As the seagulls circle the MCG and finish off the last food scraps and the Geelong players lick their wounds, the recent media focus on a ‘new’ Geelong dynasty – and now Hawthorn’s President, Jeff Kennett’s ‘eve of a great dynasty’ claim – needs a reality check.
The Demons/Melbourne FC played in 8 Grand Finals in 11 years 1954 – 1964, winning 6 flags.
It would have been four in a row 1955 – 1958 but for a surprise defeat by Collingwood in 1958 – Melbourne winning 15 of 18 games, defeating Collingwood in all games but the grand final.
Norm Smith was coach for 16 years 1954 – 1964, his record being recognised by the AFL in 1979 when the first Norm Smith Medal was presented to the player voted best on the ground in the grand final by a panel of judges.
Percy Beames, a team mate of Norm’s and football writer with “The Age’ in Melbourne, wrote in 1979 in a booklet at the launch of the Medal: ‘togetherness was Smith’s law. Individual achievement played a secondary role in the football make-up of the player-coach, without a peer in the history of the Melbourne FC’.
The winner of the Medal in 1989, the last time Hawthorn defeated Geelong in a grand final was Gary Ablett Senior.
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