While Gerard Neesham made his way into the history books as Fremantle’s inaugural coach, it could have been AFL legend David Parkin at the helm instead, if an attempt to secure him was successful.
Inaugural Fremantle CEO David Hatt joins host Dr Jeffrey Boyle for episode five of the Bleeding Purple podcast to discuss Hatt’s desire to lure Parkin to the Fremantle Oval.
Parkin played 211 games for Hawthorn before moving to WA to captain-coach Subiaco in 1975, but returned back to the Hawks as an assistant coach the following year.
“One of the people we tried to get in our early years was David Parkin,” Hatt said.
“I had a lot of time for David and he was obviously a great coach and player in the AFL.
“He knew WA pretty well because he had coached Subiaco here and I desperately wanted to get him at our football club for a whole variety of reasons.
“But he said to me ‘I’d really like to be the third coach of Fremantle, maybe the second but certainly the third.
“It’s always hard being the first coach because you attract the most criticism and the most outlandish treatment at a lot of people’s hands.”
Hatt also spoke of the early battle between the club and the AFL in ensuring the colour purple became a staple feature of the Fremantle jumper.
“We had a huge fight on our hands in relation to the purple, because nobody had ever worn purple in the AFL,” Hatt said.
“We were asked by the AFL to be different and to come up with a different colour combination.
“But when we did, they didn’t like it and we were told by the football commission that purple was unacceptable, and it wasn’t marketable which I found staggering.”
Hatt also recalled the moment he witnessed Neesham’s passion for his players after a freakish Andrew Wills goal against Geelong at the WACA.
“Andrew Wills who was a fairly up and down footballer kicked a check side goal from the boundary on the wrong foot running away from the goals,” Hatt said.
“Gerard literally got out of the coaches’ box, went down to the fence and applauded.
“It was one of those quirky things that happened, and it exemplified the way Gerard coached.
“Fremantle was unusual, and we had an unusual game style that was personified by that moment.”
