SACKED: AFL

Herald Sun

What really happens when the axe falls in the AFL world? Some of the biggest names in the sport reveal the remarkable true stories of how they discovered their days were numbered and when the guillotine dropped.

Categories: Sports & Recreation

Listen to the last episode:

Tony Jewell commenced his senior football career with Oakleigh, in 1963. He tried out with St Kilda but failed to impress and was turned away. Richmond, however, decided to take a punt on him and he went on to give them good service, mainly as a half back flanker or back pocket, in 80 VFL games between 1964 and 1970.

After a two-year stint as coach of the Richmond reserves, which included overseeing a flag in 1977, he took over as senior coach of the Tigers in 1979. A year later he led them to an emphatic 81-point grand final defeat of Collingwood. Just one season later, however, Jewell was sacked with Francis Bourke being installed as coach in his place. Jewell later had unsuccessful stints as coach of St Kilda (1983-4) and Richmond once more (1986-7).

In this episode Jewell opens up about his brutal sacking at Richmond, recruiting Tony Lockett to St Kilda and how he almost became coach of Collingwood instead of Leigh Matthews.

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