pure on the ball I could have made the distance with that little breeze.” The kick fell short, allowing the Bulldogs to escape with a two-point victory. Injuries took their toll in 1996, restricting Allan to 8 games for the season. In 1997 he relinquished the captaincy to Peter Mann and managed to play 17 games. However, a degenerative knee condition caused Allan to retire from football at the end of the 1997 season. He had played 145 AFL games in total, along with 66 for Claremont and 6 state games, earning him a position in the WA Football Two Hundred Club. Coaching Allan stayed at the club as an assistant coach in 1998. When it became clear that inaugural senior coach Gerard Neesham would not coach Fremantle in 1999, Allan tendered his resignation pending the appointment of a replacement. When interviewed by new senior coach Damian Drum, he was told no position would be available. His disappointment was obvious, telling the media: "this is a real kick in the teeth. I saw my involvement at the club as long-term. It was a huge decision to leave Hawthorn and it seems everything has gone sour since. My career was cut short by injury and now this. It is very hard to swallow. This means Drum and the club believe I have nothing to offer – or they have made a huge mistake. The only thing that has kept me buoyed is the fact that in this industry all players and coaches get kicked in the guts at some stage." Ironically, three years later Allan was called on as caretaker senior coach to replace Damian Drum who was sacked after the team's 10th consecutive loss, a diabolical performance against the Sydney Swans at the Sydney Cricket Ground in round nine, 2001. Despite his role three years previously as assistant coach, Allan did not view the appointment as leading to a permanent position. On being made senior coach, he told the media: "I'm not in a caretaker role to try to further my career for next year. If you look at the history of caretaker coaches, they all wanted to have a crack at it for the next year. I'm there to help out. It gives the club time to look for someone who's been there and done that and then I can go off on my merry way. If we win