Can you give me an insight into how and why you joined Port Fairy after playing with St Kilda and Geelong?

I played at Golden Point in 1981, 1982 and 1983 after coming back from playing with Geelong in 1980.

I took a phone call in late 1983 from someone who was a car salesman in Warrnambool and was also on the committee at the Port Fairy Football Club.

I was also selling cars in Ballarat.

They said that Port Fairy would be looking for a new coach in 1984, as Ron Wearmouth – who coached Port Fairy in 1983 – would not be there in 1984.

Port Fairy was defeated by Colac-Coragulac in the 1983 grand final.

I had a few talks with them over the next few weeks and accepted the job as captain-coach of Port Fairy for the 1984 season.

How much money were you paid to be captain-coach of Port Fairy in 1984?

I was paid $8000 to be the captain-coach.

I had left my job selling cars in Ballarat and was to sell cars for Wil McKenzie Cars in Warrnambool.

I was really excited to take up the coaching job on the back of Port Fairy’s performance of being runners-up in 1983.

But when I arrived to do preseason training with the Seagulls in January, things had changed very dramatically within the club.

Can you explain what you mean when you say things had changed so dramatically?

Well, I was shocked when I got there to find the club had lost a lot of players from the 1983 grand final loss.

They had not recruited any players and I knew things were going to be difficult for us in 1984. I would go as far to say the picture that had been painted to me was not correct.

If I had not leased out my house in Ballarat and quit my job selling cars in Ballarat, I would have left Port Fairy after one week.

Port Fairy finished second last under your coaching in 1984.

The history books show that you defeated some very talented players – including Wayne Reicha, Lee McCorkell, Brendan Dobson, Colin Hammond, Paul Couch, Adrian Gleeson, John McVilly and Bill Couch – to win the 1984 Maskell Medal by two votes.

You must have been pleased with your own form in 1984?

I thought I had a fairly good season, but I never really thought I would win the Maskell.  

I picked up a fair few votes late in the season.

The biggest disappointment for me in that season was we only won about five games.

Maurice, was it your decision to be captain-coach of Port Fairy for only the one season?

No. About three to four weeks after the season ended, I was preparing to go on the footy trip to Adelaide on the Thursday night when I was asked by Port Fairy officials if I was going to coach in 1985.

I told the officials I needed a few days to make up my mind and I would let them know on the Monday night after we came back from the footy trip.

They insisted they needed to know. When I came back from the footy trip, the club had announced they had appointed another coach for 1985.

I got a phone call out of the blue from Warrnambool powerbroker Bill Toleman.

Bill asked me if I was interested in playing for Warrnambool in the 1985 season.

I ended up saying yes.

What sort of money did Toleman offer you to play for the Blues?

It was similar to what I played for while at Port Fairy.

Ray Hawthorn was the coach at Warrnambool in 1985.

We lost the elimination final, but we had a great side.

I never played the full season with Warrnambool as I had problems with my left hamstring.

One of the funniest things about when I played with Warrnambool was that there were three M. O’Keefes playing.

Mick played centre-half-back, I played in the centre and Mark O’Keefe was at centre-half-forward.

The strange thing was that none of us were even related.

I only played at Warrnambool for the one season before going back to Ballarat, where I went back to Golden Point.

The club merged with East Ballarat in 2001 and is now called East Point.

Maurice, let’s go back to your AFL-VFL career for a moment.

How many games did you play at St Kilda?

I played 51 games. My first game with the Saints was against South Melbourne at the old Moorabbin ground in 1977.

Ross Smith was the coach before Mick Patterson took over for the next two years.

There were six St Kilda players, and I was one of them, who lived in Ballarat and trained one night a week with the Saints.

But when Lindsay Fox took over as president, he decided to change things around.

Fox said that he wanted all players who played with St Kilda to live in Melbourne.

That never suited me, so I ended up playing for Geelong in 1980.

I only played the one game with the Cats under Billy Goggin.

Maurice, do you still sell cars?

No, after a lifetime selling cars I moved into the hospitality industry in 2011.

I now work at the Miners Tavern, in the heart of Ballarat.

The business is owned by Simon Whiting and Tanya Smith.

They are both from Warrnambool.

The funny thing is Simon played with Warrnambool’s under 18 side when I played at the club in 1985 and now he’s my boss.