Michael Sheahan's 'Open Mike'

a while back he interviewed Stephen Kernahan & was bemused/miffed that Stephen played well over 100 games (136) with Glenelg & didn't move across to Victoria earlier.....................


last night i watched the Malcolm Blight interview which i taped about 3 weeks ago & again Mike Sheahan was bemused/miffed by the idea that firstly Blight only wanted to play for Woodville initially as that was his club, when asked why he hadn't considered moving across, paraphrasing he said ''back then the VFL was something a million miles away & no one was that interested in it'' he added when asked what his biggest regret was & his one regret was not playing more games for Woodville


so i ask why would a journalist who seems intelligent, have no understanding that our clubs (plus the W.A.F.L. & other major football leagues around the country for that matter), have meaning & emotions to those players mentioned, plus plenty of other players & the people in the various states that support the various teams


it actually reminds me of the night i met Wayne Campbell at Moonee Valley a long long time ago now as he was then going out with a friend of mine & she introduced me & she mentioned that he plays for Richmond, i shook his hand & said sorry i can't say your name rings a bell but then i don't watch your competition & we then spoke briefly about Glenelg & have never seen him since no he didn't marry my friend

You make a very good point there, Bayman.

I rate Mike Sheahan pretty well, so that's surprising that he said that.

Normal transmission, though, I suppose.

This is a large part of the reason why I feel that Brenton Sanderson has been succesful at the Crows and a reason why Mark Neeld may have struggled at the AFC - S.A has a very distinct football culture and its difficult to understand it unless you have been involved in it. Malcolm Blight was able to coach the club accordingly and I feel his attitude was to his distinct advantage.

Not all outsiders to the competition are ignorant of it though, listening to Robert Walls on 5AA and on his commentary calls of games, he has a very healthy respect for the SANFL and the system in SA and has plenty of good things to say about it.

Ben W wrote:This is a large part of the reason why I feel that Brenton Sanderson has been succesful at the Crows and a reason why Mark Neeld may have struggled at the AFC - S.A has a very distinct football culture and its difficult to understand it unless you have been involved in it. Malcolm Blight was able to coach the club accordingly and I feel his attitude was to his distinct advantage.

Not all outsiders to the competition are ignorant of it though, listening to Robert Walls on 5AA and on his commentary calls of games, he has a very healthy respect for the SANFL and the system in SA and has plenty of good things to say about it.

A few years ago Sheahan had a list of the best South Australian footballers and he initially omitted Barrie Robran because he hadn't played VFL. I think that it was Blighty or it may have been Rucci took exception to this and said that Robran was SA's greatest ever footballer and had to be number one. Walls was on the panel and Sheahan asked him who did he think was SA's greatest footballer. He simply replied "Robran". Sheahan then changed his article to state excluding Barrie Robran SA's top 10 footballers are.... Even then he only had Evert number 10. I will try to find the articles.

The big subject years ago was whether the very best SANFL players could 'make it' in the VFL.

The overwhelming opinion of Victorians then was that they would all struggle.

Looking at the AFL now is to answer that question emphatically the other way, even allowing for the greater number of teams.

Time has a habit of answering those questions.

How different was the money factor between the 2 leagues in the 1970s and 1980s? I wouldn't have thought too much.

I think at one stage Blight was the highest paid player in the VFL. Greg Phillips went to Collingwood and was paid more than regular stars like Billy Picken. I think the money offered to lure SA stars across the border would have definitely been a step up.

Sheehan's lack of knowledge of SA footballers hardly surprises. Afterall, he is a journalist, and he is Victorian.

his open mike with blight could have delved a lot more into the premiership years.. but that involves the adelaide football club, and sheahan and his victorian target audience don't really care about it. having said that, i havent seen the "extended" version they replayed later in the week.. has someone seen it that can elaborate on any more details of that open mike episode?

the ricciuto interview i thought was a little bland. he touched on some personal matters regarding the deaths of his close friends and with the coaches of the afc, but again the overall interview i thought was quite generic. i loved the way that mark rebutted mike when he continually hounded his 2002 AA selection at the start of the show.

would love to have seen the brereton and newman ones.