In 1975, Bill Nettlefold kicked the winning goals in Richmond’s first ever Elimination Final. Then, never played for the Tigers seniors again.
Rhett Bartlett goes one-on-one with the ruck rover about that memorable day, and what happened after.
Bill Nettlefold (BN):
It was 47 years ago, so you don’t remember much, but my father was a great scrapbooker and I’ve got 5 or 6 huge scrapbooks full of stuff, and of course that particular game there’s a lot of cuttings. So, it was interesting going back and reading actually.
Rhett Bartlett (RB):
Did he cover your entire playing career, including juniors?
BN:
It starts in September 1970 when I won the Best and Fairest at St. Kevin’s and I was invited to Richmond’s AGM (in December) to receive a jumper.
That was the night when it was announced that Ian Stewart was coming and Bill Barrot was going.
RB:
That was a very famous fiery night at the Richmond Town Hall.
BN:
I remember sitting up on stage and there were people standing and shouting at the committee and I’m this little kid from St Kevin’s!
Of course, next year Stewie wins the Best and Fairest and Billy just wanders off into the never-never.
RB:
What a welcome to Tigerland! There would have been Octa Wilson, Ray Dunn, Graeme Richmond, and Alan Schwab present.
BN:
I think I know which one was running the joint.
RB:
Was his name Graeme Richmond?
BN:
That’s the one.
RB:
Was the idea of giving you that guernsey, to try and sign you early?
BN:
No, it was zoned in those days. The idea was if you won the St Kevin’s Best and Fairest and you were in the zone you got invited to train with the Richmond Under 19s.
I didn’t do very well in my first year in (what we now call) VCE, so I went back to St Kevin’s and I said to the principal “Listen I want to play League Football, we only play 6 games, they play 20. I’ll play with them.” And he said “well you can either play League Football or you can go to school, which is it you want?”
So I went to school and gave up the Under 19s. Then the next year I won the Best and Fairest again, but didn’t get invited back. I had my shot and as it turned out I played in the D Grade Amateurs and won the Best and Fairest and then got invited to training on the back of that. It was a steep learning curve so to speak.
RB:
I assume GR and everyone went, I remember this kid!
BN:
I’m not sure how it came about, but I was doing a cadetship at Myer in December and Dad turned up to the office with my bag at 3pm and said “you are off to Richmond for summer training tonight.
I said “how am I going to get out of here”, and he said “you leave that to me”.
And I had just had lunch which was two pies, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy.
So I go down and I say “hello Mr Hafey how are you”, and he said “this is Graeme Bond, I want you to run 10 x 200m around the boundary in under 26 seconds”.
I thought this is going to be interesting because I did no running for a year. I didn’t do any training because of my work.
After 4 runs I felt pretty crook and after 5 I threw up, and Tommy said “thanks for coming son”.
So I walked in, threw up again and looked in the mirror as I cleaned my face up and said to myself “if you don’t go out and finish these you’ll never find out”.
So I went out and somehow finished them, then got invited to summer training and the rest as they say is history. It was that sliding doors moment.
RB:
Was much made at Tigerland at the time that it was our first ever Elimination Final?
BN:
No, I don’t remember a lot about that. I was only 22 and that was my first final. I started in 1973, didn’t play any games that year except the Australian Championship game in Adelaide. Then the next year I played 5 games and broke my arm out at Waverley against Fitzroy (Rd 13). The following year in 1975 I played 10 games and was playing all right. I was also captain of the Reserves.
3 years into the system, playing in your first final, your 15th game, all you are really concerned about is getting ready for the game, hopefully winning and hopefully getting a kick.
RB:
What memories does that Elimination Final bring back for you?
BN:
It was a fairly wet miserable day. All the scribes put me in the best players. I had photographs in the paper, interviews, and on Ch7 I got the Mark Jeffries “Player of the Week” Award, where I could get a suit to the maximum value of $75. If I was really truthful with myself, I didn’t play very well at all.
Mark Jeffries advertisement from 1975.
RB:
Do you remember the two goals you kicked in the last quarter?
BN:
I do, I remember them vividly. I remember at about the eight-minute mark, Bryan Wood got a free kick on the wing and he kicked it down and I was in front and took a mark around 40 metres out. The player on the mark, as I came in to kick, jumped up in the air and I ran around him, which was highly unusual for me, then settled and kicked the drop punt and it went through.
Deep in the quarter we were behind. I took a mark around 30 metres out on a fairly tight angle and I tried to milk the angle by walking in. The umpire, Kevin Smith, wouldn’t allow that to occur, so he pushed me further back, around into the correct position. At that time, you just sit back and go right, I’ve got to do everything right, I've got to run straight, drop straight, and kick straight. And that’s what happened.
The Age report. Nettlefold is listed as one of the best players.
RB:
You win the game for Richmond and the following week they play Carlton in the Semi Final, but you weren’t in the line-up. Infact you never play for our seniors again.
BN:
I was dropped. If I was being honest, I played a really ordinary game apart from those two kicks. I’m enough of a realist to understand. I didn’t play very well and in hindsight probably got over-awed and over-excited, as you can as a young player.
Cometh the time I was able to kick the 2 goals and it was very heavy stuff to get the accolades in the paper. I gave away a lot of free kicks (8) and didn’t have much of the ball (9 kicks, 3 marks, 3 handballs).
Being on the half forward flank in those days, that was in the middle of nowhere. That was Hell’s Kitchen out there, particularly on the big ground, there’s a lot of room to get lost.
The following week it was dry and part of the selection process was they wanted some more pace – so Noel Carter came in.
The Ins and Outs for the Semi Final v Carlton the following week.
BN:
I was born a Collingwood supporter. My brothers were in the Collingwood cheer squad, Dad was heavily involved in Collingwood.
Chris (my brother) came home from the Elimination Final and he was so wild that Collingwood had been beaten again in a final, and even wilder that I had kick the winning goals, that he went around the back of the house and saw one of my training jumpers, which is probably the one I got in 1970 at the AGM, and he went over to the clothesline ripped it off, threw it in the garden and jumped on it.
RB:
So, what happened the following season?
BN:
What happened was after the first or second game of 1976, Richmond wanted Neil Balme’s younger brother Craig. I was at training, I got there late, went out and as always, the afternoon paper was there. I got out there and someone said “you are off to Collingwood”, and I went ‘what do you mean?’
“It’s in the Herald.” So, I walked in, had a look on the bench, and sure enough there it was -Bill Nettlefold and Graeme Bond off to Collingwood.
I went in to see Schwabby and he said “yes that deal has been done, but it shouldn’t have come out before we talked to you”. Of course, Richmond leaked like a sieve in those days. The deal was done so I went down to Collingwood to train for one night then decided I wasn’t going to continue there, so I stood out of football for a month and North Melbourne came along and asked me to play with them.
RB:
But Collingwood was the team you barracked for!
BN:
I went down there and their training was abysmal. Absolutely abysmal. When I met with the powers that be about finances and all that it was obvious to me that this wasn’t the place to be. North subsequently came along and picked me up and got a transfer from Richmond. Richmond were not impressed that I wasn’t going where they wanted me to go.
Nettlefold's clearance, as listed in the Richmond Minute Book.
BN:
It turned out that Bondy went to St Kilda and I ended up at North Melbourne, and on to a Premiership in 1977.
Nettlefold’s football career
Richmond Seniors 1974-75, 15 games, 6 goals
Richmond Reserves 1973-1976. (1973 Premiership, 1975 Captain, 1975 Best and Fairest).
Nth Melbourne Seniors 1976-1979, 51 games, 22 goals. (1977 Premiership)
Melbourne Seniors 1980-82, 34 games, 14 goals.
