Go straight to the biography of your choice by clicking on the appropriate link:
[Lindsay Backman] [Owen Backwell] [Jack Bacquie] [Jack Baggott] [Ron Baggott] [Ken Bagley] [Paul Bagshaw] [Clem Bahen] [Alby Bahr] [Barclay 'Titch' Bailes] [George Bailey] [Ray Bailey] [Les Bailiff] [David Bain] [Jim Baird] [Mark Bairstow] [Charles Baker] [Gary Baker] [Harry Baker] [Kevin Baker] [Leon Baker] [Phil Baker] [Ted Baker] [Darrel Baldock] [Jason Baldwin] [Gerald Balme] [Neil Balme] [Peter Bampton] [Dennis Banks] [Thomas Banks] [William 'Horrie' Bant] [Ron Barassi junior] [Barrie Barbary] [Adrian Barich] [Fred Baring] [E.A. 'Tim' Barker] [Gilbert Barker] [Jack Barker] [Lou Barker] [Sydney Barker senior] [Trevor Barker] [Bobbie Barnes] [Rod Barrett] [Dennis Barron] [Norman Barron] [William Barrot] [Frank 'Dinky' Barry] [Kevin Bartlett] [Victor Barwick] [Nathan Bassett] [Arthur Batchelor] [Bill Bateman] [Vic Bateman] [George Bates] [Adrian Battiston] [Alf Baud] [Don Bauer] [Robert Bawden] [Ken Baxter] [Ron Bayens] [Mark Bayes] [Percy Beames] [Neville Beard] [Simon Beasley] [Doug Beasy] [Maurie Beasy] [Tammy Beauchamp] [Reg Beaufoy] [Les Beck] [Bill Becker] [Tony Beckett] [Norman Beckton] [John Beckwith] [Peter Bedford] [Barry Beecroft] [Bob Beecroft] [Alan Belcher] [Vic Belcher] [Anthony Bellos] [Paul Belton] [Roy Bence] [John Benetti] [Colin Benham] [George Bennett] [Greg Bennett] [Jack Bennett] [Peter Bennett] [Edgar 'Dickie' Bennetts] [Jeff Bennetts] [Roy Bent] [Percy Bentley] [Ron Benton] [William Benton] [Hans 'Ossie' Bertram] [John Beveridge] [Corry Bewick] [Darren Bewick] [Ron Bewick] [Andrew Bews] [Peter Beythien]
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Lindsay Backman (South Adelaide)
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| A
player of great versatility, commitment and skill, Lindsay Backman became South
Adelaide's first 200 game footballer in 1972 after a career that
spanned the club's glory days under Neil
Kerley and the onset of the subsequent sad demise from which it has so
far failed fully to recover. After an outstanding junior career
which culminated in the 1960 McCallum Medal for best and fairest in the
SANFL's Colts competition, Backman made his league debut in 1961.
Belying his name, Backman was a forward early in his career, and later alternated between the forward
lines and the centre, in which latter position he was among the best players
afield as the Panthers overcame both the odds and Port
Adelaide in the 1964 grand final.
During the interval between the 1969 and 1970 football seasons Backman bulked some 6kg to about 86kg which prompted coach Jimmy Deane to use him as a run-on ruckman. It was a move which succeeded spectacularly, as Backman, who also assumed South's captaincy, enjoyed easily his best season in football, representing South Australia for the first (and only) time, winning the Knuckey Cup as the club's best and fairest, and earning outright favouritism for the Magarey Medal on the strength of his virtual clean sweep of the season's major media awards. In the event, North Adelaide's Barrie Robran won the Magarey Medal, with Backman 11 votes adrift in 6th place, but in the opinion of the majority of impartial observers it was Backman who had undeniably been the season's outstanding performer. Well balanced, safe overhead and sure at ground level, extremely pacy, and a superb kick, especially with his favoured left foot, Backman finally retired from league football with 203 games to his credit. He won South Adelaide's goal kicking award on five occasions and the Knuckey Cup once, and is a member of the club's official 'Greatest Team'. |
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Owen Backwell (Western Districts) by Murray Bird and Peter Blucher |
| A dual Grogan Medallist (1971 and '75) who played 300 games for Wests through the 1970s and '80s, and more than 20 games for Queensland. Was a brilliant goal kicking rover who topped the QAFL goal kicking ladder with 93 goals in 1977, and played a key role in Bulldogs premierships in 1977-78. Had a short stint at Fitzroy, but did not play any senior games. |
| Jack
Bacquie was an explosively talented forward who courted some controversy
during the course of a league career that encompassed a fourteen seasons
but which, for various reasons, only saw him play a total of 85 games. He
began with Melbourne in 1907, and after a
couple of seasons there crossed to Carlton.
In 1910 he was a member of the Blues' grand final winning team against Collingwood,
when he was reported for fighting, and ended up being suspended for the
whole of the following season. Bacquie spent most of 1912 playing for
country side Seymour, but then was
controversially recalled by Carlton for the VFL finals. After playing 37
games and kicking 20 goals for Carlton he returned to Melbourne in 1914
where he continued to play intermittently until 1920, taking his final
tally of games with the club to 48, and the number of goals kicked to 12. |
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Jack Baggott (Northcote, Richmond, Essendon, South Melbourne)
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| Jack Baggott commenced his senior career with Northcote where he played 16 games and kicked 25 goals in 1925. Fast and versatile, he was capable of great football at both ends of the ground, a fact he proved repeatedly and most emphatically during the course of his 128 game VFL career with Richmond between 1927 and 1935. He topped the Tigers' goal kicking list in both of his first two seasons in league football, but was equally accomplished as a defender. A member of Richmond's 1932 and 1934 premiership-winning combinations, he turned his hand to coaching with Essendon in 1936, initially as a player also, but he retired after 19 further VFL games in order to concentrate on his duties as coach. He remained at the helm at Essendon until he resigned early in the 1939 season, claiming he had lost the confidence of the club committee. He returned to the VFL scene in 1940 as coach of South Melbourne, but a lack lustre season which yielded just 7 wins precipitated his departure. While with Richmond Baggott had represented the VFL during the 1928 season. |
| The
younger brother of Jack
Baggott, Ron Baggott was a key member of Melbourne's
powerful sides of the late 1930s and early 1940s.
A superb high mark and a fine kick, he was at centre half forward
in the victorious grand finals of 1939, 1940 and 1941. His league career,
which was interrupted by the war, saw him play a total of 133 games and
kick 310 goals between 1935 and 1942 and in 1945.
He also represented the VFL. |
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| Renowned
for his versatility, Ken Bagley played in virtually every position on the
ground in his thirteen season, 232 game league career with Swan
Districts. Such versatility made him an invaluable player in
state matches, and he occupied a total of eight different positions in his 13
game interstate career for Western Australia, which took in both the 1961
and 1966 carnivals.
At club level, Bagley was a key contributor towards Swan Districts' first three senior premierships in 1961-2-3. He was named among the best players in all three grand finals, and his performance from centre half forward in 1963 against East Fremantle earned him the Simpson Medal. Two years later, his big game reputation was further enhanced when he was Swans' best player in a losing grand final, once again against Old Easts. Ken Bagley's key strengths were his aerial ability and his kicking prowess, both reinforced by his undying and expressively visble commitment to the team cause. |
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| Paul Bagshaw, who was the son of a former Sturt player in Hartley Bagshaw, was one of the most skilful players ever to appear in South Australian league football. During a seventeen season career which began in 1964 Bagshaw played a total of 374 games (360 club and 14 state), kicked 258 goals, and was voted Sturt's best and fairest player on five occasions. He took part in each of the Double Blues' seven 'Oatey era' premierships. Although the majority of his football was played as a ruck-rover, Bagshaw was just as effective as a key position player or centreman, and while playing mainly as a full forward he topped the club's goal kicking list with 74 goals in 1978. One of the game's last truly great exponents of the drop kick, he was also a master of handball, a superb mark, and had that rare champion's ability of always seeming unflustered, even when under the most intense pressure. A knack for achieving the seemingly impossible in tight or intimidating situations gave rise to the nickname 'Mr. Magic', and when you consider that the Sturt teams in which Bagshaw appeared were undoubtedly some of the most genuinely magical in the history of the SANFL that is high praise indeed. |
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| Clem Bahen was a highly skilled wingman and half forward flanker who gave fine service to Subiaco in 158 games between 1917 and 1928. A combination of electrifying pace and spectacular leaping ability made him one of the most eye-catching players of his generation, and it was once written of him that "there is no greater stylist in the game" (see footnote 1). The biggest disappointment of his career came in 1924, when an ankle injury forced him out of the Maroons' challenge final team against East Fremantle, a match which Subiaco won by 27 points. Clem Bahen's 10 interstate appearances for Western Australia included the decisive match of the 1921 Perth carnival against South Australia. |
Footnotes1. Cited in Diehards 1896-1945 by Ken Spillman, page 79. Return to Main Text |
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| One of the foremost identities in the illustrious history of the Norwood Football Club, Alby Bahr was also a leading figure in the game in South Australia for over a decade. Between 1902 and 1912 he played a total of 133 Association and league games for the Redlegs, which included the winning grand finals of 1904 and 1907, both against Port Adelaide. Captain of the 1907 premiership side, Bahr lined up on grand final day at centre half back, but he also played as a forward and follower at various times during his career. When the first ever Australasian championships were conducted in Melbourne in 1908, Bahr was chosen as South Australia's captain. He also captained his club for four seasons, including the premiership year of 1907. Voted Norwood's best and fairest player no fewer than five times, Alby Bahr, who played for most of his career as a follower, was also the club's first ever playing coach, a role he undertook in 1911 and 1912, having captained the side between 1907 and 1910. He was a South Australian interstate representative on 8 occasions. The significance of his impact as a player was acknowledged with his selection in a back pocket in the Redlegs' official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Barclay Bailes (Perth, Fitzroy, Brighton)
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| 'Titch'
Bailes' league career began at Perth, where he played in a losing grand
final team in 1904. The following year he transferred to Fitzroy,
where he was a tremendous fan favourite throughout his five season, 79 game
VFL career which included a best afield performance on the wing in the
1905 challenge final defeat of Collingwood,
after which it was said that "every spectator at the match was charmed by his
brilliance" (see footnote 1). Bailes also
played superbly in the following year's decisive match, but could not
prevent a sizeable loss to Carlton.
In addition to his popular nickname of 'Titch', Bailes was also sometimes referred to as 'Bendigo'. He was a key player for the VFL at the inaugural interstate championship series in Melbourne. Bailes transferred to Brighton in 1910, but his VFA career was cut short when he sustained a serious facial injury. |
Footnotes1. The Encyclopedia of League Footballers by Jim Main and Russell Holmesby, page 14. Return to Main Text |
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George Bailey (Perth & Carlton)
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| George
Bailey was an extremely talented defender and occasional ruckman who
enjoyed considerable success in two states. After making his league
debut with Perth in 1937, he crossed to Carlton
on a war permit in 1941, and spent a couple of seasons in the VFL.
Wartime commitments precluded his fronting up in 1943 and 1944, but in
1945 he resumed with Perth and enjoyed the best season of his career,
winning both a Sandover
Medal and his club's fairest and best award. The following year
saw Bailey forced to stand out of football as he sought, but was refused,
a clearance back to Carlton. The clearance was finally granted in
1947 and he spent another two seasons with the Blues to take his final
tally of VFL games to 58. The highlight of his time in Victoria was
his participation in Carlton's 1 point victory over Essendon
in the 1947 grand final.
The 1949 season saw George Bailey back 'home' with Perth where he spent the final three years of his career as a player. In 1949 he was in a back pocket as the Redlegs lost to West Perth in the premiership decider, and the following year, having assumed the coaching reins but not the captaincy, he starred at full back in a 6 point grand final loss to South Fremantle. Bailey carried on as playing coach in 1951 (steering the side to 3rd place), and in a non-playing capacity the next year (when the side slumped to 6th). In 1953 he was replaced as coach by Ern Henfry, who two years later would steer the Redlegs to a long overdue flag (described here). George Bailey, who played a total of 110 WANFL games during the Perth phases of his career, somewhat surprisingly never represented his state. However, his high reputation at Perth was emphasised in 1999 with his selection in a back pocket in the club's official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Ray Bailey (North Hobart & Launceston)
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| Ray Bailey was a handy half forward flanker capable of moments of genuine brilliance. Quick, elusive, and an excellent kick for goal, he was an important player for North Hobart between 1958 and 1964, during which time he played a total of 138 senior games, besides helping the club to the 'double' of local and state premierships in both 1961 and 1962. He finished his playing career with a three and a half season stint with Launceston that was brought to an abrupt end when he suffered a serious knee injury. During his time with North Hobart, Ray Bailey was selected to represent Tasmania 3 times. In August 2000 he was named in North Hobart's unplaced 'Team of the Century'. |
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| Recruited from Geelong West, Les Bailiff made his VFL debut for Geelong midway through the 1898 season away at St Kilda. Described during his playing career as moving 'like a racehorse', he was clever, elusive, and rarely made mistakes. He played most of his 63 VFL games as a wingman, although he was also a highly effective centreman. He made his interstate debut for the VFL against South Australia in 1903, but shortly afterwards, in a game against South Melbourne at Corio Oval, he was seriously injured and never played top level football again. |
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David Bain (East Perth, Waratahs, Brisbane, Fitzroy, Southport)
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| Originally from Maylands, David Bain made his league debut with East Perth in 1985, and went on to play a total of 72 games with the club over the next four seasons. His final season with the Royals was his best, as he won both the club's fairest and best award, and the Sandover Medal. In 1989 he joined Brisbane, winning a best and fairest award in his second season, and belying his lightweight (177cm, 76kg) frame with his consistently courageous and often overtly physical performances. After 86 games with the Bears he crossed to Fitzroy in 1994 and added a final dozen AFL games to his tally. His senior career was still far from over, however, as he spent the period from 1995 to 2000 with QAFL power side Southport, winning two Grogan Medals, and the club's 1995 best and fairest award. He also captained the Sharks to no fewer than four premierships in succession, earning inclusion for himself in the club's official Hall of Fame. Bain also played briefly for NTFL side Waratahs. |
| A
dual premiership player with the Blues, Jim Baird was equally at home at
both ends of the ground or on the ball. When Carlton
beat South Melbourne in the infamous
'Bloodbath' grand final of 1945 (reviewed here)
he lined up in a back pocket, while two years later he contributed 3 goals
from full forward to the Blues' 1 point win against Essendon.
Extremely pacy, and a useful kick, Baird played 129 VFL games and booted
85 goals between 1941 and 1943 and from 1945 to 1951. |
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Mark Bairstow (South Fremantle & Geelong)
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| Mark Bairstow commenced his league career at South Fremantle where he won the best first year player award in 1985 and both the club fairest and best and Sandover Medal the following year. A smooth running, prolific ball-winning on-baller, he crossed to Geelong in 1987 and was an immediate success, achieving All Australian selection in his debut season, and earning a reputation as one of the premier midfielders in the game. Always a country boy at heart, however, he caused something of a stir immediately after playing in the losing grand final of 1989 against Hawthorn by returning to his home town of Lake Grace where he spent the entire 1990 season. In 1991, the Cats coaxed him back into the fold, and he made up for lost time by producing some of the best football of his career, earning AFL All Australian selection in both 1991 and 1992. By the time of his retirement in 1994, Bairstow had played 146 V/AFL games and kicked 172 goals. He captained the Cats in his last three seasons in league football. |
| Charles
Baker joined St Kilda from St Pat's
Ballarat and promptly hit the headlines by kicking 4 goals in his debut
match against |
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Gary Baker (Footscray, Melbourne, Sydney, Mordialloc, Moorabbin)
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| Rugged, hard working and a tremendous team man, Gary 'Bull' Baker commenced his senior VFL career in 1972 with Footscray, for whom he played 14 games and kicked 7 goals in two seasons. In 1974 he crossed to Melbourne where he produced the best football of his career, peaking in a 1978 season that saw him land the club's best and fairest award. A knee injury, however, proved a major setback, and over his last few seasons with the Demons he lost form and, perhaps because of the mobility restrictions imposed by the knee, put on a fair amount of weight. In a bid to resurrect his career he crossed to Sydney in 1983 but managed just 6 games and 5 goals for the year before deciding to leave the VFL scene behind. His eight season stint with Melbourne saw him play a total of 127 senior games and kick 112 goals. Baker later played and coached in the VFA with Mordialloc and Moorabbin, winning a best and fairest award with the former club in 1985. |
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| Tall (183cm), fleet of foot, and fearless, Harry Baker was a fine half back who gave Footscray good service in 111 VFL games between 1926 and 1934. He originally hailed from Kingsville Amateurs. |
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| Glenorchy's 'games played' record holder with 312 senior appearances to his credit, Kevin Baker was a first rate ruckman renowned for his relentless determination and superb palming skills. He won the Magpies' best and fairest award in 1968, 1971 and 1972, and played in the winning grand finals of 1958 against Sandy Bay and 1965 against North Hobart. He represented Tasmania against the VFA at Launceston in 1968. During the 2000 season Baker was selected on the interchange bench in Glenorchy's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. |
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Leon Baker (Swan Districts & Essendon)
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| One
of those prodigiously talented individuals who seem able to rack up
numerous possessions almost without trying, Leon Baker might conceivably
have achieved much more in league football had he not been such a late
starter. When he made his debut with Swan
Districts in 1981 he was already approaching twenty-five years of age,
having played all his earlier senior football with such country teams as
Avenel, Seymour and South
Bunbury.
He was an immediate and pronounced success at Swans, vying for best afield honours with team mate Graham Melrose in the 1982 grand final win over Claremont, and earning a club fairest and best award the following year. Courageous, tough and abundantly skilled, he was as close to the ideal centreman as could be imagined. In 1984 Baker transferred to Essendon, where he continued to flourish. He was one of the best players on view in the 1984 (reviewed here) and 1985 VFL grand finals, both of which were won by the Bombers, and he ran second in the club's best and fairest award both years. He played a total of 86 games in five seasons at Essendon but was hampered with injury towards the end. Leon Baker represented West Australia at state of origin level on three occasions, and was selected in the 1985 All Australian team. Despite the brevity of his stay at Swan Districts, he was chosen as centreman in the club's official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Phil Baker (North Melbourne & Geelong)
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| Popularly
known as 'The Snake', Phil Baker was one of the most spectacular high
marks to have played league football. He was recruited by North
Melbourne from Albury, and made his VFL debut in 1971, but after five inconsistent years he was transferred to Geelong.
Baker managed only 9 games with the Cats before returning to Arden Street,
and this time 'round he went some way toward fulfilling his
potential. In the drawn 1977 grand final against Collingwood
he booted 6 of North's 9 goals to prove a decisive factor in sending the
match into a replay. The following week he was accorded some special
attention by the Magpie defenders, but still managed 3 goals to help his
side to a 27 point win.
Phil Baker played a total of 91 VFL games for the 'Roos before retiring in 1979. He booted 106 goals for North and 9 for Geelong. |
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Ted Baker (Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, Footscray)
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| Ted Baker was a footballer of the highest quality who played with no fewer than four VFL clubs during his 142 game career which began in 1920 and carried on, over four distinct phases, until 1934. He was a frequent 'Big V' representative (8 games), and was captain of Geelong's 1931 premiership side. Boasting great spirit, resolve and persistence, he was regarded as one of the most finest rovers in the game, particularly during the second half of his career. Extremely quick, both off the mark and over distance, one of the most noteworthy features of his game was his superb, copybook stab passing which rarely missed its target. |
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Darrel Baldock (East Devonport, Latrobe, St Kilda, New Norfolk)
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| Renowned
for his pure football intelligence and uncanny ball handling skills,
Darrel John Baldock - popularly referred to simply as 'Doc' - enjoyed a
superlative career in two states over twenty seasons. An immediate success
with East Devonport where he won the club
best and fairest in each of his first three seasons (1955-6-7) and a Wander
Medal in 1957, Baldock's somewhat rotund appearance, together with his
lack of height and pace, belied his dazzling array of skills. As the
cliché goes, 'he often seemed to have the ball on a string'.
Between 1959 and 1961 he was captain-coach of Latrobe,
winning a second Wander Medal in his first season with the club.
Baldock was an immediate success in the interstate arena, representing Tasmania for the first time in 1957 and performing with distinction in the 1958 and 1961 carnivals, the latter as captain. On moving to St Kilda in 1962 he maintained his high standards, winning that club's best and fairest award in 1962, 1963 and 1965. He also represented the VFL on several occasions including the 1966 Hobart carnival when he captained his side to victory. Most memorably of all, perhaps, in 1966 he became the only St Kilda skipper in history to hold aloft the premiership cup after the Saints' nerve-eroding 1 point grand final win over Collingwood. Returning home in 1969, Baldock once again assumed the coaching mantle at Latrobe, steering his charges to a NWFU record four successive premierships between 1969 and 1972. He also continued to play exceptional football, exemplified by his courageous performances for Tasmania in the 1969 Adelaide carnival, his third Wander Medal that same year, and his excellent display in Tasmania's famous defeat of Western Australia at North Hobart in 1970. Appointed captain-coach of TFL club New Norfolk in 1974, Baldock was forced to resign after just 4 games when, having earlier in the year been elected as the Labor member for Wilmot in the Tasmanian parliament, he was appointed Minister for Housing and Social Welfare. In 1987 he returned to football as coach of St Kilda, but his impact on the team was undermined by illness, and in three seasons in charge he was unable to propel the Saints above 10th place on the ladder. Few if any Saints' fans would choose to blame him for this, however, preferring to luxuriate in the recollection of his achievements as a player. Baldock's status as one of the greatest Tasmanian footballers of all time was reinforced in 2004 with his selection as captain of that state's official 'Team of the Century', and the following year by his induction as an icon in the official Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame. His playing career comprised a total of 397 senior games made up of 71 for East Devonport, 158 with Latrobe, 119 for St Kilda, 4 for New Norfolk, 15 interstate games for Tasmania and 10 for the VFL, and 20 intrastate appearances for the NWFU. |
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Jason Baldwin (Fitzroy & Richmond)
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| Thinly built at 180cm and just 76kg, Jason Baldwin was nevertheless a highly combative footballer who typically attacked the ball with great ferocity, and usually used it well when he had it. Fitzroy recruited him from Coldstream and used him in numerous roles during the course of his 125 game senior career with the club between 1989 and 1996. When the club disbanded at the end of the 1996 season he crossed to Richmond but managed just another 2 AFL games. |
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Gerald Balme (St Kilda & West Perth)
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| A product of Brighton Grammar School, Gerald Balme enjoyed an illustrious top level career in two states. He commenced with St Kilda in 1902, and in five seasons with the club established himself as a dashing and authoritative defender. Upon moving to West Perth in 1907 he continued as a defender at first but soon developed into a first rate centreman. He appears to have captained the Cardinals for several seasons, although records are unclear as to when precisely these were. In 1911 he played in all 4 of Western Australia's matches at the Adelaide carnival. He also played 3 times for league representative combinations against visiting clubs from interstate. Balme returned to Victoria in 1915, and fronted up with the Saints for one last season, taking his final tally of VFL games with the club to 91. |
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Neil Balme (Subiaco, Richmond, Norwood)
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| Neil
Balme had played just 4 senior games for Subiaco
when he turned up on Richmond's doorstep as a
seventeen year old in January 1969. The recruitment of such young players
from interstate was comparatively rare at the time, but the Tigers,
perhaps recognising that Balme was mature, both physically and mentally,
beyond his years, took a punt and signed him up, a decision they would
have ample cause to congratulate themselves for over the course of the
next decade.
Tall (194cm) and hefty (99kg or more), Balme was far from shy in exploiting his physical attributes to the full in the services of his team. The fact that he also possessed considerable football ability made him one of the most formidable talents in the game, especially during his peak years of the early to mid-1970s. A highly capable knock ruckman, Balme was more commonly used near the goal front where he specialised in intimidating and terrorising the opposition, often enabling team mates to procure easy goals. He was also more than happy to chip in with a goal or two himself, and in 1972 (jointly with Ricky McLean) and 1973 he topped the Tigers' goal kicking. Given the generally raw and robust nature of his approach, Balme's true worth as a player tended to come most noticeably to the fore during the finals. He booted 5 goals in a losing team in the 1972 grand final, while a year later his controversial flooring of Carlton full back Geoff Southby made a significant contribution to Richmond's eventual 30 point win. Balme was also named among the best players in the Tigers' 1974 grand final defeat of North Melbourne. His roughhouse image notwithstanding, Balme had always thought deeply about his football, and had long nursed an ambition to coach. In 1980 an opportunity arose at Norwood, and Balme was quick to seize it. He would go on to achieve considerable success as a coach, but his playing days were not quite over either, and despite the inconvenience of an arthritic left knee he would go on to play a further 13 games in 1981 and 1982 for a career total of 176. |
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| Peter Bampton was a superb all round player who achieved virtually everything the game had to offer during the course of a 137 game league career with Port Adelaide between 1919 and 1928. In 1921, when Port overcame Norwood 4.8 (32) to 3.6 (24) in the challenge final, Bampton played a sterling game at centre half back. Four years later he lost the Magarey Medal to Norwood's Alick Lill only after the league umpires had been called upon to adjudicate between the pair, a state of affairs the SANFL later rectified by awarding all players who had finished as runners-up in such circumstances retrospective Medals. Bampton, who served as Port Adelaide's skipper in 1927, perhaps surprisingly never won the club's best and fairest award. His 10 interstate appearances for South Australia included matches at the 1927 Melbourne carnival. |
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| A
talented all round footballer who was particularly strong overhead, Dennis
Banks was a prominent figure in Collingwood's
1990 premiership team. Originally from East Reservoir, he made his senior
VFL debut in 1979, and his career encompassed thirteen seasons. However,
instead of amassing the 250 or so games that might have been expected, he
was restricted by injury to a mere 166. He booted 113 goals. The chief
highlight of his career, other than his premiership appearance, came in
1984 when he won the Copeland Trophy as Collingwood's best and fairest
player. |
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| Thomas Banks was almost certainly the first player of West Indian extraction to play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but it was in the sport of Australian football, not cricket, that he excelled. Born in 1867, he made his VFA debut with Fitzroy in 1888, and went on to give the club ten years of solid, occasionally outstanding, service. The Maroons were quite a strong team during Banks' career with them, their five top four finishes during that time including a flag in 1895, and a runner-up spot in 1892, behind the all powerful Essendon combination of Forbes, Thurgood, Vautin et al. By all accounts, Thomas Banks lost very little if anything in comparison with such luminaries, and deserves to be regarded and extolled as one of the most auspicious names in the chequered, but on occasion, not least early on, resonantly memorable history of the Fitzroy Football Club. |
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William 'Horrie' Bant (West Perth, St Kilda, Essendon, Subiaco, Prahran)
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| William Horace Bant - invariably
referred to as 'Horrie' - made his senior debut with West Perth in 1905
and enjoyed an unforgettable year, culminating in a best afield
performance as the Cardinals overcame East Fremantle 4.7 (31) to 3.9 (27)
in the challenge final replay at North Fremantle Oval. The next five
seasons saw him plying his trade in the VFL, where he played 52 games for
St Kilda between 1906 and 1909, and 12 games for Essendon in 1910.
He was vice-captain of the Saints in 1907, and earned a reputation as an
immensely reliable defender who was equally at home at full back or centre
half back.
In 1911 Bant returned to Western Australia and joined a Subiaco side that was soon to emerge as a league force for the first time. When the Maroons broke through for their first premiership in 1912 thanks to a stirring come from behind victory over East Fremantle in the challenge final, Horrie Bant was at centre half back. After spending the 1913 season at VFA side Prahran, he resumed with Subiaco in 1914 and again from 1916 to 1918, which sadly for him meant missing the Maroons' 1913 and 1915 premiership triumphs. He played a total of 59 WAFL games for Subiaco, and was a popular and highly respected figure. Perhaps surprisingly, 'Horrie' Bant never played interstate football. He did, however, captain the coastal combination which ventured to Kalgoorlie in 1912 to play against the Goldfields, and ended up winning a high standard encounter by 7 points. There is a somewhat tragic footnote to the tale of Bant's involvement in football. In 1928 he was driving a truck in which his close friend, Phil Matson, one of the all time greats of the game, was a passenger. The truck was involved in an accident, and although Bant escaped comparatively unscathed, forty-two year old Matson was fatally injured, and died two days later in hospital. |
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Ron Barassi junior (Melbourne, Carlton, Port Melbourne, North Melbourne, Sydney)
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Few individuals have had as much overall impact on the sport of Australian football as Ronald Dale Barassi. An innovator as both player and coach, if he did not quite revolutionise the game, he certainly extended and improved it. After a stuttering start to his senior VFL playing career in 1953, a season which saw him attempt, largely unsuccessfully, to fill a number of positions, Barassi came into his own the following year when Melbourne coach Norm Smith opted to use him as a medium sized ruckman, or ruck-rover. While this was scarcely the innovation it has latterly come to be described as, it was nevertheless unique in the VFL of the time, with most teams preferring to use two big ruckmen in tandem. Once Barassi settled into his new role, however, it was not long before rival teams were forced to adopt a similar approach to Smith's Demons, especially when playing Melbourne, for while the role of ruck-rover had not actually been invented for Barassi, it might as well have been. Aggressive, determined and dynamically robust, Ron Barassi was capable, almost single-handedly, of taking opposition teams apart, and while there were numerous reasons for the near consummate dominance of the Melbourne Football Club during the second half of the 1950s, arguably the single most important was the impact of the man in the number 31 jumper. By general acclaim the best player afield in Melbourne's 1957 and 1959 grand final wins, Barassi was also some people's choice as best on ground in the 1955 and 1956 premiership teams. In 1958, Collingwood owed its unexpected flag win largely to its tactic of doing everything possible and imaginable, both within and outside the scope of the laws of the game, to curb Barassi's influence. Besides playing in six Demons premiership sides, Ron Barassi won the club's best and fairest award on three occasions, represented the VFL 19 times, and was named in three All Australian teams. To most football fans he epitomised Melbourne, so when it emerged, in late 1964, that he had accepted a lucrative offer to 'jump ship' and join Carlton as captain-coach, the overriding response (other than at Princes Park) was one of horrified shock. Barassi though was determined to utilise his keen football brain in a coaching role, and realised that the opportunity to do this at Melbourne, where Norm Smith was presumed to have a job for life, would not arise for many years. At Carlton, a once great club desperate to recapture its former glories, he could implement his ideas immediately in - presumably - an atmosphere more tolerant of the occasional mistake. As a coach, Ron Barassi was as demanding towards his players as he was towards himself, but in the complacent atmosphere prevailing at Princes Park this was the equivalent of a breath of fresh air. Under Barassi, who combined considerable tactical acumen with his trademark passion, fervour and aggressive determination, Carlton gradually emerged from the wilderness to claim the 1968 and 1970 flags. The 1970 premiership win was especially memorable. After conceding Collingwood a half time lead of 44 points, the Blues responded in dramatic fashion to their coach's injunction that they play on at every opportunity, adding 13.4 to 4.4 in the second half to win by 11 points. (Click here for a goal by goal review of this match.) Barassi had retired as a player in 1969, but after leaving Carlton at the end of the 1971 season he played 3 VFA games with Port Melbourne. However, his real ambitions now lay in the coaching sphere, and in 1973 he was convinced to return to the VFL as coach of North Melbourne. His achievements at North were arguably the most auspicious of a truly memorable career. The Kangaroos had never previously won a VFL flag, but within a year Barassi had them playing off in a grand final against Richmond. The Tigers won on that occasion, but a year later North made its long overdue breakthrough with a 19.8 (122) to 9.13 (67) grand final defeat of Hawthorn. A second premiership followed two seasons later. After leaving North, Barassi had stints as coach at Melbourne and Sydney which, whilst unsuccessful in tangible terms, can in retrospect be seen as vital in the reconstruction of those clubs as viable members of the league. Although no longer directly involved with football, the name 'Barassi' remains synonymous with achievements of the highest order in Australia's, and arguably the world's, most spectacular sport. |
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Barrie Barbary (North Adelaide & Woodville)
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| Combining
solidity of build with enormous pace and superb ball handling ability,
Barrie Barbary was a most damaging player for North
Adelaide (149 games from 1957 to 1964) and Woodville
(66 games from 1967 to 1970). In between, he spent a couple of
seasons as captain-coach of Kybybolite in the Kowrie-Naracoorte Football
League.
Barbary was one of those players who impress right from the start. He was chosen to represent South Australia in his debut season - the first of 19 state appearances - and some of his very finest performances came in the interstate arena. The 1960 season saw Barbary at the forefront of a long overdue assault on the flag by North Adelaide. After displaying consistent brilliance all year, he earned the Magarey Medal, and on grand final day he was one of the best players on view as North held off a stern challenge from Norwood to snatch the premiership by 5 points. In the wake of this stellar season, Jeff Pash offered a pleasingly cogent evaluation of the Barbary style: As a footballer, he must please the most severe critic; his play is based on the solid, boring rush forward, complete technical mastery of his craft, and a serene, Bunton-like concentration. Strength plus dexterity makes for the brilliant effects. (See footnote 1) If the 1960 season represented the pinnacle of his achievements as a footballer, 1963 was close behind. That was the year that Barrie Barbary put in a best on ground performance as South Australia overcame the VFL on the MCG for the first time since 1926. In choosing Barbary as 'Footballer of the Week', 'Advertiser' journalist Gordon Schwartz wrote: At the MCG on Saturday his peed, tenacity and sure ball-handling were dominating factors in SA's seven point win over Victoria. As SA's best player, chosen by the Victorian selectors, Barbary won the trophy given by a leading oil company...... A steadfast refusal to admit defeat and the ability to gain possession against overwhelming odds are two of Barbary's greatest attributes. Barbary knows his capabilities, exploits his skill to the full and lifts the morale of his team mates with his courageous and dashing approach. (See footnote 2) Following his two year stint in country football, Barbary returned to the SANFL with Woodville in 1967. Although a fair amount of the old pace had gone, he provided the 'Peckers with some much needed experience under the determined and resourceful coaching of Noel Teasdale. In 1971, Barbary captain-coached Woodville's seconds side, before taking over from Teasdale as non-playing coach of the seniors the following year. His two seasons in charge were not successful, however, and seventeen years after his association with league football had begun, the man known during his career as 'the pocket battleship' moved on to pastures new. When North Adelaide announced its official 'Team of the Century' in 2003, it is doubtful if many people were surprised to see Barrie Barbary included on a wing. |
Footnotes1. The Pash Papers by Jeff Pash, page 77. Return to Main Text 2. 'The Advertiser', 21/6/63, page 14; cited in SA Greats: The History of the Magarey Medal by John Wood, page 178. Return to Main Text |
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Adrian Barich (Manuka, Perth, West Coast)
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Considering he preferred rugby union to Australian football
until he was sixteen years of age, Adrian Barich managed to carve out a highly
impressive career for himself in the elite echelons of the game.
A member of Manuka's 1981 ACTAFL premiership team, the solidly built utility was recruited by Perth in 1984 and quickly developed into one of the Demons' key players. Perfectly balanced, and possessing surprisingly excellent skills, Barich played 60 WAFL games over the next three seasons before being selected in West Coast's inaugural VFL squad in 1987. At his peak as a player between 1987 and 1989 when he played 47 VFL games, represented Western Australia at state league level against South Australia, and was among the ACT's best players at the 1988 bicentennial carnival in Adelaide, Barich's career hit the skids somewhat when Mick Malthouse was appointed to the Eagles' senior coaching position in 1990. However, despite only making another 8 senior appearances during his last 3 seasons with the club, Barich, along with team mate Phil Scott, made a legible contribution to West Coast's inaugural AFL premiership win in 1992 by sending the team an inspirational letter of support on the eve of the grand final. After leaving the Eagles, Barich continued to play for Perth, racking up a total of 160 WAFL games prior to his retirement in 1994. A year earlier he had captained Western Australia at state league level against South Australia, and returned to state of origin football as a member of the combined New South Wales-ACT side which lost to Victoria in Melbourne. Between 1995 and 1996 Barich showed his versatility by playing rugby league in the national competition for the Perth-based Western Reds whilst simultaneously commencing a career as a TV presenter and reporter. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Fred
Baring was an important player for Essendon
both pre- and post- World War One. Utilised chiefly as a ruckman
resting in defence, he was a key member of the Dons' winning grand final
teams of 1911 and 1912, kicking the winning goal in the former game
against Collingwood after a brilliant solo
run which saw him weave his way around several opponents.
Baring represented the VFL for the first time at the 1911 Adelaide carnival when he was one of his team's best players. After the war he overcame both illness and the inevitable slowing down which accompanies aging to develop into one of the league's finest full backs, a role he occupied with distinction in the Dons' 1923 and 1924 premiership teams. |
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E.A. 'Tim' Barker (Swan Districts)
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| 'Tim' Barker was a fine full back and great club man for Swan Districts in 239 WANFL games between 1944 and 1959. As this was an almost entirely inauspicious era for the club, he will have had ample opportunity to shine. Winner of a fairest and best award in 1952, Barker, who was unswervingly dedicated to the Swans' cause, was club captain for part of 1957 and all of 1958. His 7 interstate appearances for Western Australia included games at the 1956 Perth carnival. 'Tim' Barker was succeeded in the Swan Districts team by another great full back in Joe Lawson. |
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Gilbert Barker (Fitzroy, University, Subiaco)
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| Although Gilbert Barker's career at the top level was comparatively short it was nevertheless quite auspicious. Most at home on a wing, he could also be used across half forward or half back, and he experienced the enormous satisfaction of playing in successive flag-winning sides for Fitzroy in 1904-5. After three seasons and 42 games of VFL football he took a break in 1907 but returned as a member of University's inaugural league team in 1908, adding half a dozen senior games to his tally. In 1909 he moved to Western Australia where he lined up with Subiaco, playing a total of 19 games for the Maroons in 1909-10 as well as from 1917 to 1919. |
| A truly formidable looking footballer who dwarfed most of his opponents, Jack Barker gave Hawthorn fine service in 113 games from 1937 to 1945. He was capable of playing in any key position, and could take a turn in the ruck, but he produced his best football at centre half back, which was where he was stationed in the overwhelming majority of his games. Perhaps the highlight of his career was his winning of the club's best and fairest award in 1942. |
| A
genuinely gifted footballer who combined all round brilliance with a
ferociously aggressive approach, Lou Barker made a significant
contribution to Fitzroy's back to back
premiership triumphs of 1904 and 1905. Much of his best football was
played on a half forward flank. Barker's VFL career comprised 150 games
between 1900 and 1908, during which he kicked a total of 63 goals. He
represented the VFL against |
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Sydney Barker senior (Essendon Association, Richmond, North Melbourne, Essendon)
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| Physically
imposing and a born leader, Sydney Barker senior enjoyed a highly
auspicious two decade career with four different clubs in both the VFA and
VFL. He began with Essendon Association
in 1906, and two years later was a member of Richmond's
inaugural VFL pool of players, but managed just a couple of games before
returning to the VFA with North Melbourne.
It was while with North that Barker truly made his name. Combining
great skill with exceptional endurance, he was without doubt one of the
finest ruckmen in the land for nigh on twenty years. His combination
with fellow ruckman George
Rawle and rover Charlie
Hardy was arguably the chief reason behind North Melbourne's
consistent success in the years leading up to, during, and just after
World War One. All three would later go on to serve Essendon
with similar distinction. Prior to that, however, Barker had the
satisfaction of appearing in VFA premiership sides with North in 1910,
1914, 1915 and 1918, the last two as skipper. His career was not
devoid of controversy, however. In 1913 the club suspended him for
the last few games of the season, including the finals, when he was
accused of not trying in an important match against Brunswick.
North ultimately lost that season's final to Footscray
by a single point (match reviewed here),
a result that one is hard pressed not to imagine being reversed had Barker
played. In 1921, North temporarily disbanded after an aborted bid to
gain admission to the VFL, and that was when Barker and his teammates made
the move to Essendon. In just under four seasons with the Same Old
he played 57 VFL games and kicked 23 goals, but much more importantly, as
captain-coach, he transformed them from also-rans into the best team in
the league, with consecutive premierships in 1923 and 1924. After a
couple of seasons in retirement, Barker made a brief playing comeback in
1927 when, as coach of his former club North Melbourne, which had finally
achieved its ambition of joining the VFL a couple of years earlier, he
added a final 9 VFL games to his career tally. Unfortunately, he
could not emulate the success he had enjoyed at Essendon, and a meagre
return of just 3 wins from 18 matches consigned the northerners to second
to last position on the ladder.
While in his first stint at North Melbourne Syd Barker had played interstate football for the VFA, a feat he replicated in 1922 with the VFL. |
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Trevor Barker (St Kilda & Sandringham)
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| St
Kilda recruited Trevor Barker from Cheltenham and he was a
consistently eye-catching performer for the club in a variety of roles in
230 VFL games between 1975 and 1989, booting 134 goals. One of the
most popular players at the club, Barker was a superb aerialist who pulled
down numerous spectacular marks, and who repeatedly hurled his slight,
183cm, 70.5kg frame 'where angels fear to tread'. A dual St Kilda
best and fairest winner, Barker played 7 interstate matches for the VFL
and Victoria, and captained the Saints from 1983 to 1986. Appointed
coach of Sandringham in 1992, he steered the
side to a premiership in his debut year, and again in 1994. He died
tragically young, of cancer, in 1996.
Trevor Barker's importance in the history of the St Kilda Football Club was emphasised in 2002 when he was chosen on a half back flank in the Saints' official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. |
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Bobbie Barnes (West Broken Hill & West Adelaide)
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| South
Australian born, Bobbie Barnes moved with his family to Broken Hill while
he was still a youngster. It was there that he played his first
senior football as a member of the West Broken Hill club, winning the
league's best and fairest award, the Kenwrick Medal, and catching the attention of Adelaide
clubs when he came to the metropolis in 1918 to play in a challenge match
against West Adelaide, the club for
which he was eventually to make his name. Apparently, most of the
Adelaide clubs, whilst impressed with Barnes' natural football ability,
regarded him as being too small to succeed at league level. Not so
West, which snapped him up when he moved to the city in 1921.
A clever, hyperactive rover, particularly noted for his accurate disposal of the ball, it was not long before Barnes was earning rave reviews, and he was selected to represent South Australia in his debut season. The following year saw him secure South Australian football's premier individual honour, the Magarey Medal, but he was unable to prevent his team from going down heavily to Norwood in the grand final. Barnes continued to give West Adelaide and the state good service for another four seasons, amassing a total of 59 games and kicking 67 goals for the red and blacks, and 8 games and 8 goals for South Australia. He was West's top goalkicker in 1924, albeit with just 17 goals. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Rod Barrett was a performer of consistently high quality for South Fremantle in 177 games between 1975 and 1983. Most effective and most commonly used as a back pocket player, he represented Western Australia on 5 occasions, and was a member of South's 1980 premiership team (grand final reviewed here). He ran equal third with 15 votes (4 off the pace) in the Sandover Medal voting in 1982. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Recruited from Towns Football Club in Narrogin, Dennis Barron joined Subiaco in 1957. Quite tall at 182cm, and exceptionally strong, he began on a half back flank, but later made his name as a formidably commanding centre half back who could also take a turn in ruck to good effect. One of the most popular players at Subi because of his overtly wholehearted commitment to the team cause, Barron had played a total of 166 WANFL games by the time he retired at the end of the 1967 season. His 4 interstate appearances for Western Australia included all 3 matches at the 1961 Australian championships in Brisbane, from which the sandgropers emerged unexpectedly but heroically triumphant. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Polished, effervescent and pacy, Sturt's Norm Barron was regarded as one of the best South Australian rovers of his generation. A smooth ball handler, and a fine drop kick, if he had a flaw in his game it was that over-confidence sometimes caused him to try to do too much. Nevertheless, his impact at Sturt was considerable, with his dynamic contribution to the 1926 premiership win being particularly significant. Barron made his senior debut for the Double Blues as an eighteen year old in 1919, and became a regular in the side the following year. He won the club's best and fairest award in 1924. His league career, which finished in 1931, comprised 132 games, and saw him kick 146 goals. He was an interstate player for South Australia 13 times, including games at the 1927 Melbourne carnival. He was included in the forward pocket in Sturt's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. |
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William Barrot (Richmond, St Kilda, Carlton, Oakleigh, West Torrens)
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| Known
with popular affection as 'bustling Billy', Richmond
centreman Bill Barrot was the perfect amalgam of power, purpose and
panache. One of the last genuinely accomplished exponents of the
drop kick, he was a major driving force behind the Tigers' 1967 grand
final defeat of Geelong, with many observers
rating him as best afield, and he was also prominent a couple of years
later when Carlton was vanquished.
A Richmond best and fairest winner in 1965, and an interstate
representative two seasons later, Barrot was only prevented from claiming
genuine superstar status by a susceptibility to injury that limited his
senior VFL appearances for the Tigers to just 120 in ten seasons.
In 1971, Richmond made was regarded at the time as 'the swap of the century' when it traded Barrot to St Kilda in exchange for Ian Stewart. In reality, as far as Barrot and the Saints were concerned, the trade was more akin to the flop of the century: Barrot never truly settled at Moorabbin, managing just a couple of games, and later in the year he was off-loaded to Carlton, where his impact was only marginally greater. The 1972 season saw Bill Barrot installed as a player under Bob Johnson at VFA side Oakleigh which, other than the meagre palliative of a second division flag in 1967, had endured a lean time for more than a decade. Barrot's impact, both on and off the field, was immediate and pronounced, and the Devils made it through to the first division grand final, before outclassing Dandenong by 44 points in a crowd-pleasing grand final. West Torrens appointed Barrot as captain-coach the following year, but the magic touch failed to resurface. After running 7th in 1973 the Eagles endured a horror start to the 1974 season which ultimately precipitated Barrot's departure, in somewhat acrimonious circumstances, midway through the year. He later returned to Oakleigh for two further season long stints, getting the side into the 2nd division finals in 1977, but falling a game plus percentage short three years later. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Beginning with South
Adelaide in 1911, swift and hard-working rover Frank 'Dinky' (or
'Dink') Barry had played only 41 games of league football (plus 2 for the
state) by the time, four
years later, that the impact of the war caused the SAFL competition to be
suspended. When football resumed in 1919, Barry, for reasons
unknown, elected not to continue. However, his series of stellar
performances for South during the 1915 season had already procured a kind
of football immortality for Barry in the shape of South Australian
football's highest individual honour, the Magarey
Medal.
South Adelaide which, along with Norwood, had dominated South Australian football for much of the nineteenth century, had suffered greatly after the inception of the electorate system, and between 1906 and 1914 had never finished higher than 5th. In 1915, however, with Barry very much to the fore, it made the finals, and although its participation lasted only a week, courtesy of a semi final defeat at the hands of Sturt, there were definite signs that it had turned the corner. From 1916 to 1918, however, the SAFL competition went into mothballs, and all of South's momentum was lost. Even in 1915, the impact of war on football was considerable; press coverage of the game was negligible, and so there is very little information available about Barry's Medal triumph. This, coupled with the brevity of his career, arguably makes Frank Barry one of the most intriguing and elusive figures in the early history of the game. |
Kevin Bartlett (Richmond)
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|
Often reviled by opposition supporters as 'hungry' owing to his alleged predisposition towards kicking for goal, regardless of the presence of unmarked team mates in better positions, whenever he was within range, the immensity of Kevin Bartlett's contribution to the Richmond Football Club over 403 VFL games in 19 seasons totally belied this assessment. Quite simply, coaches like Tom Hafey, Tony Jewell and Francis Bourke would not have persisted in picking Bartlett if he was in any sense a liability to the side. Combining fleetness of foot with evasion skills of the highest order, Bartlett was able to keep his wispy frame comparatively free of danger in the hurly burly cauldron of league football for a longer period of time than any of his predecessors. Many times he was a marked man, with opposition sides setting out to stop him by any means possible, paying scant regard to the laws of the game in the process, but Bartlett almost invariably escaped unscathed. As for the opposition sides, 'KB' would gleefully, almost impishly, provide them with plenty of reasons for bemoaning their failure to impede him, with the scale of the damage wrought invariably directly proportionate to the importance of the game. Thus you will find the name of 'K.Bartlett' listed among the best players in the grand finals of 1967, 1969, 1972, 1973 (BOG), 1974, 1980 (Norm Smith Medallist) and 1982, while he also won a Winfield Medal as the best player in the 1974 Australian club championship series. Perhaps the most persuasive testimony to his greatness, however, is that in what was almost incontrovertibly the greatest era in the history of the Richmond Football Club, Bartlett won the senior team's best and fairest award on no fewer than five occasions. During the period from 1967 to 1982 the only other multiple winners of the award were Geoff Raines (3) and Royce Hart (2). Given this, it remains surprising that Kevin Bartlett did not fare especially well in the Brownlow. In 1974, he was one of the warmest favourites in recollection, but fell 5 votes short of winner Keith Greig, and 1 behind runner-up Gary Hardeman. The consternation felt by Richmond officials was, to put it mildly, ill concealed. Perhaps the fact that Bartlett was never the most elegant presence on a football field beguiled umpires into under-estimating his importance and effectiveness, and it is certainly the case that, if football games were scored on the basis of 'artistic merit', Kevin Bartlett would have contributed little. In reality, however, football games are scored on the basis of goals and behinds, which directly accrue from attributes like courage (always first and foremost), determination, aggression, pace and skill - qualities with which Kevin Bartlett, for nigh on two decades, richly and distinctively adorned the game. |
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Victor Barwick (St Kilda & Brighton)
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| Originally
from Queenstown in Tasmania, where he played for local club Linton, Victor
Barwick was wooed to the mainland by St
Kilda in 1903. Supremely skilled and built like a miniature
tank, he was extremely highly regarded in his day, with team mate Dave
McNamara describing him 'a true champion'.
Barwick played for most of his career as a rover, and captained the Saints in 1905 and 1909. He represented the VFL in 1904, and would surely have done so on many more occasions had there been more interstate games played at the time. After seven years with St Kilda, Barwick left to join VFA side Brighton, but the 1913 season saw him back with the Saints as the club mounted its most serious and sustained challenge yet on the premiership. Unfortunately, it appears that Barwick was past his best as a player, and he failed to make the Saints team for the finals, which culminated in a narrow challenge final loss to Fitzroy. |
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Nathan Bassett (Norwood & Adelaide)
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| Nathan Bassett commenced with Adelaide in 1998 after failing to notch a senior game with Melbourne. Originally from Norwood, the tough, close checking defender has suffered more than his share of injury woes, but really blossomed in 2006 when he made the AFL All Australian side. When he retired two seasons later it was with a career tally of 210 AFL games to his credit. His achievements in the game were all the more remarkable and praiseworthy when you consider that he suffers from type one diabetes. |
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Arthur Batchelor (Fitzroy & North Melbourne)
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| Originally from Maffra, Arthur Batchelor was enticed to the metropolis by Melbourne, but it was with rivals Fitzroy that he ended up. One of the most diminutive VFL players of his era at just 163cm and 59.5kg he was nevertheless a highly adept rover, playing 112 VFL games and booting 70 goals for the Roys between 1924 and 1931 before spending the 1932 season with North Melbourne, where he added a final 3 games to his tally. |
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Bill Bateman (Fremantle & Unions/Fremantle)
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| Arguably
the most auspicious footballer in Western Australia during the first
decade of the game in that colony, Bill Bateman was the inaugural captain
of the Fremantle Football Club in 1885. In 1887, when Fremantle
disbanded, he joined Unions (which changed its name to Fremantle in 1890),
and carried on playing with distinction for a
further 8 seasons. In a total of 10 seasons in the game, Bateman was
a member of a remarkable 8 premiership sides.
Bill Bateman learned to play football when he attended Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, "one of the cradles of the Australian game" (see footnote 1). He was fanatically devoted to the code, and was instrumental in seeing it supplant rugby as 'flavour of the west'. His importance to the growth, indeed even the existence, of West Australian football would be difficult to over stress. |
Footnotes1. The Footballers by Geoff Christian, page 6. Return to Main Text |
|
[Click to enlarge] |
| Vic Bateman was a supremely talented centreman in the Vic Richardson mould whose career with Sturt was cruelly cut short by injury. He made his league debut in 1928, and it was immediately obvious that the Blues had unearthed a potential champion. Pacy, abundantly skilled, and excellent overhead, his only obvious weakness early on was a tendency to kick blindly, but this flaw was eradicated as he gained in experience. Bateman won Sturt's best and fairest award in 1929 and again the following year. He played carnival football in Adelaide in 1930. In 1931 he was appointed club captain but in 1932 he began to suffer from serious muscular rheumatism, and missed half the minor round. He was fit again by the time the finals arrived, however, and had the great satisfaction of leading the Blues to their first flag since 1926 courtesy of an unexpectedly easy grand final win over North Adelaide. The following year brought a recurrence of his rheumatic problems though, and he managed just 9 games for the season. Advised that the problems was only going to become aggravated if he continued playing, he reluctantly retired. He had played a total of 86 club games plus 2 for South Australia. |
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George Bates (Collingwood, Northcote, Richmond, South Melbourne)
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| After
failing to make the grade at Collingwood,
where he managed just 1 senior game in 1933, George Bates spent the next
three seasons helping Northcote affirm their
status as the team to beat in the VFA. In the 1934 grand final win
over Coburg, Bates starred at centre half
back. Two years later, in the premiership play-off against Prahran,
he commenced the match at full forward, having been offered 5 shillings
per goal as an incentive to do well. However, with the Brickfielders
in trouble at half time, trailing by 10 points and finding Two Blues
centre half forward Ted Hyde almost uncontainable, coach Alex Gray decided
to move Bates to centre half back, thereby effectively ruining any chance
he might have add of adding to the 15 shillings he had already won.
However, putting team loyalty ahead of the prospect of personal gain,
Bates effectively quelled the impact that Hyde was having on the match and
helped his side secure a hard fought victory by 15 points.
The 1937 season found Bates back in the VFL, this time at Richmond, where he performed consistently in 26 games. Initially used mainly as a key position player, just as he had been at Northcote, Bates ultimately found a niche in the centre, where his smooth ball handling, fine overhead marking, and excellent kicking served him well. He rounded off his league career in 1940 with 3 games for South Melbourne. |
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Adrian Battiston (Melbourne, Sydney, Glenelg)
[Click to enlarge] |
| After winning the Morrish Medal as the best and fairest player in the VFL Under Nineteen competition in 1981, Adrian Battiston, who hailed originally from the Tatura Football Club in the Goulburn Valley League, made his senior debut for Melbourne the following year. He combined tenacity and pace with good skills by hand and foot, but after showing plenty of potential early on he appeared to lose his way a little. In 1988, after 96 VFL games and 76 goals for the Demons, he transferred to Sydney, but managed only another 9 games and 3 goals in two seasons in the Harbour City. He moved to Glenelg in 1990 and spent two seasons there, playing consistently good football in the reserves, but only managing 23 senior games and 14 goals. |
|
Boasting an abundance of
all round talent allied to an inspirational and astute captain's
mentality, Alf Baud might have acquired a reputation as one of the game's
all time greats had his league career not been so cruelly circumscribed.
He commenced with Carlton in 1913, and
played the last of his 53 senior games, aged just twenty- two, in the 1915
VFL grand final, when the Blues defeated Collingwood
by 33 points. Baud was a stand-in skipper for the side that day as regular
captain Billy Dick was unavailable through suspension.
Following the grand
final Alf Baud signed up for military service overseas, during the course
of which he was so seriously wounded that he was never again able to play
football. |
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Don 'The Tank' Bauer (Footscray & Geelong)
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| Known evocatively as 'The Tank', Don Bauer knew only one way to play the game: hard, direct, uncompromising and unremittingly physical. Only 178cm in height, he was nevertheless powerfully built at 87kg, most of which was sheer muscle. He began his league career with a brief, 9 game stint at Footscray in 1943, but it was at Geelong, where he added 71 VFL games between 1945 and 1949, that he truly blossomed into a player of the top rank. Capable of playing on either the half back or half forward line with equal effectiveness, he was one of the few players of his time capable of genuinely intimidating opponents, albeit normally within the rules of the game. In addition to his renowned physicality he had good all round skills and drop kicked the ball superbly. |
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Ruckman Robert Bawden
was a useful, if comparatively unheralded, member of After leaving |
| A
capable forward who could take a spectacular grab, Ken Baxter gave
consistently effective service to |
| Ron Bayens was an extremely fit, mobile footballer who was a mainstay of Subiaco’s league teams throughout the 1970s. Between 1969 and 1981 he played a total of 184 games for the club, as well as representing Western Australia 4 times. Bayens, who was equally effective either as a ruckman or in a key forward position, lined up at centre half forward in the 1973 grand final when the Lions broke a premiership drought stretching back forty-nine years with a 10.12 (72) to 6.4 (40) defeat of West Perth. |
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| Recruited from Noble Park, Mark Bayes was a superbly consistent player for Sydney in 246 V/AFL games between 1985 and 1998. He booted 174 goals. The significance of his all round contribution to the team during that period was recognised with his selection on the interchange bench in the Swans' official 'Team of the Century'. Although perhaps best noted as a defender, he was capable of fine football at either end of the ground. He possessed excellent skills, and was renowned for his penetrative and accurate left foot kicks. He was Sydney's best and fairest player in 1989, and represented Victoria on 5 occasions. Later in his career he suffered a series of niggling injuries, but these did not prevent him taking his place in a back pocket in the Swans' losing 1996 grand final team against North Melbourne. Comparatively injury free during his last league season, he continued playing consistently telling football to the end. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Percy
Beames was a tremendous all round sportsman who, besides being one of the
greatest rovers in the history of the Melbourne
Football Club, was good enough to represent his state in both football
and cricket. After his retirement as a player he made a name for
himself as a journalist with 'The Age', covering both sports.
Originally from Ballarat, the stockily built Beames made his VFL debut with Melbourne in 1931. An apparently nonchalant approach to the game sometimes disguised the fact that he was an extremely gifted and highly damaging player. His disposal skills on both sides of his body were superb, and few opponents could beat him over those vital first five metres. When Beames arrived at Melbourne, the club was in the midst of a slump that was to get appreciably worse over the next couple of seasons. Having failed to contest the finals since 1928, the Fuchsias finished 8th in Beames' debut season, dropped to 9th the following year, and plummeted to an unprecedented low of 10th in 1933. That same 1933 season saw the arrival as coach of Frank 'Checker' Hughes, however, and it was to be his inspirational guidance that would soon steer the club out of the doldrums. During the second half of the 1930s, Melbourne began to assemble the strongest combination of players in the club's history; with men like Percy Beames, Alan La Fontaine, Jack Mueller, Norm Smith and Ron Baggott to the fore, the Fuchsias finally broke through for a flag in 1939, trouncing Collingwood in the grand final by 53 points. Beames, the quintessential big game specialist, was at his irrepressible best, booting 4 goals in a best afield performance. The following year he was equally impressive as Melbourne overcame Richmond by 39 points and, had an equivalent to the Norm Smith Medal been up for grabs at the time, Beames might easily have won it three times in a row after kicking 6 goals in another best afield performance in the 1941 grand final in which the Redlegs downed Essendon by 29 points. Melbourne's 1941 premiership win was especially meritorious as the club's playing ranks had been seriously denuded by wartime enlistments. The situation was even worse the following year, and newly appointed captain-coach Percy Beames was unable to arrest a slump which saw the side tumble down the list to 8th place. Beames spent the final three seasons of his 213 game VFL career as Melbourne's captain-coach, but when the team finally re-emerged as a force after the war he was watching its achievements from the sidelines, as well reporting on them, no doubt with thinly submerged pride, for 'The Age'. |
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| Whether as a defender or a ruck-rover changing in defence, Neville Beard gave the Perth Football Club fine service in 126 WANFL games between 1956 and 1963. The highlight of his career came in 1961 when he was a surprise winner of the Sandover Medal. Beard polled 22 votes, the same as East Fremantle's Ray Sorrell, but won on a countback. (Sorrell was later awarded a retrospective Medal.) Selected in Western Australia's 1961 Brisbane carnival squad, Beard was forced to withdraw because of injury. His only interstate appearance for Western Australia came in the following year's match against South Australia in Perth. The main strengths of his game were his superb overhead marking and his penetrative left foot kicking. |
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Simon Beasley (Swan Districts & Footscray)
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| Fast on the lead, strong in the air, and an accurate kick, Simon Beasley was one of the most effective full forwards of the 1980s. He first caught the eye at Swan Districts, where he topped the club's goal kicking list with 97 goals in 1980 and 119 the following year. He crossed to Footscray in 1982, just as Swans were about to embark on a sequence of three successive premierships. The Bulldogs, by contrast, never looked like winning a flag, but Beasley's heroics at the goal front ensured that the club was often in the headlines. In 154 VFL games between 1982 and 1989 he booted a club record 575 goals, heading the league ladder with 105 goals in 1985, and topping Footscray's list every season except his last. On three occasions he booted 12 goals in a match, with his success being attributable more to persistence and determination than any innate natural ability. He played 4 interstate matches for Western Australia, booting 9 goals. In 2002, Simon Beasley was chosen, one presumes almost automatically, at full forward in the Bulldogs' official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Doug Beasy (Carlton & Box Hill)
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| A big favourite among the Carlton faithful, Doug Beasy played 129 VFL games and booted 122 goals for the club over the course of a nine season career which ran from 1951 to 1959. Playing mainly across the centreline, he was a purposeful and highly consistent performer. He won the Blues' best and fairest award in 1956. In 1960 he transferred to Box Hill as captain-coach. Beasy spent three seasons with the Mustangs, winning a Liston Trophy in 1961 despite the fact that the side managed just 3 wins and a draw from 22 matches and ended up being relegated. |
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| Although he only played 75 VFL games in eight seasons with Carlton, Maurie Beasy was one of the genuine big names of his era. The Blues recruited him from Maryborough League side Dunolly and he made his VFL debut during the 1920 finals series. A regular 'Big V' representative, Beasy was well built at 185cm and 86kg, but nimble and agile for his size. He played mainly as a follower resting in the defence, and the defensive aspects of his game - close-checking, tackling and spoiling - were all first rate. He was also an excellent mark and kick. In 1928, he was forced to retire from the game prematurely because of illness. |
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Tammy Beauchamp (Fitzroy & Norwood)
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| Tammy
Beauchamp (sometimes rendered phonetically as 'Beacham' or 'Beecham') was
a brilliant, stay at home centreman who especially relished the big
occasion. He played a total of 135 games for Fitzroy
between 1899 and 1903, and from 1905 to 1908, with his most memorable
performances coming in the premiership deciding matches of 1903 and 1905
against Collingwood. The former game
went right down to the wire, with the Roys losing by in the end by 2
points, while the latter match brought a comfortable 13 point
victory. A common factor in both games, however, was Beauchamp's
superb performance in the centre.
Beauchamp spent the 1904 season with Norwood, but was unfortunate enough to suffer an injury which ruled him out of that season's ultimately successful finals campaign. In 1901 and 1902, Tammy Beauchamp was selected to represent the VFL against South Australia. His consummate skill and tremendous fairness made him a firm favourite among both Fitzroy supporters and general connoisseurs of the game. |
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| Port
Adelaide's Reg Beaufoy was the quintessential embodiment of the Fos
Williams ideal of having a formidable, towering presence at centre
half forward who was equally capable of taking a highly damaging foray on
the ball. Lloyd
Zucker and Ian Hannaford
were other significant manifestations of this tenet, but at 188cm and 96kg
Beaufoy was by some measure the most physically awe-inspiring.
Sadly, however, in 1968, aged just twenty-two, his career was cut short by
a serious knee injurysustained in a match against Woodville
. Up to that point, Beaufoy had played 80 games in six seasons, with
some of his most potent performances coming in finals. In 1965, he
was a member of the Port Adelaide team which overcame Sturt
by 3 points in front of a then record grand final crowd of 62,543.
Sadly, in 1988 Reg Beaufoy died prematurely, aged just forty-two. |
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Les Beck (Carlton & Port Melbourne)
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| Originally from Carlton Juniors, Les Beck became a star defender with the club's senior VFL combination. His 60 VFL games from 1906 to 1909 included the winning grand finals of 1906-7-8. He left the club prior to the start of the 1910 season following an internal dispute and finished his senior playing career with half a dozen games in the VFA for Port Melbourne. |
|
by Murray Bird and Peter Blucher |
| Bill Becker was a tall utility player whose father was a pioneer of the game in Queensland. He was described as a 'good mark, accurate kick and a cool, heady player'. Twice won the De Little Medal, and was a cornerstone of the strong South Brisbane team of the 1920s and early '30s. Represented Queensland over a nine-year period from 1924-32. Had a year in rugby league but was won back by Australian football. |
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Tony Beckett (Mayne & Brisbane) by Murray Bird and Peter Blucher |
| Tony Beckett was a courageous and quick left-footed wingman who was the first Queenslander to play for the Brisbane Bears, posting 6 VFL games in 1987. He was a Mayne stalwart through the '80s, playing more than 150 games after being recruited from Everton Districts, and was a member of the Tigers' last premiership in 1982. He also played 18 times for Queensland, invariably being named among the best players, and would have been even more highly regarded but for a shocking knee injury. Beckett was one of the original QAFL development officers, and later coached at Redcliffe. |
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Norman Beckton (Essendon Association, Essendon, Sandringham)
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| Norm
Beckton began his senior career with Essendon
Association after World War One where he played for two seasons before
moving to Essendon's league side. Statuesque in build, he was one of
the finest ruckman of his time, always impeccably fair, and renowned for
giving the smaller team mates around him strong support. He was
first ruckman in Essendon's 1923 grand final winning team against Fitzroy,
and was also a key member of the side which triumphed in the following
year's round-robin finals series. Voted the Dons' best and fairest
player in 1928, he captained the side in his last two seasons. He
represented the VFL in the interstate arena a total of 9 times between
1921 and 1928.
In 1931, after 173 VFL games, Beckton crossed to VFA club Sandringham as captain-coach, where he added another 74 senior games. However, in four seasons at the helm he was unable to get his side into the finals. He did, however, win the club's best and fairest award in 1932. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Solid,
resolute and assured, Melbourne's John
Beckwith was one of the most disciplined and effective defenders of the
1950s. A master at the art of skillfully directing the ball across
the boundary line without attracting the ire of the man in white he
actually began his VFL career as a half forward, but it was only after
being shifted to the last line of defence that he began to shine. A
back pocket for most of his ten season, 177 game league career, Beckwith
was a member of Demons premiership sides in 1955-6-7 and 1959-60.
Not a particularly rugged or hard-hitting player, he succeeded by virtue
of his uncanny anticipation skills, smooth ball handling, and safe, one
grab marking. He
won a club best and fairest award in 1957, and captained the Dees in
1957-8-9. Selected in the VFL's squad for the 1958
Melbourne carnival he was injured before the series began, and forced
to withdraw.
In 1968, eight years after his retirement as a player, he returned to Melbourne as non-playing coach, but in three seasons holding the reins failed signally to recapture the heady success enjoyed by his predecessor in the role, the great Norm Smith. John Beckwith's importance in the history of the Melbourne Football Club was highlighted recently with his inclusion in the back pocket the club's official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Peter Bedford (Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, Carlton)
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| The
son of a former Port Melbourne player in
Bill Bedford, Peter Bedford was a highly accomplished centreman or
on-baller who followed in his father's footsteps with 69 games for the
club, initially between 1965 and 1967, and then in 1978-9. Arguably
the most significant of these games was the 1966 VFA grand final in which
Bedford's best afield performance in the centre was a crucial factor in
the side's eventual 13.12 (90) to 6.11 (47) defeat of Waverley.
In 1968, lured by the prospect of significantly higher player payments,
Bedford crossed to VFL club South Melbourne
without a clearance, and, over the ensuing nine seasons, went on to become
one of that club's most auspicious and memorable performers, winning a Brownlow
Medal in 1970, and representing the VFL on numerous
occasions. Ironically, Bedford actually preferred cricket, in
which he was also highly proficient, as a sport, and were it not for the
fact that football at the time offered significantly more lucrative
rewards he might easily have been lost to the indigenous game. As it
was, he played a total of 178 VFL games and booted 325 goals for the
perennially under-achieving Swans, winning the club's best and fairest
award in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1975, and the goal kicking title on
three occasions. As a player, Bedford combined impeccable all round
skills with a fierce, implacable determination, qualities which had sadly
dimmed somewhat by the time he played just 8 games in just under two
seasons with Carlton towards the end of
his VFL career.
Back at Port Melbourne, Peter Bedford experienced the singular misfortune of fronting up for the club in the only two seasons between 1976 and 1982 that it failed to land the premiership. Nevertheless, his form during his two stints with the Borough was deemed to be of sufficiently high quality to warrant inclusion as centreman in its official 'Team of the Century', announced in August 2003. The same month saw Bedford also selected, this time as a ruck-rover, in Sydney/South Melbourne's equivalent combination. He continued his active involvement in the game into the twenty-first century as non-playing coach of VAFA side Albert Park. |
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Barry Beecroft (South Melbourne/Sydney, Port Melbourne, Claremont)
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| Originally from VAFA club Ormond, Barry Beecroft joined South Melbourne in 1973, remaining there until part of the way into the 1977 season, when he crossed to Port Melbourne in the VFA. In that year's grand final, Beecroft played as a follower changing in defence as The Borough trounced Sandringham by 100 points - an eminently fitting margin, given that it was the VFA's centenary season. Beecroft continued with Port in 1978 but the following year saw him heading west to join Claremont. Well-built, strong, and surprisingly agile for his size, Beecroft, who was equally effective as a ruckman or in a key defensive position, added versatility and depth to the Tigers' line-up and was a major reason behind the team's emergence as a power. He played in the 1981 grand final against South Fremantle, but was pole axed early on, and took no further part in a match which Claremont eventually won by 15 points. After another season with the Swans, who had by this time re-located to Sydney, in 1982, Beecroft returned to the Tigers to complete a league and VFA career that eventually saw him play 71 VFL, 36 Association, and 113 WAFL games. He also represented Western Australia. Barry Beecroft retired at the end of the 1985 season. |
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Bob Beecroft (Swan Districts, Fitzroy, Woodville)
[Click to enlarge] |
| Swan
Districts recruited Bob Beecroft from Williams as an eighteen year old
in 1970. Beecroft had won Williams' senior fairest and best award
the previous season and, playing mainly as a ruckman, he soon developed
into a handy player for Swans. His best season in the black and
white colours came in 1972 when he matched the best ruckmen in Australia
at the Perth carnival, earning All
Australian selection in the process. He also won the Swan
Districts club champion award that same year.
Over the next few seasons, Beecroft's form fell away somewhat, and it was something of a surprise when he was selected in West Australia's team for the 1975 knock-out carnival clash with the VFL in Melbourne. However, he performed with considerable credit in a well beaten side, and this may have helped persuade Fitzroy, where he ventured in 1976, that he was a worthwhile acquisition. Beecroft spent five seasons with the Lions, playing 96 games and kicking 291 goals. Fitzroy played him mainly as a key forward, and he topped the club's goal kicking list on three occasions. In 1981 Beecroft moved to South Australia where he joined Woodville. In five seasons at Oval Avenue he played 86 SANFL games and kicked 219 goals, topping the club's goal kicking list once. Tough, persistent and reliable, he was perhaps better suited to the hurly-burly world of VFL football than the more skill-orientated Western Australian or South Australian manifestations of game. At any rate, he undoubtedly played his best football during his time in Melbourne, although his performances with Swans (for whom he played 126 games and booted 164 goals) were still deemed sufficiently noteworthy for him to secure selection in the club's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. |
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Alan Belcher (Brunswick, Collingwood, Essendon)
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| An
outstanding ruckman and on field leader, Alan Belcher's football career
was laced with misfortune, and his life was tragically short. He
commenced senior football with Brunswick in
the VFA before crossing to Collingwood in
1904,
but he managed just 4 games for the year, and the following season saw him
back with Brunswick. After a solid
year with the Pottery Workers, Belcher returned to the VFL in 1906, this
time with Essendon. Powerful and
inspirational, he led from the front, a propensity that was officially
recognised and endorsed in 1910 when he was appointed club captain-coach
in return for a weekly payment of £1. He was vice-captain in 1911
when Jack
Worrall took over the coaching reins, and if he felt disappointment at
this it was nothing compared to how he must have felt later in the year
when injury forced him to miss playing in the winning grand final against Collingwood.
The 1912 season saw Belcher re-appointed club captain, a role he was to retain for the next four seasons. Once again, the Same Old lifted the premiership, and this time Alan Belcher had the satisfaction of leading the side to victory against a South Melbourne team which featured his equally talented brother Vic. After going into mothballs for two years because of the war, Essendon resumed in 1918, with Alan Belcher playing both that season and the next to finish his league career on 180 games, 176 of which were with the Dons. He had also played for the VFL in 1906 and 1907, as well as at the 1911 Adelaide carnival. After leaving the game, however, he was beset by a series of personal tragedies which ultimately led to his untimely death in 1921. |
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Vic Belcher (Brunswick, South Melbourne, Fitzroy)
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| The
only player to represent South Melbourne
in both of its first two VFL premiership teams, Vic Belcher's league
career began in 1907, and ended in 1920, 226 games later. Prior to
that he had played briefly with Brunswick in
the VFA.
Renowned for his ability to ruck all day, Belcher was also an inspirational leader, and captained the southerners from 1913 to 1917 (with a war-enforced break in 1916), and again in 1920. He also coached the club from 1914-17. Vigorous, tenacious and hard-working rather than a stylist, Belcher was often at his best when the going got strenuous. This was seldom better exemplified than in the hurly burly of the second half of the 1918 premiership play-off against Collingwood, when Belcher's resolute and tireless ruckwork was the chief difference between the teams in a photo finish. Between 1922 and 1924, Vic Belcher was non-playing coach of Fitzroy, steering the Maroons to the 1922 premiership, 2nd place the following year, and 3rd place in 1924. He also served as non-playing coach of his original club, Brunswick, for a time, and was coach of VAFA side Old Scotch Collegians when it won a then record fourth successive A Section flag in 1934. His older brother Alan was also a fine footballer with Collingwood (briefly) and Essendon. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Tony Bellos was a talented centreline player who gave East Perth effective service in 123 league games between 1957 and 1963. He was in the centre in the Royals' 1958 grand final win over East Fremantle, and on a wing a year later in the victory over Subiaco. He also played in the losing grand finals of 1960 against West Perth and 1961 against Swan Districts. Bellos was chosen to represent Western Australia twice. |
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Paul Belton (Port Adelaide & West Adelaide)
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| Paul
Belton may have been less fêted than his fellow Port
Adelaide rovers Brian
Cunningham and Darrell
Cahill but his contribution to the club's success during the late
1970s and early '80s was, in its way, just as significant. Equally
at home on a wing, Belton was quick, direct and somewhat volatile.
One of his finest performances came in the 1981 SANFL grand final when he
was one of the best on-ballers on view as Port cruised to a 14.11 (95) to
6.8 (44) victory.
In 1986, after a total of 182 games and 170 goals in eleven seasons with the Magpies Belton joined West Adelaide where he added another 69 games and 23 goals before retiring in 1989. Paul Belton also represented South Australia twice. |
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Roy Bence (South Melbourne & St Kilda)
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| Originally from Koroit in the Warrnambool District Junior Football Association, rover Roy Bence joined South Melbourne in 1922 but failed to settle in the city and, after 15 VFL games and 6 goals, he returned home. His second stint in the big time was more successful, however: between 1925 and 1933 he played a total of 144 league games for St Kilda, kicking 83 goals. A gutsy, tenacious player, he was popularly known as 'Tiger'. |
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John Benetti (Carlton & Oakleigh)
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| A cousin of Carlton great Sergio Silvagni, John Benetti joined the Blues at the same time, and played 88 VFL games for them between 1958 and 1965. Tough, solidly built, and resolute, he was a defender for most of his league career, and was in a back pocket for the losing grand final of 1962 against Essendon. He represented the VFL against South Australia at the MCG in 1963 (match reviewed here). In 1966, he was appointed coach of VFA 1st division club Oakleigh which was experiencing severe financial hardship. Benetti tried his best, but faced an uphill struggle as the side lacked quality players, and in the end it managed just 2 wins from 18 matches for the year and was relegated. |
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| Fitzroy's Colin Benham was a solid, hard working ruckman who provided a useful marking option when resting in the forward lines. He boasted tremendous stamina, and teamed well with champion rover Haydn Bunton senior. Recruited from Hamilton, Benton played 81 VFL games and kicked 70 goals for the Roys between 1930 and 1936. |
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George Bennett (Camberwell, Hawthorn, Footscray, Sandringham)
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| George Bennett was a pacy high flier who began his senior career with Camberwell in the VFA during the late 1920s. He joined Hawthorn in 1930 and went on to put in many eye-catching performances during two separate stints with the club. The 1934 season saw him move to Footscray after refusing to adhere to Hawthorn coach Tom Lahiff's rule which dictated that any player who missed more than three senior games with injury or suspension had to resume in the reserves. Bennett went on to play a total of 108 games for the Tricolours, winning a best and fairest award in 1935, before resuming briefly with Camberwell in 1941. He finished his senior career back at Hawthorn, however, where he played between 1942 and 1944 to bring his final tally of VFL games with the club to 92, giving him a round 200 all told. He played a total of 13 VFA games with Camberwell. In 1945 he was appointed coach of VFA club Sandringham but oversaw a highly disappointing season which yielded just 2 wins from 20 matches, and saw the side miss the wooden spoon only on percentage. |
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Greg Bennett (Perth, Glenelg, Claremont)
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| A nimble and clever rover with an eye for goal, Greg Bennett enjoyed a successful league football career in two states. He began with Perth, where his 107 WANFL games between 1967 and 1972 - many of them roving in tandem with all time great Barry Cable - included noteworthy performances in the winning grand finals of 1967 and 1968, both against East Perth. He crossed to Glenelg in 1973 and was immediately successful in playing in another winning grand final (reviewed here). Bennett played a total of 63 SANFL games in three seasons with the Bays. He also represented South Australia twice, kicking 5 goals. In 1976 he headed back to Western Australia where he added a final 32 league games in two seasons with Claremont. |
| Jack
Bennett was a highly effective ruckman who was a mainstay of |
|
[Click to enlarge] |
| Peter Bennett was a useful full forward who topped St Kilda's goal kicking list on five occasions. However, he retired prematurely from football in order to concentrate on his other sporting love, water polo, at which he was an Australian Olympic representative. Bennett played 103 VFL games for the Saints in 1944 and from 1947 to 1954, kicking 258 goals. He twice booted 8 goals in a match. |
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Edgar 'Dickie' Bennetts (West Adelaide)
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| Despite
standing only 165cm in height, and weighing barely 67kg, West
Adelaide's 'Dickie' Bennetts played almost his entire league career at
full forward. Fast, elusive, and a deadly kick for goal, he made a
big impression from his very first season, when he booted 51 goals from 15
matches to top West's list. The year in question was 1927, and
Bennetts topped things off in the best way imaginable, by helping the club
to a 10.11 (71) to 8.10 (58) challenge final defeat of North
Adelaide.
Bennetts continued in fine form in 1929 and 1930, when his seasons' tallies of 76 and 67 goals were again good enough for him to top Westies' list. Then came disaster. During the course of West's 1929 semi final win over Norwood, Bennetts was reported for hacking. He had been lying on the ground, having been on the receiving end of a hefty hip and shoulder bump, when umpire Currie attempted to leap over him. Bennetts' feet made contact with Currie, who felt that the action was deliberate, and reported him. The SANFL's commissioner, Thomas O'Halloran QC, accepted umpire Currie's version of events, and suspended Bennetts for three whole seasons. Despite numerous attempts by West Adelaide club officials to get the sentence reduced, the league refused to budge, and Bennetts did not again play senior football until 1933. Quickly showing that he had lost none of his prowess, Bennetts amassed 74 goals in a wooden spoon-winning team in 1933 to once again head West's goal kicking list. He repeated the achievement in 1934 and 1935 with tallies of 86 and 82 goals respectively, so that by the time he retired he had accumulated a club record 436 goals at the highly respectable average of 4.27 per game. This record remained intact until overhauled by Roger Luders in 1984. The presence at other clubs of champion full forwards like Ken Farmer and Jack Owens made it difficult for Bennetts to achieve interstate selection. Nevertheless, he managed 1 appearance for South Australia, booting 3 goals. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Tough, resilient and occasionally fiery, Jeff Bennetts added a touch of steel to West Adelaide's highly skilled but sometimes fragile teams of the early 1960s. He played a total of 101 games for West, mainly in the back pocket, between 1960 and 1965. He was a member of the Blood 'n' Tars 1961 premiership team, and the following year was one of the best players on view in the 3 point grand final loss to Port Adelaide. Jeff Bennetts was a South Australian state representative whose vigorous, straight ahead, hard bumping style was well suited to the often rather intense atmosphere of interstate football. |
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[Click to enlarge] |
| Norwood's Roy Bent was the first great South Australian full forward of the post-World War One era. During the course of his comparatively brief, eight season, 98 game league career he topped the SAFL goal kicking ladder in his debut season of 1921 with 42 goals, as well as in 1924 (53 or 54 - sources vary), 1925 (59) and 1926 (65). He was Norwood's leading goal kicker five times. Lightweight and lithe, he out-maneuvered full backs with a combination of pace and guile, and his left foot kicking for goal was perfection itself, both in terms of style and accuracy. With Bent at the goalfront, the Redlegs were a consistent force, winning premierships in 1922-3 and 1925. Some of Bent's best football was played in the interstate arena. His 17 appearances for South Australia included games at the 1924 Hobart carnival, and he booted a total of 60 interstate goals. Roy Bent was a more accomplished all round footballer than many full forwards, and when required could play as a rover with almost equal effectiveness. Considering the enormously high regard in which he was held during his playing career, he was a perhaps somewhat surprising omission from Norwood's official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Percy Bentley (Richmond & Carlton)
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| As
a redoubtable and highly effective ruckman for Richmond
between 1925 and 1940 Perce Bentley was one of the highest profile
footballers in the game. During that time he played a total of 262
VFL games, and booted 265 goals. Originally from Castlemaine,
he was captain of the Tigers in 1932-3 and went on to serve as captain-coach over the remaining seven seasons of his
career as a player. He was thus involved in Richmond premierships in
1932 and 1934 when Carlton and South
Melbourne respectively were vanquished on grand final day.
Bentley also played in losing grand finals in 1927, 1929 and 1933.
Once his playing career was over, Bentley joined Carlton as non-playing coach, staying at the helm from 1941 until 1955, and masterminding flag wins in 1945 and 1947. He remained at Carlton as a committee man once his coaching days had finished, and his role in helping the Blues re-emerge as a league power in the 1960s was a significant one. |
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| Fast, elusive and courageous, West Adelaide's Ron Benton was, in the words of Jeff Pash, "a heroic little figure" for whom "every game seems to be another survival" (see footnote 1). Over the course of his 178 game 172 goal league career between 1955 and 1959 and from 1961 to 1965 he achieved virtually everything the game had to offer: a Magarey Medal and club best and fairest award in 1957, interstate football (albeit only 1 game), a near best afield performance in the winning grand final of 1961 against Norwood, and West Adelaide's leading goal kicker award (with 29 goals) in 1963. He was, without doubt, one of the most illustrious players in the history of a club that, over the years, has been blessed with a disproportionately high number of top quality footballers. |
Footnotes1. The Pash Papers by Jeff Pash, page 79. Return to Main Text |
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| Despite the fact that his VFL career was comparatively short - just 56 games, yielding 41 goals, between 1928 and 1932 - William Benton's versatility made him an eminently useful player. Originally from Birchip in Victoria's North Central District Football League, he was at full back in Richmond's losing grand final team of 1929 against Collingwood. However, he could also perform effectively in any of the other key positions. |
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Hans 'Ossie' Bertram (West Torrens, South Melbourne, St Kilda)
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| A livewire rover with good skills and a penchant for goal kicking, 'Ossie' Bertram never really stayed long enough at one club to make the most of his obvious talent. He began with West Torrens, where he was nicknamed 'Dribbler', and his form was good enough for him to earn interstate selection for South Australia twice. In 1933 he became a member of South Melbourne's much vaunted 'foreign legion' which helped propel the club to its first VFL premiership since 1918. In that year's grand final against Richmond, he shared the roving with Terry Brain as the Blood Stained Angels won convincingly, 9.17 (71) to 4.5 (29). He also played in the following year's premiership decider when the Tigers achieved revenge. In 1935, after 23 VFL games and 43 goals for South, he crossed to St Kilda where he added another 15 games and booted 17 goals in his final two league seasons. |
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John Beveridge (Collingwood & West Perth)
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Popularly known as 'Jack', Beveridge was a centreman who oozed class, poise and effortless control in an outstanding league career with two top clubs in two states. Beginning with Collingwood under Jock McHale in 1926, Beveridge represented an important piece in the premiership acquiring jig-saw that the great coach was meticulously putting together at the time. Beveridge, in fact, played in a grand final - or, more correctly, a challenge final - in his debut season with the Magpies, but it was not a game he would want to remember, as Collingwood lost heavily to Melbourne, and Beveridge himself was comprehensively out-pointed by the great Ivor Warne-Smith. A year later, Jack Beveridge and Collingwood had a chance to atone, and, despite having to endure probably the worst weather conditions ever to beset a VFL premiership deciding match, did so with impressive conclusiveness. On an MCG that would probably have been better suited to water polo than football, only 3 goals were scored all afternoon - 2 to the Magpies, and 1 to Richmond - but Collingwood, with Beveridge giving a display that put him head and shoulders above every other player on the ground, was always by some measure the better side, and won by the substantial margin - for the conditions - of two straight kicks. Over the course of the ensuing three seasons, Collingwood emphasised its superiority over the rest of the VFL with grand final wins of ever increasing conviction, while Beveridge himself, who played in the centre in each grand final, continued to grow in both stature and effectiveness. In particular, his deft and clever use of handball as an attacking tool was something that might have been regarded as ahead of its time, and was certainly the feature of his game that was most often, and most vociferously, subject to acclaim. After 148 games in nine seasons with the Woods, Beveridge joined reigning WANFL premier West Perth in 1935 and, after a somewhat controversial start to his career in the west (as described here), ended up making an important contribution as the club went 'back to back' that year courtesy of a 23 point grand final defeat of Subiaco. Ostensibly playing as a ruckman, his style of play, centered around the frequent and clever use of pack-splitting handball, was actually more akin to that of a ruck-rover, albeit that the term had yet to be coined. Although Jack Beveridge's career with the Cardinals was comparatively brief, his impact on the game in the west was arguably almost as great as it had been in Victoria. |
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| A useful and occasionally classy rover, West Perth's Corry Bewick showed great courage, determination and resilience in 1985 when he resumed his league career after two full years out with a serious knee injury. He joined the Cardinals from Tuart Hull, and made the first of an eventual 128 senior WA(N)FL appearances in 1977. Excellent overhead for a small (175cm, 73kg) man, at his best he was a great foil for fellow rover and West Perth legend Les Fong. Considered by many unlucky never to have represented Western Australia, Corry Bewick retired at the end of the 1986 season. |
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Darren Bewick (West Perth & Essendon)
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| After three years with West Perth, during which time he also made his West Australian interstate debut, Darren Bewick ventured to VFL side Essendon at the end of the 1987 season. Between 1988 and 2000 he played 238 V/AFL games and kicked 332 goals for the Bombers, tallies that would have been considerably higher had he not been such a frequent victim of injury, the most serious of which necessitated a full knee reconstruction in 1995. Boasting explosive pace, smooth ball handling skills, and an eye for goal, he was the sort of player who could single-handedly turn the course of a match. An Essendon premiership player in 1993 and 2000, Bewick also played in three pre-season premiership teams for the Bombers. He was runner-up in the club's 1991 best and fairest count. He played 4 state of origin and 2 state league matches for Western Australia. |
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| Ron Bewick made his league debut for West Perth in 1956, commencing a quarter of a century of involvement with the club which, besides his nine season, 115 game career as a player, took in stints as runner, committee member, chairman of selectors and junior vice president. As a player he was less eye catching than some, but almost always effective. Most of his football was played as a wingman, in which position he lined up on Saturday 8th October 1960 at Subiaco Oval as the Cardinals overcame arch-rival East Perth by 32 points to claim their first flag for nine years. |
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Andrew Bews (Geelong & Brisbane)
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| A
tough, gutsy footballer who boasted plenty of energy and pace, Andrew Bews
gave fine service to both Geelong and Brisbane
in a seventeen season career that saw him play close to 300 V/AFL
games. Recruited by the Cats from North
Geelong, he made his senior
debut in 1982, and gradually developed into one of the foremost taggers in
the game. Because of his ability to shut down opposition rovers,
Bews became a regular member of 'Big V' sides (12 appearances); his
clashes with South Australian rover John
Platten, in particular, were highlights of state of origin matches
during the 1980s, and Bews consistently gave as good as he got, earning All
Australian selection in 1987. He was one of the Cats' best
players in their 6 point loss to Hawthorn
in the 1989 VFL grand final, but missed the premiership decider of 1992
with injury.
At the end of the 1993 season, after 207 games and 132 goals for Geelong, Bews crossed to Brisbane where, playing mainly as a defender, he was a steadying influence as the club emerged as an AFL power for the first time. In five seasons with the Bears/Lions he added 69 games and 2 goals. |
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Peter Beythien (Central District)
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| Solidly effective rather than eye-catchingly spectacular (as is evidenced by his failure to earn a single state jumper in a career spanning 285 league games over thirteen seasons), Peter Beythien gave staunch service to Central District in a variety of positions. Keen intelligence allied to finely tuned football instincts helped Beythien to make the most of his modest natural ability, and he was rewarded with a Bulldogs best and fairest award in his third senior season, 1977. His final tally of league games is only bettered, among Central District players, by Peter Vivian's 308. |
