Where is Bob’s Medal?
In a heart-warming moment after the game Luke Beveridge, the winner of the Jock McHale coaches award, presented the medal that had only briefly hung around his neck to Bob Murphy. It was a grade 1 tear-jerker.
But where is Bob’s medal?
Beveridge’s class aside, shouldn’t the establishment honour not only the final twenty-two but also those that helped get them to that moment? The Grand Final is as much a culmination of a season, of a finals campaign, as it is a stand-alone day; so why do the honours only fall to those on the ground?
Robert Murphy is a prime example. Murphy’s season ending knee injury was one of only a few dark spots on the fairytale that has been the Western Bulldogs season. When Bob’s knee went in Round Three, no one would have even dreamed that the side that he was captain of would go on to win the premiership.
Murphy’s role at the club didn’t end, it just changed; he became a mishmash of assistant coach and off field captain.
Given Murphy’s standing it was no surprise to hear the announcer blast his name over the speakers in the call up for the coach and captain.
It was catharsis for all the hyperbole and warmongering that seems to flock to The Finals series. The grandiose and the marketing strategies of the AFL and Channel 7 seemed hijacked by a special moment when one man got something that he deserved in the face of the establishment. Or maybe they worked perfectly, either way it felt real.
But what about the others? Lin Jong, Matt Suckling and Tom Wallis, among others, were there on the day to celebrate along side their victorious teammates but were absent from the medals. Despite playing the majority of the season, and in Jong’s case finals, they didn’t stand and wait for their name to be called out in front of almost a hundred thousand people.
That’s a hell of a thing to come so close to.
So I ask, where is Bob’s medal? The Bulldogs recently said that Bob had returned the Jock McHale medal to Beveridge the day after The Grand Final and that it would be going on display at Whitten Oval as a testament to the bond formed between Beveridge, Murphy and the playing group.
It’s a lovely gesture but one that I think the AFL should seek to stop from being necessary.
In the NBA not only the playing group but the front bench executive (the most important administration, coaching and directorial staff) receive a championship ring.
Other staff receive medals awarded by the NBA for their role in the winning of the title. Why can’t the AFL do the same? The NBA is just accepting that the sport that is played on court cannot operate to the standard it does, without the work of exceptional support staff. They understand that beyond the ‘guts and glory’ and even behind the piles of money are people who also work towards that common goal. Moreover, they understand that it is often these people, not the players themselves, that create and maintain success.
Perhaps in years to come we will see the same kind of recognition from the AFL, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
