Yabby and the Chief — Two Legends
This is ten minutes of audio with new Legend Jason Dunstall about arriving at Hawthorn and his early experiences of being coached by Allan Jeans.
This week Jason Dunstall was named as the 32nd official legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Tonight, his coach for the first years of his career, Allan Jeans is elevated to legend status at Hawthorn.
I’ve spoken to more than fifty players who played under Allan Jeans as preparation for writing my ‘Yabby’ biography. The project has stalled a little as I finish our Puskas documentary film, but I’ll be at the Allan Jeans project in a few months.
Dunstall was generous with his time when he spoke to him last year, having warned me that his memory for detail is terrible. Certainly, others’ memories of the man we called Bung are crystal clear, and the majority of that 80s-90s cohort name him as the greatest Hawk of the era.
My own memories of watching Dunstall train at Glenferrie primarily relate to the hundred shots at goal he’d routinely kick every Wednesday night, with George Stone on ball retrieval. It was incredible to see his dedication to craft, and his accuracy too. There was one particularly memorable Tuesday nght in 1989 or 1990 when I watched the seniors training a competitive marking drill, and Dunstall outmarked a defender teammate twenty out of twenty times. His training partner had two premiership medalllions playing key defence, and couldn’t punch one ball to ground. It was just astonishing. We were behind the goals counting.
This is ten minutes of the hour or so I spent speaking to Dunstall about arriving at Hawthorn, and his earliest memories of Allan Jeans.
Tony: I'm recording? Yeah.
Jason Dunstall: Okay. Hi, this is Jason Dunstall. I played from 1985 through to the end of 1998 and played 269 games.
Tony: And Jason, can you tell us how you got to Hawthorn? John Hook's given me a reasonably lengthy account of it, but what's your memory of getting to Hawthorn?
Jason Dunstall: Played a state game for Queensland down in Tasmania and I spoke to three clubs after that being Carlton, Fitzroy and Hawthorn. And I was actually on the way back from that trip, another player and I stopped at Fitzroy and trained for the week on the way home. In the end, Carlton didn't follow up at all. So it basically came down to between Hawthorn and Fitzroy. It certainly wasn't a money offer that swayed my decision. It was just going to the stronger club, the more stable club because as we know, Fitzroy had some issues at the time and Hawthorn seemed to be a very strong club. So I ended up choosing them.
Tony: Hooky tried to wave a form in front of your face in Tassie. Was he trying to get a signature all the way back there?
Jason Dunstall: I couldn't tell you mate. All I know is I did get signed on what was called a Form 4 because that was pre-draft . I think the draft came in the year later. Back when I went to Hawthorn, every club was allowed two interstate players that they could sign on what was called a Form 4.
Tony: And when you went to Fitzroy, did you train with someone, I can't remember who it was, but someone was down there with you as sort sort of a trial player. Was it Richard Osborne or someone like that?
Jason Dunstall: No, no, no. It was was Michael Gibson.
Tony: Right, okay.
Jason Dunstall: Was it Michael Gibson or was it Scotty McIvor?
Tony: Scotty McIvor
Jason Dunstall: Yeah. Yeah, it was Scotty McIvor I think. Actually.
Tony: Do you remember training that week? Was there a sense that they wanted you, were you training all right or was there a moment where you went, 'Oh actually I'm gonna go somewhere else'.
Jason Dunstall: No, no, no, mate, it was all a bit of a blur for me. Because coming from Queensland, you're kind of not in the environment. We just played with our mates and it was fun and then I played state footy. Then I got the opportunity to have a look at Fitzroy and it was sort of like a whirlwind tour. So I was a little bit intimidated, if anything.
Tony:
And did they (Hawthorn) take you to the Grand Final? I think Hooky said that you might have done that in eighty ...
Jason Dunstall: Hawthorn did. Yeah. Hawthorn took me to the 84 Grand Final.
Tony: And was that in a super box or something and getting a bit of food. And do you have any memories of that day?
Jason Dunstall: No. No memories. No memories whatsoever.
Tony: And the decision to come was Yabby rolled out in that at all? 'I'm gonna be your coach. We'd love you to come. Son'. Do you have any meeting memory, meeting Allan Jeans memory?
Jason Dunstall: No. All I know is he came up to watch one of our finals in ‘84 near the end of the season. We ended up, we won the flag that year. I think he came up to watch the semi-final, that I played okay in. But I don't recall actually having anything to do with him prior to coming to the club.
Tony: And in terms of meeting him when you do come to the club, I mean everyone has their Jason Dunstall couldn't train well, couldn't run fast, sort of stories. Was there a sense of him being on your back or him being a task master or was he a funny guy or a warm guy? What was your sort of feeling about Yabby in those first weeks and months?
Jason Dunstall:
Wasn't funny early that's for sure <laugh>. Not until you really got to know him Well again, because I hadn't come from the environment, so I was never a natural endurance athlete anyway. But I did some training before I came down to join in preseason. But I wasn't prepared, didn't have a clue how hard it was going to be and I was getting tailed off on all the runs. So very quickly he had me doing extra sessions on Saturday mornings, or Sunday … Saturday mornings. So we trained Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, five night pre-season. Normally it was Monday, Wednesday, Friday you'd be at the club and you'd have three groups that did gym, that did running, that did football drills. And you just alternated through them. And the Tuesdays and Thursdays were just running groups out and about, different parts of Melbourne depending on where you lived. But because I obviously had a weakness in endurance, I remember doing some sessions down at Sandringham, running up the boat ramps and whatever with Yab.
Tony: Yeah. So that's interesting they did that, isn't it? Do you look back and go, you could actually have wrecked a guy like you, who's weak in that area. How much benefit do you reckon there was in flogging you an extra day a week when you're already doing five? Was it, Yeah, could you have been lost to footy if you were more, were more a Gary Ablett personality? Was it demoralising?
Jason Dunstall: Yeah, no, not really. I mean, mind you, I'm sort of 20 years of age, so, young, raw, ready to cop whatever comes my way, it was just finding out, I mean, no one knew whether I was gonna play a game or not, and nor did I! It was just how much work can we get into him and let's see what happens. So I didn't have a problem doing it cause I realised how poor I was compared to the others in terms of endurance running.
Tony: Yeah, Dermott remembers Lethal (Leigh Matthews) being unbelievable running up those boat ramp, that he was like the most powerful 10 metre uphill runner he ever saw sort of thing. Do you?
Jason Dunstall: I don't remember other people down there at all. All I remember is head down, trying to get up those ramps because they had, they'd have an extra session on Saturday. I think if you missed one of the Monday to Friday sessions you had to go and do the extra session. But I just automatically got thrown in there as well because I needed the extra work. But the only other memory I have down there is you'd run along the clifftop down there, and there's a path through all the bushes and one of the runs I got lost cause it was just winding in and outta bushes and everywhere. And I got a bit of a spray because I got back to the carpark late where we'd all started from and Yabby was waiting for me and I said, 'mate, I got lost. I didn't know, I dunno my way around.' So <laugh>, its all a learning curve mate.
Tony: And did you use to vomit and that sort of stuff? Were you a vomiter and did he have to push you that hard sort of thing?
Jason Dunstall: I wasn't a vomiter. I'd get the point where I had nothing left. Yeah, I mean I could collapse and I was absolutely rooted, but no, not a vomiter.
Tony:
And this is all preseason 85. When do you get your first game in 85?
Jason Dunstall: Round three. I think Leigh Matthews was injured so they threw me in round three against Melbourne at Princes Park.
Tony: And had you been playing, someone said you started, was it in the back pocket in the reserves or something that was pretty foreign and not comfortable for you?
Jason Dunstall:
Yeah, truth be told, I couldn't tell you how long. I think I might have played half a quarter down in the back pocket in the reserves game. But I think they pretty quickly worked out that's probably not the right spot for me. I don't think I played a game down there.
Tony: And you kicked a few in the first game? You had a reasonable start.
Jason Dunstall: Well I kicked three I think. Playing on Steven Smith.
Tony: And was there a comfort in it? Did you feel like, oh I can do this, I can make it? Or are you still thinking, I hope I get a few games ...
Jason Dunstall: Not really. As I said, it was all very new to me. My only memories of that game was the end of the game. The crowd all ran onto the ground and you just got swarmed and I was signing some autographs, which was all new to me, not realising that everyone else had bolted off the ground. And again, I got into the post-game meeting late and copped another spray, because I didn't know everyone just bolted when the crowd ran onto the ground.
Tony: <laugh>. And so was Yabby giving, did you feel like you were at all a whipping boy? Were you someone he opened up on a bit?
Jason Dunstall: No, not at all. Not at all. I mean, he'd chat to you and he'd say, 'you gotta work at this and you gotta work hard and you gotta do extra to get yourself up to the level’. No I found him very good in that respect. Whilst, whilst I found the sessions very, very hard, he was always encouraging or at least explaining why it had to be done.
Here are Jason Dunstall’s career achievements, as set out on the Hawthorn Football Club website:
The
have put up a terrific ‘Golden Years’ chat with Dunstall.I’ve written about Hawthron a bit on Good One Wilson. Paid subscribers can read ‘An Affair to Remember’ about my falling in love with the club, and my time on the list.
I’m also the author of a 55,000 word account of the 1989 Grand Final, called 1989: The Great Grand Final. You buy a signed copy at link below.