Winston Abraham opens up on John Worsfold’s role in first western derby

Former Fremantle forward Winston Abraham has opened up on one of WA’s most explosive football chapters, detailing the brutish behaviour of West Coast’s John Worsfold in the first western derby. Worsfold ignited an enduring derby hatred in 1995 as he put several Dockers in his sights and the big brother Eagles put them to the sword. Abraham was his key target and in a rare interview, recalled the intensity of a rivalry that will stretch into a 50th game this Saturday night at Optus Stadium. He said Dockers teammates Matthew Burton, Leigh Wardell-Johnson and Scott Watters were also on Worsfold’s hit list. “He definitely put the fear in me. I remember the look on his face, he wanted to kill people,” Abraham recalled as he explained the moments before the ball was bounced to start the game. “He was like, ‘You go near that ball and I’m taking your head off’. He hit Spider Burton and knocked the wind out of him and said to Leigh Wardell-Johnson, ‘They call you Hyphen, you’ve got a broken name, I’ll break your f...... legs’. “Then he said to Scotty Watters, ‘You f.....g traitor, I’ll kill you’. I never played on anyone else like that.” Abraham, right, said his mother Patricia and brother Heath had been in the stands near the boundary line and his elder sibling had threatened to jump the fence and confront Worsfold, who had even been warned by the umpires to calm down. Dockers hero Shaun McManus also confirmed he was a Worsfold target in the match. “I remember John’s mindset because when I first came on the ground the ball came flying out where the old Subiaco members used to be,” McManus said. “I tackled him to the ground and got a free kick against me. “He got up and said, ‘You ever do that again, I’ll rip your legs off and shove them up your a...’. You could see he was breathing fire.” Worsfold admitted putting his “real game face on”, getting his “general mood across” and cleaning up Dale Kickett in the first quarter, but did not recall all of the incidents suggested. He said he and Abraham chatted more cordially later in the game. Fremantle captain in that first derby, Ben Allan, said not having more awareness for what was happening to his teammates was a failure of his leadership. “Any regret I had about my captaincy, that would probably be encapsulated in that sort of event,” Allan said, adding that Abraham was the most skilled teammate he had played alongside. “At the time, they were all excited to play against West Coast in that first derby because a lot of them grew up idolising them. For me, I’d played against them before and they were just another team and it wasn’t a big thing. “In the heat of battle, there was a lot going on. For our guys to take the losses and stand up for themselves in those big games and go on to have exciting careers, I think that says more about our mob as individuals than who we were playing.” Abraham booted two goals in that 85-point loss and said he even got a back-handed compliment from Worsfold after they clashed again the next year. “We were both going for the ball with Chris Waterman and we all hit it at the same time,” he said. “As were were getting up he said, ‘We finally turned him into a footballer’.” Abraham also revealed a moment of payback in 1998 when he played his first game against West Coast back in Perth for his new team North Melbourne, after leaving Fremantle the previous year. “Pago (coach Denis Pagan) got everyone around as we were about to go on the field and said, ‘One more thing’,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Winnie and Woosha have got a bit of a history — that stops today’. Before the ball was bounced, Glenn Archer ran from centre-half-back and grabbed Woosha by the throat and it was on. “Then he turned and ran into ‘Duck’ (Wayne Carey) and the next time he turned he ran into Corey McKernan and Byron Pickett got him that day as well. It was awesome, we got him back, finally.” Abraham was born in Narrogin and spent part of his young life in nearby Pingelly. His late father Russell was part of the 1967 all-Aboriginal Pingelly Tigers team that spawned an incredible production line of players including Nicky Winmar, Lewis Jetta, Stephen and Bradley Hill and many more. He admits without the direction and commitment of football, he may well have ended up in jail. The father-of-four now revels in watching his children make their way through their young lives in sport after playing his last game at just 26 years of age because of a debilitating knee injury. Despite his early football exit, he left an exhilarating highlight reel that included the 1998 AFL Mark of the Year and a North Melbourne premiership 20 years ago in 1999. “It was a great moment and just reflecting on that sort of thing after you’ve had children and they’ve grown up, it’s pretty special,” he said. “It was pretty much like a dream. I played in nine finals, not many people get that opportunity and something you can always say is that you played in a premiership.” Abraham said they were days of football he preferred significantly more than today. “My kids are sarcastic and always say, ‘You’re not watching yourself again?’” he said. “I just say to them, ‘I want to watch good footy’.”