AFL-The Final Story: 1980-Richmond vs Collingwood (2013)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Sports	Interviews-Character
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	43:06
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Wayne Dyer
Studio Distributor	Aust. Football Video Visual Entertainment Group	Starring	Dale Weightman Geoff Raines Jim Jess Michael Roach Robert Wiley Stephen Mount Tony Jewell Billy Picken Ray Shaw Rene Kink Tom Hafey
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Tigers – eat 'em alive.

     Disc 1: The Final Story (43:06).

     Traditional Australian Football League rivals, the Richmond Tigers and Collingwood Magpies, took to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the last Saturday in September 1980 to fight for the AFL Premiership Cup and title of the best team for 1980. Collingwood, coached by Richmond legend and former coach Tommy Hafey, had risen from being easy beats in 1976, to seriously challenge for the Premiership in subsequent years. Failure at the final hurdle however had left Collingwood with six Grand Final losses in a row since 1958, and being labelled as suffering from finals "colliwobbles". The "Tiges" however under former coach Hafey, had won four Grand Finals since 1967 and now looked in hot form under current coach Tony Jewell. Richmond's finals series to date included a bruising semi-final win against minor premiers Geelong which earned them a much needed week off before the season decider. Collingwood had a tougher route to the Grand Final, beating Geelong by only four points in the Preliminary Final whilst Richmond rested .

     The Final Story brings together the thoughts and reminiscences of some key members of the Collingwood and Richmond teams at that time, and also presents some of the context around the game. Taking the form of interviews with key players and the coaches, this documentary features contributions from Richmond participants - Dale "flea" Weightman, Geoff Raines, Jim "ghost" Jess, Michael "disco" Roach, Robert Wiley, Stephen Mount, and coach Tony Jewell. From Collingwood we have Billy Picken, Ray Shaw, Rene "hulk" Kink, and coach Tom Hafey. In the Richmond tradition Hafey, despite being a favoured son of the club, had lost the confidence of the Richmond power-brokers and resigned as senior coach only two years after their 1974 Premiership win. Going to the hated Collingwood must have enraged many Tiger supporters and they would have been baying for Magpie blood even more earnestly than usual. Hafey coaching Collingwood however seemed a good match, and revenge against his former club in 1980 would have been sweet indeed. Adding spice to the matchup was the fact that Jewell was a former protégé of Hafey, making this a real master versus apprentice contest.

     As played out in front of 113,461 fans on Saturday 27th September, Richmond however played power football with Kevin Bartlett and David Cloke in particular putting on a goal kicking clinic to pummel the hapless Magpies by 81 points. The colliwobbles curse was extended to seven in a row, but perversely that game was to be Richmond's last Premiership to this time (2013), whereas Collingwood finally broke their hoodoo in 1990, and once again ten years after that.

     As a documentary on the game this 43 minutes of commentary doesn't add anything new although it is good to hear the thoughts of some actual participants and how the events of that afternoon played out. Of course there is celebration in victory, and the contrast between Richmond and Collinwood contributions is marked. Kink in particular sounds despondent at times, because on that day he failed to play to his ability - a fact that his team mates and opponents recognised. That being said it is clear that the players respected each other, and any conflict on-field stayed on the field.

     Disc 2: extra - 1980 Grand Final in full (146:38)

     Taken from Ron Barassi's Top 20 Grand Finals, this replay of the game features an introduction by Barassi before the Channel 7 game footage begins. Commentators at the ground are Peter Landy, Lou Richards and Bob Skilton. Concluding the game are the final presentations including the Norm Smith medal (to Kevin Bartlett), the Premiership medallions and Cup, and then the Richmond victory lap.

     This feature was originally released on DVD as part of the WEG (William Ellis Green) Grand Final Collection.

Video

     The Final Story documentary features a 1.78:1 video aspect and includes archival footage and modern day interviews. As you'd expect the archival footage is variable with every undesirable video artefact on display at one time or another. I doubt if any attempt has been made to clean up this film. Fortunately however the quality of the modern day interview footage is very good, with contrasting camera positions usually focusing on the speakers face. The lighting in these segments is excellent and highlights every facial feature of these old warriors. Let's just say that some have aged better than others. In the Collingwood interview extras there is what might be a glitch or clumsy editing at around 12:53 with black frames inserted into the footage. The short game inserts in this documentary are atrocious in quality, being blurry and oversaturated.

     Fortunately the actual game on Disc 2 is much better, although certainly still not DVD quality. Again the colours are oversaturated and bleed into each other, there is VHS levels of grain, the straight lines (e.g. goal posts) waver, and freeze frames in the footage induces shimmer. Also for whatever reason, the video from behind the goals and some replays is much worse than the "live" action.

     Presumably the transfer is hampered by the source material, but I wonder if any attempt has been made to locate the original film and remaster for modern viewing? The aspect is in its original 1.33:1 framing and is obviously not 16:9 enhanced.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The only option in either disc is English Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kb/s for the documentary and 224 Kb/s for the full game extra. Surround and LFE activity is non-existent but at least the stereo dialogue is clear and easy to understand. It's a real pleasure as well to hear the classic footy calling tones of Landy and Richards with the astute expert commentary of Skilton. With surround processing enabled there is a bit of ambient noise forced into the rear channels. The interview sound is very good with clear dialogue that is in synch with the video although the sound volume levels are a bit inconsistent between interviews. Occasionally also the interviewer is heard although he is very muffled and hard to understand.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

     Animated menu with audio.

Disc 1

     Interviews with selected players from both clubs featuring thoughts on the game, player and coach relationships, and memories of the times. The interviewer is seldom heard however usually the gist of the interview question is displayed on screen.

Richmond Interviews (31:45)

     1.78:1 video aspect and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s. Featuring players Dale Weightman, Geoff Raines, Jim Jess, Michael Roach, Robert Wiley, Stephen Mount, and coach Tony Jewell.

Collingwood Interviews (17:30)

     1.78:1 video aspect and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s. Featuring players Billy Picken, Ray Shaw, Rene Kink, and coach Tom Hafey.

Disc 2

1980 Grand Final in full (146:38)

     1.33:1 video aspect and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 224 Kb/s.

    There is no Region 1 release.

     This release is a must have for Richmond fans without a copy of the Grand Final on DVD. Collingwood fans would probably give it a miss even though the interviews with Collingwood players are enlightening. Non-partisan footy fans could be interested as a historical record.

     The video quality is good.

     The audio quality is good.

     Extras are very good if you want to watch the Grand Final in full.

     Note that the audio and video ratings are based on the documentary and make allowance for quality of the archival footage.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall