OTHER NATIONALITIES TEAM OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Interchange Bench

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Interchange - Steve Lawrence (Morningside & Hawthorn)

As a teenager, Steve Lawrence was Queensland's first winner, in 1986, of the Larke Medal for best and fairest player at the Teal Cup national under 17 championships.  Tall, mobile and athletic, he had many of the assets necessary to become a truly great player.  Sadly, after a highly promising start to his senior career as a ruckman, he failed to 'kick on', and perhaps the kindest assessment of his 11 season, 146 game V/AFL career would be "could have done better".

Having said that, Steve Lawrence's best was very very good indeed, and this was never better exemplified than in 1991 when he was a key performer for the Hawks in both their night and day premiership successes, as well as the best player afield for Queensland in its 23.14 (152) to 15.18 (108) state of origin defeat of Victoria at the Gabba.  Lawrence was also prominent in the Queensland/Northern Territory combined state of origin side's comfortable win over Tasmania at Bellerive a couple of seasons later.

As the 1990s wore on, however, Hawthorn's decline in fortune was mirrored by that of its 200cm, 100kg South African-born stalwart whose primacy in the ruck ended after the arrival at Glenferrie of former Essendon great Paul Salmon in 1996.  Forced to reinvent himself, the lanky, deceptively awkward looking Lawrence went on to play some of the most consistent football of his career over the next couple of years as a resolute, strong marking defender.  After featuring in the Hawks' opening 4 games of the 1998 season, however, Lawrence was dropped to the reserves where he sustained back and cheek injuries which ultimately brought his senior AFL career to an end.

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Interchange - Marty Atkins (South Fremantle)

Englishman Marty Atkins was a key feature of the football landscape at South Fremantle for over a decade.  Recruited from Kwinana, the 189cm 92kg Atkins was a former soccer goalkeeper whose determination and adaptability made him equally adept in key positions at either end of the ground. His promise was immediately recognised when he was awarded the Arthur Hankinson 'Player of the Future' Medal at the end of his debut season with the Bulldogs in 1990. 

Tough and resilient, Atkins embraced few frills in his approach to the game but was almost invariably effective.

First chosen to represent Western Australia in 1992, Atkins made a total of 6 appearances for his state in an era when interstate representative football was in decline.  A policeman, he also represented the Western Australian police team at a number of interstate carnivals, gaining All Australian selection several times.  By the time of his retirement he had played a total of 266 WAFL games, breaking a long standing club record held by Tom Grljusich.

The highlight of Atkins' career came in 1997 when he was one of his team's best players in an emotionally charged come-from-behind grand final victory over perennial arch rivals East Fremantle.  Two years later in South Freo's centenary season, Atkins was controversially forced to miss the Bulldogs' premiership showdown with West Perth after an apparently innocuous incident in the 2nd semi final game against the same club led to his suspension.  Without his experience and steadying influence, the Bulldogs narrowly lost a match they might have won.

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Interchange - Stuart Palmer (South Adelaide)

South Adelaide's games record holder with 337 appearances, Stuart Palmer was rarely in the headlines, but often in the best player lists, during his 17 season stint with the under-achieving Panthers.  

Born in the English town of Nelson, Palmer moved with his family to Australia when aged 5, and made his South Adelaide debut in April 1969, shortly before his 18th birthday, when he came off the bench in the 2nd term to register a goal with his 1st kick in League football.  The fact that South's opponents that day were Port Adelaide, and the venue Alberton, made the achievement even more meritorious, and when Palmer booted 4 goals from centre half forward the following week he was immediately hailed as a star in the making.  At season's end, he won a media award for the best first year player in the SANFL.  "I would have preferred to make an honest start and build a reputation," he later confided (see footnote 1), recalling how his career subsequently stalled for a few years before, under the astute coaching of Haydn Bunton Junior, Palmer, along with South Adelaide, re-emerged as a force during the second half of the 1970s.

Under Bunton, the 193cm, 85.5kg Palmer demonstrated his versatility, playing in a number of positions, including full back in the 1979 grand final, one of only two premiership play offs contested by the Panthers since the 2nd World War.

A spectacular high mark and excellent reader of the play, Palmer was a regular member of South Australian interstate training squads during the late 1970s and early '80s, but made just 1 appearance, against Queensland in 1980.  He was South Adelaide's skipper for 3 seasons, from 1982 to 1984.

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Interchange - Marty McDonnell (Footscray)

New Zealand-born Marty McDonnell played just 91 VFL games in a war interrupted career but was one of the finest defenders of his era. Selected to represent the Big V on 8 occasions, McDonnell was originally recruited from one of Footscray’s richest talent reservoirs, the Footscray District Football League, where he had played for West Footscray. From his very first VFL game in 1939 McDonnell demonstrated an unflappable maturity beyond his years and while he may never have been exactly a household name he went on to serve both his club and state with distinction.  Had it not been for the intervention of the war he might now be remembered as one of the VFL's greatest ever defenders.

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Interchange - Frank Stemper (Woodville & Norwood)

After emigrating from Germany as a youngster, Frank Stemper gave solid service to 2 clubs during a 12 season, 214 game League career.  Commencing with Woodville in 1970, Stemper won 2 club fairest and best awards before apparently retiring at the end of a 1978 season in which he had captained the club to its best performance up to that point.  Stemper had been warned by doctors that he risked cracking his kneecap if he continued to play football but in 1980 he surprised everyone by returning to the fray with a new club, Norwood.

Over the next 3 seasons Frank Stemper played some of the best football of his career.  In 1980 he was one of the Redlegs' best players in their narrow grand final loss to Port Adelaide, while 2 seasons later he was again prominent as Norwood won the flag with a 62 point demolition of Glenelg.  Having presumably now achieved his main football ambition, Stemper promptly retired, this time for good.

For most of his career Frank Stemper played in the backlines where his pace and anticipation made him a quintessential rebound player.  During the twilight years of his career he was a regular member of South Australian interstate training squads but was only once selected in the team.

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Interchange - Don Pyke (Claremont, West Coast, Belconnen)

US-born Don Pyke commenced his League career with Claremont in 1987, the year that the Western Australian football landscape changed forever with the admission of the Perth-based West Coast Eagles to the VFL.  Pyke himself would soon have a measurable impact on Australian football's elite competition, but not before providing Claremont with sterling service over 54 games which included the victorious 1987 and 1989 grand finals.  After playing the last of his 132 League games with West Coast in 1996, Pyke rounded off his career in style by returning 'home' and featuring prominently in Claremont's 2 point grand final victory over East Perth, following which he retired.

Not blessed with a superabundance of pace or the classical ball handling skills of team mates like Chris Lewis and Peter Matera, Pyke was nevertheless at least as important to the Eagles as those players by virtue of his consistency, and ability to make light of pressure and duress, and get and use the ball effectively, time and time again.  At his peak during the period between 1991 and 1994, Pyke was a prominent member of the Eagles' 'engine room' during their 1992 and 1994 premiership wins, and was voted club champion in 1993.  He had earlier, in 1988, been accorded the same honour at Claremont.

In 1999 Don Pyke returned to Claremont as senior coach, but after two seasons of modest success he was replaced by Mark Riley.

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Footnotes

1.  'SANFL Football Budget', volume 54, number 30, 29/9/79, page 11.  Return to Main Text