Northey philosophy turned ones into twos, but Bevo doesn’t follow it

Snap Shot is a weekly column taking a look at the lighter side of football.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan should not feel hard done by if he makes way for Aaron Naughton after making his debut against the Swans on Sunday. 

As coach Luke Beveridge revealed post-game, he does not adhere to the philosophy of John Northey, the former coach and respected mentor who selected Beveridge to debut for Melbourne in 1989 and virtually guaranteed him a second game, which was handy given he only had four touches in his first.

John Northey almost always gave debutants a guaranteed second crack the week after their first game.Credit:Peter Morris

“I definitely didn’t deserve my second week and he gave it to me. I don’t really mirror that philosophy that ‘Swooper’ had,” Beveridge said.

Ugle-Hagan would become the eighth of Beveridge’s 36 debutants not to play the match after his debut if he’s not selected to play against the Suns. Six have already played a second with Kieran Collins the only expection. In contrast, just 15 of the 90-plus players Northey selected to debut did not immediately play a second week, mostly due to injury or it being the final match of the season.

Northey, who named such legends as Richmond’s Matthew Richardson and Melbourne’s Garry Lyon to play their first games, told Snap Shot it was just his philosophy based on an appreciation that nerves might take hold of a player.

“They deserved a second crack. We have seen a few who haven’t quite handled it or were nervous or might have been playing a better side,” Northey said.

He laughed when told there were 12 players he selected for their first two back-to-back games but never picked again, with only three players – two playing the final match of the season and one who was injured – who did not play two games under Northey.

“Well, they had a go,” Northey said.

One of those players whose career ended after two matches was Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Robert Hickmott, who played two consecutive matches with the Demons in 1990. He says he was gifted his second game and used some colourful language to describe his own performance in two losses.

“I was very grateful, great experience and I wish I applied myself better,” Hickmott said.

Funnily enough for a horse trainer, Hickmott said he wasn’t great on the track and like Beveridge his admiration for his former coach remains high. “He is a champion bloke,” Hickmott said of Northey.

The super-smart AFLW player who delivered for her former coach

Former Gold Coast AFLW coach David Lake joked that former player Tiarna Ernst could be a bit fumbly below her knees but was clean as a whistle when grabbing the ball out of the air.

So when he found out that Ernst was the obstretician who would deliver his son Jack’s daughter he could not stop himself being an anxious grandfather and firing off a cheeky text to the player everyone called “Doc” when she was at the Suns.

Former Sun Tiarna Ernst has the appreciation of her former coach for her football and medical careers.Credit:Joe Armao

In essence, Lake exhorted her to be at the top of her game and deliver – so to speak – in the big moment.

To which the ever cool, ultra-professional Ernst responded “she will be in good hands”.

And she was, too, with Bowie Rose arriving for Jack and Grace in Brisbane. Her arrival marked the birth of the proud grandfather and lifelong football coach and player’s seventh grandchild.

What shone through for Lake was how amazing Ernst had been to combine an AFLW career that landed her a premiership with the Bulldogs and 29 out of 29 possible games with two clubs while establishing a professional career with demands like few others. 

“She is so intelligent. She never missed training and she was in the leadership group, she was so durable, so professional,” Lake said.

“We had this important connection in footy and yet she has just delivered my grandchild. I know where the importance lies, it ain’t in the footy where we put all the effort. It’s in the intelligence of her and what she is actually capable of doing.”

He knows that AFLW is full of such individuals showing a level of commitment and talent that leaves most of us in their wake.

Succession plans? No problem at Yeppoon

All the kerfuffle about succession plans at AFL level must make the people at Yeppoon Football Club laugh as they appear to have pulled off one of the more remarkable feats in football history.

Not only did the AFL Capricornia club in Queensland become the first club to win 100 games in succession last weekend, they did it with a new coach, Christian Burgess, who took over from Mark Wallin, who had led the club to six flags in succession.

And it’s been seamless so far with Burgess – a gun Ovens and Murray footballer in his day – starting his reign with 11 wins on the trot so far, while Wallin coaches the club’s women’s team.

Burgess admits it did enter his head that he might be mad to take on the job but he has such high regard for the club and the culture it has that he knew he would be supported whatever happened.

“[There is] always a bit of pressure associated taking over when they have got a winning streak like that but the playing group have got a pretty good understanding that wins and losses are part of the game and the first loss from this streak is inevitable, it is going to come eventually,” Burgess said.

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