Under the Auld Pump: Former Carlton footballer John Goold recovering from liver surgery

AT A GLANCE

Born: In Melbourne on June 27, 1941.

Partner: Deborah. Children: Edward, William and Jock.

Education: I went to Melbourne Grammar for 10 years and I also got a business management degree.

Sporting highlight: I've been very lucky to have achieved various things during my life in sport and business but I have to rate playing for Carlton when it won premierships in 1968 and 1970 as highlights.

We'll talk about your sporting achievements shortly but I was wondering how is life going for John Goold?

To be quiet honest with you it's been very ordinary for the last few months but I'm hoping things regarding my health have turned around for the better.

John, do you wish to elaborate on your health issues?

In a nutshell, I made my annual visit to my doctor John Menzies in Camperdown. I was diagnosed nearly 40 years ago with Hereditary Edema after my son William was very sick in the Royal Children's Hospital.

I went for my usual blood tests and other medical check-ups in July this year after scans and an MRI and it came back I had a tumour on my liver. I ended up getting a second MRI to confirm the tumour.

They told me the tumour was more than 11 centimetres. The doctors indicated they would not do an operation because of my age.

The news was like a death sentence.

They said an 81-year-old man will not survive a seven-hour operation.

I ended up convincing the doctors to do the operation and I'm still here to talk about it today. They took out 45 per cent of my liver.

I lost more than 25 kilograms in weight over a period of time. I spent three weeks in Box Hill Hospital after the operation before I was transferred to Camperdown Hospital.

I had another three weeks there before I was told I could go home. I've been very lucky to have been under the care of some amazing doctors, surgeons and nurses.

They have all been amazing but I must mention Mr Sean Mackay. He is one of the best cancer surgeons in Australia. People in the Western District are so lucky because Mr Mackay spends one day a month at his Warrnambool clinic.

I must also mention my own GP John Menzies. He has been sensational and I can't forget my partner Deb.

She's done a huge job in very trying circumstances.

Have you had many visitors since you've been back home at your Camperdown farm?

I haven't had that many visitors but a few of my old Carlton teammates - John Nicholls and Ian Collins - came to visit with Blues legends Ken Hunter and Mark Maclure and current coach Michael Voss.

It was great to catch up with them. The best thing was Vossy was really positive about the Blues' chances in 2023.

How are things going forward for John Goold and his health?

The doctors have been really positive. We've got our fingers crossed everything will be alright.

Let's go back to that famous 1970 grand final win when Carlton recovered from being more than 40 points down at half-time and got up to beat Collingwood by 10 points. What are your memories of that game?

It was just a sensational game of footy. It's hard to believe it was more than 50 years ago - as time goes on it has developed into one of the greatest games of footy that has been played in history. I'm just so glad to have been part of it and better still we beat the arch-rival Collingwood.

What really happened in the Carlton change rooms at half-time?

The first thing I want to say is Ron Barassi is the best coach I ever played under. We knew in the late 1970s most teams had about 40 handballs.

We knew in 1970 that a poor day for us was 80 handballs and our minimum was 100 handballs.

Barassi told us at half-time Collingwood's big men, namely Terry Waters, Len Thompson and Graeme Jenkin, were killing us.

Barassi went on to say 'handball out of the back line and then kick long'. His plan was to remove Collingwood's big players from the play and to allow us to find Robert Walls, Alex Jesaulenko and Ted Hopkins up forward.

He made a few positional changes at half-time and one of those was to put me on the wing. I had to leave the field at the five-minute mark of the last quarter with an injury.

What was your injury?

I had broken my shin bone on my right leg in the preliminary final. The break was a vertical one - 30 minutes before the 1970 grand final I was in the medical room getting four injections into my leg.

You're telling me that you played with a broken bone in your leg? That's incredible. Did you suffer any other consequences because of the break?

You can call it incredible but it's true. I had to come off in the last quarter because the painkillers were wearing off.

The medical people had put the injections into my calf, so they would deaden the shin bone. Two days after the grand final I was in the Mercy Hospital having an operation to fix the problem.

How many games did you play at Carlton?

I played 110 games for the Blues and played in two premiership sides in 1968 and 1970. I played in the 1969 grand final against Richmond. Sadly, Richmond defeated us in 1969 but I reckon we were the best team. We just never produced on grand final day.

Did you suffer many injuries during your footy career?

I've already spoken about the 1970 grand final injury but I'll tell you another funny story. In the late 1970s I had a horse roll over my head. I was rushed to the Mortlake Hospital and they transferred me to the Warrnambool Base Hospital. They took an x-ray and they found I had six breaks in my jaw from my old footy days at Carlton.

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