Allan Jeans (21 September 1933 – 13 July 2011) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame at its inception in 1996.^[1] Jeans was known for his oral motivation skills as a coach and led St Kilda and Hawthorn to a total of four premierships.

Football[link]

After a modest 77-game playing career with the St Kilda Football Club (1955–1959), Jeans, known as "Yabby", took the reins of the Saints in 1961 for a remarkable 16-year career as senior coach. He coached St Kilda to successive grand finals, in 1965 and 1966, including the Saints' first (and only) VFL premiership in 1966. He took the Saints to another grand final appearance in 1971. Claiming "burn-out" he retired from coaching the team at the end of 1976.^[2]

In 1981 Jeans revived his coaching career when he was appointed coach for the Hawthorn Football Club. He coached them until 1990 (excepting a year off in 1988 due to brain injury) establishing them as the dominant VFL team of the 1980s with premierships in 1983, 1986, 1988 and 1989 from seven consecutive grand finals.

Finally, he had a short-lived one year stint at Richmond in 1992, winning only five out of 22 games.

Later life[link]

Jeans, following his retirement from his job as a sergeant with the Victoria Police, became an avid social lawn bowls player at Cheltenham Lawn Bowls Club. His most recent public appearance was during the post-match presentations at the 2006 AFL Grand Final. He died following years of ill-health on 12 July 2011.^[3][4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• St Kilda Saints profile of Allan Jeans
• Allan Jeans's statistics from AFL Tables

Dermott Hugh Brereton (born 19 August 1964) is a former Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League (AFL), regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation. Of Irish descent (his parents migrated from Ireland before his birth), he is known for his aggressive style of play. Brereton kicked 464 goals and played in five Premierships for Hawthorn during his 211-game career. He is a former Director of the Hawthorn Football Club and is currently an AFL commentator on Foxtel's new 24/7 AFL channel Fox Footy.^[1]

VFL/AFL career[link]

Hawthorn (1982–1992)[link]

Dermott Brereton featured on the cover of the "Inside the Battle of '89" DVD in memorable moment pose after recovering from a solid Mark Yeates shirtfront. Dermott, nicknamed The Kid, played most of his career (189 games and 427 goals) in the centre half forward position at the Hawthorn Football Club, where he formed part of a potent forward line that included champion players such as Jason Dunstall.

He debuted as a young man with red hair which he later dyed blonde. His debut was against North Melbourne in the 1982 finals series - he kicked five goals and assisted in a few more.

While he played the game he had a reputation as a tough man, and as a big game performer was an important player in a number of Hawthorn's grand final teams during the 1980s (including premierships in 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991).

Brereton was known for his bustling style and strong marking abilities and off the ball scuffles.

He won Hawthorn's Best and Fairest award in 1985 and was the team's leading goalkicker in the same year. He achieved All-Australian status in 1985. He kicked a then record 8 goals in the 1985 Grand Final.

Having bulked up over his career, Brereton became a football punisher and was known for his aggressive hip and shoulder bumps on running players. His targeting of other players by this method led to the charging rule being instigated to protect players whose intention was to focus on the ball.

A famous incident in 1988 involved Hawthorn's rival Essendon at Waverley Park. Brereton ran through the three quarter time huddle much to the surprise of the Bomber players causing a scuffle to break out. This incident was in retaliation to a free kick paid against Brereton for kissing Essendon's Billy Duckworth while Jason Dunstall lined up for goal. Dunstall kicked the goal but due to Brereton's indiscretion, the goal was disallowed. Brereton, fuming, ran through Essendon's huddle to prove a point. Post match, Essendon's coach, Kevin Sheedy shrugged off the event as insignificant, quipping, "Just another mad Irishman!"

Perhaps the most memorable moment of his career was the 1989 VFL Grand Final that was featured in a Toyota Memorable Moments television commercial. In one of the toughest grand finals in the league's history, Brereton was lined up at the centre bounce by Geelong Football Club's Mark Yeates and hit with a solid shirtfront. Severely winded and concussed, he was attended to by trainers. He began to vomit before jogging back into the play. Only minutes later in the game, he marked and kicked an inspirational goal. He would finish with three goals in a game that Hawthorn would win by six points. He was later diagnosed with broken ribs.

During his career at Hawthorn, Brereton was selected to play representative State of Origin football for Victoria nine times and kicked a total of 18 goals.

Brereton's physical style of play came at a cost. By the end of 1992, he was suffering from crippling chronic hip pain and struggled to make a regular appearance. At the advice of his club, he retired that year.

Sydney Swans (1993–1994)[link]

During 1993, Brereton began to recover from the injuries that plagued his career at Hawthorn and expressed his intention to make a return to the game. The struggling Sydney Swans, in need of a big-name player capable of helping to turn around the team's performance, drafted him for the 1994 season. Moving to New South Wales, he played only seven games as suspensions prevented him from regaining peak form. His fame in Victoria was not equalled in New South Wales and he also failed to have any on-field impact on the Swans' fortunes.

Brereton's most notable act as a Swan was stomping on Hawthorn player Rayden Tallis' head while Tallis was on the ground in a pre-season game, earning him a seven-match suspension. He would receive another seven-week suspension in that same year when Richmond's Tony Free had his jaw broken with an alleged 'karate chop' by Brereton. His only other moment of note was being flattened by West Coast Eagles' captain John Worsfold. The Swans delisted Brereton the same year.

Collingwood (1995)[link]

Still wanting to perform at the highest level, Brereton worked on his fitness and once again made himself available for the draft.

Collingwood took a gamble on him; clubs are generally loathe to recruit players above 30. The Collingwood experiment was slightly more successful than his stint at Sydney and in 15 games he kicked a total of 30 goals, ending his career at the end of 1995.

Post-football[link]

After a lack of success in his returns from retirement, Brereton announced his intention to retire from elite football in 1995. In 1996 he returned to Frankston Rovers (now Frankston Bombers), where he had his cheekbone broken by a Dromana player in the second round of the season. He played a handful of games before going into retirement proper at the conclusion of the season.

Brereton was inducted into the Hawthorn Team of the Century, as well as the Australian Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League Hall of Fame.^[3]

His desire to continue playing football actively has seen him participate in the AFL Legends Match on several occasions. Each time his lack of fitness is the focus of much mirth by the commentary team.

On 8 December 1997, he was appointed as a Director of the Hawthorn Football Club and served for just over 8 years before retiring on 29 March 2006.^[4] One of the most notable incidents during his term as director was his alleged involvement in the run-up to a bench-clearing brawl between Hawthorn and Essendon in a 2004 encounter that became known as the Line in the Sand Match. During halftime, just before the brawl, Brereton had reportedly told Hawthorn players to "draw a line in the sand" and take a physical stand against Essendon; he denied making that particular remark, but admitted to telling senior players "to stand up to any Essendon aggression".^[5][6]

In 2006, he began playing in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League with Division 1 club Woori Yallock alongside 1995 Collingwood team mate Damien Monkhorst, kicking 2 goals on debut.^[7]

Commentary career[link]

From quite early in his playing career, Brereton pursued media appearances in anticipation of joining the media full-time when he retired. During the 1980s, he had a six-year stint on a morning show hosted by veteran television performer, Ernie Sigley, who mentored the ambitious Brereton. In the early 1990s, he joined Channel Nine when the network began showing interest in Australian football for the first time in more than twenty years. He was one of the original panellists when the long-running The AFL Footy Show began in 1994 and also wrote in The Age. In 2000 he moved to the Nine Network to provide match commentary on AFL matches when the network commenced its AFL coverage. He continued to be a regular panellist for The AFL Footy Show.

In 2004, Brereton hosted The Run Home radio show on Melbourne AM radio station SEN 1116 with Anthony Hudson and Matthew Hardy, but left due to a payment dispute. In previous years he has also co-hosted the breakfast show on Melbourne FM station Gold 104, and been a commentator on another FM station, Triple M.

In 2005, he appeared in a Toyota Memorable Moments advertisement featuring Stephen Curry that satirised the famous 1989 Grand Final incident with Geelong player Mark Yeates. In November of that year, Brereton was involved in an altercation with a group of young men.[1]

In 2006, he made an appearance on Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice.Brereton left the show early after injuring his biceps. In 2006 Brereton was sacked from Triple M due to low ratings. In 2007 Brereton rejoined 1116 SEN to broadcast football, the same station he left two years earlier. He also presents on the Channel Nine holiday show Getaway.

In 2011, he ended his twenty year association with the Nine Network and announced he would be joining Foxtel for the 2012 season. From 2012 onwards he will provide match commentary for Foxtel and host his own show on Thursday nights on Foxtel's new 24/7 AFL channel Fox Footy, set to launch on 17 February 2012.

Other work[link]

Films[link]

He also starred in a minor role in the 2002 film, Trojan Warrior.

Video games[link]

Brereton is the voice-over commentator for the AFL video game series since 2002.

Australian rules football portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Football career details at FullPointsFooty^{[dead link]}
• Bio at HawthornFC
• Toyota memorable moment video featuring Dermott Brereton in the 1989 Grand Final

v t e Australian squad – 1999 International Rules Series Captain: Buckley Akermanis Allan Ashcroft Bell Burgoyne Burke Campbell Camporeale Cousins Crawford Croad Graham Hart Leppitsch McKay McRae Molloy O'Loughlin Richardson Silvagni Smith Waterhouse West Coach: Brereton

Robert DiPierdomenico
"Dipper" coaching the Peres Team for Peace in the 2008 International Cup
Personal information
Full name	Robert DiPierdomenico
Nickname(s)	Dipper
Date of birth	(1958-05-05) 5 May 1958 (age 54)
Original team	North Kew
Height/Weight	185 cm / 93 kg
Position(s)	Midfielder
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1975–1991	Hawthorn	240 (130)
1 Playing statistics to end of 1991 season .
Career highlights
Hawthorn premiership player 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989 Brownlow Medal 1986

Robert "Dipper" DiPierdomenico (born 5 May 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL of Italian descent and a member of the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century. Dipper was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

AFL career[link]

Beginning his career with the Hawthorn Football Club in 1975, DiPierdomenico, or the "Big Dipper" as he is affectionately known, kick-started his career in 1978, culminating in a best-on-ground performance in the 1978 VFL Grand Final. He went on to play 240 games and kick 130 goals with the Hawks, retiring in 1991, including 5 day and 5 night premierships with one of the most successful eras of domination a club has ever seen.

DiPierdomenico was initially assigned guernsey number #53, but subsequently wore number #9.

He was known for his toughness (which led to many trips to the Tribunal), and the moustachioed Dipper was one of the much-loved, and most media-covered characters in the VFL during the 1980s.

DiPierdomenico somehow managed to avoid the Tribunal in 1986 to win the Brownlow Medal, tying with Greg Williams, who was playing for Sydney at the time. Later in the week, he would win his third Premiership medallion as the Hawks defeated Carlton by 42 points.

Late in the first quarter of the 1989 VFL Grand Final, DiPierdomenico was running backwards to take a mark when he was met solidly from behind by Geelong star Gary Ablett. The force of the collision broke several of DiPierdomenico's ribs and punctured one of his lungs. Despite the pain and unaware of the extent of the damage, DiPierdomenico continued to play until the final siren. Typically, he featured among Hawthorn's best players and also got reported. He collapsed shortly after the game and was rushed to the casualty ward of St. Vincent's Hospital, where doctors found out that Dipper had punctured a lung. He recounted the gravity of the situation years later:

"By this time I'd been shifted into intensive care. The doctor came in and said if they didn't gag me I was gone... So there you are. I had eight days in hospital to think about what might have happened. To tell you the truth, it scared me."^[1]

Media career[link]

Dipper has long been known for big persona, including his always smiling and jovial personality.

After he retired, he became a popular media personality, as a boundary rider with the Seven Network. After Seven lost the rights to broadcast AFL in 2001, Dipper continued his tradition as a boundary-rider on radio station 3AW.

In the 1990s, Dipper made an appearance, along with Dermott Brereton and Adrian Barich, in a charity rugby league match and scored a try, and in typical comedian style dived over the line like superman to celebrate.

Dipper has appeared on advertising campaigns for Jenny Craig, Fasta Pasta, and most famously, his long association with Dimmeys & Forges in which his catchphrase in television and radio commercials is "Be there!" and "$9.99!".

In 2010, he was stood down from his role in the Auskick junior development program after making a racist remark regarding Gavin Wanganeen.^[2]

He coached the Peres Team for Peace (Israel-Palestinian Territories) in the 2008 Australian Football International Cup.

Robert also made a cameo in Neighbours in 1999.

Robert is currently appearing on the Channel 9 weight loss show Excess Baggage. (2012)

Career highlights[link]

• Brownlow Medal 1986 (tie)
• Australian Football Hall of Fame 2007
• VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century

Bibliography[link]

• Butler, Ben and Craig Binnie (2007). "Dipper's Big Tax Bill Nightmare." Herald Sun. 5 September.
• Cometti, Dennis (2004). Centimetre Perfect. London: Allen and Unwin.
• (1991). "Dipper Decides to Call it Quits." The Advertiser. 4 October.
• Edwards, Mike (2007). "Time of the essence for kids, says Dipper." Herald Sun. 13 August.
• Kartal, Y (1992). "The club a party to Dipper's debut." Northern Territory News. 7 June.

References[link]

Robert DiPierdomenico's statistics from AFL Tables

John Noel William "Sam" Newman (born 22 December 1945) is a retired Australian rules football player and current television personality. He is a featured presenter on the AFL version of The Footy Show.

VFL career[link]

Recruited straight from school, Newman made his debut for Geelong in 1964 and was fortunate to have Graham "Polly" Farmer in the side as a role model. During the first semi-final against Collingwood in 1967, Newman suffered a serious injury which forced surgeons to remove part of his kidney, but he bounced back to win his club's "best and fairest" award in 1968 and 1975. He was also selected as an All-Australian player in 1969 and played for the Victorian State team eight times. Newman retired in 1980, having polled 100 Brownlow Medal votes throughout his career. In 2002, he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

After retirement[link]

In December 2005, Newman was appointed as ruck coach for the Melbourne Football Club to mentor players such as Jeff White, Mark Jamar and Paul Johnson.

On 6 July 2010, Newman made a comeback playing for Victoria in the annual EJ Whitten Legends Game. Newman kicked four goals from four kicks and three marks to be named best on ground, despite his team losing to the All Stars by seven points.

Media career[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2009)

Newman joined radio station 3AW as a football commentator in 1981 and appeared on World of Sport on Channel 7 for seven years.

Newman has been a regular on the AFL version of The Footy Show since it first aired in 1994 on the Australian Nine Network. He acts as sidekick and resident clown. He regularly hosts "Street Talk", a vox populi segment in which he interviews people on the streets, usually in Melbourne, as well as Sam's Mailbag where he reads out random correspondence, shows funny footage and the occasional humorous lookalike of Garry Lyon (co-host).

His other media appearances have included the Sunday sports show Any Given Sunday in 2005, World of Sport, The Sunday Footy Show and also co-hosting the short lived Sam and The Fatman with Paul "Fatty" Vautin. On radio station Triple M, Newman previews Friday night and Saturday afternoon matches. He formerly provided special comments during AFL games on Triple M, as well as 3AW previously.

From April 2010, he was a part of the MTR (Melbourne Talk Radio) lineup, providing opinion and participating in talkback between 9.00am and 9.30am, during the Steve Price breakfast programme. Newman quit the station in January 2012, after the breakfast producer censored Newman's profanity.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Newman attended Geelong Grammar.^[3] His father's aim for him was to become a barrister. His mother and two older sisters prefer to call him by his birth name of John.^[4]

Newman's former house built in St Kilda, featuring an image of Pamela Anderson's face

He has been married three times and has three sons, aged 11, 26 and 30 (as of March 2009).^[5]

Newman currently lives in an apartment in Melbourne's Docklands^[6] where he also berths a luxury yacht. He also owns four vintage cars and a warehouse.^[7]

Motor sport[link]

Newman took up motor racing in the GT Production Car class in the late 1990s ^[8] and subsequently competed in the Australian Nations Cup Championship in Lamborghinis and Ferraris. He also competed in the Mini Challenge series at the 2010 Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park. This was a one off drive in the series.

Controversy[link]

Newman has been involved in several incidents of public controversy.^[9] Reports indicate that Newman is deliberately controversial, and that his on-air persona is nothing like his true self.^[10] Particular incidents include:

• 1997 – Newman's 25 year old girlfriend, Leonie Jones, drove his own car into him outside his house, breaking his leg and an ankle.^[11]
• 1999 – On The Footy Show Newman blacked up his face to impersonate indigenous footballer Nicky Winmar, at a time when racial vilification charges were being levelled at certain AFL players.^[12]
• 2005 – A female fan broke a window whilst trying to break in to his Brighton house.^[11]
• 2008 – Mocking television personality and The Age writer Caroline Wilson regarding how she was dressed on Footy Classified three days earlier by bringing a mannequin model onto stage and stapling a cardboard cut-out of Wilson on the face of the model and 'experimenting' with different outfits. Newman then recklessly moved the model about.^[13] Wilson brought the issue up on Footy Classified the following Monday, telling of her disappointment to Newman's co-star Garry Lyon.^[14]
• 2008 - Joking that attractive Tasmanian MP Paul Wriedt was "Worth coming on her", after an interview featuring Ms Wriedt was aired on The Footy Show.
• 2009 – The Nine Network and Newman were sued for defamation by a female board member of the Western Bulldogs football team after he said on air that she was a "liar" and "hypocrite". They settled for $220,000 plus costs.^[15]
• 2009 – 17 September. During the Footy Show broadcast Newman likened a Malaysian man to a monkey, being "not long out of the forest". The Australian Communications and Media Authority ruled Newman was likely to have "provoked severe ridicule on the basis of the man's colour and race". Newman's employer channel Nine has offered to donate $200,000 to charity in the event of any future code breach and had "agreed to a number of other provisions in the enforceable undertaking, including significant senior management overview of the materials to be used by Mr Newman and a broad-ranging reporting regime and training obligation".^[16]
• 2010 – 30 June. Newman was criticised for disrespect to Aboriginal beliefs when he revealed on a radio show that he had hit a golf ball off the summit of Uluru.^[17]

Cancer diagnosis[link]

On 5 March 2008 it was revealed that Newman was in hospital, undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.^[18][19] On 6 March he underwent a procedure at Epworth Hospital in Melbourne to have the cancerous prostate removed. Newman asked that television cameras from Channel Nine's program 60 Minutes have full access to the procedure, as he believed it could help raise awareness of the issue amongst the greater public. Channel Nine personality and close friend Eddie McGuire covered the story for the program.

The program went to air on 9 March 2008. It contained footage filmed earlier that day in which Newman's urologist, Laurence Harewood, told him that the operation had been a success and that he had been cleared of the cancer. Newman had since made a full recovery.^[20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Player profile on the official AFL website of the Geelong Football Club
• Player bio at Full Points Footy
• AFL statistics
• Sam Newman's statistics from AFL Tables
• Sam Newman at the Internet Movie Database
• The Footy Show AFL official website