Anthony Hudson speaks to Travis Varcoe, Chris Scott and Harry Taylor after that were inducted into Geelong’s Hall of Fame at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night.
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our first inductee tonight was recruited to the club from Geraldton wa with pick 17 in the 2007 draft at the age of 21 when we needed a replacement for the injured Matt Eagan and what an inspired Choice it proved to be he was a big game player and we all saw that in his ability to contain the great Nick Revolt in the 2009 Grand Final a dual Premiership player a two-time all Australian who went on to play 280 games and show his versatility didn’t we all enjoy that 7 five goals kicked a few big bags up front he played a huge part to off field in the 2022 flag when he returned would you please congratulate Harry Taylor on his elevation into the jalong football club Hall of Fame ni finish to wonderful Mark mistake bad mistake pres there attacking 50 dangerous kick and tripping across the marks taken by Taylor you just sense they need some momentum to catch Taylor can he kick the goal you bet he can smothered it long ball T magnificent mark that is a [Music] ripping top of the square Harry one last Harry one last piece of Harry something special about a s afternoon at the cut in this town and Roars like this at home you’ll hear that all the way to Lara how good chat to Harry in just a moment an ex inductee was drafted from Smithfield in South Australia with pick 15 and given the number five gy yes the number five gy I wonder if he knew the magnitude of that at the time love by’s teammate for his unselfish play he would go on to play 138 games with the cats including two flags winning 83% of the games in which he played the highlight of course was the 2011 Grand Final when he set things off with the first goal he kicked two other fantastic goals which I’ll get to in just a moment he also played 92 games for Collingwood but tonight we celebrate Travis farco and his elevation to the jalong football club Hall of Fame came away surprised him with the gift of Aro who gave it what it deserved Le to Franklin and away he goes and what a sight he is there is nothing but he’s down how good is that he’s just four not a great kick but oh almost back is he he what a goal SP it out to S straight away off the farco farco can go all the way runs to 45 d vco what a start for the [Applause] cat we gave it to vco who dribbles and throw for another Duncan steadfast far casually kicks a left foot goal to remember he’ll never forget [Applause] it Well Done Trev and a big shout out to Frankie trev’s daughter who presented him with his Hall of Fame medal well done to you Frankie all right now just before we introduce our third inductee I’d like to write a wrong if I can Travis because I was fortunate enough as you might have heard there at the tail end to call that 2011 Grand Final but as a commentator there’s a lot going on particularly in a grand final when your own team’s playing um sometimes you get it right and you recognize every part of the passage you play and other times you kind of have the mind of a goldfish and you and you don’t so I was quite happy with the way I called the end of that goal it certainly was a grand final goal to remember but I kind of didn’t recognize at the time the efforts that Travis put to set that goal up and the three parts that he played in that goal so bear with me and this could go horribly wrong but I’m going to give it a crack I’m going to try and rewrite the record of that that bit of commentary if I can so roll the tape if you must and please be forgiving Scarlet’s kick well the game is still in the balance here 15 points the difference the Scarlet kick hang in the a vco what courage look at that out of Defense Chapman Macky in sync the youthful Mitch Duncan up to the wing Stevie Johnson and O challenge each other oh there’s vco again that’s sustained running clever kick the young Christenson he can play it back to Johnson even for him he’s too far out to have a shot kicks it long up to half forward there’s Duncan again but what about vco he kept on running and he finishes with a grand final goal one of the greatest of all time a grand final go to remember he’ll never forget it so sorry Travis hopefully that’s okay for you all right apologies for that was a bit self-indulgent wasn’t it anyway our third inductee I’m pretty sure you know him an illustrious career which included two premierships the all conquering Brisbane Lions he took over from bomber Thompson when as a young still a young man uh just fresh from being a a brief stint as an assistant coach at freem manle we actually interview he actually little known fact he actually did special comments in the first ever game by on SC radio um it was a preseason game and he said he had no interest in being a coach that’s Brad’s thing he said anyway let’s Bu The Bu he took over when an era it looked like could well be at an end but he had other ideas he was immediately able to Galvanize the older stars make a few tweaks and of course produce the 20111 Grand Final victory in his first year and then over the following decade he’s been able to totally transform the list and all while missing finals twice came so close in 2020 buddy Dusty and then the crowning Glory I think at least was the 2022 flag which was an unbelievable achievement given how much the list had turned over he’s coached the cats for 323 games 218 wins an incredible winning percentage of almost 70% and will go down as one of the great coaches of all time he’ll also go down as a member of the jalong football club Hall of Fame would you welcome Chris Scott there’s Ling’s reaction there’s the coach’s reaction he knows their home for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what wonderful images and memories and again a shout out to Laya who did a super job there in presenting that Hall of Fame acknowledgement to her father congratulations to you all Harry and Trav and and Chris can I just start um Scotty with that Travis Varco goal because I think in the commentary this is why um I sort of did that little silly thing is that I said casual a couple of times in the commentary I think you actually referred to it at one stage saying oh someone said he’s casual but uh and I looked back and I thought you’re absolutely right because it was an incredible goal wasn’t it and it summed up when I spoke to people about Trev coming in tonight it summed up his approach team orientated and just doing whatever he could for the side yeah absolutely sitting with ndra lapen um my great friend I mean I don’t think there’s anyone more nervous than me at the start of the 2011 Grand Final and for Trav to kick the first goal kind of calmed down nerves in in the Box um but it was the last goal that really kind of reflected to us what kind of he’d been for such a long period of time he was the kind of player that was always happy to to share the spoils with his teammates get back into defense but I think Harry can probably tell the story better than I can but um and and I wasn’t there when Trev first came to the club but there’s a bit of a tradition that the new draes have their highlights tapes played and uh Trav had the best highlights tape you can imagine you know Running With The Ball beating players and it was I think it took a little bit of time for the players to realize just how selfless he was it wasn’t all about him getting the ball and I think that goal in the that third goal in the in the 2011 Grand Final kind of reflected more of who he was than some of the flashy stuff we saw earlier in his career yeah maybe Harry you can have a chat about that and and pass it over to tra yeah I think a lot of the small forward type goals we see uh the product of a long kick in and then the players almost being in that position reading the Flight of the ball and then kicking the goal I remember Trev being someone who would work really high up the ground uh beat his opponent back and just his timing I mean we saw it there how how he could hit the contest at speed um but it’s the work that he had done prior to getting to that contest which probably um is something that sticks in my mind and you guys got to see it on game day we got to see it at training three four times a week there was no difference he was just doing it over and over again and when you’re a Defender um you’re often playing against the you know the same forwards in your side he was one that would burst past me in a hurry and um there’s not much I could do with training that’s for sure where did that TR congratulations mate well done thank you um where did that mindset come from that selfless mindset is it something that you always had or or where did it come from um yeah I think I always you’re you got a flashy player like you know yeah I think it’s all built off the um back of defense and just hard work and um I just wanted to just earn the respect of um my my peers and um yeah was no better way to do that just you know at training and for me um training was actually probably the hardest part of my week given the the caliber players I had to train against let alone fight for a spot in the forward line I wasn’t playing against just um you know a backline it was it was an all strain backline so that was actually the hardest part of my week was actually training and then once you get out to to game date it was just just enjoy it because if you don’t get it right uh there’s about three or four guys waiting in the wings to actually take take your spot so um yeah I just wanted just to work hard and um my my teammates to love me for you know the selfless um player and hopefully I’ve I’ve done that in in Spades yeah well I can I can tell it from yep I can certainly tell you from all I talked to that they did love you and and even moons was saying that you’d have a whisper to him before yeah you go off and I’ll take your man I mean that’s pretty selfless do that for moons yeah well he’d uh click me behind the ear if I didn’t so it was uh probably more out of um yeah my own safety really than anything so the consistent thing across all three of you really is you all came to a club that was already successful but as we’ve seen with so many clubs that’s no guarantee that that’s going to continue so Harry for you you you stepped in in in 2007 as as I mentioned in the intro you’re 21 so what was it like when you got here and joined the likes of Matthew Scarlet who was already on his way to becoming you know a legend and then you formed this partnership with Tom lonigan yeah I was I was really really fortunate and lucky there’s some people in the room who um yeah helped create those sort of Forever Memories with you um Joel s’s behind us and he was one of the first people to sort of show me around jalong just make life a little bit more comfortable for a country kid who grow up in a really small Country Town what did the Joel sell with to her of jalong how long did that take uh it took me down to T Kei second weekend here I said we’ll go to a house party and I’ll introduce you a few people um I was well and trilly out of my lead compared to where Jo was working so um we uh we left pretty quickly um and you mentioned MADD Scarlet he taught me how to drink what’s known as horny monkeys in the back bar of Eureka um but he also taught me how to be ruthless he taught me how to work really hard he taught me how to just compete um he wasn’t the only one I was very very fortunate to turn up to a club who just valued this ruthless competitiveness and we’re very very lucky that we had one Coach Lee but probably have another coach who came along who was if not um more competitive and more ru and our group has really relished in the opportunity to be coached by someone who acts and lives like that um certainly on the field certainly in the coach’s box and I know the young players that are coming through now that’s something that hopefully they continue to Value as a real Legacy of this football club before I get Chris to comment in that um tell us about 09 then that competitive spirit that is one of the toughest Grand finals that there’s ever been I mean it was a tackle Fest it was it was wet and tough and there was big moments as we all know and you had you had one of them you were on Nick rot all day that’s a big long day in itself but you took the Mark when you needed to so what was that take us inside that day in your memories yeah I was uh just praying for rain for probably 48 Hours leading into that game um when you’re sort of Dow Defender like me rain helps and um when you’re playing on an amazing player like Nick rewalt it just helps that little bit more so um I remember the game as you said it was probably the the toughest game of football I’ve ever played in we had a game if you remember back around 14 that year uh where both undefeated sides came up against each other at Marvel um or or I think maybe teler at the time um I got knocked out at the end so um don’t remember all of the game but what I do remember was that was a really really tough game we lost in a close one but I think we learn a lot from that contest and I certainly l leared a lot from playing on Nick that day uh but the game itself on Grand final day was it was just Relentless you normally find there’s just little moments in the game where the pressure might drop drop and you can sort of take a breath didn’t feel like there was any in that game I did come to the bench at one point um just out of pure exhaustion more than anything and and Mack ran on and took rewal for me for a few minutes and then quickly came back and made meant I had to go back on again um but uh it was a a hell of a day and um to to win the game after losing the year before uh it was just that I think justification that I was very very lucky to be playing in an amazing team Well you certainly played an incredible part in that we’ll get back to some of your um some of your more quirky elements of of your preparation and which is what everyone of course brings up when you asking about Harry Tyler we’ll get back to that though Chris um what about then um I mentioned um in passing that you know in 2007 you said you know you weren’t going to coach that’s Brad’s thing but you went and became an assistant coach and obviously you took on a job which in in one sense must have been incredibly daunting straight away in 2011 given what the team had had already achieved and who was in that team so what was your approach straight away Looking Back Now well you’re right had I was a relatively reluctant coach and I think having a twin brother who’d gone into what was a rare situation um as a head coach as a so he was 33 I think it’s quite rare I was appointed at jalong as a 34 year old um and you know some of the the players that supported me so well we’re only kind of a year or two younger than I was um but my brother had done it a year before a different sort of Club in North Melbourne um but he was a little bit of my inspiration because um what while he did say to me sure you want to do it because and and it’s it’s actually um something that I’ve in you know a decade or so um later sort of reminded him of like he’s sort of coming back into it like you sure like it’s a you know it is a difficult existence and um but I think it was a little different for me because I was coming into a jalong um club that but when I looked at it from the outside it appeared to have everything pretty much in order and and so it was daunting in the respect that I wasn’t sure exactly what sort of value I could add and there was every chance that I could come in you know on on basically what was I think Faith the faith of Steve Hawking and Neil Barm and and and Brian Cook and Colin Carter in the board um and and if the players didn’t support me I think there’s there’s a reasonable chance that it could have been a quy pretty quick um coaching career for me but um you know hopefully we spend a little bit of time talking about Cameron Ling tonight um and and I won’t step on some of that that content but the way that he embraced me early on um was was is something that I’ll always be thankful for could have gone differently if he well I think it could have and it wasn’t just lingy but Harry you know even Joel is a really young young but star player you clearly going to be the next Captain guys like Matthew Scarlet if if they had have just said we know what we’re doing and we don’t need you it would have been really really difficult for me and in a way I was lucky that the players were so they were just so driven after the 2010 prelim final I think the whole world was telling them that the yeara was over and you guys are done and it was really informed the way I’ve gone about it in the last sort of 14 or 15 years at the cats um which is to say don’t give up you never know what’s possible like and and more even more than that don’t worry about what they think let’s worry about what we think and embrace what’s possible for us and and and those guys again I’ll always be thankful um you know the faith they showed in me and and and it’s hard to I always find it hard to sort of think back and remember it with accuracy but my recollection is I was Guided by them much more than they were Guided by me and to do what you’re able to do then and win a flag straight away and then as I mentioned just maintain this incredible record um and I know you don’t like talking about those achievements so we we can we can all just reflect on them for what they are they do speak for themselves but the way you’ve been able to set up the club I just wonder if you know we don’t have a huge amount of time but I wonder if you could just give us some insights the way you been set up the club to allow the players to do what they do to the power that you’ve given them to the point where they’re the best advertisements to get other players to the club could you just take a through that a little bit and where that came from yeah well I think as I said it was driven by the players as much as anything I I felt that I was given a mandate to come in as a really young coach and basically said to players what do you want to do how do you want to go about this um and and really early on at the at the end of 2010 that they were clear no no we can be the best team in the comp um and and then after that it was like I probably if I go back a step when I first sat down um with Steve Hawking Neil Barm you know Brian Cook Colin Carter was there this was at Brian Cook’s house I was 34 and I’d been through the coaching process at another club um and was almost thankful that I didn’t get it because I just didn’t feel that I was I was ready I was I was really young in my coaching journey to be frank I wasn’t even sure whether I really wanted to do it um so towards the end of that interview process which was really short because bomber left in October which is which is you know strange situation but I was almost in the situation where I was like I don’t think I’m going to get it so I’m just going to tell them what I think um and and it it sort of helped me with the rest of the way I’ve tried to coach at jalong like be really clear on what you stand for um throw it out there and if if they don’t want to get on board with it then then I I’ll I’ll leave but I’ve just been so fortunate that the players have always felt um or I’ve always felt that I’ve had their support um and so in turn I’ve tried to prioritize and we’ve tried to prioritize as a footy Department the idea that um if you’re enjoying your life You’ll Play better as a result so um again how does how does that play how does that manifest give us something well I mean I don’t really like talking about it publicly um H luck yeah there’s there’s there there’s a little bit I mean that that’s that’s kind of the privilege that you get coming to the cats you know you come in and it’s it’s not I mean we’re we’re not building it up to be something that it’s not but it is our secret source of it you come in and um you know what we we I I I guess we’ve got to the point where we’d like to think that players want to stay and players want to come and it’s a place we want to work but we’ve never really set ourselves up um um you know a pedestal saying that we’re better than than anyone else and that’s the thing that again really early in my tenure I saw from the players I saw these great players lingy um he he he was probably the one that when I first saw him drove it as much as anyone this guy’s a star he’s really driven but he’s just a humble off the field Guy Brian Cook said to me earlier yeah yeah beautiful guy off the field ruthless competitor on it and I thought that that’s kind of yeah that’s not a bad way to sort of build a footy Club around those sort of people and then you know like Joel took over and he’s the same like have you ever had 5 minutes with Joel just an amazing person in this forum but you wouldn’t want to meet him you know on field with 5 minutes to go when scores are level and so it’s it’s that kind of that the tension um in our foot Department we’re sort of saying hey when we’re on when it’s time to go no one will be able to compete with us but when we’re off get away enjoy your life prioritize your family um yeah so I think from my observation all good organizations do that well whatever the secret source is yeah don’t give it to anyone we’ll keep it here that’s that’s that’s a good idea worked amazingly Harry all right come back to you now now I haven’t got time to talk about ham in the sock or any of that sort of stuff or even the cognac but just what about some of the ways you prepared for a game I did have a quick chat to and he mentioned a few of the drills he used to do with your eyes closed and then you he’d kick the ball or one of the guys that kicked the ball and at the last minute so he could locate the footy what about some of those weird and wonderful ways that you went the the and the diary that the extra lengths you went to to prepare yourself for playing footy yeah there’s certainly some weird things that um you’ve heard of and certainly some others that you haven’t that um probably didn’t go as well but um got any example of those uh no we probably not but uh there was a few uh trying to eat spaghetti half an hour before a game um trying to sort of go and watch a movie before a final and getting there sort of just on the knocker before we started um that wasn’t the best idea either but um yeah sounds a bit like Gary Senor in fishing videos I didn’t quite have his talent to get away with it but um I guess one thing I am proud of of is I tried to explore as many different ways to get better as I could um I was 21 so I was a bit late to the party um I really wanted to be as as good a teammate as I could which meant sometimes going outside the box and trying some different things and as I said it didn’t always work um but I sit back now and and and proud that I tried a lot of different ways to improve um as I said we had a great competitive group of people who were all trying to get better um and I sort of really wanted to be part of that journey and um yeah very very fortunate to to be at a club which Embrace that individuality um we often hear Scotty talk about that publicly um we’re all unique we’re all different we’re all individuals we put on the jumper we go out there and we compete as hard as we can and then we walk away from the the field and we can be who we are and that’s a real point of difference of this organization are you still keeping a little diary about how what you do every day yeah it’s not every day but um so You’ slackened off slack off a touch no um I just think self reflection is a great way to keep improving um I’m not sure why I started it I was about 9 or 10 years old um back when I was uh how many volumes if you got the har 156 at this point so um there’s a few there but um yeah it’s just always cracking read wouldn’t it uh not the early editions you can’t read the writing um but yeah plenty of stories in there plenty of anecdotes um but also plenty of sort of goal setting and just just way and means of trying to improve and get better and yeah I’m really big on reflection I think it’s a great way to uh keep improving so reflect on what happened and reflect on what hopefully is going to happen um really commit to things and I yeah pen and paper my way to do it TR yeah [Applause] brilliant TR talk to us if you can about what it meant to to play for the footy Club but also from the indigenous uh perspective and Matty Stokes and and and the crew that you had back there what how proud of you what you’re able to achieve with the footy Club yeah I look I’ll be forever um indebted to the jalong footy club like they literally took a pun on me I had a I had a broken foot um and I remember going to the draft camp and pretty much every Club just went no no no and uh jalong were the only ones that Nick AMS was uh had a physio then and he he he pretty much just said mate with the right rehab you’ll be fine and um that was my only contact with jalong and um you know you sort of go through thinking no no chance of getting drafted um the the night before the draft uh phone rings and step well was saying good luck if you’re around you know we want to take you sweet no worries um and yeah sure enough they they they picked me up and I I generally feel like they took a pun on me um so I I really uh that selfless nature and all that all that sort of stuff I think I’m I’m pretty loyal in that in that respect and I just wanted to give everything back I could and um and and just do the best of my my abilities and um so yeah I’m I’m forever grateful for the club um to to give me the chance and um and then and then you know you sort of uh you know look at do I like to go here would I like to go there the two teams i’ actually didn’t want to play for was Jong and Collingwood um believe it or not and um like chalong only only only peely on the fact that they hadn’t had an indigenous player for a while um so your name gets read out and I’m thinking are you serious like this is this crazy know like my brother’s laughing at me and but you know you you go the foot and door and you know and then stoky gets picked up and for me like stokes’s you know moved from Darwin down to Adelaide so I watched a little bit of him in the in the sandall and thought you know great I’ve got someone that’s a little bit older as well that so he took that um not sort of a father figure but you know sort of more that that Uncle really that actually really um you know gave me a bit of hard love at this at the start where where I needed to and um also you know shielded me from a lot of stuff as well so um I was very very lucky that he was there um and timing is everything so I think that for me was um a really really um pivotal moment for for me as a as a a young Aboriginal boy really coming from Adelaide um to relocate so stoky had already done that from Darwin down to Adelaide so it already gone through that process but gave me enough room to um grow as an individual um but but also guide me so um forever grateful well a wonderful contribution I’m getting the W I can’t believe I’m getting the wind up already um we could we could talk uh for so so much longer about the contribution for your three gentlemen maybe just a um just a really quick word on linging if you could on the way on the way out as was he is he worthy dear reckon oh M look I think it’s um probably probably well overdue um I know like like you said I know you hate um you know people shining the light on you and you know you’re very very humble and down to earth but um you deserve everything that comes your way um for me personally um I’ve got so much love um for you and and your family so um congratulations mate and um you know enjoy every bit of it well done well done Travis farco and Harry you made an unbelievable contribution to the footy Club you’re still playing for you I can’t believe you and Josh Kennedy who the goal Square over there uh he does uh but I don’t leave the 50 all that much either what a superb player what a great contributor he’s been to the jalong footy Club Harry Taylor now member of the Hall of Fame and Scotty your contribution well your legacy is already amazing but uh it it goes on we’re going to recover from Friday night are we yeah of course we will that’s uh part of being an optimistic group we’re confident that um we can bounce back you can’t talk about um having a good environment just in the good times though so um it’s probably an opportunity for me to just I don’t I always think about moving forward and listening to Harry talking about reflecting it’s rare that I get the opportunity publicly just to talk about the people in your life that do that that really help so just really quickly um you know my daughter who gave me this medal like it’s not often I get a little emotional in these situations but that was one tonight thank you Lea and and Sarah they’ve got to deal with me on days like today when we lose I’m not a good person to be around for for 24 hours was um so thank you but also going back a long time I guess it’s a long time now two the end of 2010 when I first met uh Cameron Ling um so to reiterate I was 34 how old were you lingy 30 odd um and it would have been really easy for it would have been really easy for for lingy to um to dismiss me as a you know as as basically one of his peers as a player but he embraced me completely I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t uh for him and so many of the things that we talk about uh in an aspirational sense of what that not not just what we want to be as a footy club and a footy department but who we want to be as people um has been driven by the way lingy went about it so when I talk about my family that that’s sort of driven by the way that lingy talked about his family um and I’m I was in even though I grew up on the other side of Melbourne um I felt like I was a newcomer to to jalong and if there was ever someone that was the mayor of jalong or should be the mayor of jalong it it was lingy and he welcomed me with open arms so thank you m and I I know you mentioned him before that the BL you played with has been pretty handy as well hasn’t he Nigel laughing along the journey yeah like so he doesn’t like the the claim no he doesn’t but genely I mean I talk to our players regularly about the sliding doors moment not only in footy but in your life so as I said I was 34 I wasn’t sure that I could coach at all I was pretty sure I wasn’t ready um but I didn’t bring anyone with me to jalong but I was fortunate that my best friend in footy the guy that was drafted with me at the end of two uh 1993 um was already at the cats uh and and again soort of if if n wasn’t at the cats I think there’s a reasonable chance that I would have had a pretty short 10 um and I drive him insane um to to this day he’s never mentioned that no no but it’s true and and I mean I love him for it like he he he deals that if there’s one person that can deal with my quirks it’s him and and I don’t necessarily see it but I know that he plates the others that I’m driving insane as well um so for for to have and and CLA and um the girls in jalong it’s kind of like it just felt like it was meant to be and to to still be here in 2024 is awesome well it’s a credit to all of you congratulations and wonderful achievement to be a member of the Hall of Fame
1 Comment
Congratulations guys you deserve it