Page 598 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized
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Parkside Football Club 1897/2017
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“Parkside playing coach Phil O'Keeffe is confident his side can "do a Kangaroos" and win the 2000
premiership.
O'Keeffe believes his side's bitterly disappointing loss to Port Colts in this year's grand final will spur
them onto the flag—just as the Kangaroos used the pain of their disastrous fade-out in the second
half of the 1998 grand final (against Adelaide) to fire and inspire them to snare this year's AFL
premiership.
O'Keeffe has recently been reappointed coach by the Magpies' powerbrokers.
"I've got the job," he said.
O'Keeffe admitted he's "still hurting" in the wake of the recent grand final loss.
Highly fancied Park-side faded badly in the last quarter to be completely overrun by the rampaging
Borough.
Racing home on the back of a 'never-give-in' attitude, Port Colts made it back-to-back flags after
turning a 14-point deficit early in the last quarter into a stunning 17-point win.
O'Keeffe admitted his players were a little bit over-awed by "the occasion" of playing in a grand final.
"We probably didn’t’ handle the occasion as well as what we should've," he said.
But O'Keeffe was quick to pay tribute to his side's conqueror in the 'big one".
"We were waiting for something to happen ---Port Colts went out and made something happen," he
said.
Meanwhile, there was a sensation in the club's recent best and fairest count with unbackable
favourite, dashing back pocket Sami Sir, failing to finish in the tally's top three.
The award went to ball-magnet rover Ali Taleb, who was followed by hard-at-it full-back David
Patterson and livewire ruck-rover/half-forward Joe Patterson.
Centre half-forward/centre half-back Peter Betson won the b 'n' f in the reserve — a splendid effort
in a premiership year.”- By Steven Milne
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Parkside’s Michael O’Keefe was selected in the FDFL’s prestigious “Team of the Decade”.
Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider
