Melbourne past players are remembering AFL great Robert Flower with pure admiration, while also wondering what the hell the Demons have done to deserve all this.
Flower, a universally-respected AFL great, died on Thursday after a short illness aged just 59.
Former teammates Todd Viney, David Neitz and Steven Smith paid rich tribute to the elegant wingman on Friday at the MCG, only metres from the statue of Melbourne great Jim Stynes that was unveiled last month.
Stynes died of cancer two years ago aged 45, while fellow Irish import Sean Wight succumbed to lung cancer in 2011 despite never having smoked.
Flower, Stynes and Wight were all members of the famous 1987 Demons side that made the finals for the first time since 1964.
The theme at Melbourne during `87 was to do it for Flower in the last season of his outstanding career.
His death is another terrible blow for a club that won its last premiership in 1964 and is only starting to emerge from a brutal seven-year era.
Smith, the Demons fullback who played all his VFL career in the same team as Flower, said his old teammate’s death was devastating.
“I don’t know what it is, but karma is a funny thing,” Smith said.
“At the moment, the footy club is just going through this tough patch.
“They have to seriously stick together and get through it.
“You would never read or hope that anything like this would happen over the last four or five years – it’s just been awful.”
The former Demons players all spoke of Flower’s humility, his amazing skill and the legacy he leaves at Melbourne.
Flower was nicknamed Tulip, which suited his extraordinarily-slight physique.
Amazingly, he could not bench press his own bodyweight.
But that belied his fierceness as a competitor and his faultless courage.
Viney said Flower was among the very best players he had seen.
Flower was also remembered fondly for his humour.
Neitz received several messages from Flower around the time he passed his club games record.
“He’d make contact … and say he’s got the voodoo doll out and trying to pin me in the hamstrings,” Neitz said.
“He loved holding onto that record, but at the same time when it fell my way, he was very happy to pass on the baton.”
REMEMBERING ROBERT FLOWER
TODDY VINEY
(played one season with Flower, 233 games with Melbourne)
“To be able to look at Robbie Flower’s life, how he handled himself in public and on the field, the way he went about his business, he’d be a great role model for any professional sportsman.
“You won’t find anyone having a negative thing to say about him.
“Through a really dark period at the footy club, with not a lot of success, he was the shining light.
“Norm Smith, Barassi, Checker Hughes, Robbie Flower – his name is up in that top echelon.”
RUSSELL ROBERTSON
(190 games with Melbourne)
“He really was the Melbourne Football Club – he was red and blue and he did everything for it.
“There’s this real mystery about Robbie Flower because of the size of him – how did he do that?
“He never wanted to accept the accolades.”
DAVID NEITZ
(306 games for Melbourne, passing Flower’s club record of 272)
“For a huge period there, he meant everything to the Melbourne Football Club.”
STEVEN SMITH
(203 games for Melbourne, at the same time as Flower)
“He literally could not press his own weight.
“What Robbie had, which was fairly unique, was this unique extra sense of understanding exactly who was around him.
“He was calm – incredibly calm – under pressure.
“In the middle of packs, he would always know the right option.
“He would never get caught.
“He had this amazing grace – he was almost like a ballerina.”
