FISH FEASTS ON WAGYU WEAGLES

Round 11, 1990, Essendon versus West Coast Eagles, Windy Hill

Essendon  15.9 (99) defeated West Coast  8.12 (60)

Elite midfield combinations are one of the most potent weapons in Football - just take a look at recent history.

Martin and Cotchin at Richmond, Cousins and Judd at the Eagles, Ablett and Selwood for Geelong, Voss and Black at the Lions, Mercuri and Misiti for the Bombers, Swan and Pendlebury at Collingwood and Mitchell and Lewis for the Hawks are just a few examples of elite, premiership Rolls Royce midfield combinations - outstanding individual players in their own right but with the capacity to perform even better again as a double act for their respective clubs.

Elite combinations of champion talls - and ruckmen in particular - on the other hand are incredibly rare, far more difficult to orchestrate, and generally a hell of a lot easier to combat from an opposition perspective.

Consider Wayne Carey and John Longmire at North Melbourne, Lucas and Lloyd at the Bombers, Franklin and Roughead at Hawthorn and Brown and Bradshaw for Brisbane - all of which were unbelievable forward combinations who won premierships with superlative clubs, but did so in eras of relative dominance and with support casts of the highest calibre.

But never has there been such a natural, dominant and pure ruck combination in the history of the game in my opinion, like Simon Madden and Paul Salmon of the Bombers.

The Essendon premiership duo formed a devastating double act of dominant ruckwork and forward line potency for a sustained period of collective success with the Bombers throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Simon Madden’s career is generally well recognised - his ability to make Ruckwork an art form while providing an around the ground threat and damaging target up forward were but a few of his qualities as an undisputed superstar of his generation for Essendon.

Enter a young Paul Salmon - who would then prove the perfect addition at Windy Hill to complement the more experienced Madden as the apprentice ruckman in waiting, learning his craft from the master while simultaneously forging his own career of brilliance at Full Forward, providing the Bombers with an unrivaled and unprecedented one-two punch combination that dominated the competition for a decade.

The career of Paul Salmon is just phenomenal - there is simply no other way to describe it.

324 AFL games over two decades with Essendon and Hawthorn, 561 goals, Two time Essendon premiership player, Two time Hawthorn Best and Fairest winner, Three time All-Australian, Seven time Essendon leading goal-kicker, Three pre-season premierships, Essendon Team of the Century, Hawthorn Team of the Century and Michael Tuck Medallist.

I mean seriously, does it ever get any better than that?

‘Fish’ was a brilliant ruckman who could put the ball down the throat of his midfield teammates with devastating efficiency and alarming regularity.

But the ruck contest was only the tip of the iceberg for the naturally gifted Salmon, who could also gather disposals at will around the ground playing essentially as a fourth on-baller, but then push forward and provide as dangerous a marking option at Full Forward as anyone else in the entire competition, kicking bags of goals with his eyes closed and in the process ensuring he would go down in history as one of the games undisputed greats.

As a teammate of ‘Fish’ from 1997 - 2000, I had the honour of playing alongside one of the true champions, but also one of the true gentlemen of the game for four years at Hawthorn under Ken Judge and Peter Schwab.

Salmon would win back-to-back Best and Fairest awards in his first two years at the Hawks, and provide the backbone to a rebuilding club that so desperately sought leadership and direction following the mass exodus of champion premiership players and in the absence of injured skipper, Shane Crawford.

Best remembered for his dominant ruckwork and exquisite game sense and awareness in particular, ‘Fish’ was equally as brilliant up front as a dominant power forward - he would kick 11 goals twice, 10 goals once, 9 goals twice, four bags of 8 and a truckload of 6 and 7 goal performances respectively throughout an illustrious career than spanned two decades at two outstanding football clubs.

So which of Paul Salmon’s 324 games would prove the most memorable to the great man himself?

As a pure observer, it’s practically impossible to look beyond his 10 goals against Geelong in the infamous showdown with Gary Ablett in 1993, his career high 11 goals against the Eagles at the WACA in 1987, or his 32 disposals, 35 hitouts and 22 Clearances against North Melbourne in 1998 at Waverley.

But there is a game at Essendon’s home ground fortress of Windy Hill against the West Coast Eagles in 1990 that holds a special place in Paul Salmon's illustrious career.

“I have so many great memories from both clubs," Salmon says matter-of-factly.

“In reality it’s the big games - the finals, the grand finals that carry the most significance in a player’s career and I was fortunate enough to be part of a phenomenal side at Essendon with a great coach in Sheeds and a brilliant mentor in Simon Madden, so to that end I feel very blessed when I reflect on my own career,” he adds.

It is not until I tighten the noose around the neck of my former teammate that he finally feels a sudden sense of comfort in discussing his own individual games of brilliance.

“I guess if you’re talking about a game in my career where I felt like I was in total control and could do very little wrong, there was one game at Windy Hill against the Eagles that I do recall,” Salmon says.

Prompted by Kevin Sheedy in the week leading into the game, Salmon was unequivocally reminded of his importance to Essendon not only as a long term replacement ruckman to the ageing Simon Madden but equally as the club’s best option up forward to kick a winning score.

Madden was returning to the side after missing the majority of the first half of the season, but it mattered not to Paul Salmon, who was in white hot form in his absence, taking the proverbial bull by the horn in the ruck and up front, and putting to rest any doubt that he was now the main man at Essendon.

The upcoming game in question against the high octane Eagles would feature both Madden and Salmon once again in the same side after close to half a season, and 'Fish' saw this as an opportunity to simply reinforce his status as the Bombers premier big man irrespective of whether Simon Madden was in the side or not - and that’s precisely what he proceeded to do.

On a windy Melbourne day that didn’t lend itself to tall forwards or precise tap ruckmen, Paul Salmon would be best on ground by the length of Napier street, and break new ground in his own career dominating in the ruck and around the ground, but also up forward with six goals in a near flawless individual performance.

15 Kicks, 14 Marks, 5 Handballs, 20 Disposals, 10 Hitouts, 6 Goals 1, 6 Free Kicks, 1 Tackle, 3 Brownlow Votes.

Brilliant.

‘There were games that I probably had much bigger numbers individually but this game is significant to me given the climate around the club at the time, the nature of my relationship with Sheeds and the fact that is was a definitive time in the context of my own career,” Salmon says.

“I remember walking off the ground having won the game and feeling genuinely satisfied with how I'd played - which as you know Lordy, doesn’t happen all that often,” he adds.

It’s an amazing insight into the mind of a true champion - indeed Salmon would have much bigger games at least statistically throughout his career, but stats are only one part of the bargain - it's the sub-plots, the anecdotes, the player-coach relationships of the time and the context of the game and the player/s in question, that make the concept of TOTAL RECALL such a unique and fascinating proposition.

For practically everyone else on the planet, this was a regulation home and away game that Essendon was expected to win on their home ground against the traveling Eagles - with their star Paul Salmon dominant in the ruck and at Full Forward.

But the revelations of Salmon himself reveal such a different picture, and provide a fascinating insight into the thoughts, feelings and motivation of the game's true champions.

Paul Salmon was a magnificent footballer, a brilliant exponent of pure ruck work and natural talent, and as versatile and durable as the big men of our game come.

He was, and still is, an affable and grounded champion, a beautiful family man and perhaps most importantly just a damm fine human being.

Thank You ‘Fish' for TOTALLY RECALLING one of the greatest games you ever played.

Aaron Lord