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Start giftingNeil Balme
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more'You've got to have that madness in your mind to win, win, win. You've got to have that somewhere, but it can't consume you.'
This story begins in infamy. Everyone's first glimpse of the man is of ferocious blows struck in Grand Finals, his name splashed in headlines across the back pages of the tabloids. It's the 1970s, it's Richmond: kill or be killed.
There was a time when almost every football watcher who heard Neil Balme's name would react with disapproval. My God, what a bruiser . . . A dangerous fellow . . . And those who knew him would quickly deny these accusations. He's not a brute, you know, he's a thinker . . . A mild-mannered bloke, easygoing. The great paradox of Balme is the violence and the pacifism, the mayhem and the calm, the rough justice and the gentleness. He's a cold-blooded thug; he's a soft-hearted healer; he's a villain and a hero.
Balme is unique in having spent longer than anyone else in clubland. Richmond, Norwood, Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong and Richmond again - over fifty years. He's seen and created limitless change in those decades. So how did Neil Balme go from being the infamous on-field enforcer of the 1970s to the avuncular guru the football world knows and loves today?
After eleven premierships, an aura surrounds the man. Get Balme to your club and premierships will follow. What has he to tell us of football, of the high times and the low, of the champs and the egos? Of Royce and GR, of Diamond Joe, of Eddie and Mick, of Bomber, of Dimma? And of life and the human heart?
Balme's tale is, unsurprisingly, a mix of hard truth and unerring compassion.
Anson Cameron (Author)
Anson Cameron has written six critically acclaimed novels: Silences Long Gone, Tin Toys, Confessing the Blues, Lies I Told About a Girl, Stealing Picasso and The Last Pulse as well as two collections of short stories, Nice Shootin' Cowboy and Pepsi Bears and Other Stories, and the childhood memoir Boyhoodlum. He was born in Shepparton in 1961 and lives in Melbourne where he writes a column for the Age newspaper.
Neil Balme (Author)
Neil Balme began playing for Richmond aged eighteen in 1970. An uncompromising forward/ruckman, he played a key role in the 1973 and 1974 premierships, before retiring as a player in 1979. He then coached SANFL side Norwood to two premierships before coaching the Melbourne Demons. As head of football at Collingwood, he oversaw two grand finals. As Geelong's head of football he enjoyed three premierships, and since returning to his old home of Richmond as head of football, he has overseen another three premierships - so far.
Nick O'Rourke (Reader)
Nick O'Rourke is one of Australia's leading voice actors who specialises in authentic narratives for brand storytelling. With over 20 years experience in the industry, combined with his vocal diversity and diligence to direction, Nick's voice has been in constant demand for everything from major brand campaigns to long form narrations. As well as being the storyteller of choice for countless global brands and networks, he has also featured in several animation series and is the interactive voice for Samsung Televisions.
Nick studied broadcasting, voice over & writing at AFTRS as well as studying acting in London's east end, before working in radio for several years as a writer, announcer and voiceover. He then went onto voice acting full time through RMK Management.
Over the last few years Nick has combined his love of reading with his wealth of experience in narrative storytelling and brought them to the world of audiobooks. Nick's love of the ocean and passion for surfing, means when he's not in the booth, chances are he's out in the water somewhere.
Anson Cameron (Author)
Anson Cameron has written six critically acclaimed novels: Silences Long Gone, Tin Toys, Confessing the Blues, Lies I Told About a Girl, Stealing Picasso and The Last Pulse as well as two collections of short stories, Nice Shootin' Cowboy and Pepsi Bears and Other Stories, and the childhood memoir Boyhoodlum. He was born in Shepparton in 1961 and lives in Melbourne where he writes a column for the Age newspaper.
Neil Balme (Author)
Neil Balme began playing for Richmond aged eighteen in 1970. An uncompromising forward/ruckman, he played a key role in the 1973 and 1974 premierships, before retiring as a player in 1979. He then coached SANFL side Norwood to two premierships before coaching the Melbourne Demons. As head of football at Collingwood, he oversaw two grand finals. As Geelong's head of football he enjoyed three premierships, and since returning to his old home of Richmond as head of football, he has overseen another three premierships - so far.
Nick O'Rourke (Reader)
Nick O'Rourke is one of Australia's leading voice actors who specialises in authentic narratives for brand storytelling. With over 20 years experience in the industry, combined with his vocal diversity and diligence to direction, Nick's voice has been in constant demand for everything from major brand campaigns to long form narrations. As well as being the storyteller of choice for countless global brands and networks, he has also featured in several animation series and is the interactive voice for Samsung Televisions.
Nick studied broadcasting, voice over & writing at AFTRS as well as studying acting in London's east end, before working in radio for several years as a writer, announcer and voiceover. He then went onto voice acting full time through RMK Management.
Over the last few years Nick has combined his love of reading with his wealth of experience in narrative storytelling and brought them to the world of audiobooks. Nick's love of the ocean and passion for surfing, means when he's not in the booth, chances are he's out in the water somewhere.
Anson Cameron (Author)
Anson Cameron has written six critically acclaimed novels: Silences Long Gone, Tin Toys, Confessing the Blues, Lies I Told About a Girl, Stealing Picasso and The Last Pulse as well as two collections of short stories, Nice Shootin' Cowboy and Pepsi Bears and Other Stories, and the childhood memoir Boyhoodlum. He was born in Shepparton in 1961 and lives in Melbourne where he writes a column for the Age newspaper.
Neil Balme (Author)
Neil Balme began playing for Richmond aged eighteen in 1970. An uncompromising forward/ruckman, he played a key role in the 1973 and 1974 premierships, before retiring as a player in 1979. He then coached SANFL side Norwood to two premierships before coaching the Melbourne Demons. As head of football at Collingwood, he oversaw two grand finals. As Geelong's head of football he enjoyed three premierships, and since returning to his old home of Richmond as head of football, he has overseen another three premierships - so far.
Nick O'Rourke (Reader)
Nick O'Rourke is one of Australia's leading voice actors who specialises in authentic narratives for brand storytelling. With over 20 years experience in the industry, combined with his vocal diversity and diligence to direction, Nick's voice has been in constant demand for everything from major brand campaigns to long form narrations. As well as being the storyteller of choice for countless global brands and networks, he has also featured in several animation series and is the interactive voice for Samsung Televisions.
Nick studied broadcasting, voice over & writing at AFTRS as well as studying acting in London's east end, before working in radio for several years as a writer, announcer and voiceover. He then went onto voice acting full time through RMK Management.
Over the last few years Nick has combined his love of reading with his wealth of experience in narrative storytelling and brought them to the world of audiobooks. Nick's love of the ocean and passion for surfing, means when he's not in the booth, chances are he's out in the water somewhere.