” “If you did something wrong, he’d back you – he’d give you a clip don’t worry, but he’d always back you in; even outside of football he’d come around and see you, if you were ever in trouble, he’d be the first one there, he was just an amazing guy,” Walsh said.
Mark Corrie is another who owes a lot to Berry, however Corrie’s story is slightly different, with the former ‘Darwin Boy’ now Tyrrell College Principal explaining how those two seasons in “the freezing cold Victorian winter” changed his life.
“He was easily the best coach I ever had, by a country mile – I’ve tried to model myself and what I’m doing off everything Bear used to do,” Corrie said.
“‘Bear’ was the one that got it all started, but then you had guys like Mark Armstrong, Frank and Mick Curran, Rod Rohde, Keith Blackman, ‘Cocko’ Pearson, Jimmy and Bill Gleeson, ‘Chesty’ and ‘Schika’ Coburn, ‘Maxy’ Wilkinson and Vicki Allen, everybody was just amazing for us Darwin boys. “We’d go to everyone’s house, they’d cook us tea, they’d buy us groceries, it was amazing – the love that those people gave us, that’s why I’ll always be grateful to them, they’d do anything for you,” Corrie said.
“It was like we were a part of their family; and this was before we’d even won a premiership.” “We hadn’t experienced anything like it, that people would go to those lengths for another human being, we just couldn’t believe it; and they didn’t want anything in return, they wanted nothing other than to win and be successful and finally get a premiership,” Corrie said.
“I’ll never, ever forget that footy club and what the people in that footy club did for me; I owe everything I have to that footy club, that’s where it all started for me.” While the premiership in 2001 was Nyah-Nyah West United’s last senior’s flag, twenty years later, the moment isn’t lost on Paul Walsh. “It still means everything – the main thing is talking to all the older people in Nyah and Nyah West and exactly what that day means to them.” “It’s great to win a flag and get your photo up on the wall and that, but for the older generation and the volunteers that put all their time and effort in around the club and remember that afternoon, that probably means more now than anything else,” Walsh said.
