David Parkin has retold the story of how Troy Bond missed out on premiership glory with Carlton back in 1995.
By Parkin’s own admission, the ’95 season was unique in that the all-conquering Blues basically became a self-run unit such was the quality and experience of the playing group.
The uncommon leadership structure saw coach Parkin somewhat overthrown by the players when it came to team selection and on two notable occasions during the season, they had it their way.
Bond had initially replaced the injured Andrew McKay late in the home-and-away season before his position in the Grand Final team was questioned despite the fact he had played 15 games including both the qualifying and preliminary finals.
In the week leading up to the Grand Final against Geelong, which was eventually won by 61 points, a decision on Bond had been made by the same playing group who had brought him in against Parkin’s advice.
“To be truthful, and no one believes it, (the team was picked) under the guidance of our psychologist Anthony Stewart (when) in the finish we had 17 very experienced, committed and confident players,” Parkin recalled on SEN Breakfast.
“One of the things they did was to decide who wanted to play. We lost Andrew McKay maybe five weeks out from the finals. I’d already packed up Troy Bond to go home to Adelaide the next year.
“They made the demand that they wanted Troy Bond. I argued against that on the basis that he was a winger, half-forward and rover (where McKay was a half-back flanker). But in the end, Peter Dean and his group demanded it as captain of that group. He went in and they were able to get him in a new role. He was a pretty consistent performer while Andrew McKay was out and earned his spot through the finals as well.
“Then we got to the Grand Final and from memory, Fraser Brown had been out with an ankle injury but he came back and we had the difficult decision of 22 players for 21 spots.
“The easiest way for me, the gutless horror, was to give the 22 players a team sheet with their name on it and give me the 20 other blokes they wanted to go over the top with on the weekend.
“I don’t know the actual figures but I think Troy got his own vote and not too many others which was a tragedy for him.
“He was home in Adelaide by Friday and I had to confront him and tell him. I’ve never spoken to Troy since, he probably wouldn’t speak to me any way, but the good thing was in ’97 Adelaide won the premiership and thank god Troy was in that team and became a premiership player.”
Parkin admits that it still bothers him to this day and indicated to Garry Lyon and Tim Watson that he would attempt to make contact with Bond in a bid to ease the guilty feeling and make amends.
“I was pretty embarrassed about it,” he added.
“I probably didn’t know how (to address it) at that time. It’s one of those elements of my life that I’ve been regretful and have carried it since then, truthfully.
“It might be time for me to do something about that.”
After misssing out in 1995, Bond would exact some sort of personal revenge by booting four goals for the Crows in their 31-point Grand Final triumph over St Kilda in 1997.
Listen to Parkin’s story on SEN Breakfast below: