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Whateley

Peter Blucher | 500 Gamers - Footy Nerd Central (06.05.26)

06 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: Who is Robert Walls and why is he significant in footy history?

0.031 - 13.607 Robert Walls

Robert Walls will forever be remembered as a giant of the game. And tonight, we appoint Robert Walls as a legend in the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame.

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15.128 - 29.785 Gerard Whateley

The climax of the Lions Hall of Fame inductions on Saturday night was the elevation of Robert Walls to legend status at the club. Peter Blucher presided over this. Hello to you, Blucher. Morning, Jarrett. What a lovely task that would have been.

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30.254 - 33.057 Peter Blucher

It was a very, very, very special honour.

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Chapter 2: What role did Peter Blucher play in Robert Walls' Hall of Fame induction?

33.337 - 40.404 Peter Blucher

I was staggered to be honest and I didn't have a drink all night and I sat there quietly, nervously, anxiously.

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41.085 - 58.202 Peter Blucher

But no, it all went really well and I was just proud to talk about a bloke who, I mean I was such an insignificant part of it, but he meant so much to so many people and did so much for a football club which was a rabble when he arrived at Carrara and was on the verge of becoming a really great, great side when he left.

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58.402 - 64.21 Gerard Whateley

Just give us the chalk outline of what you threaded together as to what this means for the Wolves' legacy.

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65.151 - 84.979 Peter Blucher

Well, there were a lot of anecdotal stories, but they're really significant influences. When he arrived in 1991, in his first couple of weeks, he walked into a McDonald's store at Broadbeach wearing a bear shirt. The girl behind the counter had no idea who he was, but she said, oh, you like the footy? Here's 20 free tickets. So they couldn't give him away then. Now you can't buy one.

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84.999 - 104.441 Peter Blucher

And that's pretty symptomatic of what's happened. But In his last year, he was only ever going to stay five years, and at round 15, when it was reconfirmed he was going home at the end of that year, they were 4-11, 14th on the ladder, and they were just a mess. Round 16, so the very next week, they played Hawthorne at the Gabba, and they were 45 points down.

104.882 - 124.786 Peter Blucher

Peter Knights, the ex-Bears coach, took his side into the shade. Wolsey jumped all over that, as you can imagine. You know, they're cooked. We'll run all over the top of them. And they did. They kicked 9-7 to 1-3. The biggest three-court time comeback in history until Nassir Wanganeen's Miller. Two-vote game, of course, it was last year.

126.427 - 144.265 Peter Blucher

So Brisbane, with 10 wins, got in and they were eighth, played Carlton, who were first, with 20 wins. But Carlton jumped them early. Brisbane outscored them from that point on. They lost by 13 points. Carlton won the prelim and the grand final by 10 goals. So Brisbane were notionally the second-best side in the league. His job was done. His last game at Brisbane,

144.464 - 161.612 Peter Blucher

was the club's first unbelievable job. And six years later, when Brisbane won its first flag, he was in the Channel 7 commentary box, all prim and proper and unbiased and everything. But really, he wasn't. Because no less than 10 members of that side had debuted under him.

Chapter 3: How did Robert Walls influence the Brisbane Lions during his tenure?

161.632 - 185.931 Peter Blucher

And it's a pretty special 10. Voss, Ackermanis, Ashcroft, Hart, the Norm Smith medalist, Keating, Lappin, Lepich, McRae, Chris Scott, And he was like a father figure to them all. You know, he knew when to give people a kick in the butt and he knew when to give them a cuddle. He did both often and he left a legacy that was just enormous.

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185.991 - 206.886 Peter Blucher

There's only ever been, well, there were previously only two people in history of the game that have been a Hall of Fame legend at two clubs. They were Parkin at Hawthorne and Carlton and Jeans at St Kilda and Hawthorne and now there's three. And I think it just sort of The legacy of Robert Walls in football is massive, but in Brisbane and Queensland, it's even bigger.

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206.906 - 220.76 Gerard Whateley

Yeah, you did a beautiful job, Looch. Well done, well done. Thank you. At the 500 game markers player and coach, this is in all that's going on around Michael Voss, this might have been a little overlooked last week. It puts him in such rare company.

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221.841 - 248.417 Peter Blucher

Yeah, well, he was the 25th person in history to play and or coach 500 games in total. So, you know, it's very, very, very special. It's a big milestone when you think it's a lot of games, but Bossy's only just halfway to the leader. I mean, that's just a ridiculous thing, isn't it? He's now played and coached 500. Kevin Chudy's total is just a snappy 929 games. It's ridiculous, isn't it?

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248.437 - 275.991 Peter Blucher

But, yeah, a long, slow process. Only 14 in the first 100 years of footy got to 100. I guess we should name them. McHale in order. McHale, Bentley, Perce Bentley, Dick Reynolds, Fonz Kine, Norm Smith, Ron Barassi, Alan Jeans, Tom Hapey, John Kennedy, David Parkin, Kevin Sheedy, very appropriately so, Robert Walls, Lee Matthews, and Mick Malthouse. And that was to 97. Since then, Paul Roos...

276.275 - 290.778 Peter Blucher

Rodney Eade, Terry Wallace, John Walsh, Alistair Clarkson, Adam Simpson, Damien Harwick, Chris Scott, John Longmire, Ross Lyon, and Michael Voss. Nathan Buckley, 498, just misses out. Brad Scott's the next one. He's at 449.

291.72 - 296.427 Gerard Whateley

Who has won the most total flags in this rare and exclusive group?

297.52 - 320.946 Peter Blucher

I've worked my way through my crazy table here. Most flags. Well, predictably, almost, Barassi and Norm Smith have 10 apiece, which is quite extraordinary. Matthews is next with eight. McHale, eight. Sheedy, seven. Parkin and Hardwick, five. A lot through fours and threes. Ross Lyon is the only one without a flag in all that time. Paul Roo is just the one.

322.445 - 334.216 Gerard Whateley

Yes, right. Yeah. Lion, Nort, Roos 1 and Longmire 2 in what they've achieved so far. Who got there quickest? Who was the youngest to get to the 500-game milestone?

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