Snap Shot Mann what a Demons win to celebrate

Snap Shot is a weekly column taking a look at the lighter side of football

Without Hassa Mann’s heroics back in 1964, Melbourne’s premiership drought may stretch back to 1960, given it was Mann’s miraculous goal against Hawthorn in the penultimate round of the season that not only won them the minor premiership but stopped them missing the finals that year altogether.

Mann, then 23, grabbed the ball from a stoppage late in the match at Glenferrie Oval to kick the goal that gave the Demons a four-point win after they had trailed Hawthorn by 16 points at the final break. He described the goal in The Last Hurrah as “more good luck than good management”.

The Demons erupt after Max Gawn’s match-winning goal against Geelong.Credit:Getty Images

Mann’s kick gave the Demons top spot and knocked the Hawks out of the top four where they remained, just four premiership points away from the minor premier after 18 rounds. If the result had been reversed in round 17, their ladder positions would have been too, as the Hawks would have finished on top and the Demons fifth.

Melbourne won the flag when Neil Crompton put the side in front of Collingwood in the dying minutes of that year’s epic grand final.

So, it was only fitting that Mann, now 80 but still a great Melbourne man, found himself yelling at the television like every other Demons fan during the final minute of the classic finish against Geelong on Saturday night.

“My heart was in my mouth,” Mann said.

“When the free kick and 50 metres was given, I can recall yelling at the television, ‘Max get up in the forward line’ then elation when he took the mark and then ‘oh shit’.”

You know when Mann - a gentleman and Melbourne to the bootstraps - uses that expression, the kick is significant.

Melbourne’s ‘Hassa’ Mann gets to the ball in front of his cousin, ruckman Lenn Mann, at training prior to the 1960 VFL grand final.Credit:The Age Archive

Mann had already spoken to Melissa, one of his three daughters (Melissa, Sally and Kylie), at half-time, and both agreed things were not looking pretty for the Demons after the Cats had opened up what seemed a match-winning lead.

Then the whole family rode the bumps via WhatsApp as if they were sitting in the stands - well not quite, but the lockdown equivalent - together before jubilation set in after the siren.

A fan of Gawn (who isn’t?), Mann described the match-winner as “a real captain’s goal”.

Now the challenge is to see whether the Demons can replicate the feats of Mann’s 1964 team that beat Collingwood in both their finals with Crompton’s late goal breaking Magpie hearts again and making Mann a triple premiership player for the Demons.

Mann recalled he could have put Melbourne in front earlier than Crompton in the grand final, but his kick from an angle just made it through the behinds. He thought he might have cost his teammates a premiership.

“When I missed a relatively easy shot I was prepared to walk out with the crowd and not go back to the rooms,” Mann said with a laugh.

THE DEMONS’ TIME TO RETURN SERVE

Every Melbourne supporter knows they are normally on the receiving end of games decided with goals after the siren, with Hawthorn’s 1987 preliminary final win when Gary Buckenara kicked the match-winner after Jim Stynes ran through the mark to give away a 15-metre penalty the most famous.

Geelong’s Zach Tuohy in 2018, Richmond’s Jordan McMahon in 2009, Fremantle’s (and former Demon) Jeff Farmer in 2002, Buckenara, and none other than departing Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson are among the roll call of players to have crushed the Demons with match-winning goals after the siren.

Clarkson did it in his first VFL/AFL match when playing for North Melbourne in 1987, 34 years before he fronted up to the MCG on Saturday for what is unlikely to be his final farewell as an AFL coach. He also played in the final round match that season when Carlton great Stephen Kernahan won the Blues top spot with a goal after the siren against the Kangaroos.

Pre-game, Clarkson told Fox Footy before his last game as Hawks coach: “Both teams will want to go out on a good note, so, unless it’s a draw, there’s gunna be somebody disappointed tonight.”

No one was disappointed as the Hawks and the Tigers played out the first draw in their history after Shaun Burgoyne’s lunge to touch Jack Riewoldt’s shot for goal on the line was not quite as effective as Sam Mitchell’s lunge to tackle the late Shane Tuck in a tight match in 2010, which many believe saved Clarkson’s coaching career.

TOSSING UP THE SKIPPER’S ROLE AS MEDICAL SUB

The Giants eased midfielder and club captain Stephen Coniglio back into the fray on Saturday night as the medi-sub, however he did not toss the coin.

Toby Greene, who has been interim skipper in Coniglio’s absence (and done a fine job, too), tossed the coin after the players informally decided that was the way to go on the night although Coniglio was officially the skipper.

It brings Coniglio’s games tally as captain to 21, having battled form and injury since being appointed to the role last season.

THE ALL-AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL SUB IS...

While we’re on the medical sub, Snap Shot cheekily enquired as to whether the All-Australian team would include a medi-sub in the line-up to be announced on Thursday night.

We were told ‘no’, and assured that the All-Australian selectors did not even contemplate the idea, with all discussion focused on the 40 players nominated and the 22 eventually selected.

However, Snap Shot has unofficially nominated Fremantle’s Connor Blakely as this year’s All-Australian medical sub after he performed in the role on seven occasions, more than half the 13 games he played for the season.

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Peter Ryan is a sports reporter with The Age covering AFL, horse racing and other sports.

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