A shocking captaincy debut and frustration for a footy great: Meet the newest hall of fame inductees

The Age

3 days ago

The art of goalkicking remains close to his heart, and it's why he admits to regular frustration when he witnesses so many botched shots by players who are fully professional.
'For me, it was about repetition, and making sure that you are doing the same thing each time. Then you have to keep reviewing that,' Dunstall, now a leading commentator on Fox Footy, said.
'Sometimes you think you are doing what you are normally doing, but you are not. It's only if you look at it on video, or if someone can tell you that you are not, that you realise you are not actually doing it.
'That's why I get so frustrated with the level of goalkicking these days because you see so many obvious mistakes players make. They say they practise it but, if that's the case, they are either practising the wrong thing, or they are not caring.
'Now if it's too hard to kick a drop punt, we'll just kick around a corner. For some reason, that gives them all a copout because they don't mind missing one like that, but they don't want to miss a drop punt. I don't get it.'
Champion Data statistics show that set-shot accuracy this year (54.1 per cent) is the best it has been in a decade, including a marked increase on 2019 (51.7 per cent), but it is still slightly below 2013 (54.6 per cent).
Dunstall, 60, played 269 games for the Hawks between 1985 and 1998, at a time when playing full-forward meant just that. He didn't have to dash into the midfield, or deep into defence to clog up the opposition's attacking arc.
Instead, he remained close to the Hawks' goal square, where his burst off the lead, brute strength and dead-eye kicking were instrumental in a decade of Hawks dominance, where he reaped flags in 1986, 1988, '89, and '91.
A selfless forward who was always prepared to pass to a teammate, Dunstall spent many years battling Tony Lockett for the Coleman Medal, while Gary Ablett snr, Brian Taylor, Warwick Capper, Simon Beasley and Peter Sumich were among those to also have their moments.
''Plugger' Lockett was the one. The worst thing was, even when he was at St Kilda, and they were getting thumped, he would kick 10 of their 11 goals, and you could fall behind. You would think you had a good day, kicked seven or eight, and you fall further behind,' Dunstall said.
Only Lockett and Collingwood's Gordon Coventry have more career goals than Dunstall.
The last man to reach a century was fellow Hawk Lance Franklin in 2008, the modern style of team play making it difficult to consistently boot a bag.
'It's a difficult one. I still love the game. I understand it's very different, and I am sure I have some antiquated views on it,' Dunstall, one of only 32 Legends in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, said.
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'I get where it's got to, and because of the fact we have this very different game, kicking 100 is going to be nigh on impossible. And we are managing players now. If you are having a ripping good year, you get a chance to rest players for a week or two. How do you rest someone if they are on track to kick a hundred?'
Geelong star Jeremy Cameron (69 goals) could end the century drought this season, but he still has much work to do.
Dunstall's tale is one of perseverance. It wasn't easy for the lad from Queensland, who grew up a Carlton supporter and booted six goals on one of his idols – Bruce Doull – in the '86 grand final, erasing the memory of a below-par second semi-final against the Blues.
Dunstall, only two years earlier, had wanted to join the Blues, but they had shown little interest. Fitzroy did briefly, but chose Scott McIvor, another Queenslander, instead.
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He joined the Hawks in '85 and played in the losing grand final of that year, before replacing the just-retired Leigh Matthews at full-forward come 1986.
'The timing was perfect – there happened to be a gap there. I was given the opportunity and had to work bloody hard at it,' Dunstall said.
The Hawks may well have won four straight premierships had Dunstall not missed the '87 grand final because of injury, while they were beaten by Melbourne in the 1990 elimination final when banged up.
While his career was shortened because of knee injuries in his twilight years, Dunstall was content.
He said induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame was humbling. 'It's up there with anything. It's very different too because this is more a part of the national sporting scene, as opposed to just the AFL scene. I am a little bewildered, but incredibly flattered to the point of embarrassment. It's a genuinely wonderful honour,' he said.
Benched in first game as captain: How pressure turned Geitz into a diamond
Geitz's first game as captain of the Australian Diamonds was, in her own words, an absolute shocker.
It was September 2013, and the Diamonds were facing New Zealand's Silver Ferns for the Constellation Cup in Invercargill in front of passionate Kiwi crowd. A 25-year-old Geitz had just taken the captaincy from retired Natalie von Bertouch and was eager to fill her idol's shoes. But Geitz was also still healing from a personal family tragedy – her father had died in May following an accident at her family's property.
Starting as goal keeper, Geitz was nervous and distracted, with constant worried thoughts about how she'd measure up to the team's previous leaders. She was ultimately benched at three-quarter-time and Australia lost by four goals.
The brutal questions came thick and fast in the post-match press conference. Are you the right person to lead the team? Can you withstand the pressure?
And finally the kicker.
'A journalist told me 'Do you realise you're the first captain of Australia that's been benched in their first game as captain?'' Geitz recalled with a laugh.
Afterwards, coach Lisa Alexander approached her and dispensed some honest feedback. She reminded Geitz that she was captain for a reason.
'Lisa said, 'Today you changed everything about yourself to be something that you're not and you got found out very quickly. You're there for who you are and live up to that.''
That piece of advice would become a pivotal moment in Geitz's professional and personal life.
She and the Diamonds won the remaining Test matches to take the 2013 Constellation Cup, followed up with gold at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and silver in 2018.
Arguably one of Australia's best netballers, Geitz represented the Queensland Firebirds in 169 games, winning three premierships, and captained the Diamonds to a World Cup triumph in 2015. She's won countless accolades including the Liz Ellis Diamond, the highest individual honour in Australian netball.
However, a gracious Geitz was shocked when she heard she'd been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
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The 37-year-old was in Stanthorpe – a rural town, roughly three hours from Brisbane – for a day trip in April with her family during the school holidays, but poor reception meant she'd missed the phone call.
'I checked my phone and the voicemail was from someone from the hall of fame and I thought that was so strange, like why would they be calling me?' Geitz told this masthead. 'I think I was in a bit of disbelief, to be honest. But I am incredibly honoured to be included.'
Hailing from the small Darling Downs town of Allora in Queensland's south-east, Geitz debuted for the Queensland Firebirds in 2008, but her passion for netball started with shoes. Her elder sister came home with a new pair of Asics sneakers one day and Geitz fell in love.
'They were crisp white shoes with blue outlines, and they were the prettiest things I've ever seen,' she said.
'My sister was three years older than me, but she was shorter and smaller, so there was never any hope of me actually getting a hand-me-down. So I thought, I'm going to have to sign up to netball to get myself a pair of these shoes.'
With a resume as impressive as Gietz's, it's difficult to pinpoint the best moment of her career. There's the thrilling victory at the 2011 Netball World Cup in Singapore, where Australia won by one goal, shot with precisely one second left on the clock. There's also her back-to-back championships with the Firebirds and the Commonwealth Games victory that ended Australia's 12-year gold medal drought.
However, Geitz is proudest of her long-lasting friendships with her players, a sisterhood she continues to cherish in her retirement.