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Former AFL runnder Brendan Riseley has many stories to tell after decades in the game.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n\u201c Drugsy\u201d picked up the phone on the bench. \u201cRocket\u201d had a message from the coach\u2019s box.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo out and ask Jason Mooney why the f— he is kicking long bombs to the goal square,\u201d Swans coach Rodney Eade told the runner, Brendan Riseley, known to all as \u201cDrugsy\u201d. <\/p>\n
Former AFL runnder Brendan Riseley has many stories to tell after decades in the game.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n
The Swans under Eade had a team rule not to bomb the ball long to the goal square, but to kick it to where the third umpire normally went inside 50. But this day Mooney, brother of former North Melbourne and Geelong forward Cam, was kicking it long to the goals. So \u201cDrugsy\u201d was dispatched to put an end to it. <\/p>\n
\u201cJason, mate, why are you kicking long to the goal square? We kick it to the third umpire. Why are you going to the goal square?\u201d<\/p>\n
The reply came: \u201cI\u2019m kicking it to Tony [Lockett].\u201d<\/p>\n
Said the runner: \u201cJason, Tony\u2019s not playing today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mooney looked at \u201cDrugsy\u201d blankly. \u201cDrugsy\u201d looked blankly back at him, and encouraged him to go short with his kicks.<\/p>\n
When \u201cDrugsy\u201d got back to the bench, he suggested to the doctor he might want to head out and check on Mooney. The player was off the ground soon afterwards.<\/p>\n
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Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade gives instructions to his runner in 2006.Getty Images<\/p>\n
This was just one moment that sticks out in Riseley\u2019s mind from more than 400 games as a runner, for nine clubs over 24 years, finishing with as many stories as games.<\/p>\n
While he mainly ran for Eade \u2013 at all three of the clubs he coached \u2013 Robert Walls at the Brisbane Bears and Denis Pagan at Carlton, he also did the running for Bernie Quinlan for a season at Fitzroy, Nathan Buckley once, Dean Bailey once, and Tony Elshaug in a North reserves game.<\/p>\n
The source of Riseley\u2019s nickname is not what you might think. He was once given something by doctors after a VFL seconds game that left him so out of it he was dopey. The \u201cDrugsy\u201d nickname stuck. <\/p>\n
Riseley only became a runner after Walls\u2019 regular man at the Bears, Jim Christou, was sent out with a message for the umpire: tell him he\u2019s a cheat.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Christou delivered the message. The umpire, channelling Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, looked around and said, \u201cAre you talking to me?\u201d Christou, unwisely, said yes.<\/p>\n
Related Article When asked, Christou didn\u2019t give up Walls for sending him out with the message. He was given a long ban from running, but having been a player at Fitzroy and Port Melbourne, he knew that was better than dobbing in a mate.<\/p>\n Initially, Riseley only did the running in Victorian games for the Bears. It was eye-opening. Walls could get a coach\u2019s version of white-line fever on match day \u2013 coach\u2019s box fever?<\/p>\n \u201cWallsy was tough. He\u2019d send you out to some player and say, \u2018Go and tell whoever that Tony Free is not to walk off the ground\u2019. It was a different time, but of course, you didn\u2019t say that to the player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we played down at Geelong and, before the game, Wallsy wound them up. Roger Merrett was the skipper, and he was like, \u2018We\u2019re just going to be f—ing physical. They\u2019re f—ing soft, so we\u2019re going to bash them right from the word go\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, it wasn\u2019t really working, they were like five goals up in the first quarter. Halfway through the second quarter, Wallsy sent me out to Peter Worsfold, who was John\u2019s brother and just a battler of a player.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was on Kenny Hinkley and Hinkley probably had 20 possessions already and was killing us. He sends me out to tell Worsfold he needs to take Hinkley to the goal square and slow him up. I go out and give the message, and I\u2019m running back, and the crowd goes off. Turns out they had run for the ball and Peter has just knocked Kenny out \u2013 stretchered off.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Shit, did I do this?\u2019 I was thinking, I\u2019ve stuffed this up, he was supposed to drag him to the square to slow up his run and he thought I meant knock him out.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, half-time comes around and before going to the rooms, Wallsy grabs the players and makes them do a slow lap of the oval between the boundary and the fence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll give these pricks something to yell about,\u201d Walls said.<\/p>\n So they shambled through a slow, provocative lap of the oval.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crowd was going off. Throwing everything at us \u2013 coins, bottles. Matty Rendell copped a pie in the neck.<\/p>\n \u201cWe go inside and Wallsy was like, \u2018That\u2019s the way, give them something to complain about. We\u2019re gonna be harder and tougher\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n None of it worked. The Bears were belted.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the Monday, Wallsy rings me and says, \u2018Listen, I completely lost the plot. I\u2019m sorry, you shouldn\u2019t have to put up with that\u2019,\u201d Riseley recalled.<\/p>\n It was a common refrain. Pagan would be unsparing for two hours of the game but afterwards it was all, \u201cheat of the battle, son\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Eade\u2019s reputation for savage comments was not misplaced.<\/p>\n Riseley learnt very early on that the message you leave with is not always the one that gets to the player.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Rocket\u2019, when he was coaching the Swans, sent me out with a message for Tony [Lockett] this day about not giving away free kicks for running into blokes sitting in the hole. And \u2018Rocket\u2019 said to me, \u2018I\u2019m watching you. I\u2019m watching you. You make sure you f—ing tell Tony what I said.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI ran out, and I was like, \u2018OK, Tony, how you going? Yeah, just keep it going\u2019. I was not gonna go and tell Tony Lockett what to do.<\/p>\n \u201cTony hated blokes dropping in the hole [the space in front of him that he would lead into] and he came flying out this day into blokes who dropped in the hole, and he missed them and took out Micky O\u2019Loughlin and Dale Lewis. And \u2018Rocket\u2019 just loved \u2018Micky O\u2019, and \u2018Plugger\u2019 had cleaned him up.<\/p>\n \u201cGo tell Tony, \u2018You just killed two of our blokes\u2019,\u201d Rocket said.<\/p>\n So out runs Riseley to \u201cPlugger\u201d, a man with the delicacy of a bricklayer and the body of a brick.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Hey, Tony, you know, like, just, there were a couple of our blokes there.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cYou only ever went to \u2018Plugger\u2019 about once a year so he always looked at you strangely when you spoke to him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just looked at me and said, \u2018You go and tell \u2018Rocket\u2019 to go f— himself\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018OK, yep, OK, no worries Tony\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I go back. \u2018Rocket\u2019 goes, \u2018What did he say?\u2019 [I said] \u2018Oh yeah he understood, you know, he was OK with it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n For some players, it did not matter what message they were given; they only heard what they wanted to hear.<\/p>\n Brian Lake (when he was at the Bulldogs, having not yet changed his surname from Harris) was one of those for whom it didn\u2019t matter what the message, or even what the coach\u2019s plan was.<\/p>\n Playing the Brisbane Lions one day, Lake was told to play tight on Jonathan Brown, right on his backside. On the Lions\u2019 first foray forward, Brown marked metres ahead of Lake and goaled. Riseley ran out to remind him that he needed to stick tight to Brown.<\/p>\n \u201cBrian said, \u2018Yeah OK, but \u2018Boydy\u2019 [teammate Matthew Boyd] wasn\u2019t in the hole [blocking space] in front of Brown\u2019,\u201d Riseley said.<\/p>\n \u201c[I said] \u2018All right, but don\u2019t you get on the leg rope, you play right up him\u2019. And he goes, \u2018Yep, but you tell \u2018Rocket\u2019 about \u2018Boydy\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article In the second quarter, Boyd broke a team rule about not giving first option to dispose of the ball, was caught, and Brown kicked a second goal. Riseley went out to remind Boyd to always take the first option and not hold on to the ball. As he turned to run back to the bench, Lake waved him over.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s two for \u2018Boydy\u2019,\u201d Lake said. \u201cHe\u2019s only kicked two, Brown, and they\u2019re both Boydy\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n Riseley got back to the bench and \u2018Rocket\u2019 was on the phone. \u201cWhat did Brian want?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Riseley replied, \u201cBrian said, \u2018Boydy has cost him two goals, and he should give off the first option\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Eade: \u201cThat\u2019s what Brian f—ing said? You tell f—ing Brian that he can tell \u2018Boydy\u2019 at f—ing half-time.\u201d<\/p>\n Riseley didn\u2019t go out with Eade\u2019s message, and Lake didn\u2019t pass this on to Boyd.<\/p>\n Another day, this time against the Saints, Lake was due to line up on Nick Riewoldt while Tom Williams was to play on Justin Koschitzke.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter five minutes Riewoldt comes flying out, leading Tommy to the ball and takes a mark on the half-forward flank,\u201d Riseley recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cI ran out to Brian to ask what happened because he was supposed to be on Riewoldt. He said, \u2018Yeah, but Tom\u2019s a better athlete than me, so I just thought he could run with Riewoldt, and I\u2019ll sit back here with Kosi\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Riseley told Lake he reckoned he\u2019d better get on Riewoldt. When he got back to the bench, he told Eade what had happened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat hope have I got?\u201d Eade said.<\/p>\n Riseley could sympathise. Another time, \u201cRocket\u201d sent him out to get Ryan Griffen off the ground and en route, ran past ruckman Ben Hudson, giving him a few words of encouragement.<\/p>\n When he got back to the bench with Griffen, he found Hudson sitting there.<\/p>\n \u201cRocket\u201d was quickly on the phone. \u201cPut Hudson on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing on the bench?\u201d Eade asked.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Drugsy\u2019 told me to come off,\u201d said Hudson.<\/p>\n Riseley, listening in, interjected. \u201cNo I didn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cI said, \u2018Well done, keep it going\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Hudson looked at him curiously. \u201cBut you never talk to me. Whenever you do talk it\u2019s for me to come off … Oh, you\u2019ve f—ed me up now, I\u2019m not in the game. Just don\u2019t talk to people out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Pagan, a man with an amusingly colourful turn of phrase, was responsible for the most famous quote from a coach to a runner.<\/p>\n The North Melbourne runner was sent out by Pagan to get the diminutive Peter Bell off the ground. He came back without Bell.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t find him,\u201d the runner said. Players were known to run and hide from the runner when they sensed they might be dragged.<\/p>\n \u201cYou couldn\u2019t find him? Two missionaries found him on the side of the road in three feet of grass in South Korea and you can\u2019t find him in the middle of the f—ing MCG?!\u201d was Pagan\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the only five-foot-tall Korean out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Riseley was not the runner that day, but he found Pagan very amusing.<\/p>\n Such as on the day that Pagan, then coach of Carlton, sent him out immediately after a game had started to get Ryan Houlihan off the ground. They arrived back, and Pagan asked Riseley what he was doing taking Houlihan off.<\/p>\n \u201cWe changed that message. You could cost people their job, son, this is amateur hour. When you run out, you\u2019ve got to look back just to make sure we haven\u2019t changed our mind,\u201d Pagan said. Riseley nodded and agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cDenis was very funny,\u201d he said. \u201cA couple of weeks after that, something stuffed up and he goes, \u2018Listen, mate. I think next week we might get Snowy from the trams to do the running because it doesn\u2019t really matter who does it because you\u2019ve got no idea\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n One day at the MCG, Riseley had to switch the full-back and full-forward. Mindful that the defence couldn\u2019t be left exposed, he tried to move Setanta O\u2019hAilpin first and then Bret Thornton. But it all had to be done quickly, so after sending O\u2019hAilpin first, he started waving and yelling to Thornton from the middle of the ground. The move complete, he got back to the bench.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the f— was that? You might as well be a traffic cop out there; you might as well be on the corner outside Flinders Street Station waving your arms around. Why don\u2019t you just run upstairs before you go out there and just tell Mick Malthouse what we\u2019re doing first?\u201d Pagan said.<\/p>\n On another day at Princes Park, Riseley was sent out to tell Heath Scotland not give the ball to Luke Livingston to kick. \u201cYou\u2019re a good kick, Livo\u2019s not. We want you kicking it. We don\u2019t want \u2018Livo\u2019 kicking the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Scotland looked at him, perplexed. \u201cWhy is \u2018Livo\u2019 in the side then?\u201d Riseley couldn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n Against Adelaide, when Brendan Fevola kicked a goal from the boundary to put Carlton in front with a few minutes to go, Riseley was sent out to get the forwards to flood back behind the ball and protect the lead. He got to all the forwards but hadn\u2019t reached Digby Morrell before he was waved back to the bench.<\/p>\n![\"Collingwood\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782641675_81_bb601de77db48e899a2c6ab7ccafb13bc1d5be2b.jpeg\")
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Brisbane Bears coach Robert Walls always had choice words for the umpires via his runners.Peter Bull<\/p>\n![\"Fearsome:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3127773fcb1baaef5c13f435315222825b7bafd6.jpeg\")
Fearsome: Tony Lockett playing for Sydney.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783197975_222_5d671f3afbc4a6eb5fc7913e0ada2c5139b6dadb.jpeg\")
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Brian Lake (formerly Harris) always had a chat with the runner when the messages came out.Sebastian Costanzo<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1df76be96acba91c5643ba4fc095652808a4d306.jpeg\")
Former North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan.Craig Sillitoe<\/p>\n
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