In 1999, Jim Black was selected in the right forward pocket in the official 'ACT Legends' team which commemorated 75 years of football in Canberra.
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Four
time Queanbeyan best and fairest award winner
(in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1980) Jim Black played a total of 191 games
during what was probably his club's least auspicious era. However,
it is doubtful if there have been many ACT players to match his
motivational energy and skill. A genuinely two-sided player at a
time when this was by no means the norm, Black was still in the middle of
an illustrious junior career when he made his senior debut for Queanbeyan
aged just 15. A livewire rover, his ability near the goal front made
him ideal as a forward pocket 'change' player. Popularly known as
'Blackie', he represented the ACT on 18 occasions, including the famous
win over the VFL at Manuka Oval in 1980, the same year that saw his
appointment as Tigers captain. In 1981, he also took on the coaching
mantle whilst continuing as a player, but after struggling through the
season with persistent knee injuries, did not resume in either role in
1982.
In 1999, Jim Black was selected in the right forward pocket in the official 'ACT Legends' team which commemorated 75 years of football in Canberra. |
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Full Forward - Aaron Hamill (Tuggeranong, Carlton, St Kilda) |
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After playing basketball and both codes of rugby in addition to football while growing up in Canberra, Aaron Hamill eventually decided to concentrate on the indigenous game, learning some of the tools of the trade at Tuggeranong from former St Kilda legend Kevin 'Cowboy' Neale. In 1995 he joined Carlton, making his senior debut in round 15 the following year against Adelaide at Optus Oval. During 5 seasons at Carlton, Hamill played a total of 92 games and kicked 114 goals, and was a member of the Blues' 1997 pre-season premiership side. In 2001 he moved to St Kilda where he has thrived on the added responsibility deriving from his being one of the most experienced members of a generally young side. Since joining the Saints he has also demonstrated greater flexibility in his game, often spending time, to telling effect, in the centre of the ground, where he excels at tackling and hard ball gets. Hamill represented the Allies at state of origin level against Western Australia in 1997. |
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Left Forward Pocket - Brett Allison (Belconnen, North Melbourne, Sydney) |
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One
of the best crumbing forwards of his era, Brett Allison enjoyed the
perhaps unique distinction during his career of playing interstate or
representative football for 5 different teams: Victoria, his home
territory of the ACT, New South Wales, New South Wales-ACT combined, and
the Allies. Between 1987 and 1999 he was a key member of a North
Melbourne/Kangaroos side that came to have few equals, winning
premierships in 1996 and 1999, and a pre-season flag in 1995. Brett
Allison played in all 3 of these premiership winning combinations.
Equally capable of both the spectacular (see left) and the honest and straight forward, Allison was almost certainly one of the first names entered on the Kangas' team sheet every weekend throughout coach Denis Pagan's reign. He topped the club's goal kicking list with 43 goals in 1997, and ran 3rd in the best and fairest voting the same year. At the end of the 1999 season he was released by the Kangaroos and picked up at number 70 in the national draft by Sydney. However, he failed to sparkle in his new surroundings, and retired at the end of a 2000 season which brought his final tally of AFL games to 228; he also booted 285 goals, a large proportion of them as a result of expert scouting of packs in and around the goal square. |
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