Bartlett so close to being Bomber
22 November 2007 Herald Sun
Mike Sheahan
HAD Richmond great Kevin Bartlett followed his heart after the 1979 season, he would have finished as an Essendon player.
Upset by what he saw as Richmond's dwindling faith in him, he applied for a clearance and signed a document agreeing to join the Bombers.
"It was something like a heads of agreement that said if I left Richmond I would go to Essendon," he told the Herald Sun yesterday.
He was 32 at the time, yet was to play another four seasons on the way to 403 games.
The 1980 season capped his stellar career: a fifth premiership, the Norm Smith Medal and 21 goals in the finals series, including seven in the Grand Final.
Bartlett tells of his planned walkout from Richmond in the book The Tigers -- a Century of League Football, to be launched today at the club's Punt Rd headquarters.
It will mark his return to the premises for the first time since he was dumped as coach 16 years ago.
The book is based on interviews by his son, Rhett, of many Richmond's big names.
Bartlett Sr responded in typical fashion when asked yesterday about the latest step in his return to the fold.
"They asked me to launch the book and that's where they're launching it, so that's where I'll go," he said.
It is, though, the end of an extraordinary stand by the club's most decorated player, who declared after his sacking in 1991 he would not return to Punt Rd until all of the committee had departed.
That occurred several years ago, yet KB stood firm.
He says in the book he decided to leave Richmond after the 1979 season, the year then coach Tony Jewell turned him from rover to half-forward.
"I was playing as a rover but the club must have felt I wasn't giving them the on-ball drive that they required."
He recalls walking into Waverley Park for a late-season game when then Channel 10 reporter Rob Astbury said to him: "I've been told today is your last game for Richmond."
It unnerved and stayed with him. At the end of the season, he resigned the captaincy and asked for a clearance.
He initially wanted to join close friend and former coach Tom Hafey at Collingwood (the club Richmond played in the 1980 Grand Final), but Hafey warned him off, telling him he didn't want to be responsible for taking such a revered figure from Richmond.
Essendon, South Melbourne and Melbourne had chats to him before he signed a letter of agreement with Essendon.
Ultimately, a truce with Richmond was brokered through his great friend and former teammate, solicitor Michael Green.
Did he get close to leaving? "Yeah, very close. Very, very close," he said.
"I knew the machinations of the Richmond Football Club. It was over what I perceived as the way they were going about getting rid of me without actually telling me they wanted to get rid of me.
"I met the board several times. They denied it every time, but I wasn't convinced.
"I was probably gung-ho about going; I just felt there were forces against me and I felt I could still play at league level.
"I had a long chat with Barry Davis and it looked like I'd end up at Essendon.
"Alan McGillvray (then board member) signed me. He tells me every time he sees me, 'I've still got that form, Kevin'."
Richmond A Century of League Football, GSP Books, available at the special Herald Sun price of $44.95 inc delivery, call 1300 306 107. (RRP $54.95)http://heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22800312%255E20322,00.html
