James Coad (West Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

George Coates (Fitzroy)

[Click to enlarge]

Craig Cock (South Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

Jack Cockburn (South Adelaide & Essendon)

[Click to enlarge]

Although of particularly robust physique, Cockburn has compelled admiration by the transparent fairness of his methods, and his concentration on the ball.  What an easy task our umpires would be set if every player emulated Cockburn's style!  The ball is invariably his objective, and his brilliance in gaining possession by dashing groundwork, and brilliant high flying, has made him the outstanding player of the season.  (See footnote 1)

While stationed briefly in Melbourne during World War Two, Cockburn played 10 VFL games with Essendon.  The last of his 167 league games for South Adelaide was played in 1947.

Few people would have been surprised when he gained a place on a half back flank in South Adelaide's official 'Greatest Team'.

Footnotes

1.  'SANFL Football Budget', 14/9/35, page 3.  Return to Main Text

Norman Cockram (Northcote & Fitzroy)

[Click to enlarge]

Between 1929 and 1931 Cockram played at Northcote once more as the Brickfielders emerged as a force in the Association for the first time.  The 1929 season brought the club's first ever VFA flag, with Cockram playing a key role at full back in the comfortable 42 point grand final win over Port Melbourne.  The 1930 and 1931 seasons brought further grand final appearances for both Northcote and Cockram, but Oakleigh proved too strong on both occasions.

In 1932, Norm Cockram returned to Fitzroy for two last seasons of senior football, bringing his final tally of VFL games to 120.  He also booted 82 goals, most of them early in his career when he spent a lot of time on the forward line.

John Coffey (St Kilda)

[Click to enlarge]

Arthur 'Bull' Coghlan (Geelong)

[Click to enlarge]

Kevin Coghlan (Collingwood & Hawthorn)

[Click to enlarge]

Leigh Colbert (Geelong & Kangaroos)

[Click to enlarge]

Brian Colbey (Glenelg)

[Click to enlarge]

Tough, resilient and unrelenting, Colbey was a key fixture across half back in Neil Kerley's powerful Glenelg sides of the late 1960s and early '70s.  He played a total of 206 SANFL games for the Tigers, plus 11 for the state, between 1966 and 1976.  A member of the Bays' 1973 grand final winning team against North Adelaide (reviewed here), another career highlight came in 1969 with selection in the All Australian team after the Adelaide carnival.

Bill Cole (Northcote & St Kilda)

[Click to enlarge]

Bob Coleman (Perth)

[Click to enlarge]

John Coleman (Essendon)

[Click to enlarge]

In a post-war world hungry for heroes, John Coleman fitted the bill impeccably.  Prolific full forwards had always attracted attention and a certain amount of adulation before but never in quite such a personal way as Coleman, whose film star good looks only served to enhance the superstar image.

In pure footballing terms he wasn't all that bad either.  Indeed, from the time he burst onto the VFL scene with 12 goals on debut against Hawthorn in 1949 it was obvious that the Dons had hit the jackpot.  Coleman combined freakish aerial ability with superb ground skills, and was a deadly accurate kick for goal, but his greatness was much more than the sum of these parts.  Truly great champions often possess an elusive magnetism deriving as much from bearing and overall approach as from actual achievements; such was very much the case with Coleman - very few footballers have possessed such an arresting and impressive on field presence.  Moreover, at a time when full forwards were traditionally greedy for goals, John Coleman broke the mould by being quintessentially team-orientated.  As Jack Dyer tautly observed, "As long as Essendon get the goals Coleman doesn't worry who kicks them" (see footnote 1).

Of course, no matter how team-orientated a full forward is, he will still tend to be judged primarily on the number of goals he kicks, and in this respect Coleman was the most prolific player in the VFL for a decade.  When a badly dislocated knee prematurely ended his career in June 1954 he had topped Essendon's goal kicking list every season since 1949 (and would again in 1954, despite missing the last half of the season); he had led the league list on four occasions too, which included three tallies of 100 or more goals.  A premiership player in 1949 and 1950, many people remain convinced that his controversial suspension for the 1951 grand final cost the Dons that year's flag.

Needless to say, Coleman was often on the receiving end of some pretty rugged treatment from opponents, and although fundamentally disposed to 'play the ball', he was not averse to retaliating if he felt the occasion demanded it.  Sadly, the fact that umpires then, as now, habitually interpreted the laws of the game differently when the ball was in scoring range meant that Coleman's direct opponents often got away with near murder, making retaliation frequently seem like the only, or at any rate the most immediately rewarding, option.  Every camel's back has its breaking point, and Coleman's suspension for 4 matches, which included the 1951 grand final, came after Carlton, courtesy of Harry Caspar, applied just one straw too many during the last home and away match of the season.

Eloquently summarising Coleman's unique appeal to football fans of virtually all persuasions, Herald journalist Hec De Lacy observed:

To me the greatest delight in the Coleman technique is to see him one split second as the polesitter, the disinterested spectator of the hustle and bustle; the next to rise with the crowd's excitement as he comes from nowhere, throws himself into the air and drags down the seemingly impossible mark.  

Coleman is football's personality player - the greatest player in the game's greatest era.  (See footnote 2)

Coleman was later a highly successful coach, steering the Bombers to the 1962 and 1965 flags.  His premature death in 1973 aged just 44 was a tragic loss for football.

Footnotes

1.  Cited in The Great John Coleman by Wayne Miller and Vikki Petraitis, with Victor Jeremiah, page 76.  Return to Main Text

2.  Ibid., page 52.  Return to Main Text

Charles Coles (Geelong)

[Click to enlarge]

John Colgan (Boulder City & South Fremantle)

Mike Coligan (Norwood)

[Click to enlarge]

Albert Collier (Collingwood, Cananore, Fitzroy, Camberwell)

[Click to enlarge]

Something of a sporting prodigy as a youth, Albert Collier captained Victorian schoolboy teams at both football and cricket, but the oval ball game was always his first love.  Residing within walking distance of Victoria Park, and playing locally with Ivanhoe, he was perhaps always destined to join Collingwood, and made his debut with the Magpies, as a full forward, in 1925.  However, his vigorous, often fiery style of play proved better suited to the backlines, and it was at centre half back that he eventually found his niche, occupying either that position, or a half back flank, in each of Collingwood's grand final teams between 1926 and 1930.  The 1929 season was especially auspicious with Collier not only making a telling contribution to the Magpies' grand final defeat of Richmond, but landing the first of three Collingwood best and fairest awards, plus the Brownlow Medal.

Nicknamed 'Leeter' (or 'Leeta'), for reasons which neither he nor his fellow Collingwood-playing brother Harry could recall, Albert Collier moved to Tasmania in 1931 and fronted up, with considerable success, for TANFL side Cananore.  In what proved to be a record-breaking year for the TANFL in terms of attendances, the Canaries, aided by a sterling contribution from their star import, overcame North Hobart by 3 points in a replayed grand final, and shortly afterwards defeated North Launceston for the state crown.  Collier, who had displayed outstanding form for much of the season, was awarded the William Leitch Medal for the best and fairest player in the league.

After one more season with Cananore Albert Collier returned home to Collingwood and, following his success in an on ball role with the Canaries, was asked to play as a ruckman, a role he assumed with great aplomb and outstanding success.  Renowned for his formidable defence of smaller team mates, notably older brother Harry, 'Leeter' won consecutive club best and fairest awards in 1934 and 1935 and became a near automatic selection for VFL interstate teams.  When Collingwood beat South Melbourne in the 1935 grand final the two Collier brothers vied with one another for best afield honours.

Later in his career, Albert Collier suffered a series of knee injuries which undermined both his pace and his impact.  Nevertheless, he continued to give solid service to the Magpies until 1939, when the effects of his injuries forced him to call it a day.  In 1941 he made a brief, 12 game comeback with Fitzroy, and in 1945-6 he captain-coached VFA club Camberwell, steering the side to a losing grand final against Sandringham in his second season.  However, it is for his 205 games in a Collingwood jumper that the redoubtable Albert 'Leeter' Collier, who was placed at centre half back in the club's official 'Team of the Century', will be best remembered.

Harry Collier (Collingwood & Camberwell)

[Click to enlarge]

Fifteen months older than his equally famous brother Albert, Harry Collier did not actually make his league debut with Collingwood until a year later.  He played his early football with Ivanhoe in the Sub-District Football League, winning his club's best and fairest award in 1924.  He was quick to make up for any lost time when he crossed to league ranks, playing superbly in a losing grand final side in his debut season of 1926, and going on to amass what, at the time of his retirement after the 1940 season, was a near club record 254 games.

A brilliant rover with a superb goal sense, some of Harry Collier's best football was played during the 1930s in tandem with his ruckman brother, who despite being only 179cm in height - just 6cm taller than Harry - was considered a 'big man' at the time.  With Albert providing vigorous and highly effective physical protection, Harry was frequently able to run riot, most notably of all perhaps in the 1935 VFL grand final when his superlative, all action four quarter performance was a major contributory factor to the Magpies' 20 point defeat of highly favoured South Melbourne.

All told, Harry Collier played in no fewer than six Collingwood premiership teams and was both a dual premiership captain and a dual club best and fairest winner.  Hardly surprisingly, he was chosen as first rover in the Magpies' official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.  In 1930, along with Footscray's Alan Hopkins, he lost the Brownlow Medal to Stan Judkins of Richmond on a countback; fifty nine years later the VFL saw fit to overrule itself and awarded both Hopkins and Collier retrospective Medals.

Almost always an eminently fair if vigorously combative competitor, the most controversial incident in Harry Collier's career occurred in 1938 when, despite a previously unblemished Tribunal record, he incurred an astonishing 14 game suspension for striking Carlton wingman Jack Carney.  Just as controversial and astonishing as the length of the penalty was the fact that the initial report on the striking incident was lodged, not by any of the four umpires officiating at the match, but by the Carlton Football Club.  In the view of some, the whole affair ultimately cost Collingwood the 1938 flag, for with Collier's suspension still in force the Magpies narrowly lost the grand final by 15 points, a margin they might well have reduced or overcome with their tenacious little rover in the line-up.

And Collingwood's opponent in that grand final?  None other than Carlton.  Small wonder there is so little love lost between the two clubs!

Midway through the 1947 season, Collier replaced Marcus Boyall as coach of VFA club Camberwell.  "I was happy to help out," he later recalled, "but I was not particularly interested in the job" (see footnote 1).  Perhaps his lack of interest was one reason for the significant dip in form that saw the team slump to a mid table finish after getting to within 8 points of a premiership the previous year.  Collier even donned the boots himself during the year, playing a total of 12 games in the unfamiliar red, white and blue colours, but to no avail.

Footnotes

1.  The VFA: A History Of The Victorian Football Association 1877-1995 by Marc Fiddian, page 141.  Return to Main Text

Gary Colling (Frankston & St Kilda)

[Click to enlarge]

David Collins (North Hobart)

[Click to enlarge]

Edward Collins (St Kilda)

[Click to enlarge]

Geoff Collins (Melbourne)

[Click to enlarge]

George Collins (Essendon & Preston)

[Click to enlarge]

Jack Collins (Yarraville & Footscray)

[Click to enlarge]

A regular VFL interstate representative, Collins also won Footscray's club champion award twice.  His older brother Alan had earlier played with great success for both Yarraville and Footscray, as well as representing the 'Big V'.

After his retirement as a player, Jack Collins continued his association with the Bulldogs by serving on the club committee, initially as secretary, and later as president.

Maurice Collins (Essendon)

[Click to enlarge]

Norman Collins (Fitzroy, Carlton, Hawthorn)

[Click to enlarge]

Gordon Collis (Carlton)

[Click to enlarge]

Unfortunately, the remainder of Gordon Collis' 95 game VFL career was short-circuited by recurrent, niggling injuries, culminating in serious damage to a foot which prompted him to 'retire' at the end of the 1965 season.  Still aged only 27, he decided after a year away from the game that he would give it one more try, and 1967 saw him back at Princes Park for what proved to be his final league season.  On doctors' advice, he retired for good at the end of the year after being diagnosed with stomach ulcers.  

Ironically, in 1968 the Blues broke through for their first flag since 1947, an achievement to which Gordon Collis would, no doubt, dearly have loved to contribute.

Ted Colquhoun (Sturt)

[Click to enlarge]

In 1922, Ted Colquhoun was one of several Sturt players to quit the club in protest at the sacking of dual premiership captain-coach Bill Mayman.  However, he resumed in 1923 and went on to complete 83 senior games for the Blues before retiring two seasons later.  Colquhoun also represented South Australia on 3 occasions.

If he had a weakness as a player, it was that, on occasion, he tended to hold onto the ball too long.  However, the converse of this was that his runs from defence were sometimes exhilarating and team-lifting.

Bruce Comben (Carlton & Werribee)

[Click to enlarge]

Between 1970 and 1972 Comben coached Werribee in the VFA's 2nd division, but the side struggled, winning just 9 and drawing 1 of its 54 matches over the three years.

Hector 'Johnny' Compton (Claremont & Kalgoorlie City)

Harold Comte (St Kilda)

[Click to enlarge]

Dick Condon (Collingwood, Richmond, East Sydney)

[Click to enlarge]

After spending the 1907 season umpiring in Tasmania he returned to Victoria the following year and joined fledgling league side Richmond.  In 1909, he was appointed coach - much to the disgust of former team mate Charlie Pannam, who resigned from the club in protest - but lasted only a year before becoming such a constant source of irritation to all concerned that he was asked to leave.  Condon subsequently moved to New South Wales where he spent the 1910 season coaching East Sydney to a losing grand final against YMCA.

Uniquely among Collingwood's ten year players, Dick Condon was never made a life member of the club, and a century on it is hard to avoid the impression that here was a troubled soul whose personal deficiencies prevented full expression of what may well have been a unique talent. 

Don Condon (North Melbourne)

[Click to enlarge]

Angelo Congear (Port Adelaide)

[Back to Top]

As a rover, he was extremely clever, nimble both of body and mind, and well able to look after himself.  He was a great favourite among Port Adelaide's loyal following, and perhaps the only surprising fact about his career is that he somehow failed to procure a club best and fairest award.

Neil Conlan (New Town/Glenorchy, Devonport, Manuka, Belconnen)

[Click to enlarge]

Resilient, courageous and highly skilled, Conlan was regarded by Tasmanian football historian Ken Pinchin as "probably the toughest and certainly the best centreline player Tasmania produced" (see footnote 1).

Consistently noteworthy performances at interstate level saw mainland clubs begin to take a keen interest, and on a couple of occasions during the 1950s he was 'signed' by Richmond.  Conlan, however, was happy to remain in Tasmania, winning a club record four successive best and fairest awards with New Town/Glenorchy from 1955-58, and playing in the 1953, 1955-56 and 1958 premiership sides.

In 1959, Conlan accepted the position of captain-coach of NWFU team Devonport.  In 1962, he steered the Magpies to a grand final, but they lost to Burnie.  He continued to perform well as a player, gaining regular Tasmanian selection, winning a major media award in 1960, and being chosen as the best NWFU player in intrastate games in 1963.  Replaced as coach of Devonport in 1964 by Jervis Stokes, Conlan carried on as a player for another couple of seasons before spending a year with NWFA side Wesley Vale.

In 1967, he embraced a new challenge by accepting the role of playing-coach at Manuka, where he was to achieve outstanding success.  In his first season he steered the Bullants to their first flag since 1955, repeating the success in 1968, and then again in 1969 (this time as non-playing coach).  All told, he oversaw a total of 5 premierships at Manuka, making him one of the most successful ACTAFL coaches ever.

After a break from football in the mid-1970s he returned as Manuka's chairman of selectors in 1977 and the following year was appointed non-playing coach of Belconnen.   Tragically, in July that year he died in his sleep aged just 42.  His son Michael later carried on the family's football tradition by playing at senior level for Manuka, Fitzroy and Sandringham. 

Neil Conlan's contribution to Tasmanian football was amply recognised in 2004 with his inclusion in the state's official 'Team of the Century'.

Footnotes

1.  A Century Of Tasmanian Football 1879-1979 by Ken Pinchin, page 163.  Return to Main Text

Jack Conley (Coburg & Carlton)

[Click to enlarge]

Alec Conlin (West Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

Jock Connell (City & Longford)

[Click to enlarge]

John Connell (West Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

Reginald Conole (Port Adelaide & Melbourne)

[Click to enlarge]

Darrel Conrad (North Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

Jim Conway (East Fremantle & Claremont)

[Click to enlarge]

East Fremantle's 1950 Sandover Medallist Jim Conway was a highly skilled, elusive, goal kicking rover who represented his club on 180 occasions in 1943, when the WANFL's wartime under-age competition was still in operation, and then from 1946 to 1956.  In his first season of full scale, open age competition he was a member of Old Easts' winning grand final side against West Perth. 

Best remembered as a rover, Conway was, despite his small physical stature, sometimes used at centre half forward on occasion, in which position he was surprisingly effective.  Besides winning a Lynn Medal (East Fremantle's fairest and best player award) in the same year as his Sandover, he twice topped the club's goal kicking list (his 77 goals in 1951 being especially meritorious), and represented Western Australia in the interstate arena 15 times.  He captained the club in 1948, 1951 and 1956.

After one particularly dazzling display it was noted: "East Perth had as much chance of bottling up Conway as a cat would have of catching an asbestos mouse through a furnace at the East Perth powerhouse."  (See footnote 1)

After leaving Old Easts at the end of the 1956 Conway spent some time in country New South Wales before being somewhat surprisingly appointed non-playing coach of Claremont in 1964.  He promptly lifted the Tigers, who had finished last the previous year, to their first premiership since 1940 (achieved, somewhat ironically, at the expense of his former club, East Fremantle, and reviewed here).  An innovative and adventurous coach, he spent five seasons at the helm at Claremont, but things gradually went downhill after 1964 with the side finishing 3rd, 5th, 5th and 6th.

When East Fremantle announced its official 'Team of the Century' in 1997 few long-standing supporters would have been surprised to see Jim Conway named as first rover.

Footnotes

1.  Celebrating 100 Years Of Tradition by Jack Lee, page 227.  Return to Main Text

Brian Cook (Perth)

[Click to enlarge]

Fred Cook (Footscray, Yarraville, Port Melbourne, Moorabbin)

[Click to enlarge]

In 1970, Yarraville coach John Heriot used his new signing mainly as a ruckman or centre half back, and although the Eagles endured a dreadful season and were ultimately relegated, winning both the club best and fairest award and the Liston Trophy.  Following the club's relegation, however, he was faced with a difficult choice: he could either stay at Yarraville on reduced match payments, or look elsewhere.  In the end, he asked the club for a transfer, and was sold to Port Melbourne.

The Borough were one of the VFA's leading clubs, and in 1971 they were desperate to recapture the premiership success they had last enjoyed in 1966.  They saw Fred Cook as a potentially important contributor to that success, but although these hopes would ultimately be realised beyond their wildest dreams, initially at least there were serious setbacks to be overcome.  In Cook's first season, Port failed to qualify for the finals, and even worse was to follow; after a practice match prior to the start of the 1972 season, Cook suffered a heart attack, and was not expected to play football ever again.  Showing the sort of fortitude and determination that would come to be regarded as his trademark, however, he returned to training before the end of the year, kicked 16 goals in a seconds match, and made it clear that he was raring to go in 1973.

The next decade or so proved to be the most auspicious in the long and proud history of the Port Melbourne Football Club, and Fred Cook, now playing mainly as a full forward, was not only an important contributor, he was easily the VFA's most popular player.  He topped the VFA's goal kicking list in 1976 (124 goals), 1977 (155), 1978 (115), 1980 (112) and 1982 (140), played in 6 grand finals without a loss, and won Port Melbourne's best and fairest award in 1976.  What mere statistics cannot reveal, however, is the enormity and significance of Cook's impact on the game, and most especially on the unique manifestation of that game that was the VFA of the 1970s.  Single-handedly, with great flamboyance, verve, exuberance and skill, Fred Cook brought fans flocking back to Association grounds, effectively generating a kind of Indian summer for a competition that was living on borrowed time.  Although football is a team game, it is often the cult of personality more than anything else which attracts people, especially new fans, to the game.  For Warwick Capper (Sydney, 1980s) or Tony Modra (Adelaide, 1990s) read Frederick William Cook (Port Melbourne, 1971-83).

Cook finished his senior football career with Moorabbin, finally retiring after a total of 305 games, which spawned a VFA record 1,364 goals.

Lorne Cook (Claremont)

[Click to enlarge]

Cook was captain of Claremont in 1967-8 and again in his final season of 1972, and won a fairest and best award in 1968.  His 10 interstate appearances for Western Australia included all three matches at the 1961 Brisbane carnival, which the Western Australians won.

Allan Cooke (Richmond)

[Click to enlarge]

Mark Coombe (South Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

It was on a wing that Mark Coombe, having risen through the ranks, commenced his senior career at South Adelaide in 1968.  So noteworthy were his performances in that debut season that he was widely considered to be the SANFL's recruit of the year - no mean achievement when you consider that 1968 also introduced the likes of Russell Ebert, Ian Verrier, Robin Mulholland, Malcolm Blight and Mike Poulter to the South Australian football public.  Coombe was runner-up to Peter Darley in that year's Knuckey Cup, South's best and fairest trophy, and the following season he went one better to become, at just eighteen, one of the award's youngest ever recipients.  His good form continued over the next three years, culminating in selection in South Australia's 1972 Perth carnival team.

South Adelaide was a struggling team for most of Mark Coombe's playing career, and did not manage to qualify for the finals even once.  Ironically, following his enforced retirement the club entered a mini-halcyon phase under the innovative and energetic coaching of Haydn Bunton junior.

Footnotes

1.  As early as the opening round of the 1969 season a writer in the 'SA Football Budget' felt sufficiently confident to proffer the percipient suggestion that, in Coombe, South possessed a player "who could go on and join their club's hall of fame".  ('SA Football Budget', 5-7/4/69, page 7.)  Return to Main Text

Graham Cooper (Port Adelaide)

[Click to enlarge]

Ian Cooper (St Kilda, Swan Districts, Sandringham)

[Click to enlarge]

After bursting onto the VFL scene in spectacular fashion in 1964, Ian Cooper went on to be a major contributor to St Kilda's emergence as a major league force over the ensuing couple of seasons.  Built like a stick insect at 191cm and just 67kg Cooper was capable of spectacular aerial exploits but he supplemented this with tremendous intelligence that prevented him from over-exploiting or misusing the talent.  The quintessential big game player, he was one of St Kilda's most effective players in the losing grand final against Essendon in 1965, and was many observers' choice as best afield when the Saints broke through for their first flag against Collingwood the following year (click here for details).  In 1967 he was selected in the VFL state squad but was prevented from playing by a bout of rheumatic fever, an ailment which effectively, if only temporarily, de-railed his career.  In two further seasons with St Kilda he seldom re-discovered his best form, and in 1970 he was cleared to Swan Districts. 

Midway through the 1970 season Cooper, who had been playing his best football in three years, was back in Melbourne as a member of the West Australian state side which took on, and very nearly defeated, the VFL.  A couple of days later, however, the boot was firmly on the other foot as the West Australians succumbed to the rare humiliation of defeat at the hands of a more desperate and better coordinated Tasmanian combination in Hobart.  Cooper, with 3 goals, was one of his adopted state's better performers, but he could not prevent the home side edging home by 2 points, as described here.  Later in the year, Cooper helped the sandgropers to a hard fought win over South Australia in Perth.

After two successful seasons with Swans, during both of which he topped the club's goal kicking, Cooper returned to Victoria in 1972 where he joined Sandringham.  Cleared in time to line up against Oakleigh in round 6, Cooper gave the Zebras a much needed fast leading, strong marking option on the forward lines, and went on to boot 64 goals for the year in just 10 games.  In 1973 he did even better, topping the ton for the only time in his twelve season league and Association career.  When Cooper was cleared to Federal League club Cheltenham at the end of the 1975 season he had kicked 282 goals in 56 games for the Zebras which represented an auspicious end to a career that, overall, perhaps delivered somewhat less than it initially promised.

Jack Cooper (Fitzroy)

[Click to enlarge]

Jack Cooper left the game at the end of the 1915 season when he enlisted in the armed services.  He was later killed in action.

Ron Cooper (Claremont-Cottesloe, Carlton, Prahran)

[Click to enlarge]

Over the next eleven seasons, Cooper established himself as a highly effective centreman or rover, although his 157 VFL games did not, sadly, include the Blues' 1938 grand final defeat of arch rival Collingwood, as Cooper had incurred a suspension after striking St Kilda's Doug Raiment in the final home and away match of the year.   

Known as 'Socks', because of his habit of wearing