2 May 1970, Whitten Oval, Footscray, Melbounre, Australia
This was Ted Whitten's last game as a player, Rnd 5 v Hawthorn, 1970. The Dogs held on to win by 3 points. Whitten later said, 'I cried, but you couldn't tell because it was raining'.
Provided we control the rucks and the air like we were doing, we’ve got a real chance.
In that quarter, you let the rucks get on top us a little, particularly from the centre bounce, and around the ground, which we can’t afford to do.
You had them in your hand, and you’ve let em out.
Now we’ve got to get them back in there and close it up.
They played attacking football, we went negative in that quarter.
And you can’t afford to. I want attacking football all the time.
And providing you had a # in that quarter, we had a real chance of winning it in that quarter.
Now we have our backs against the wall we’ve got to fight and fight hard.
It’s going to be a do or die effort. It’s going to be a determined #.
You’ve got to show me all the guts and the determination you’ve got in your body.
You’ve got to inspire me with this last quarter finish.
You’ve been in front all day and you’ve got to stay there.
Are you going to sit there ... or .... [growling player response]