Right Centre Wing - Mil Hanna (Carlton)

Known by admiring Carlton supporters as 'the Cranium' (for a reason which requires no explanation), Hanna was especially renowned for his speed, ball skills and prodigious kicking ability.  Even towards the end of his playing career, he still regularly beat all of his team mates over electronically timed dashes of 10, 15 and 40 metres.  

Mil Hanna was at his best during the first half of the 1990s, gaining AFL All Australian selection in 1992 and finishing runner up to Stephen Kernahan in the Carlton best and fairest voting the same year.  Named on a half back flank in Carlton's losing grand final team of 1993 Hanna was on a wing 2 years later as the Blues annihilated Geelong.  The only Lebanese footballer to play the game at its highest level, he retired after the 1997 season with 182 League games to his credit.

Centre - Alex Jesaulenko (Eastlake, Carlton, St Kilda, Sandgate - captain)

Jesaulenko commenced his senior football career with Eastlake and was a member of that club's 1964, '65 and '66 premiership sides.  However, even before he made his senior debut he had begun to attract the attention of clubs in the VFL.  At first, North Melbourne looked favourites to procure his signature, but in the end, thanks perhaps to some judicious string-pulling behind the scenes (though this has never been conclusively proved), Jesaulenko signed with Carlton, making his League debut as a 21 year old against Fitzroy in 1967.  Despite only managing a handful of possessions that day 'Jezza', as he was quickly dubbed by the adoring Carlton faithful, gave glimpses of the type of sublime, classy football which would become his trademark.

Equally adept either on the ground or in the air, Jesaulenko was a player opposing coaches found it almost impossible to stifle.  If beaten in one position he could simply transfer somewhere else and as likely as not merge as a match winner.  Possessed in abundance of all the major football skills, Jesaulenko supplemented his ability with tremendous intelligence and awareness, making him, if you like, a kind of 'Greg Williams with pace'.  In terms of pure footballing ability, few players in the history of the game have come close to matching him.

Early in his career Jesaulenko played chiefly on the forward lines, topping Carlton's goal kicking list on 3 successive occasions between 1969 and 1971.  Indeed, in 1970, when he spent a fair amount of time at full forward, he became the only Carlton player in history to 'top the ton'.

A premiership player in 1968, 1970 and 1972, Jesaulenko was personally responsible for one of the most memorable moments ever to occur in a VFL grand final when, in 1970, he used his opponent Graeme Jenkin as a proverbial step ladder in taking what some have termed 'the mark of the century'.  (To view a photo of the mark, click here.)

In 1978 Carlton appointed triple Brownlow Medallist Ian Stewart as coach but ill health forced the former St Kilda and Richmond champion to resign early in the season.  After a month or so in which Sergio Silvagni undertook the coaching role on a caretaker basis it was Jesaulenko to whom the club eventually turned, albeit not without a fair degree of hesitancy on the part of club president George Harris.  Indeed, it appears that Jezza himself was hesitant as well, for he initially refused the job.  However, within weeks of assuming the coaching mantle it seemed that Jesaulenko had been born to the role.  He steered the Blues to the finals in 1978, and a year later he took them to a memorable 5 point grand final win over arch rivals Collingwood.  A long career as Carlton coach seemingly beckoned, but when George Harris was surprisingly supplanted as club president Jesaulenko decided it was time for him to leave as well.

In 1980 Jesaulenko continued his VFL career with St Kilda, initially just as player, but after coach Mike Patterson was dismissed just 2 weeks into the season he took up the coaching reins as well.  Things were much tougher at Moorabbin, and in 2 seasons as playing coach and 1 in an off field role the side finished no higher than 10th.

In 15 seasons of League football Alex Jesaulenko played 283 games (260 of them for Carlton).  He was an All Australian in 1969 and 1972, and a VFL representative on 15 occasions.  He won the Carlton club champion award in 1975.  Midway through the 1989 season he was surprisingly recalled to Princes Park to replace Robert Walls as Carlton's senior coach but in 18 months at the helm he failed to steer the club to success. 

Left Centre Wing - John Hayes (East Perth, West Adelaide, Claremont, South Fremantle)

Renowned for his versatility and dependability, John Hayes, who originally hailed from Ireland, was a regular Western Australian interstate representative for much of his 16 season, 283 game League career.  Having been converted from soccer whilst attending De La Salle College near Perth, Hayes joined East Perth in 1969 and soon made a name for himself as a hard running utility player.  In 1972 he made his interstate debut at the Perth carnival, and later that year he was a member of the Royals' victorious grand final side.  After spending the 1975 season with West Adelaide, where he played 11 League games, Hayes returned to the west in 1976 and joined Claremont.  Over the next couple of seasons he added a further 39 League games to his total before returning 'home' to East Perth in 1978, just in time to participate in that club's heart stopping grand final victory over Perth (a full review of which can be found by clicking here).

Between 1978 and 1982 John Hayes was a stalwart in an East Perth side which he captained during his final 2 seasons.  With his games total for the Royals on precisely 200 he made a final move in 1983 to South Fremantle, where he added a further 33 games over his final couple of League seasons.

Equally adept in a key position or in a running role, the 185cm 77kg Hayes was a team player par excellence; seldom spectacular, almost always effective, he was a genuine unsung hero of Western Australian football for well over a decade.