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Remembering Phil Walsh, 12 months on

Hawthorn Hawks players and coach Alastair Clarkson and Collingwood Magpies players and coach Nathan Buckley stand arm-in-arm in tribute to Phil Walsh last year. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Guru
28th June, 2016
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This Sunday marks twelve months since the sickening and tragic death of Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh.

Early on a cold and chilly Friday morning early in July last year, Australia woke up to the news that a man had been taken into police custody following the death of an elderly man in the coastal suburb of Somerton Park, in Adelaide’s south-west.

As the morning grew, it later emerged that the elderly man in question was first-year Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh, who had been murdered, allegedly by his own son, in the dark of night.

Not just the local community, but also AFL and sporting fans nationwide, struggled to digest the sickening news that had just happened as each subsequent minute and hour ticked over.

Walsh’s death came just 16 months after lung cancer claimed the life of another much-loved Crows identity in Dean Bailey, who was serving as the club’s coaching strategist after nearly four seasons as Melbourne coach.

Before the rest of Australia knew about Walsh’s passing, the Crows were first informed of it, with chairman Rob Chapman receiving a phone call from the police at 3:30am saying that Walsh had been the victim of a domestic violence incident and was murdered in the early hours of the morning.

The news then spread to the players, who suddenly had their footballing lives turned upside down by what Chapman described as a “crisis unprecedented”. They had been preparing to take on the Geelong Cats at home on the Sunday.

The Port Adelaide Football Club, who were staying in Sydney overnight after having played the Sydney Swans at the SCG the previous evening, were also made aware of the tragedy before they flew back home to a shellshocked city of Adelaide.

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It then spread to the AFL House in Melbourne, where Gillon McLachlan told a packed media conference that “our game is in mourning”.

He later made the decision to cancel the Crows’ match against the Geelong Cats, after the rest of Round 14 was thrown into chaos with only one match having been completed before tragedy struck.

Upon making the decision to cancel the match, McLachlan said that “while playing footy can be part of the grieving process, we are strongly of the few that it is not fair to ask the young men of the Adelaide Crows or the Geelong Cats to play in these circumstances.”

The cancellation of the match meant that, with the Cats having had their bye the previous round, they would not play for two weeks in a row after they’d lost to Melbourne at home in Round 12.

Twelve hours after Walsh’s death broke the news headlines, Collingwood and Hawthorn faced off at the MCG in front of just under 76,000 fans, and the match, along with the other six matches that went ahead, were stripped of the usual fun and festivities associated with game day.

Out of respect for Phil Walsh, the club songs would not be played before and after the match, there were no pre-game team banners and the winning team would not sing their song in the rooms after they were victorious.

Instead, after the full-time siren the Pies and Hawks would form a united circle in the middle, arm in arm, with both coaches involved. This tradition would follow in the remaining six matches of the round.

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After taking the weekend off to collect their thoughts and continue to digest the tragedy that shook Australian sport to its roots, the Crows had to appoint a caretaker coach to take them through to the end of the season, and former Carlton and Essendon champion Scott Camporeale would be given that responsibility.

Their first outing since Walsh’s death would see them face the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium, and after a competitive first quarter, the Crows would fall away to lose by 56 points.

The Showdown the following week would shape as one of the most significant yet, eclipsing the inaugural edition in 1997 and the semi-final in 2005 in importance.

Normally in the week leading up to a Showdown, the City of Churches would be divided but for this occasion only Power and Crows fans would unite as one as they continued to honour Phil Walsh in every way possible.

The Power fans, for whom their team were the home team for this particular Showdown, invited their Crows counterparts to join them on the annual pre-match march from the CBD to the Adelaide Oval, and even join in on the “Never Tear Us Apart” pre-bounce anthem.

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In the end, the match, which was televised nationally by the Seven Network and played in front of nearly 54,500 fans, ended up being the closest Showdown yet, with the Crows prevailing by three points despite enduring a goalless final quarter.

Crows veteran Scott Thompson would win the one-off ‘Phil Walsh Medal’ for being the best on ground with 36 possessions.

Defying fears that the Walsh tragedy would take its toll on the club mentally and emotionally, the club would lose just one more match for the season and finish seventh at the end of the regular season.

They would come from behind to defeat the Western Bulldogs in their elimination final at the MCG before losing to eventual premiers Hawthorn by 74 points in the semi-final at the same venue six nights later.

Despite an impressive stint as caretaker coach, in which he compiled a 8-3 record, Scott Camporeale would revert back to his former role as assistant coach and Don Pyke would be appointed the new head coach for this season.

The club would then lose one of its most influential players in Patrick Dangerfield, who requested a trade home and eventually found his way to Kardinia Park during the off-season trade period.

Now, nearly twelve months on, the Adelaide Crows are preparing to take on Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday, which marks exactly a year since the sudden death of Phil Walsh rocked the AFL to its roots.

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Captain Taylor Walker has said that the club and its players will honour their slain coach in different ways, but the club will need to remain focused on the task at hand, given this is the first of two consecutive MCG matches for the club.

Both are against two of this year’s most improved clubs in Melbourne and Carlton.

“A lot of water has gone under the bridge, obviously it’s 12 months since he [Phil Walsh] passed away,” Walker said on Monday.

“He left a massive footprint on the footy club and individuals lives so I’m sure individuals will treat it differently by themselves. But as a footy club we’re really happy with where we are at and have got a lot of memories out of it and look forward to, as he said, getting the job done. We’ll do it on Sunday.”

It was Walker who was given the captaincy by Walsh prior to the start of the 2015 AFL season despite having not yet played 100 games at the time. It is something, he says, that he will cherish for the rest of his life.

The Crows have won nine of their last thirteen meetings against the Demons dating back to late-2005, but this will be their first meeting at the MCG since late-2012, when the then-Brenton Sanderson-coached side claimed a 69-point victory.

For all the Dees’ improvement this season, they are one of five teams currently sitting equal ninth alongside Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda and Carlton, and eight points in arrears of the eighth-placed West Coast Eagles on the ladder.

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Their last outing before their Round 14 bye ended in a 55-point loss to the Sydney Swans at the SCG, in which they not only suffered their heaviest defeat for the season but also kicked their lowest score for the season (4.7 (31)) and the second-lowest of any side this season (only St Kilda’s 3.11 (29) in Round 8 was lower).

It was a huge letdown from their impressive Queen’s Birthday victory over Collingwood, however the six-day break and the poor weather conditions they encountered in Sydney contributed to the defeat at the hands of the Swans.

By contrast, the Crows have notched up five straight wins since losing to the Geelong Cats at home in Round 8, and certainly could’ve defeated North Melbourne by more than 33 points had they kicked much straighter.

They currently sit in sixth place on the ladder with nine wins and four losses.

Midfielder Rory Sloane is currently second-favourite behind former teammate Patrick Dangerfield for the Brownlow Medal and he along with Scott Thompson will marshal an Adelaide midfield against their Melbourne counterparts led by captain Nathan Jones, Jack Viney and ex-Crow Bernie Vince.

The midfield match-up, as well as those between the Adelaide forwards (Taylor Walker, Eddie Betts and Josh Jenkins) and Melbourne defence (the McDonald brothers), and ruckmen (Max Gawn and Sam Jacobs), will go a long way towards deciding this contest.

A lot has happened at the Adelaide Crows since the passing of Phil Walsh nearly a year ago, but if anything, it has inspired the team onto greater things as they look to continue carrying his legacy forward, and as he once said, “get the job done”.

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With four of the five clubs above the Crows on the ladder enjoying their bye this weekend, Don Pyke’s men have the chance to climb to third on the ladder should they defeat the improving Demons at the MCG this Sunday afternoon.

But as a few clubs have found out this season, it won’t come as easy as it once used to be, with the Demons playing an improved brand of football under the guard of Paul Roos and the man who will succeed him as coach at the end of this season, former Crows champion Simon Goodwin.

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