Psyched out of big one - Tiger's dream crushed
Sunday Herald-Sun 13 Jul 2008, Page S04
By Jackie Epstein
IF you think Barry Hall should feel aggrieved about his brush with the club psychologist, spare a thought for former Richmond forward Dennis Collins.
In 1980, Collins was cut from the Grand Final team because he missed an appointment with club psychologist Rudi Webster the night before the game. He went to see a movie with his girlfriend instead and coach Tony Jewell was unimpressed.
"I rang Rudi to say how did he get on, there were about half a dozen players going, and he said, `Pretty good, but Dennis Collins didn't turn up','' Jewell said.
"He said his girlfriend wanted to go to the movies, she kicked up a stink when he said he couldn't go because he had a meeting with Rudi.
"So, we thought `If that's how important playing in a Grand Final was to him, we'll go with Daryl Freame instead'.
"We'd already penciled him (Collins) in because he was a good player, but when he didn't see Rudi, we thought that was pretty poor.
"So he went from being on the bench in a Grand Final to being out.''
This incredible story has a twist in that Collins, who left the club after the Tigers' 1980 premiership and headed to Western Australia, is apparently still unaware of the real reason he was dropped.
Jewell bumped into Collins about a month ago in Port Douglas, but didn't disclose the truth.
"I hadn't seen him since 1980 and he still thinks Graeme Richmond was anti-him,'' Jewell said.
"Richmond was a bit of a godfather of the club at the time, and he (Collins) thought he had something against him and that's why he didn't get a game.
"I just thought, if that's what he thinks, then fine. I thought, `I'm not going to upset him'.''
Collins played 100 games with Footscray from 1972-77, 30 games with Carlton from 1978-79 and 17 games with Richmond in 1980.
He also had a famous run-in with St Kilda hard man Robbie "Mad Dog'' Muir in 1978.
These days he runs a hotel business in Western Australia.
