Loading...
 

2001

Coach: Neale Daniher
Captain: David Neitz
Finishing Position: 11th
Best and Fairest: Adem Yze
Leading Goalkicker: Russell Robertson (42)
Best First Year Player: Scott Thompson
Major Sponsor: LG Electronics
Members: 22,940

Matches Ladder Playing List Best and Fairest VFL
Image

While the beaten Grand Finalists were expected to be amongst the contenders again, the year started badly for Melbourne in January when the State Government announced a ban on poker machine licences in several council areas. The club had invested $2.5 million in a social club that was no longer viable. After five years of negotiations with one council, where pokies were still allowed, the boundaries changed to leave Melbourne's proposed venue on the wrong side of the road, in the banned area. They were forced to write-off losses of nearly $750,000 on the project.

The club spent a week at the Australian Institute of Sport and played an intra-club game in Canberra as part of their preparation for the new season, and players practiced tackling with the NRL's Melbourne Storm. David Neitz remained captain, assisted by Vice-Captain Shane Woewodin who was promoted to replace David Schwarz in March. Jeff White and Andrew Leoncelli were deputy vice captains.

A dramatic fall down the ladder was not helped by injuries to midfielders Stephen Powell Travis Johnstone, Jeff White, Andrew Leoncelli, Shane Woewodin and Guy Rigoni. Off-field turmoil also took the focus off football, as President Joseph Gutnick went to war with the AFL after being threatened with a $20,000 fine for commenting on a racial vilification investigation involving David Schwarz and Justin Murphy of Geelong after Round 3. Gutnick denied that former number one ticketholder Ron Walker was planning to challenge him, but resigned in May after being denied an injunction against a board meeting that was set to sack him. Gabriel Szondy became president, and was re-elected with control of the board after elections. With Gutnick opting not to pay the last $300,000 of his promised $3 million cash injection for the club, they were forced to borrow $250,000 from director Peter Hayes.

The contested board election was held on 18 December, and while polling suggested Gutnick and his 'Melbourne First' group would win, Szondy and 'Team Vision' secured around 65% of the vote on a turnout of approximately 75% of eligible members.

Elected Directors

CandidateTicketVotes
Robert Flower Team Vision 10,529
Gary Hardeman Team Vision 6,834
Peter Hayes Team Vision 6,804
Beverley O'Connor Team Vision 6,799
Stephen Bickford Team Vision 6,694
Gabriel Szondy Team Vision 6,684
Peter Dohrmann Team Vision 6,597
Robert Jamieson Team Vision 6,560
Paul Gardner Team Vision6,550
Craig Perrett Team Vision 6,524


Unsuccessful Candidates

CandidateTicketVotes
Joseph Gutnick Melbourne First 4,235
Michael Givoni Melbourne First 4,150
Greg Sword Melbourne First 4,127
Sally Dimmick Melbourne First 4,121
Fiona McNabb Melbourne First 4,087
Warren Stooke Melbourne First 4,028
John Fowler Melbourne First 4,024
Allen Dewhirst Melbourne First 4,021
Philip Eddy Melbourne First 3,999

During the year Melbourne joined fellow cash-strapped Victorian clubs St Kilda and Western Bulldogs in arguing against the AFL Players Association's proposed 10 per cent pay increase for players, suggesting a 5 per cent increase could be achieved without potentially putting clubs out of business.

Ansett Australia Cup

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 Fremantle WIN98-57
2 Richmond LOSS65-97
3 HawthornLOSS43-143

Ansett Cup Group 4 Ladder

WDL%P
Hawthorn201173.758
Richmond201140.008
Melbourne10269.384
Fremantle10262.284

Practice Matches

OppositionResultScore
Essendon WIN122-90
Collingwood WIN105-87

Premiership Season

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 Richmond LOSS103-134
2 AdelaideWIN83-80
3 GeelongWIN124-104
4 HawthornLOSS44-83
5 SydneyWIN119-104
6 FremantleWIN119-74
7 Western BulldogsLOSS77-107
8 EssendonLOSS79-85
9 Port AdelaideLOSS68-88
10 St. KildaWIN144-113
11 CollingwoodLOSS57-134
12 Brisbane LionsLOSS99-148
13 West CoastLOSS88-95
14 KangaroosLOSS93-121
15 CarltonWIN117-111
16 RichmondLOSS86-127
17 AdelaideLOSS84-100
18 GeelongWIN103-100
19 HawthornLOSS71-156
20 SydneyWIN131-98
21 FremantleWIN114-79
22 Western BulldogsWIN133-123

Ladder

WDL%P
Essendon1705134.568
Brisbane1705127.668
Port Adelaide1606128.964
Richmond1507107.860
Carlton1408128.656
Hawthorn1309105.352
Sydney12010115.748
Adelaide12010102.948
Collingwood11011106.944
Western Bulldogs1001293.840
Melbourne1001290.440
Geelong901393.836
Kangaroos901391.136
West Coast501765.920
St. Kilda401872.616
Fremantle202072.08

Playing List

NumberPlayerGamesGoals
4 Brent Grgic 14 0
5 David Schwarz 2121
6 Scott Thompson 92
8 Alistair Nicholson 221
9 David Neitz 2238
10 Daniel Ward 2210
11 Troy Simmonds 132
13 Adem Yze 2224
14 Steven Pitt 20
15 Ross Funcke 51
16 Travis Johnstone 51
18 Brad Green 2137
19 Ben Beams 54
20 Troy Broadbridge 122
21 Steven Febey 207
22 Shane Woewodin 207
23 James McDonald 153
24 Russell Robertson 2242
25 Nathan Brown 196
26 Luke Williams 94
27 Anthony Ingerson 100
28 Matthew Collins 91
29 Chris Lamb 30
30 Simon Godfrey 122
31 Paul Wheatley 165
32 Cameron Bruce 2231
33 Jeff Farmer 1433
34 Jeff White 213
35 Anthony McDonald 206
36 Andrew Leoncelli 1811
41 Darren Jolly 40
42 Peter Walsh 164
43 Guy Rigoni 103
45 Matthew Whelan 91

Best and Fairest

Five members of the match committee select the best five players each week and rate them out of 10.

PlayerVotes
1st Adem Yze 331
2nd David Neitz 228
3rd David Schwarz 210
4th Steven Febey 187
5th Daniel Ward 138
6th Jeff White 137
7th Russell Robertson 122
8th Andrew Leoncelli 119
9th Cameron Bruce 118
10th Peter Walsh 112
11th Alistair Nicholson 107
12th Shane Woewodin 102
13th Nathan Brown 101
14th Matthew Whelan 87
15th James McDonald 79
16th Anthony McDonald 70
17th Ross Funcke 60
18th Jeff Farmer 58
19th Paul Wheatley 56
20th Simon Godfrey 45
21st Brent Grgic 33
22nd Brad Green 32
23rd Matthew Collins 31
24th Luke Williams 26
25th Travis Johnstone 25
26th Scott Thompson 20
27th Troy Simmonds 12
28th Troy Broadbridge 5
29th Anthony Ingerson 3

Other Awards
Best Team Player - David Neitz
Most Consistent - Adem Yze
Most Improved - Troy Broadbridge
Best Clubman and Award for Services to Marketing & Administration - Russell Robertson

Tribunal

RoundPlayerChargeSanction
Ansett Cup Match 1 Jeff Farmer Charging 2 weeks
Practice Match Brent Grgic Abusive Language $1200 fine
Round 3 Daniel Ward Abusive language Withdrawn
Round 7 David Schwarz Striking Withdrawn
Round 9 James McDonald Wrestling $1200 fine
Round 13 David Neitz Wrestling $3000 fine
Round 18 Adem Yze Charging Not Guilty
Round 22 David Neitz Wrestling Withdrawn
Round 22 David Neitz Wrestling $5000 fine
Round 22 David Neitz Striking Not Guilty

Coaching Staff

Chris Fagan - Assistant Coach
Brian Royal - Assistant Coach
Peter Banfield - Assistant Coach
Graeme Yeats - Assistant Coach/Sandringham coach
Jim Stynes - Ruck Coach

VFL

Sandringham Zebras 2001 season

Media
Herald Sun - 09/01/2001
Age - 24/01/2001
Herald Sun - 10/02/2001
Herald Sun - 07/03/2001
Herald Sun - 27/04/2001
Age - 11/05/2001

Links
AFL Tables page
Wikipedia page