Borneo Cup Tournament and Bears Sportsman’s night 2013 Special Guests

John 'Knuckles' Connolly | Former Wallabies Head Coach

John "Knuckles" Connolly is a coach and the former head coach of the Wallabies. Connolly has in the past worked with the , Stade Francois, Swansea RFC as well as Bath Rugby.

As a rugby player, Connolly played hooker for the Brothers club in Brisbane. From 1980 through to 1982, Connolly acted as a player and a coach for a rugby team in Darwin. His first major coaching position was with the Brothers club in Brisbane in 1983, acting as the reserve grade coach for three years, taking the team to two premierships. Subsequent roles came to him as he was appointed as the Under 19s and Under 21s coach. In 1989, Connolly took up a coaching position within the Queensland Rugby team. In 1991, Connolly served as an Australian selector. During his time with Queensland, the side won the Super Six in 1992 and the Super 10 Championship in 1994 and 1995.

With the inception of the Super 12 competition in in 1996, Connolly continued his position at the Queensland Reds. The Reds won the minor premiership that year, and Connolly went on to win the Super 12 Coach of the Year award in both 1998 and 1999, the Reds also winning the minor premiership in 1999 as well. He went over to France the following season, where he took up a position at the Stade Francois rugby club. The club won the premiership during the 1999-2000 season and were Heineken Cup finalists that same year as well as the next. In Wales he then coached at Swansea RFC.

John 'Knuckles' Connolly | Former Wallabies Head Coach (cont…)

He then took up a position at the Bath Rugby club in England, where Michael Foley had been signed as their forwards coach, Foley had previously played as hooker under Connolly at the Queensland Reds.

Connolly was awarded the Zurich Premiership Director of the Year award as well and Bath won the minor premiership in the 2003-04 season. Bath went on to meet the London Wasps in the final, with the Wasps winning in the end. The following year they were finalists in the Powergen Cup.

In early February of 2006 Connolly was appointed as the new head coach of the Australian team. In his first Test in charge, Australia defeated England in the first of two games in Australia. Australia then finished second in the 2006 Tri Nations Series.

Following the defeat to England in the Quarter-Finals of the 2007 , Connolly's term as coach of the Wallabies had expired.

He got his nickname, 'Knuckles', as a nightclub bouncer in Darwin years ago.

Berto “Robert” DiPierdomenico

There’s tough and then there’s TOUGH. In the first quarter of the ’89 Grand Final, DiPierdomenico was running backwards to take a mark when he was met solidly from behind by Geelong’s Gary Ablett Snr. With the stuffing knocked out of him, ‘Dipper’ looked gone as he struggled to regain his

feet. But swatting away trainers, he played on despite the immense pain and unaware of the extent of the damage. Typically, ‘Dipper’ was among Hawthorn’s best players and also got reported. Collapsing shortly after the game, he was rushed to hospital.

‘Dipper’ had played almost the entire Grand Final with several broken ribs and a punctured lung! An ‘unfashionable’ (read ugly) footballer, Dipper was nonetheless highly effective as a tough, no- nonsense ball-winner, so much so that he won the in 1986. This was is no small measure due to avoiding the Tribunal that year, for ‘Dipper’ was something of a regular there. But he wasn’t a dirty player – just tough and often got as good as he gave.

These days, his always smiling and jovial personality make him an ideal guest speaker. He is Italy’s greatest gift to the AFL – Robert DiPierdomenico. Berto 'Robert' DiPierdomenico, known as Dipper (born 5 May 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Hawthorn in the Australian Football League (AFL) from the 1970s to the 1990s. Popularly known by his nickname 'Dipper', DiPierdomenico is one of the most successful Italian Australians to play Australian football, and his contribution to the game was recognized by selection in the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century. Born 'Berto' but later renamed Robert, to Italian immigrant parents Stefano and Antonietta, DiPierdomenico was born in Hawthorn and nearly died as a child following a bout pf pneumonia. A hyperactive child who suffered from stuttering, he later went to several school in Hawthorn and neighbouring areas including Kew High where he met his future wife Cheryl Bayley and Swinburne Tech where his Headmaster was future Hawthorn coach John Kennedy Snr. DiPierdomenico began playing football in his early teens for local clubs East Hawthorn and North Kew before signing for VFL club Hawthorn as an eighteen year-old. The fee was 10,00 dollars and the cost of fixing four front teeth that he had knocked out whilst playing in an earlier game. AFL career

Beginning his career with the in 1975, DiPierdomenico, or the "Big Dipper" as he is affectionately known, started slowly making some 99 reserve grade games as he flitted between first team and reserve grade football. He kick-started his career in 1978, culminating in a best-on-ground performance in the 1978 VFL Grand Final. He went on to play 240 games and kick 130 goals with the Hawks, retiring in 1991, including 5 day and 5 night premierships with one of the most successful eras of domination a club has ever seen. DiPierdomenico was initially assigned number #53, but subsequently wore number #9.

He was known for his toughness (which led to many trips to the Tribunal), and the moustachioed Dipper was one of the much-loved, and most media-covered characters in the VFL during the 1980s. DiPierdomenico somehow managed to avoid the Tribunal in 1986 to win the Brownlow Medal, tying with Greg Williams, who was playing for at the time. Later in the week, he would win his third Premiership medallion as the Hawks defeated Carlton by 42 points. Late in the first quarter of the 1989 VFL Grand Final, DiPierdomenico was running backwards to take a mark when he was met solidly from behind by Geelong star Gary Ablett. The force of the collision broke several of DiPierdomenico's ribs and punctured one of his lungs. Despite the pain and unaware of the extent of the damage, DiPierdomenico continued to play until the final siren. Typically, he featured among Hawthorn's best players and also got reported. He collapsed shortly after the game and was rushed to the casualty ward of St. Vincent's Hospital, where doctors found out that Dipper had punctured a lung. He recounted the gravity of the situation years later:

"By this time I'd been shifted into intensive care. The doctor came in and said if they didn't gag me I was gone... So there you are. I had eight days in hospital to think about what might have happened. To tell you the truth, it scared me."[1] Media career

Dipper has long been known for big persona, including his always smiling and jovial personality. After he retired, he became a popular media personality, as a with the . After Seven lost the rights to broadcast AFL in 2001, Dipper continued his tradition as a boundary-rider on radio station 3AW. In the 1990s, Dipper made an appearance, along with and , in a charity match and scored a try, and in typical comedian style dived over the line like superman to celebrate. Dipper has appeared on advertising campaigns for Jenny Craig, Fasta Pasta, and most famously, his long association with Dimmeys & Forges in which his catchphrase in television and radio commercials is "Be there!" and "$9.99!". In 2010, he was stood down from his role in the Auskick junior development program after making a racist remark regarding .[2] He coached the Peres Team for Peace (Israel-Palestinian Territories) in the 2008 Australian Football International Cup.

Robert also made a cameo in Neighbours in 1999. Robert is currently appearing on the Channel 9 weight loss show Excess Baggage. (2012) [edit]Career highlights

 Brownlow Medal 1986 (tie)  Australian Football Hall of Fame 2007  VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century

Gary “Bucky” Buckenara

Gary Buckenara (born 3 July 1958) played Australian rules football for the Hawthorn Football Club in the VFL during the 1980s. Buckenara first played senior football for Subiaco in the WAFL from 1979 to 1981. Subiaco agreed to lease him for three years for $210,000 and after a court case began his career at Hawthorn. His kicking was highly regarded by his teammates and his reputation in football was assured when he kicked a goal after the siren in the 1987 Preliminary Final to defeat . During his time at Hawthorn, Buckenara played 154 games, usually playing in the centre or at half- forward when he had problems with his knees.

He kicked 293 goals, won four premierships and played in one losing Grand Final team. He played for his state regularly from 1979 onwards and was selected as the Western Australian captain. In 1983, 85 and 86, he was named in the All Australian Team. His career ended early due to knee injuries, and he moved in to coaching. He was appointed senior coach of the in 1992 but was replaced in the middle of the 1993 season, when the Swans were performing quite badly. He returned to his original club Subiaco to coach in 1995 and 1996 and is now one of the staff at Hawthorn. In 2003, he was named in the Hawthorn Team of the Century. Winners make their mark in memories, others live in hope

By Dermott Brereton September 20, 2003

When asked to name a favourite moment from a preliminary final, most people would not be able to do so. Yet Hawthorn fans might be unable to forget Melbourne's running over the mark and 's subsequent shot at goal after the final siren in 1987.

Standing behind play when "Bucky" was awarded the free kick, I was able to hear the final siren before most others around the general vicinity of play.

With nothing left to play in the game, the only active involvement you can have is to run to the goal square and help with a shepherd should the kick just scrape to the goal line. Having been shifted to

centre half-back, it was a long run. Gary Buckenara raises his But along the way you tend not to take your eyes off the kicker arms in victory after kicking (Buckenara). And it was with a certain sense of relief, mixed with a the winning goal, after the greater sense of hope, that I watched the umpire award a 15-metre siren, against Melbourne.

penalty.

Of all Hawthorn players of that era, or slightly before, perhaps only could have matched Buckenara for the ability to kick truly at goal from a .

But "Bucky" was as good as there has ever been when it comes to set shots and I can recall feeling confident standing in the goal square while he made his approach. You often look at the traits and capabilities of players and if they are of champion status you come to expect almost the extraordinary from them.

From that era you could expect that no matter who played on, his opponent would have little impact on the game. You could expect to make all the right decisions at the right times. You could expect to relentlessly follow and win the ball.

You could expect that Robert DiPierdomenico would be buoyant about winning regardless of his own safety and the position of the team. And you could expect and rely on Buckenara to kick the clinch goals.

Nonetheless, the jubilation felt when you see the ball sail directly over your head, when you stand three metres from either goal post, is immense. Especially in a situation like that.

History shows that Hawthorn failed to rise to the task of beating Carlton one week later. The Blues were therefore responsible for ending Hawthorn's chance of equalling the record of four premierships in a row, held by Collingwood from 1927-30. The Hawks had won in 1986 and again in '88 and '89.

And as much as that 1987 preliminary final is lauded for its famous finish, it still takes a back seat in history, as it should, to the Carlton premiership win of that year.

The issue is that while it is grand that this weekend's draw of games consists of four teams from four states, and as big as a sellout crowd at the MCG can be, unless the match is a classic, we will all forget about who played in it within a few years.

Last year was a great battle between Collingwood and on preliminary final day. But, a year later it is best remembered as the match in which Jason Cloke was suspended for striking Adelaide's . Cloke eventually missed the grand final. But off the top of your head can you

quickly remember who played Brisbane in the other preliminary final? It was an expected win to Brisbane over Port Adelaide.

And without any real game highlights or events to pinpoint in and bookmark the actual game, we forget about those who come third or fourth.

Third and fourth are condemned to the MaliVai Washington award. Who is he? He was beaten in three sets in the Wimbledon final by Richard Kracijek in 1996. More people seem to remember the woman streaker on that day than they do the name of the runner-up, MaliVai Washington.