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On 22 August 1999, the West Coast Eagles, having topped the ladder in the middle of the season, were in a shocking run of form and trekked to Princes Park, never a happy hunting ground, to play the Western Bulldogs. The Eagles had to win to have any chance of fourth and a home final, but the most likely outcome was an away final against those same opponents, the Dogs from Footscray.
It was a fine day and we played well, much better than we had for weeks. The supporters were very loud – a work colleague driving back from the country and listening on the radio said that she had thought it was at Subi because the noise was so loud when we kicked a goal. But in the end, we fell just short – less than a goal in it, but close enough wasn’t good enough.
We went back to a room in the grandstand – I forget the name - for the after-match function. In Melbourne, at least in those days, after-match functions were a bit of a moveable feast, but this one was very important to all of the members of the Victorian Cheer Squad. It was the last Home & Away game of the season and we didn’t know if we’d see them again, so it was time for awards and farewells.
There had been rumours for weeks that Michael Malthouse, two-time Premiership coach who had led us through the 1990s, was going to leave. He hadn’t confirmed or denied it, but the team’s second half of the season poor form and persistent rumours made us believe it might be time to say goodbye. The leader of the Cheer Squad asked me to make a speech on their behalf (she didn’t like public speaking much). Although I gave the piece of paper to Mick after he had replied, for the sake of club history, this is my recollection of what I said based on my computer records.
“Hello fellow members of the West Coast Eagles Football Club. If we could just have a couple of minutes quiet please for an important presentation. I make this presentation on behalf of Graeme Klopper and Michelle Wood and their families, who put in a lot of their time running the Cheer Squad, and the rest of the Cheer Squad members, especially those who make the banner every other week.
I would like to invite you to think beyond the disappointment of today’s result (but not the performance, which was terrific from the players today) and think about our Club over a much longer timeframe.
Back in 1987, there was an important birth – my daughter Emma, who is standing over there. And a few months earlier, the West Coast Eagles had been born, the first VFL team from Western Australia. By the time my second daughter, Natasha, was born, the West Coast Eagles had just lost one Grand Final and were about to win the historic 1992 premiership. As my family grew, the West Coast Eagles grew up fast and achieved great success.
Of course a football club is different from a family in some ways, but there are similarities. You have your arguments, your bad times and your good times. Sometimes you have disappointments, when things don’t go so well, but the important thing is to stick together. When you want to win so badly, it’s easy to forget how young our Club is. It’s important not to criticise young people when things go badly. You need to encourage them, show faith in them and believe that they can do it. The important thing is that we do our best, be united and never give up (as both the players and the supporters did today).
For the last 10 seasons, Michael Malthouse has been the coach and father figure at our Club. He has led the Club to two premierships and into the finals in every year in the Nineties – a feat achieved by no other coach in the AFL. He has dedicated a decade of his career, no, a decade of his life, to developing this young football Club and the many great players who have played for it. He uprooted his own family and took them all the way across Australia. We owe him our thanks.
No matter where he chooses to spend the next decade of his life, and whenever he chooses to go, he will go with our best wishes. Like any Eagle who leaves the nest, he should always be guaranteed of a warm welcome from those who stay.
Michael, on behalf of the Cheer Squad, thank you very much for your magnificent decade of service to the West Coast Eagles.�
Mick was pretty emotional – he hadn’t had an inkling of what we were going to do. He thanked us warmly for our words and said we’d give it a good shake in the Finals. It would take a huge form turnaround from the last few weeks, but when you follow the club with such passion, the one thing you have to have is belief. So, after a couple of drinks, we walked out into the car park and saw the players’ bus off to the airport. In the car on the way home, we wondered: was that the turning point?
Next time: The Victorian Cheer Squad Story of the 1999 Eagles Finals campaign.
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