Shane, we’ll talk more about your sporting highlight shortly.
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Your son Jordan has played in four premierships with Hawthorn and now plays for Melbourne.
The Demons were well beaten in the preliminary final by the West Coast Eagles on Saturday.
What did you think of the Demons’ effort?
They were disappointing in the preliminary final.
It was always going to be tough for a young group of players to head over to Perth in such a big game.
I’ve got no doubt Melbourne will learn a lot from the defeat.
Melbourne had a lot of young players playing this season.
I’m sure they will derive plenty of benefit from their efforts this year.
I don’t think anyone predicted that the Demons would play off in the preliminary final at the start of the season let alone later in the year – as I said previously I’m sure they will improve from this year’s efforts.
What did you think when Jordan transferred from Hawthorn to Melbourne on a three-year contract in 2017?
In an ideal world it would have been great for Jordan to have been a one-club player at Hawthorn, but the footy landscape has changed so dramatically over the last few years with such things as drafts and trades.
Hawthorn was a wonderful club for Jordan and his family but things change and you must go with the change.
Jordan is really happy with things at Melbourne and that’s the main thing.
I think the change has given Jordan a new lease of life for his footy.
He’s just loving helping the young players improve their skills at the Demons.
Shane, take me back to the 2004 draft when Jordan was drafted to Hawthorn.
Did you have any idea that he would go to the Hawks?
To be honest with you we thought he may go to Port Adelaide.
A lot of clubs had shown interest in him in the lead up to the 2004 draft.
A few weeks before the 2004 draft Hawthorn’s recruiting man at the time Gary Buckenara came down to see him.
Jordan had no idea who Buckenara was.
We had to tell him he was a four-time premiership player at the Hawks and a star at the club.
There was no television coverage of the draft back in 2004.
Port Adelaide had indicated they were going to take Jordan at pick 11 and then out of the blue, Hawthorn picked him at pick seven.
The rest is history as he’s now a four-time premiership player with the Hawks and picked up plenty of other accolades for his deeds on the footy field.
His family is just so proud of his achievements not only on the footy field but life in general.
We (family) never imagined that Jordan would play more than 300 games of footy at the elite level when he was drafted in 2004.
I thought to myself if he played a few games at the AFL level he would be going well but more than 300 games is incredible.
Full credit to Jordan and his wife Lucy for managing his career over so many seasons.
Do you think Jordan will take up coaching when his playing career is over?
I’m not sure.
He’s doing some work in the media and appears to love it.
I suppose he’ll have a lot of options to weigh up once his playing career is over.
Shane, let’s talk about your footy career. Where did you start playing footy?
I played junior footy at Penshurst and a lot of school footy.
I came down to play with Warrnambool in 1975.
Ian “Lefty” Wright got me a job at Fletcher Jones in the store.
I ended up playing under 18s, reserves and in the seniors at Warrnambool.
I played in a reserves premiership with the Blues under Ray Main.
I kicked four goals in the premiership win.
I then went out and played with Bushfield in 1980 under Greg Moloney for a couple of seasons before transferring over to Dennington .
My career highlight was playing for Dennington when we defeated Old Collegians in 1988 to win the flag.
I only lasted on the field for ten minutes as I injured my right shoulder.
My brother Geoff (Boofa) was our coach.
He was tough and a very strict coach, but the players loved Boofa.
Denis Finn was the coach at Old Collegians.
We had some great players playing for Dennington back in that era.
Blokes like John Craven, Murray Turner and Gerry Meade were top players for the club.
I went back to play with the reserves at Warrnambool before hanging up my boots when I was 38 years old.
I filled a few other roles at Warrnambool namely as a committee man and a selector over many years.
When my footy career ended I was getting lazy so I took up running with Peter Davis and David Chislett.
I reckon we used to run or swim in the ocean most days for 15 years.
I used to get my wife Judy to take me out to Koroit and I would run back in just to maintain my fitness.
I ended up snapping my right calf muscle while I was out for a run and that was the end of my running career.
Shane, over the years you’ve seen plenty of local footy. Who would be the best players that you’ve seen play?
I’ve got to rate Daryl Salmon as the best.
He was a freak footballer.
He had the ability to change the course of a game.
Another bloke who was a top player was Peter Sheen.
I played school footy at Hawkesdale with him and watched his career progress very closely.
He was a champion player at Warrnambool for many years.