Briedis booted seven behinds in the famous drawn decider against Collingwood in 1977 and the inaccurate kicking contributed to the Kangaroos’ wayward final score of 9.22 (76).
“I felt guilty as all the behinds I kicked could have cost the football club and all the supporters a premiership, so that didn’t feel too good,” Briedis told afl.com.au.
“I had 11 shots for goal in that grand final and never put one through the middle.
“At least I got the ball. There’s other games you play where you don’t even touch the ball, but I had 20-odd possessions on the half-forward flank, so I just needed to keep that form up and kick straight and it would be a different story.”
His confidence in his ability paid off in the replay a week later, as Briedis, then 22, redeemed himself by kicking five goals as the Ron Barassi-coached Kangaroos won by 27 points.
The turnaround in form that Briedis managed back in ’77 should provide some inspiration for Cloke, who missed two crucial shots at goal shortly before half time in last weekend’s drawn grand final against St Kilda.
“Travis can play football, he can get the ball and he can kick well on most occasions,” Briedis said.
“It’s just one of those things. If he goes and has those couple of shots again, he probably kicks them.
“I knew I wasn’t that bad a kick and I’m sure Travis believes in himself as well.
“Travis has just got to go back, stick to his routine, and make sure he kicks through the ball and hopefully they go through.”
Given his experience 33 years ago, Briedis believes the Collingwood and St Kilda players should be more focused on recovery than fitness this week.
“We trained very lightly, in comparison to Collingwood. Tom Hafey chose, not to flog his players, but to train his players very hard,” he said.
“We spent not even an hour on the track for those three training sessions.
“Half the time you did you warm-up, then it was a quick handball, quick kick and you were off. It was all about not thinking too much about it."
