PETER Westland arrived at Bunton Park in 1974 as a 23-year-old. Westland racked up more than 200 matches for his beloved Hoppers and is regarded as one of the club's finest players. Westland is also a champion bloke off the field and one of the most popular figures in O&M circles. The Hall of Fame inductee caught up with The Border Mail's BRENT GODDE during the week.
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BRENT GODDE: How did you get your nickname ' The Wiz'?
PETER WESTLAND: A little bloke from Shepparton, Peter Styles, who I played with at North Albury dubbed me that.
BG: 'The Wiz' is obviously short for wizard and a flattering honour to have as a nickname?
PW: What I consider to be my biggest assets as a footballer was my goal sense and I could kick both feet. Even though I carried a bit of weight and wasn't fast, I was relatively quick on the lead over the first 15m and an accurate kick for goal.
BG: Some of your former teammates told me you were one of the best kicks of your era on your opposite foot and kicked some freakish goals. Was that natural or something you had to work hard at?
PW: I would have set shots on my opposite foot quite regularly if I needed to open up the angle. As a kid growing up on the farm I would spend countless hours kicking the footy on both sides of the body. I had a football that resembled a basketball I used to practice that much.
BG: You made your debut for Kerang as a teenager before training with South Melbourne in the VFL?
PW: The secretary of South Melbourne was a chap that I didn't particularly like so I went and trained with Preston instead which was a good decision.
BG: I imagine Preston would have been a tough initiation to senior football.
PW: Looking back, football was more like open thuggery back then. But at the time that's how footy was in that era, tough and hard.
BG: Did you ever cop a touch-up?
PW: Yeah from one of my teammates in an intra-club match.
BG: Did you ask his girlfriend for a date or something?
PW: It was a possibles versus the probables and I was playing for the probables. Anyhow a former Fitzroy player in Bob Hyland rammed my face into the point post. Unfortunately for me back in those days only the goal posts were padded.
BG: That sounds painful?
PW: My nose was splattered all over my face and the club president at the time was a doctor. So he took me into the changerooms and got a pencil and stuck it up my nose and straightened it. He then just gave me a pat on the back and said 'there you go son, your right to go back out there now.'
BG: That's got to hurt?
PW: As I was going back on another teammate was being carted off with a broken leg and the bone was sticking out through his skin. As I walked past I said 'Don't worry about it mate, the doc has got a magic pencil that will be able to fix that.'
BG: You arrived at Bunton Park in 1976 as a 23-year-old. Any particular reason you chose the Hoppers?
PW: When I was playing down in Melbourne you weren't meant to drink after a Monday night during the season.
BG: That would be hard to police?
PW: Exactly so I found a bar at the old Elmwood Motor Inn that was underground and nobody hardly used to drink there. Except for two blokes who I would see there probably once a month. One was Ken Halloway who was North Albury's president and the other was John Sharrock.
BG: So they convinced you to have a run with North Albury?
PW: One thing led to another and with my employment I had an opportunity to move to Albury so I made the decision and have lived on the Border since.
BG: It proved to be a smart decision after the Hoppers won the flag in 1980 under coach Col Trevaskis?
PW: Col was a terrific coach and led by example. We were the first side to win the flag from the elimination final after the top-five was introduced in the early 1970s. We beat Wangaratta Rovers who were a powerhouse at the time and had won seven flags for the decade.
BG: Who were some of the stars of the side?
PW: Paul Hurst was a gun and was a premiership player with Carlton while John Smith was also a standout.
BG: Vern Drake won a small fortune on the Hoppers during their barnstorming September run?
PW: Vern didn't mind a bet and backed us in the first final and kept doubling up throughout the finals series. He nearly needed an Armaguard to get home from the grand final after he won that much cash.
BG: The club utilised a motivational speaker in Laurie Icke on the morning of the grand final?
PW: Laurie previously played for North Melbourne and had a butcher shop at Tallangatta after he retired. The speech was in the back bar of the Boomerang Hotel. By the time he finished speaking most of the players were ready to run through a brick wall.
BG: Laurie used to shout and spit and bit when he was doing his motivational speeches?
PW: I'd seen him in action before, so I strategically stood up the back and as far away from Laurie as possible. When Laurie gets going he spits everywhere and the blokes up the front got a complimentary shower.
BG: There were some good old fashioned mind games as well before the grand final?
PW: John Smith turned up to the match with his arm in a sling and got someone else to carry his bag so it looked like he was out injured.
BG: A few seasons later, Martin Cross replaced Col Trevaskis as coach in unusual circumstances after Trevaskis signed as coach of Wodonga?
PW: I'm not exactly sure what year it was but we were doing pre-season after Christmas and we still didn't have a coach. It was up to Terry Farrell, Tim Taylor and myself to take training. Finally Robbie Barker came up to us one night at training and said I've found us a coach - Martin Cross.
BG: What did you think of the appointment at the time?
PW: I wasn't a huge fan of the idea because Martin had obviously played for Myrtleford and I always used to try and knock his head off all the time. I could never catch him but I still tried.
BG: Did Martin win you over?
PW: Now I think it was one of the smartest decisions North Albury ever made. I probably had Wangaratta Rovers' Laurie Burt as the best coach during my time in the O&M. But I have got Cross ahead of him now.
BG: What separated Cross from the rest of the coaching pack?
PW: Marty was a master of squeezing every ounce of ability out of his players. He also had an outstanding support crew in Ian 'Doggie' Rowlands, Rod Mullavey and Bernie Bell.
BG: Bernie Bell used to watch the players like a hawk through a set of binoculars?
PW: Bernie would watch every contest and if any of our players took their eye off the ball the runner would be out with a message.
BG: It has been well documented previously but in 1984 president Merv McIntosh was faced with the unenviable task of telling the playing group early in the season that the club was broke and would have to take at least a fifty per cent pay cut?
PW: It was a bombshell at the time but to Merv's credit he didn't try to sugarcoat the situation and just told us how it was.
BG: A few players crossed to rival club Wodonga with Morris medallist and captain John Smith the biggest departure. Did the playing group resent the players that jumped ship?
PW: Not at all, the players who switched clubs were entitled to because it wasn't their fault the club couldn't afford to pay them. There was no animosity towards them whatsoever. They were still our teammates as far as I was concerned.
BG: John Smith was one of the highest paid Hoppers at the time?
PW: John was an outstanding player and his record speaks for itself.
BG: You replaced John as captain?
PW: I was vice-captain under John at the time and it seemed logical for me to take over the role.
BG: What was it like playing against Wodonga and your former teammates?
PW: I was always of the opinion that when you are playing football, you go out to win and it's as simple as that. Trevaskis was our former coach and led us to a flag before crossing to Wodonga as coach. Even though we shared that bond of having played in a flag together, now that he was at another club, all I wanted to do was beat him and Wodonga.
BG: The side trained extra hard in 1984?
PW: Cross wanted us to be fitter because your concentration can lapse when you are fatigued towards the end of every quarter and the opposition can hurt you. We called the last 10 minutes of each quarter 'red-time.'
BG: The side had a unique way of identifying 'red-time' each match.
PW: We had a signal where someone would yell out 'geronimo' which meant it was red-time and you had to concentrate and go harder for the remainder of the quarter.
BG: Cross also introduced match simulation into training?
PW: Before Marty came our training sessions used to be the stock standard run two laps, a handball drill, a short-kicking drill, a bit of circle work and finishing with sprints. Marty introduced more specific training drills and I guess was ahead of his time in that regard.
BG: Marty also introduced a training drill where you had to lie down with your eyes closed and he would place the ball on the ground and you would have to run and pick-up the ball with your eyes closed?
PW: I was never any good at that drill and it's fair to say that it wasn't my favourite training drill.
BG: Despite all the turmoil and off-field dramas, the Hoppers defied the odds to win the flag that season and complete a 'rags to riches' famous grand final victory against Wodonga?
PW: I remember we played Wangaratta Rovers early in the season when we were maybe eight goals down at half-time. We walked into the break thinking how much are we going to get flogged by today? Marty said we can still win this and we turned things arounds and beat them. That gave us a lot of self-belief and we sort of got on a roll from there.
BG: As fate would have it you played Wodonga and some of your former teammates in the grand final?
PW: We played them three times that year and beat them three times, all by under a goal. It probably did add that little bit more satisfaction that it was Wodonga.
BG: It's been more than four decades since the famous victory and you still share a strong bond with most of your teammates?
PW: There are nine of us who were the older players of the group that year and we try to catch-up at least twice a year to reminisce about the glory days.
BG: You win the flag and you finish the season with 96 goals?
PW: I won't Iie, it would have been satisfying to kick 100 goals but being a dual premiership player means a helluva lot more. You look on the honour board and it is a fairly exclusive club that has kicked a 100 in players like Vern Drake, Stan Sargeant and Brian Parkes.
BG: Football has changed a lot in regards to recovery with ice baths and gatorades etc after matches. But back in your era it was a slab on ice for the players after most matches?
PW: I learnt very early in my career that there are 20 players in a side and 24 cans in a slab. So if you got in early and slammed down the first beer there would be four left and one of them had my name on it as well.
BG: Since you retired you have remained heavily involved in the club and had stints at coaching the reserves and juniors, been on the committee, selection committee, president of the juniors, past player member and volunteer, NASC director?
PW: I was also radio correspondent for 2AY and OAK FM for a few seasons.
BG: One particular day you were scant on details?
PW: It was against Corowa and I watched a bit of the first quarter and it was a fairly boring match. So I went into the sports club and had a few bets. Only problem was I spent the rest of the day there and didn't watch any more of the game. It's fair to say that I had to wing it when the radio station called and were asking questions.
BG: Your good mate Barry Hayes mistook you for Father Casanova one day?
PW: Barry won a major raffle of a $250,000 truck which Father Casanova drew the winning ticket for. So he rang Barry to tell him and his reply was 'piss off Westland, I'm not that dopey you prick.' Barry was a bit embarrassed when he finally realised it was Father Casanova he was talking to.
BG: You lost your house in East Albury to fire in 1985 and had to rebuild it?
PW: Publicans Mal Hutchison and Graeme Bosse looked after me. My wife and I took over the night manager role at Sodens Hotel and lived there for 12 months.