The King and I

“You know what annoys me about this bloke is that he continually butts in,” countered Doug shaking his head.
“There was a time in the last 12 months when he would say something that I was thinking and then I would say something and he would say he was just thinking that. That’s very scary.”
They both laughed.
It was a far cry from the Saturday afternoon in 2004 when, despite just coaching his side to a convincing win, Doug emerged from the change rooms in tears after being told that Bill was as good as dead.
Doug, a hard-nosed policeman and even harder-nosed coach, was totally unprepared for the shock.
However he had spent the majority of his life pushing himself to overcome barriers and be the best he could at whatever he did.
That attribute saw him achieve his dream of playing AFL football and gave him the strength to help Bill fight back.
“In my life, footy’s been my discipline. When you’re prepared to go out there and run 100, 100-metre sprints, or put your body on the line when you know you’re not going to get a kick, but you might tap the ball out to a team-mate, well the rest of life seems pretty straight forward, doesn’t it?”
“If you haven’t got desire, you’ll get nowhere in life, not just football,” he said.
That philosophy saw the 182-centremetre midfielder play 44 senior AFL games with three clubs and then transfer his talents to the coaching field where he has had consistent success over almost 20 years.
It also gave Doug, now 46, the confidence to help his mate when he needed it most.
Bill also played with an AFL club, Richmond, but never made it to the seniors.
After captaining the under-19s in 1981, he moved up to the reserves as a strong-marking full-back, but half way through the year realised his future lay elsewhere.
“Michael Patterson came up to me with a smile after a game at Waverley Park and said ‘I love you like a son, but my son can’t play footy either!’ He explained that I had trouble getting from A to B in a short period of time – in other words, I was too slow.”
After a short stint at Waverley, Bill joined Springvale and that was when he got to know Doug who was still playing AFL football, but knocking around with mates at the VFA club that he eventually joined.
“I was all set to go back to Springy with Billy and the boys (in 1987) but Melbourne put me on their list and I ended up there for another three years,” he said.
“(Coach) John Northey was a real motivator and we had some good times at Melbourne together until I tweaked a knee in 1989.”
“I tried but couldn’t get up, so I went to Springvale for the next five years and loved it.”
During their time together with the Scorpions, Bill coached the reserves and Doug realised that his football knowledge and philosophies were similar to his own.
He decided that when he turned his hand to coaching he wanted Bill as his assistant, but circumstances saw the two continue in the sport at different clubs until Bill’s burgeoning business as a publisher saw him retire from the game in 1996, while Doug was coaching Beaconsfield.
They remained close and became golfing mates outside football. Their partnership in the game really only started after Bill’s near-death experience as Doug explained.
“Bill was the only seconds coach I’ve ever known to do what a seconds coach is supposed to do and teach blokes and get them ready for senior footy.
“Six months after he was back home he appeared to be normal, but he was frustrated and causing horrible grief with Cath and the kids.
“This is a man who ran a million-dollar business and had that ripped away through no fault of his own and was never going to be well enough to return to it. How do you deal with that?
“I thought ‘well Bill might be able to help me and that would help him’. He came down to Frankston YCW about half way through the year in 2006. I was just happy to have him there, but helping him turned out to be good because his footy knowledge ended up helping me. That was something that he always had and still does.
“I always wanted Billy to join me because he knows football and people and that’s what coaching is about. It wasn’t the ideal way for it to happen, but it has and that’s great.”
Bill added that doctors had told him that he would never fully recover and was likely to die within five years.
While his life expectancy has now increased due to two recent operations, he admitted that his mental state was fragile.
“When you go through what I did, you’re always tired and not motivated to do anything. I just wanted it to end,” he said.
“You learn about your friends when things happen to you. Cath, Doug Koop, Colin Carter, Michael Lauritz, Luke Jamieson and Neil Warner – if it weren’t for them I probably wouldn’t be here.
“Koopy dragging me back, helped me so much I can’t tell you.
“The one motivation that I have is that I won’t let my friends down. Doug is my friend and always will be. He wants me to be involved and I will be.”
Bill’s strength helped Doug maintain his passion for the game during a tenuous 2007 season as coach of Chelsea Football Club.
“Chelsea was a debacle and going there was a big mistake,” said Doug.
“He helped me through a bad period. If it hadn’t been for Billy I would have told them to get stuffed, pulled up stumps and given footy away.”
Fortunately for Cranbourne, that didn’t happen and the Koop-King partnership took the reins in 2008 and has since harnessed the raw, but at times wayward, talent at Casey Fields and returned the club to where supporters believe it belongs – in the finals.
“The thing that drove both Billy and I early in our careers was this intense passion to play AFL footy. I wasn’t the most skilful player on any list, but I set myself to get the best out of myself. I still do,” he said.
“Honesty can be dodged in this game and it shouldn’t be. We’re not just there to coach a footy team, we’re there to help each and every individual to be the best they can.”
Bill smiled at his mate’s seriousness.
“I told the players on the pre-season training camp not to worry about Koopy too much because he only played three AFL games. He came back with the nickname ‘Three’!”
“Yeah, you think you’re pretty funny – you’ll get yours,” chuckled Doug.