|
|
From
the time he began with Geelong in 1890 until
his retirement 20 years and well over 200 games later, Henry 'Tracker'
Young was a lynch-pin of the team. Supremely powerful in the air,
and surprisingly adept on the ground, he was renowned for his supreme
fitness that enabled him to ruck untiringly for 4 quarters. His
understanding with his rovers was uncanny, and his deftness in palming the
ball to them regardless of how much duress he was under was a celebrated
feature of his game.
A stirring and vocal on-field leader, Young had the honour of captaining the VFL at the inaugural Australasian championship series in Melbourne in 1908 as well as skippering the Pivotonians from 1901 to 1909. He was a prominent all round sportsman who enjoyed success in rowing, cycling and amateur boxing. Tragically, and somewhat ironically given his obsession with physical fitness, he died young in 1923 after sustaining a massive heart attack. |
Back to 19th Century Team List
| Described
as a 'human meteor', Essendon's champion
of the 1880s Charlie 'Commotion' Pearson was alleged to have developed a
new style of marking, whereby he "would sail over the heads of his
earth-bound opponents, arms outstretched in great feats of aerobatics, to
the dismay of old timers, and the fears of the public". (From Flying
Higher by Michael Maplestone, page 31.) Prior to this, players
had typically marked the ball either on the chest, or with arms stretched
out in front of the body. Pearson's new method soon caught on,
both among team mates and opponents, and so the most distinctively
spectacular feature of the Australian game was born.
Pearson, who worked on an outback sheep station in Queensland, only played intermittently for the Same Old, and never trained. Despite this, his performances in 1886 were so consistently brilliant that he was voted Champion of the Colony. There was much more to Pearson's game than just high marking, and former Essendon player Alf Young, writing in the 1920s, described him as the best all round player he had seen, better even than Albert Thurgood. |
Back to 19th Century Team List
|
|
Known as 'Tracker', Essendon's Charles Forbes was one of many stars at Essendon during the 1890s when the club won four successive premierships between 1891 and 1894, and was perennially at the forefront of the game. He was voted Champion of the Colony in 1892, and was still among the finest ruckmen in the game six years later when the Essendon was one of eight founder members of the VFL. The Same Old went top that year, and Forbes was arguably the biggest single factor in their dominance. There have been more formidable ruckmen in terms of size and on field presence than Forbes, but few who have been so dominant over so long a period (more than a decade). |
Back to 19th Century Team List
|
|
One
of the first Tasmanians to make a significant impact in Victorian
football, George Vautin began his senior career with Launceston-based NTFA
side City. In 1889 he was a
member of a Tasmanian representative side that played four matches in
Victoria, and one presumes that it was during this tour that he came to
the attention of Essendon officials, for
the 1890 season saw him lining up for the Same Old.
Renowned for his pace, elusiveness and guile, Vautin quickly established himself as one of the VFA's top rovers and indeed players. Between 1891 and 1892 he helped Essendon to four successive premiership wins, while on a personal note he became, in 1895, the club's fourth ever winner of the Champion of the Colony award. Still a top quality performer when Essendon became a founder member of the VFL in 1897, Vautin was a key contributor to the club's flag win that year. Having played an unknown number of VFA games, he then added a total of 28 VFL matches in 1897-8 before retiring. |
Back to 19th Century Team List
|
|
Widely
regarded as the finest rover of his day, John 'Bunny' Daly was at the
forefront of the game for almost twenty years. Commencing at Norwood
in 1887, his blistering pace and exquisite skills of evasion made him a
virtual overnight sensation, and he was one of the main reasons for the
Redlegs' hat trick of premierships between 1887 and '89. In 1888 he
helped his club to an emphatic triumph 3-0 over South
Melbourne in a three match 'Test' series to determine Australia's
champion club.
After twelve seasons and roughly 130 games with Norwood, Daly was forced to move to West Adelaide in 1899 because of a new rule stipulating that players had to play for the club in whose electoral district they resided. At the time, West Adelaide was consistently floundering near the base of the premiership ladder, and although 'Bunny' Daly continued to perform with great distinction, he was unable to improve the club's lot. He retired at the end of the 1904 season after a total of precisely 200 games which spawned 4 premierships. He also played 7 times for South Australia. John Daly's brother Anthony was a champion goal kicker with no fewer than five different clubs, while his son, John junior, was a star rover with South Adelaide and South Australia during the 1920s. |
Back to 19th Century Team List
