Go straight to the biography of your choice by clicking on the appropriate link:
[Bob Fabian] [Brian Faehse] [John Fairbrass] [Ian Fairley] [Joe Fanchi] [Fred Fanning] [Terry Farman] [Graham 'Polly' Farmer] [Ken Farmer] [Doug Farrant] [Ted Farrell] [William Faul] [Peter Featherby] [Reg Featherby] [Steven Febey] [Dan Feehan] [Geoff Feehan] [Andrew Ferguson] [Neil Ferguson] [Bruce Ferrari] [George Ferry] [Keith Fewkes] [Neville Fields] [Grantley Fielke] [Jack Fincher] [Bill Findlay] [Charles Fisher] [Gordon Fisher] [Alan Fitcher] [Len Fitzgerald] [Ross Fitzgerald] [Tom Fitzmaurice] [Jim Fitzpatrick] [Mike Fitzpatrick] [Shane Fitzsimmons] [Fred Flanagan] [Harry Fleet] [Fred Fleiter] [Eric Fleming] [Ted Flemming] [Adrian Fletcher] [Edward Fletcher] [Ken Fletcher] [Wally Fletcher] [Robert Flower] [Jim Flynn] [Jon Fogarty] [Thomas Fogarty] [Brian Foley] [Les Fong] [Fred Fontaine] [Les Foote] [Charles Forbes] [Keith Forbes] [Norman Ford] [Ted Fordham] [Jim Forsyth] [Bob Fosdike] [Duncan Fosdike] [Bert Foster] [Des Fothergill] [Gary Foulds] [George Foulis] [Laurie Fowler] [Carl Fragomeni] [Brian France] [Fabian Francis] [Jim Francis] [Tony Francis] [Josh Francou] [Robert Franklin] [Albert Franks] [Don Fraser] [Ken Fraser] [Danny Frawley] [Jimmy Freake] [Harry Free] [Tony Free] [Eric Freeman] [Vic French] [Hedley Freundt] [Edward Freyer] [Fred Froude] [Eddie Fry] [Terry Fulton] [Bob Furler] [Percy Furler] [Don Furness]
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| Port Adelaide's Bob Fabian had something of a topsy turvy SANFL career, falling in and out of favour with the selectors, but his 147 league games between 1955 and 1965 still included winning grand finals in 1957 against Norwood, 1962 against West Adelaide, 1963 versus North Adelaide, and 1965 against Sturt. A back pocket specialist, he gave away little, and was determinedly efficient in his approach, preferring to stick to position rather than take risks by galloping off downfield. |
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| The great Fos Williams, who played alongside Brian Faehse at West Adelaide, and against him with Port Adelaide, paid him the ultimate compliment when he said "I've never met a better team mate or a more ferocious and determined opponent" (see footnote 1). Throughout his career, Faehse's name was synonymous with courage, commitment and club loyalty. He made his league debut with the wartime West Adelaide-Glenelg combination in 1944, and when he retired thirteen seasons later it was with a then West Adelaide club record 222 senior games under his belt. After playing his early football in ruck he developed into possibly the state's best centre half back, in which position he starred in the winning grand final team against Norwood in 1947, as well as in 19 interstate games for South Australia. Winner of the club's best and fairest award in 1950 and 1951 he was Westies' captain for his last six seasons in league football. |
Footnotes1. Bloods, Sweat And Tears by Merv Agars, page 57. Return to Main Text |
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| Centre half back in Claremont's victorious grand final team of 1964 against East Fremantle (match reviewed here), John Fairbrass was a solid, versatile performer for the Monts over 94 WANFL games between 1962 and 1966. He represented his state on 2 occasions. |
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Ian Fairley (Williamstown & North Melbourne)
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| Ian
Fairley hit the headlines when, aged just fifteen, he booted 8 goals on
debut for VFA side Williamstown. He spent
three seasons with the Seagulls and then from 1983 to 1991 played 125
senior games and kicked 138
goals for |
| Joe
Fanchi's name became immortalised at the 1961
Brisbane carnival when he kicked the decisive goal for Western
Australia against the VFL to hand the sandgropers the title on
percentage. It was the highlight of a stellar season for Fanchi, who
also won West Perth's fairest and best
award, and kicked 48 goals to top its goal kicking list.
Fanchi joined the Cardinals in 1959 after two seasons with GNFL side Mines Rovers. While with the Diorites, he had finished second in the league fairest and best count in 1957, and helped a goldfields representative team to a highly creditable draw against Swan Districts the following year. From 1959 to 1965 Fanchi played a total of 129 WANFL games for West Perth, including the winning grand final of 1960 against arch-rivals East Perth. He represented Western Australia 5 times. After leaving league football he played with and coached Wanneroo for several seasons. |
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| Fred
Fanning had a comparatively brief league career but managed one feat
that will take some beating. During his final season with Melbourne
in 1947 he kicked an all time VFL record tally of 18 goals against St
Kilda. He ended the season with a league ladder-topping 97 goals, his best ever return,
but the following year he accepted the post of playing-coach at Victorian
country team Hamilton, which had offered him nearly three times as much
money per match as he was getting in the VFL. Thus, at the age of
just twenty-five, his league football career was over (see
footnote 1).
That career had begun in 1940 when, in a handful of senior appearances, which included the winning grand final against Richmond, he showed signs of developing into an admirable foil for full forward Norm Smith. At 193cm and 102kg, Fanning was something of a man mountain, and once he had set his sights on the ball there were few opposition players capable of impeding him. He was surprisingly quick over the ground, possessed huge hands which gripped the ball like a vice, and had a gravity-defying leap that enabled him to get sufficiently high in the air as to, in effect, add a good metre to his height. Unfortunately for Melbourne and Fanning, however, cartilage problems prevented his resuming in 1941, and when he did return the following year he took time to re-discover his touch. Nevertheless, with 37 goals he topped the Redlegs' list for the first of five occasions, and in 1943 he did even better, kicking 62 goals to finish just one adrift of the league's leading goal kicker, Dick Harris of Richmond. Fanning went on to top the league list himself on three occasions, with 87 goals in 1944, 67 in 1945 and, as noted above, 97 in his final season. He spent much of the 1946 season away from the goal front, but still managed 56 goals for the year. Fred Fanning's 104 VFL games yielded a total of 411 goals, but his contribution to the club cause went much further than that. In 1945, for example, he won Melbourne's best and fairest award, and far from being 'goal hungry', his fundamental approach to the game was classically team-orientated, with his robust and sturdy frame frequently being brought to bear in the self-sacrificial service of team mates. He might not have been pretty to watch, but he was demonstrably and consistently effective, and his premature departure left the league football scene the poorer. |
Footnotes1. It should not be inferred that this was in any way an uncommon occurrence. The VFL of the 1940s was emphatically not the equivalent of today's AFL, which has rightly been compared, in terms of the quality of the players to which it is home, to the apex of a pyramid. In days gone by, however, many elite footballers used the VFL (or SANFL, or WANFL) as a stepping stone to a more lucrative football career elsewhere. Return to Main Text |
| Terry
Farman was a solid, unspectacular defender who could usually be relied
upon to keep his direct opponent in check, even if he did not pick up all
that many possessions himself. He joined |
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Graham Farmer (East Perth, Geelong, West Perth)
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| The
dictionary definition of a 'legend' when applied to an individual human
being is "a person having a special place in public esteem because of
striking qualities or deeds". Such a definition arguably
applies to very few exponents of any sport (and certainly not to every one
of the eighteen individuals so aggrandised by the AFL) but if any player in
history is worthy of the accolade it is Western Australia's Graham 'Polly'
Farmer.
There have been more highly decorated individuals in the history of the game and arguably more gifted all round performers (though not too many of them) but in terms of impact, style and influence one is hard pressed to think of anyone to equal the East Perth, Geelong and West Perth great. As a ruckman during the 1950s and 1960s Farmer was unexcelled, with not even compatriot Jack Clarke or Victorian superstar John Nicholls being capable of living with him when he was fit and focused. Moreover, with his innovative and incomparably effective use of handball - often over prodigious distances - Farmer almost single-handedly revolutionised the sport. When you superimpose over all of this a resolute, almost regal demeanour and an unremitting dedication to succeed - albeit without any of the egocentricity all too often associated with such traits - then Farmer's right to be considered a bona fide legend of the game becomes irresistible. He made his league debut with East Perth in 1953 but it was twelve months before he settled down to become a regular. By 1955 he was recognised as one of the most effective knock ruckmen in Western Australia, earning state selection for the first time, and running second to South Fremantle's John Todd in the Sandover Medal voting. At the end of the year he signed for Richmond, and actually crossed to Victoria in order to prepare for the 1956 season with the Tigers. However, East Perth refused to clear him, and he was forced to return home. Graham Farmer's 1956 season was the stuff of legend. While representing Western Australia at the Perth carnival he won both the Simpson Medal as his state's best in the win over South Australia, and the Tassie Medal as the top player of the series. Needless to say, All Australian selection also followed. Later in the year, he won the first of three Sandover Medals (one of which was awarded retrospectively), and helped the Royals to a grand final victory over South Fremantle. In nine seasons with East Perth Farmer would win the club's fairest and best award no fewer than seven times, besides enjoying premiership success on three occasions. He won further Simpson Medals while representing Western Australia against the VFL at the 1958 Melbourne carnival, and after East Perth's 1959 grand final defeat of Subiaco. He continued to represent Western Australia regularly, securing All Australian selection in both 1958 and 1961. At the 1961 Brisbane carnival he helped his state to an unexpected but wholly meritorious series win. When Graham Farmer's contract with East Perth expired at the end of the 1961 season he advised the club that he would be moving to Victoria to play with Geelong. The Royals agreed, on condition that the Cats pay them the then unprecedented fee of £2,000 ($4,000) in order to procure his services. After witnessing Farmer's stellar form in the club's five pre-season matches, the Geelong hierarchy had no hesitation in agreeing to East Perth's terms. Farmer's six season stint with Geelong was not all plain sailing, but there were nevertheless numerous highlights, including participation in a premiership team in 1963, representing the VFL, winning two consecutive club best and fairest awards, and captaining the Cats for three seasons. With plenty of football still left in his legs he returned to Western Australia at the end of a 1967 season that had seen Geelong narrowly lose the grand final against Richmond. To many people's surprise, however, he did not resume with his former club, East Perth, but accepted the job of playing coach at arch-rivals West Perth. In four seasons with the Cardinals he oversaw two premierships - both secured with grand final victories over his former club - and added a club fairest and best award in 1969 to boot. When he retired at the end of the 1971 season, the WANFL organised an eight club interstate 'premiers carnival' (reviewed here) to commemorate and celebrate his playing career. That playing career saw Farmer play a total 356 club games -176 with East Perth, 101 for Geelong, and 79 for West Perth. In the interstate arena he played 31 times for Western Australia, including games at four interstate carnival series, and 5 times for the VFL. While representing his home state at the 1969 Adelaide carnival he won his fourth Simpson Medal. Graham Farmer's coaching career was less auspicious, but still had its noteworthy moments. Besides leading West Perth to the 1969 and 1971 WANFL premierships, in October 1977 he was at the helm of Western Australia's team for the first ever state of origin match, in which the sandgropers trounced Victoria 23.13 (151) to 8.9 (57) at Subiaco. From 1973 to 1975 he coached Geelong with scant success, and although he managed to get East Perth into the finals in both of his seasons (1976-7) in charge he was unable to deliver the premiership the club's fans craved. Such comparative failures are of scant account, however, when viewed in the context of a two decade playing career that made Graham 'Polly' Farmer, in the view of many, the greatest individual exponent of the sport of Australian football ever known. |
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| Known,
in South Australia at any rate, as 'football's Bradman', Ken Farmer was quite simply the most prolific
goalkicker in the history of the game. In thirteen seasons with North
Adelaide he booted no fewer than 1,419 majors, at an average of 6.3 per
match. In addition to topping the club goalkicking list in every
season of his career, Farmer topped the league list in eleven consecutive
seasons, topping the century each time. The keys to his success were
strong hands, speed off the mark, and extreme accuracy when kicking for
goal, whether from a set shot (typically using a torpedo punt, although he
was also proficient in the use of the 'checkside' or 'banana' kick), or when snapping
for goal from seemingly impossible positions à la Daicos.
Farmer was no slouch when it came to interstate football either, averaging 5 goals a game, mostly in losing sides against the Vics. A member of North Adelaide's 1930 and 1931 premiership teams as a player, after World War Two Farmer steered the club to two further flags in four seasons as non-playing coach. In 2001, Ken Farmer was the inevitable selection as full forward in North Adelaide's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. |
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Doug Farrant (North Melbourne & Perth)
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| Originally from Cohuna, Doug Farrant was a capable all round footballer who kicked well and marked strongly. He commenced his senior career with North Melbourne in 1968, having been at full forward in the reserves' grand final win over Richmond the previous year. Between 1968 and 1971 and in 1973 Farrant went on to play a total of 70 VFL games and kick 110 goals for the Kangaroos, topping their goal kicking list with 35 goals in his debut season. In 1974 he was one of a group of four players (the others were Phil Doherty, David Pretty and Mike Redenbach) off-loaded by North to Perth as part of the deal which saw champion rover Barry Cable heading in the opposite direction. Farrant, who was the only member of the quartet to enjoy an extended stay in the west, promptly emulated his 1968 feat by topping his new club's goal kicking list at the first time of asking, this time with 55 goals. He remained with Perth until 1979, playing a total of 116 WANFL games which included the victorious grand finals of 1976 against East Perth and 1977 against East Fremantle. |
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Ted Farrell (Fitzroy & Richmond)
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| Originally from Surrey Hills, Ted Farrell joined Fitzroy in 1910, but made more of an impact after he moved to Richmond midway through the following season. Of medium height and build (178cm, 75kg) he played the majority of his football in the backlines, but was also a useful centreman. His stint with the Maroons consisted of 12 games and he added 41 games and 2 goals with the yellow and blacks, for whom he served as vice-captain for a time. |
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William Faul (Subiaco, South Melbourne, Prahran, Northcote, Moorabbin)
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| Debuting
with Subiaco as a nineteen year old in 1929 Billy
Faul quickly developed into a tenacious, no nonsense half back flanker who
rarely lowered his colours. He played a total of 71 league games for
the Maroons, winning the club's fairest and best award in 1931, but
perhaps somewhat surprisingly was never chosen to represent Western
Australia.
In 1932, Faul joined the rapidly expanding 'foreign legion' at South Melbourne, and after putting in a superbly consistent season he was rewarded with his second club champion award in a row, as well as runner-up spot in the Brownlow Medal behind Haydn Bunton. The following year was even better as he helped the Blood Stained Angels secure their first flag since 1918 with a comprehensive 9.17 (71) to 4.5 (29) grand final demolition of Richmond. After 117 games in seven seasons at South, Faul crossed to Prahran as captain-coach where he played 66 games in three seasons, winning consecutive club best and fairest awards in 1940-1. After the war he coached VFA club Northcote to 4th place in 1948, before returning to Prahran. He coached the Two Blues to a flag in 1951, an achievement he repeated in 1957, the first of his three year stint with Moorabbin. The 1953 to 1956 seasons had seen him back at Northcote, but apart from 1954, when the side finished 3rd, this was a distinctly unmemorable phase of Faul's career. |
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Peter Featherby (Subiaco, Footscray, Geelong)
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Recruited by Subiaco from powerful amateur club Wembley, where his father Brian had been a prominent identity for many years, Peter Featherby made his league debut in 1970, but an ankle injury sustained against Swan Districts on 2 May effectively ruined his season, as, although he recovered from the injury, he was unable to force his way back into the side. Prior to the start of the 1971 season he sought, and was refused, a clearance to Claremont, after which he elected to buckle down and prove his worth. Over the course of the next three seasons he developed into one of the finest players in Western Australia, showing almost preternatural anticipation skills which often made it seem as though the football was sheathed in metal, and was incapable of resisting the magnetic pull of Featherby's hands. The 1973 season saw Featherby selected to represent Western Australia for the first time, and earning a Simpson Medal for his best afield performance in the win over South Australia at Subiaco Oval. Later in the season he experienced an even greater thrill as he helped his club overcome a premiership hoodoo stretching back almost half a century with a 10.12 (72) to 6.4 (40) grand final defeat of West Perth. Featherby continued to perform brilliantly in 1974 and, given that he was rated as one of the most exciting talents in the land, it was perhaps no surprise that he was picked up by VFL side Footscray prior to the start of the 1975 season. In 42 games in two seasons with the Bulldogs, however, Featherby failed to justify his reputation, and in 1977 he was back home at Subiaco. Despite his comparative failure in Melbourne, Featherby had clearly learned a great deal, and over the course of the next couple of seasons he played some of the finest football of his career, earning regular interstate selection, and winning back to back club fairest and best awards. After 10 games of the 1979 season he was enticed back to the VFL by Geelong, and this time he took his best form with him. After playing consistently well during the second half of 1979 and throughout 1980 - during which year he was selected to represent Victoria against his home state in a so-called 'state of origin' match - Featherby's performances reached a new level of excellence during a 1981 season that saw him claim the Cats' best and fairest award. In one noteworthy match against Melbourne on the MCG he garnered no fewer than 43 kicks, effected 8 handballs, and held a dozen marks. At the end of the 1983 season, after 93 VFL games for Geelong, Peter Featherby returned to Subiaco where he would continue to perform with great consistency and distinction for another five seasons, highlighted by participation in another premiership team in 1986. In 1987, his penultimate season, he averaged 23.7 disposals a game, making him the most prolific ball-getter in the competition. Injury problems the following year restricted him to just 2 league appearances, however, taking his final career tally to 332, and with perhaps a touch of reluctance he opted to retire. |
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| A champion centreline player in Williamstown's powerful postwar sides, Reg Featherby enjoyed premiership success in 1945 and 1949, and played in the losing grand final team of 1948. After the Seagulls overcame Oakleigh by 3 points in the 1949 premiership decider, Featherby capped a marvellous year by winning the club's best and fairest award. |
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Stephen Febey (Devonport & Melbourne)
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| The only Melbourne player to appear in both of that club's most recent grand finals (1988 and 2000), Stephen Febey gave excellent service to the Demons in 258 senior games, many alongside his twin brother Matthew. Originally from Devonport, Febey at one stage appeared more likely to succeed at basketball than football but ultimately it was the oval-shaped ball which provided the greater allure. Not the most highly skilled of players Febey nevertheless gave greater value than most because of his courage, determination and immense discipline. |
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Dan Feehan (South Ballarat & St Kilda)
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| Originally from South Ballarat, itself probably a league standard club at the time (see footnote 1), Dan Feehan made his VFL debut with St Kilda in 1904. Blessed with all the skills, and enormously versatile, he went on to provide reputable service to the Saints in 86 senior games over the course of the ensuing seven seasons. Most of his best football was played on the half back line, but he could also do a more than serviceable job across centre, on a half forward flank, or in the ruck. |
Footnotes1. Substance for this view is provided by the feat of the Ballarat Football Association in defeating full strength VFL combinations in 6 out of 14 encounters, home and away, between 1897 and 1903, with the league combinations only beginning to assert any semblance of superiority after the turn of the century. Return to Main Text |
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Geoff Feehan (St Kilda & Norwood)
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| Having played initially with Wodonga and Elwood, Geoff Feehan made his senior league debut with St Kilda as a twenty-two year old in 1957. He went on to play 44 VFL games in three seasons with the Saints, mainly in the backlines or as a follower, before crossing to South Australia where he played under his former mentor Alan Killigrew at Norwood. In his first season with the Redlegs he was his side's best player in a 5 point grand final loss to North Adelaide. He also played in the famous 'Turkish Bath grand final' the following year, when Norwood lost to West Adelaide (match reviewed here). Solid and tough rather than spectacular, Feehan had played a total of 56 SANFL games by the time he retired in 1963. |
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| A
fine centreline player, Andy Ferguson played for Perth
during the first decade of the twentieth century. He was in the
centre when the Redlegs lost to East
Fremantle in a semi final in 1906, and was on a wing in the following
year's semi final victory over South
Fremantle as well as the controversial 1 point win over Old Easts in
the final (reviewed here).
He also took part in the following year's 'revenge' final against the same
opponent when Perth endured a horror day to go under by 28 points.
Andy Ferguson played a total of 60 league games for Perth between 1905 and 1908. He died in March 1968, aged eighty-three. |
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Neil Ferguson (Hawthorn, East Fremantle, Claremont)
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| A
ruckman whose tough, rugged, uncompromising style was the perfect
manifestation of Hawthorn coach John
Kennedy's football philosophy, Neil Ferguson gave sterling service to the
Hawks in 82 VFL games between 1964 and 1970. He was also dangerous
when resting up forward, booting a total of 50 goals.
Ferguson resumed his career with East Fremantle where, in 1974, he had the satisfaction of leading the side's rucks on grand final day as Perth was outlasted by 22 points in a hard fought clash. Ferguson was among the most influential players on view that afternoon. He carried on with Old Easts for another year, amassing a total of 86 WANFL games. His final port of call was Claremont, where he added 16 further games in 1977. |
| Bruce
Ferrari was a mercurial footballer who never
quite managed to do full justice to his obvious natural ability.
He had a knee weakness which often
hampered him, and probably also shortened his league career. A
product of Goulburn Valley
Football League Club Shepparton United,
his stint in the VFL with Geelong consisted
of 58 games between 1955 and 1960. When
fully fit and on form he could be an exceptionally damaging centreman or
half forward flanker, but the longer his career went on the more often he
was either sidelined with injury, or required to play when less than fully
fit. A genuinely two-sided footballer, Ferrari was a reliable kick
and was capable of flying high to mark or spoil. |
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| Carlton's George Ferry was a solid, strong and determined full back who developed a great understanding with his back pocket team mate Bruce Comben. He played 139 VFL games for the Blues during an almost unprecedentedly bleak era for the club between 1952 and 1961. |
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| Keith Fewkes was a fine full back for Coburg during a predominantly inauspicious era for the club. He arrived in 1948 from Merlynston and went on to play 166 games, winning a best and fairest award in 1950. He was versatile, and could do a job in the forward lines when required. |
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Neville Fields (Essendon, South Melbourne, East Fremantle)
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| Fleet of foot, an excellent ball handler, and a penetrative left foot kick, Neville Fields was, for a brief time in the early 1970s, arguably the most damaging centreman in the VFL. He began with Essendon in 1969 after being recruited locally from Essendon High School, and after taking a couple of years to find his feet he began to come into his own during the second half of the 1971 season when a series of fine performances earned him the club's most improved player award. His improvement continued in 1972 when he landed both the Bombers' best and fairest award and the prestigious 'Inside Football' player of the year trophy, and was named in the centre in 'The Sun' all star team. Fields made his VFL interstate debut in 1973, but over the next few years his form began to deteriorate, and at the end of the 1977 season he was cleared to South Melbourne. In three and a half years at the Lake Oval he played 60 VFL games and kicked 55 goals, but while he played some good football, and indeed achieved interstate selection again in 1980, overall he was too inconsistent to be rated a success. He finished his VFL career with a one and a half season stint back at Essendon, taking his final tally of games with the club to 140, and the number of goals kicked to 138. In 1983 he crossed to East Fremantle but, with his best football years well behind him, could manage only 8 senior games for the year before retiring. |
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Grantley Fielke (West Adelaide, Collingwood, Adelaide)
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| With 364 SANFL games from 1979 to 1986 and between 1988 and 1997 Grant Fielke is West Adelaide's games played record holder. The highlight of his career with Westies came in 1985, when he won the Magarey Medal. Two years earlier, he had been a member of the club's victorious grand final team against Sturt. Never the most naturally gifted of footballers, Fielke worked hard on his game and it paid off. In his Magarey Medal year he led the league in disposals, and throughout his career his ability to find and use the ball irrespective of the intensity of the opposition was highly noteworthy. He spent the 1987 season with Collingwood in the VFL, playing 16 games, mainly on a wing, and impressing everyone with his energy and determination. A country boy at heart, however, he returned to West in 1988 and, but for a fleeting, 24 game interlude with Adelaide in 1991-2, that was where he remained. |
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Jack Fincher (Richmond & Footscray)
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| Jack Fincher was an extremely hard working, tenacious rover who particularly excelled when the going was tough. In the premiership play-off of 1927, played in torrential rain and freezing winds, with the MCG partially submerged, he was Richmond's best player in a 12 point loss to Collingwood. He also played in the losing premiership deciders of 1928 and 1929. In 1931, after 69 VFL games and 54 goals for the Tigers, he crossed to Footscray, where he gave good service in a further 36 games (for 24 goals) over the next three seasons. |
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Bill Findlay (Footscray, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Coburg)
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| Footscray
recruited Bill Findlay from Footscray Technical School Old Boys, and he
made his VFL debut in 1933. However, he had trouble adapting to the
demands of league football, and in two seasons managed just 5 senior games
and 8 goals, whereupon he was released to North
Melbourne. As often
seems to happen, a change of scenery somehow managed to elicit the
player's full potential, and over the ensuing eleven seasons Findlay
developed into one of the most damaging rovers in the game, playing 158
games and kicking 352 goals, as well as representing the VFL. He
also captained North for two and a half years and was captain-coach for
part of the 1942 season and the whole of 1943. Towards the end of
his career with the shinboners he began to spend more time resting in a
forward pocket, and in his final three VFL seasons he topped the club's
goal kicking list with tallies of 43, 55 and 49 goals. After moving
to Port Melbourne in 1946 he became an
even more potent goal kicking threat, topping the Borough's goal kicking
list in his debut season with 88 goals, and the VFA's the following year
with 107. For good measure, he won both his club's 1946 best and
fairest award and the same year's Liston
Trophy. Appointed captain-coach in 1947 he steered the club to
its first flag since 1941. On grand final day, Findlay was the best
player on view as the Borough comfortably overcame the challenge of Williamstown,
leading at every change en route to a 15.15 (105) to 11.8 (74)
triumph. An unexpected slump to 11th place the following year
precipitated Bill Findlay's retirement after 62 VFA games. He did,
however, end up playing briefly again. Appointed non-playing coach
of Coburg in 1954 he was compelled on several
occasions to take to the field when the club's playing resources were
stretched. During Findlay's three seasons at Coburg the Lions were
competitive, but did not manage to qualify for the finals.
In 2003, Bill Findlay was chosen as first rover in Port's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. |
| Charlie
Fisher joined |
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Gordon Fisher (South Fremantle)
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| One of many promising footballers whose careers were short-circuited by the onset of war, South Fremantle's Gordon Fisher was without doubt one of the finest WAFL recruits of 1914. Hailing from the York district, where he enjoyed an outstanding reputation as an athlete, he was a virtual ever-present for South that year, and also represented Western Australia in 4 of the state's 5 matches at the Sydney carnival. In the carnival clash with the VFL, which Western Australia lost by 14 points, Fisher, playing on a half back flank, was one of the sandgropers' best. Pacy, adaptable and skilled, he could also play as a centreman or across half forward. Exactly what happened to Fisher during World War One is unclear, but it is is known that, after 23 senior games for South Fremantle in 1914 and 1915, he never played top level football again. |
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| Perhaps better known as a 'Sporting Globe' journalist, Alan Fitcher was also a highly dependable VFL ruckman with Fitzroy, where he played 98 senior games and booted 21 goals between 1929 and 1936. Not overly tall at 183cm, he was nevertheless more than capable of looking after himself, and gave the Maroons many fine performances during what was a wholly inauspicious era for the club. |
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Len Fitzgerald (Collingwood, Sturt, Glenelg)
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| The
Australian football landscape of half a century ago was considerably
different to that of today. In particular, there was no equivalent
of the Australian Football League. While the AFL has in recent years
been systematically manufacturing a 'history' for itself which derives
from an imaginary contiguity with the old suburban VFL, the truth is that,
prior to the re-location of South Melbourne
to Sydney in 1982, the VFL was a state competition pure and simple.
Granted, it was by some measure the strongest state competition in
Australia, and this strength had tended to magnify as more and more elite
non-Victorian players entered the league. However, whereas nowadays
it would be reasonable to suggest that nigh on 100% of the very best
footballers in Australia ply their trade in the AFL, this was very far
from being the case in the old, suburban VFL.
A classic case in point is Len Fitzgerald. His move from Victoria Park to Unley in 1951 after 96 games with Collingwood was indicative of the fact that, even to an elite player at what was then Australia's most illustrious sporting club, football was not the prime controlling influence in life. Football players did not depend for their livelihood on the game, and so when Sturt managed to secure more lucrative employment for Fitzgerald than the Magpies had been able to arrange for him in Melbourne, the result was that the balance of football power between South Australia and Victoria shifted ever so slightly in favour of the former. If Len Fitzgerald had been a prominent player at Collingwood, he soon developed into a veritable champion with the Double Blues. After a relatively slow start to his SANFL career 'Fitzie' - who took over the Sturt coaching reins midway through his debut season - gradually went from strength to strength. In 1952 he won every media award going, together with Sturt's club champion award and the first of his three Magarey Medals. The 1953 season brought interstate selection for South Australia at the Adelaide carnival, followed by inclusion in the inaugural All Australian team. The second Magarey Medal followed in 1954 but Fitzgerald declared himself more concerned by Sturt's late season loss to wooden spoon side Glenelg which cost the Double Blues a place in the finals. Matters were rectified somewhat in 1955 as Sturt reached the preliminary final but the club's failure to honour a verbal pledge to bestow a £50 bonus upon its coach induced Fitzgerald to start an immediate search for pastures new. The next three seasons saw Fitzgerald starring for and coaching Benalla in the powerful Ovens and Murray Football League but he returned to Sturt purely as a player in 1959 and won another Magarey as the Double Blues reached the finals for the first time since his departure. Nagging injuries blighted Fitzgerald's final couple of seasons in league football but nothing should mar the memory of a supremely adaptable footballer with lightning reflexes, excellent ball handling skills and, perhaps above all else, an awesome strength which was exhibited both in body on body clashes with opponents as well as when taking seemingly miraculous marks in pack situations. All told, he played a total of 125 SANFL matches for Sturt, booting 201 goals, and represented South Australia 17 times, kicking 5 goals. As a league coach, Len Fitzgerald experienced significantly less success, steering Glenelg to 4th, 6th and last places in three seasons in charge during the 1960s. He retained his passion for the game throughout his life, and news of his death in April 2007 saddened football followers from all over Australia and beyond. |
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Ross Fitzgerald (Swan Districts & Perth)
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| A polished, resourceful, imperturbable footballer who was equally effective either in attack or defence, Ross Fitzgerald enjoyed a fine, ten season league career with two clubs during which he played in excess of 150 senior games. Originally recruited from Coverdale by Swan Districts, he made his WANFL debut in 1977, and went on to develop into a significant contributor to Swans' emergence as a power under John Todd. However, midway through the 1982 season when that emergence was about to bear ultimate fruit in terms of long overdue premiership success, Fitzgerald announced that he wished to transfer to Perth. Viewing this as tantamount to disloyalty, the Swans hierarchy responded by dropping him to the reserves, which is probably where he would have remained for the rest of the season had not his form at that level been so outstanding. As the finals approached, pragmatism triumphed over principle, and Fitzgerald was quietly restored to the senior side in time to make a worthy contribution to the 18.19 (127) to 11.12 (78) grand final triumph over Claremont that clinched Swans first senior flag since 1963. The following season saw him at Perth, where he produced arguably the best football of his career over a three year stint that saw him play 40 games and kick 39 goals. Features of his play were his prodigious and accurate kicking, and an imposing aerial presence that frequently saw him outmarking much bigger opponents. Despite standing only 185cm in height, and weighing just 82kg, Fitzgerald was frequently used at centre half forward by the Demons, in which position he vied with the best in the league. In 1986, Ross Fitzgerald returned to Bassendean Oval to see out his career with Swans. When he finally retired in 1987 he had played a total of 112 games for the club, booting 68 goals. |
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Tom Fitzmaurice (Essendon, North Sydney, Geelong, Yarraville, North Melbourne, Brunswick, Manuka)
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| After beginning his league career with Essendon in 1918 as a high flying ruckman, Tom Fitzmaurice was forced to reinvent himself after sustaining a leg injury while playing for North Sydney in 1922. The following year he returned to Essendon and quickly developed into the best centre half back in the VFL, helping steer the side to back to back flags in 1923 and 1924. His time with the Dons came to an end in acrimonious circumstances, however: at the end of the 1924 season, a charity challenge match was arranged between Essendon and VFA premier Footscray, ostensibly for the 'championship of Victoria'; after Footscray scored a surprise win, Fitzmaurice publicly denounced certain of his team mates for 'playing dead', and walked out on the club. The 1925 season saw him at Geelong, where he had the satisfaction of playing in a third successive premiership team. After four years with the Cats he clambered aboard the football merry-go-round, with the remaining ten seasons of his illustrious career taking in spells at Mortlake, Yarraville, North Melbourne, Brunswick and Manuka. During his time with North he showed that he was still as potent a force as ever by topping the club's goal kicking list for three consecutive seasons. |
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Jim Fitzpatrick (Melbourne & Richmond)
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| Jim Fitzpatrick commenced his senior career with Hawthorn prior to that club's involvement in the VFA, but really came into his own after moving to VFL club Melbourne in 1907. Playing initially as a defender, and later in the pivot, he amassed 81 games for the Fuchsias in six and half seasons before moving to Richmond in 1913 where he added a final 7 games to his VFL tally. |
Mike Fitzpatrick (Subiaco & Carlton)
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Among the most vivid memories of Mike Fitzpatrick centre around his lion-hearted performances as captain of Western Australia in state of origin matches against Victoria, when he seemed to epitomise and personify the West Australians' hunger to succeed. However, Fitzpatrick himself was actually born in Victoria, at Hastings, which only goes to prove that things are not always as straightforward as they seem. His two state of origin appearances for Victoria therefore were perhaps not quite the anomaly they appeared. As a Rhodes scholar, Mike Fitzpatrick would no doubt appreciate the complexities which often underlie the seemingly mundane, but his approach to football was unequivocally simple. Indeed, because of his wholeheartedly aggressive approach he was virtually tailor-made for the VFL where his performances in important games were frequently of a match-winning order. Debuting with Subiaco in 1970, Fitzpatrick quickly developed into a key component in the team that Haydn Bunton was developing for a long overdue assault on the premiership. When that assault was finally mounted, in 1973 under Bunton's successor Ross Smith, Mike Fitzpatrick led the ruck and was one of his team's best players in a grand final defeat of West Perth that broke a 49 year premiership drought. Fitzpatrick also won Subiaco's fairest and best award in 1973, and repeated the feat the following year. In 1975 he simultaneously signed with Carlton and embarked on a two year Rhodes scholarship at Oxford University. He played a handful of games with the Blues in 1975 and 1976, but it was not until 1978 that he was able to concentrate on his VFL career. A member of Carlton's 1979 premiership side, and club champion the same year, Mike Fitzpatrick took over from Alex Jesaulenko as the Blues' skipper the following season, and quickly proved himself an inspirational leader. Arguably his most significant Carlton performance came in the 1981 grand final against Collingwood when he was without doubt the single most important factor in turning the match around after the Magpies had looked 'home and hosed'. Fitzpatrick led the Blues to another flag in 1982, but at the end of the following season, while still at his peak as a player, he elected to call it a day after accepting a senior position with the Victorian government. In 2003, Mike Fitzpatrick returned to football when he accepted a post with the AFL Commission. |
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Shane Fitzsimmons (Melbourne & West Perth)
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| Melbourne recruited Shane Fitzsimmons from Kyabram, and he gave the club sound service, mainly as a half forward flanker, in 63 games from 1973 to 1979. Crossing to West Perth during the 1979 season he proved his versatility by finding a niche across half back, in which new role he won a fairest and best award in his second season. In five seasons with the Falcons Fitzsimmons added another 92 league games to his tally before retiring. |
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| Fred
'Troubles' Flanagan was as close to the perfect centre half forward as you
could wish to see. A superb aerialist, he was feted for his
ability to maneuver himself while flying for a mark in such a way as to be
facing directly towards goal upon landing. He began with Geelong
in 1946, and was an eye-catching performer from the start, making the VFL
team in his debut season, and thereafter every year until 1954.
Given that he retired from football after round 4 1955 this was a
remarkable and perhaps unique record.
During his early seasons with the club, Geelong tended to struggle, but Flanagan could always be counted on to produce displays of the highest order. Indeed, it was his consistency as much as anything that elevated him above the common herd, and gave him that elusive but unmistakable champions' quality. Best and fairest for the Cats in 1949, Flanagan took over the club captaincy two years later and thus had the satisfaction of leading the team to its first flag since 1937. A year later he became the first, and so far only, Geelong skipper to lead the side to consecutive premierships. Quick, elusive, and elegance itself in motion, Fred Flanagan set the standard for centre half forward play for generations to come. A superb drop kick, he could also stab pass with unerring accuracy when required. Off the field he was a worrier - hence the nickname 'Troubles' - and was heavily involved in various business ventures. Ultimately, it was his need to concentrate on these these that led to his premature retirement while still at the top of his form. In just over nine seasons, he played 163 VFL and 13 interstate games; his 182 goals for the Cats included 55 in 1954 when he was the club's top goal kicker. In 2001, Fred Flanagan was a predictable and worthy choice as centre half forward of Geelong's official 'Team of the Century'. |
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| A pacy and at times brilliant defender renowned for his smooth ball handling and capability under pressure, North Adelaide's Harry Fleet enjoyed a memorable thirteen season career with the club during which he played a total of 144 senior games. Included in those games were the 1930 challenge final defeat of Port Adelaide, and the 1931 grand final win over Sturt. North's backline, with Fleet at full back aided and abetted by the likes of Syd Burton, Dave Conrad and Don Phillis, was very much the cornerstone of both victories. Early in his career, Fleet also played on the forward lines on occasion, and indeed in 1926 he topped the club's goal kicking list with 52 majors. A South Australian interstate representative on 5 occasions, he continued to play extremely effective football until his retirement in 1936. |
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Fred Fleiter (South Melbourne)
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| One
of the finest ruck shepherds of his or any era, Fred Fleiter's football
career was inextricably interwoven with that of the man with arguably the
most resonant name in the history of football, Roy
Cazaly. A school friend of Cazaly's, Fleiter later formed a
third of the renowned Cazaly-Fleiter-Tandy
ruck combination at South Melbourne,
during which time he famously coined the phrase "Up there,
Cazaly!" as a signal that the way had been made clear for Cazaly to
run through and leap for the ball.
Heavily built and extraordinarily powerful, Fleiter was ideally equipped to take on what, at the time, was widely acknowledged as the toughest role in football. He made his debut with South in 1919 and, after struggling initially to make his mark, really came into his own following the arrival of Cazaly from St Kilda in 1921. Over the final five seasons of his VFL career he gradually grew in both confidence and prowess, and was perfectly capable of holding down a key position when required. He played a total of 71 games for South in seven seasons, and later served as club coach for a brief time in 1929. |
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Eric Fleming (Geelong & Oakleigh)
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| Hailing originally from Bendigo Football League club South Bendigo, Eric Fleming was a tall, wiry ruckman who gave Geelong solid and intermittently spectacular service in 105 VFL games between 1922 and 1928, during which he booted 112 goals. The occasionally spectacular aspects of his play were his high marking, and his kicking - both drop kicks and, more especially, torpedo punts - which could be prodigious. Fleming was first ruckman in the Cats' 1925 premiership team, and represented the VFL in the interstate arena half a dozen times. In addition to the ruck he could also perform serviceably across half forward, where his above average ground skills came to the fore. In 1929 he crossed to Oakleigh which was making its debut in the VFA, and went on to star at centre half forward in the club's 1930 and 1931 premiership teams. He played a total of 103 senior games for the Purple and Golds, whom he captained in 1933. |
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| West Perth's 1930 Sandover Medallist Ted Flemming was a highly adaptable footballer who topped the WAFL goal kicking ladder in 1925 with 50 goals, but who also played many fine games as a defender. Winner of Cardinals' fairest and best awards in 1928 and 1936, he captained the side in 1931, and was a member of premiership teams in 1932, 1934 and 1935. Flemming played a total of 248 league games for West Perth between 1922 and 1937. He also represented Western Australia 19 times, in five different positions, earning inclusion in the best player lists on numerous occasions. He was included on a half back flank in the Cardinals' official 'Team of the Century'. |
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Adrian Fletcher (Glenorchy, Geelong, St Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle, Williamstown)
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| Arguably
one of the modern era's most underrated players (at least as far as the
media and general public are concerned; less so in the case of field
umpires awarding Brownlow
votes), Adrian Fletcher's ability to rack up effective possessions
remained a noteworthy feature of his game right to the end. Recognised as an outstanding talent right from his early
days at Glenorchy (where, in 1988, he won a
club best and fairest award and shared the William
Leitch Medal), Fletcher went on to give commendable service to five
different AFL/VFL clubs. His early years at Geelong (23 games
between 1989 and 1991) and St Kilda (22
games in 1992) represented a solid apprenticeship but it was after his
move to Brisbane in 1993 that his career truly began to blossom.
Tough and resilient, Fletcher's best work sometimes eluded notice but was
nevertheless critical to team success. His effectiveness is readily
illustrated by the high numbers of accurate handballs he regularly
accumulated (he topped the league in this stats category in 1995), while
his 'in and under' propensities frequently saw him winning more than his
fair share of free kicks (he led the AFL in this category in 1999, a
season after moving to Fremantle).
Following four seasons with the Dockers, during which he won a club champion award and was co-captain in 2000 and 2001, Fletcher returned to Victoria in 2002 as a member of the support team, as well as a player, at the Collingwood-aligned VFL club Williamstown. After winning consecutive best and fairest awards with the Seagulls, he retired as a player, and in 2004 he returned to his former club, Geelong, as a scout. |
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| A formidable on field presence, especially when his smaller team mates were threatened, Hawthorn's Ted Fletcher matured with age, playing much of his best football during the last few years of his nine season, 129 game VFL career. Indeed, he won a best and fairest award during his second to last league season in 1953, having represented the VFL for the first time the previous year. He also captained Hawthorn in 1953-4. Equally at home in the ruck or anywhere behind centre he fell only narrowly short of being a genuine champion. In 1955, Ted Fletcher was appointed to the coaching position at VFA club Sandringham, which had been struggling badly for several seasons. Although the Zebras' on-field record did not improve significantly during Fletcher's three season stint in charge, he definitely set them moving in the right direction, and in so doing might be felt to have sowed the seeds of the side's emergence as a VFA power in the early 1960s. |
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| When a broken leg brought about Ken Fletcher's enforced retirement from league football in 1980 he had achieved virtually everything the game had to offer, other than participation in a premiership, during the course of 264 game, 55 goal career that stretched back as far as 1967. During that time, he had occupied virtually every position on the field, but it is as a wingman and, later, a half back flanker that he probably played his best and most consistent football. Extremely quick and highly skilled, Fletcher rarely put in a bad game. He won Essendon's best and fairest award in 1978 having been runner-up five years earlier. Between 1973 and 1978 he was a virtual ever-present in VFL interstate and Victorian state of origin teams. The closest he came to playing in a premiership team was his appearance on a half back flank in the Bombers' 3 point grand final loss to Carlton in 1968. After leaving Essendon he spent a couple of seasons as captain-coach of Tatura in the Goulburn Valley Football League. |
| There were more eye catching members of East Perth’s powerful post-World War One teams than Wally Fletcher, but few if any more reliable and important. The sort of backman who did his work to such a degree of perfection that you scarcely noticed him, Fletcher counted membership of five ‘Young Easts’ premiership teams among his career highlights. He represented Western Australia at the carnivals of 1924 and 1927 in Hobart and Melbourne respectively, and all told played a total of a dozen matches for the state. Fletcher, who occupies a back pocket in East Perth’s ‘Team of the Century Part One’, played a total of 172 league games for the club between 1919 and 1931. He served as the Royals’ skipper in 1928 and 1930. |
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| One
of football's gentlemen, Robert Flower was also a supremely gifted - and
highly effective - one club footballer for 274 games, only the last 3 of
which were finals. Borrowing Fos
Williams' adage about Ken
Eustice,
journalists often used to refer to him as 'pound for pound the best
footballer in the VFL', an assertion which generated little dissent.
Blessed with all the attributes of a born champion, Flower's particular
trademark was his almost implausible evasive ability, a skill which stood
him in good stead as he was often the target of unseemly opposition
assaults. Best and fairest awards might well have been devised with
players like Robbie Flower in mind, but somewhat surprisingly he only won
Melbourne's premier award once, and never finished higher than 3rd, which
he did twice, in the Brownlow,
despite often starting as one of the favourites. However, he won
virtually every other accolade the game had to offer, including making 15 (almost
invariably superlative) Big V appearances (3 as captain) and earning selection in
two All Australian teams.
Contemporary VFL and interstate wingmen were near unanimous in declaring
him their most troublesome opponent.
Late in his career Melbourne coach Ron Barassi controversially converted Flower from a wingman into a half back flanker but he took the move in his stride and continued to be an exemplary footballer until his retirement in 1987. |
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| Jim
Flynn was a powerful and vigorous ruckman who nevertheless combined brain
with brawn. His leadership potential was soon recognised at Carlton,
where he moved in 1903 after 6 seasons and 74 games with Geelong,
and in 1905 he was made club captain.
After leading the Blues to a 1906 grand final victory over Fitzroy, Flynn was forced to retire owing to business commitments. However, when his successor as captain, Fred Elliott, was suspended on the eve of the 1907 finals he agreed to step into the breach, to telling effect: Carlton won back to back flags with a hard fought 5 point grand final win over South Melbourne, and stand-in skipper Flynn vied for best afield honours with George Bruce. In 1908, Jim Flynn again played only in the finals, this time under Fred Elliott's captaincy, and was again an important contributor as the Blues made it three premierships in a row with a 9 point grand final defeat of Essendon. After missing the entire 1909 season, the last of Jim Flynn's 77 appearances in a Carlton jumper came in the team's 1910 semi final loss against South Melbourne. |
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| Jon Fogarty was a hard working ruck-rover who was an important, if comparatively unheralded, member of Swan Districts' powerful early 1980s combinations. He arrived at Bassendean from Collie side Mines Rovers, and made his league debut in 1979. He played on a half back flank in the 1980 grand final, when Swans lost to South Fremantle (match reviewed here), and was a useful contributor on the ball to the premiership triumphs of 1982-3-4. Tenacious in his attack on both ball and body, he also boasted good all round skills, and was a fine overhead mark. He played a total of 133 games and kicked 38 goals for Swans during a career which ended in 1985. He represented Western Australia against South Australia at Football Park in 1984, and at Subiaco a year later. |
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Thomas Fogarty (St Kilda, South Melbourne, University)
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| After playing half a dozen games with St Kilda in 1898, Tom Fogarty made his name with South Melbourne, where he moved four years later and quickly established himself as a tireless and resolute ruckman who seldom lowered his colours. He played 66 games for South between 1902 and 1906, but then felt compelled to retire owing to business commitments. In 1908, however, he returned to the VFL as captain of University, which made its bows in the competition that year along with Richmond. Under Fogarty, who proved himself a forceful and clever leader, the Students came as close to being a genuine league power as they ever would, finishing 6th in 1908 and 7th in 1909 (Fogarty's last year). |
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| After
a somewhat stuttering start to his league career, West
Perth's Brian Foley developed into one of Australia's finest
ruckmen. Making up for in dogged persistence what he may have lacked
in raw talent, Foley gave as good as he got against the likes of Farmer,
Clarke, McIntosh
and Slater
at home, and Nicholls,
Schultz, Wedding and
Wright
interstate. The fact that Foley made no fewer than 22 interstate
appearances for Western Australia in an era when the state was blessed
with considerable ruck strength is perhaps the most persuasive testimony
as to his prowess, as well as to the esteem in which he was held.
From an individual perspective, the highlight of Brian Foley's illustrious 202 game league career came in 1959 when he was a runaway winner of the Sandover Medal. Foley also won his second Cardinals fairest and best trophy that year, having previously won the award in 1957. In 1960, he was one of the most conspicuous performers on the ground as West Perth overcame arch rivals East Perth by 32 points in the grand final. Given that he was playing at a time when VFL clubs were beginning to make significant inroads into Western Australia's vast pool of playing talent it was inevitable that Foley should become a prime recruiting target. North Melbourne came closer than anyone to procuring him - Foley even signed a form four - but the Cardinals steadfastly refused to agree to a clearance. This, of course, was in the days when the ANFC was in ostensible control of interstate clearances. Captain of West Perth from 1960 to 1964, Foley decided to play one last season in 1965 after Bob Spargo took over as captain-coach. He finished on a 'high', performing consistently well all year, as well as leading the ruck in typically resolute fashion when Western Australia came from behind to defeat the VFL in a mid-season interstate clash at Subiaco Oval. |
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| During
an era when it was becoming increasingly taken for granted that the best
West Australian footballers would migrate to the VFL, Les Fong - arguably
a better player than many of those who headed east - spent his entire 284
game league career with West Perth.
That career commenced in 1973 when, as a sixteen year old, he played the
first 7 games of the season in the reserves before being promoted to the
seniors where he spent the remainder of the year. His form during
his brief stint in the reserves was so good that he ended up winning the
club's fairest and best award for that level.
Nicknamed 'Choppy', Fong was an ebullient, intense, extraordinarily courageous performer. He had the satisfaction of playing in a premiership team in only his third season, but thereafter the Cardinals tended to struggle. Nevertheless, Fong showed no desire to leave, and indeed for much of the 1970s and '80s he was almost a personification of the club, as well as a rare emblem of stability and loyalty in a time of sweeping change. In 1980 Fong was appointed club captain and ended up serving for a record seven year term, proving himself in the process to be almost the consummate on-field leader. He peaked as a player during the late seventies and early eighties, making half a dozen interstate appearances for Western Australia, and winning West Perth's fairest and best award in 1982 and 1983. Known as 'Captain Courageous' during his time as skipper, his importance in the history of the club was emphasised in October 2000 with his inclusion, as first rover, in West Perth's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'. After leaving West Perth Les Fong coached Wanneroo to two successive Sunday Football League premierships, the first of which, in 1991, was won unbeaten. |
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| One of the most famous members of Fitzroy's illustrious early VFL teams, Fred Fontaine was a key contributor to the premiership wins of 1898, 1899, 1904 and 1905. He also played in the losing grand finals of 1903 and 1906. A VFL interstate representative in 1902, Fontaine was extremely quick, adept overhead, and a booming kick. He was also immensely versatile, performing with distinction on every line as well as on the ball. The highlight of his career probably came with his fine performance at full back in the 1904 grand final win over Carlton. Towards the end of the game, he was responsible for making a surging run through the centre of the ground before passing to Percy Trotter, who kicked what proved to be the decisive goal of the match. |
Les Foote (North Melbourne, St Kilda, Preston)
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Born on 20 August 1924, just as VFA club North Melbourne was preparing to embark on a new adventure in the rarefied atmosphere of the VFL, Leslie Roy Foote would go on to become one of the northerners greatest ever sons. In 1971, when North Melbourne's Social Club conducted a poll among its members to select the ten greatest players in the team's history, Les Foote tied with Allen Aylett for first place. Needless to say, there have been many other great North players since, but few if any with a more comprehensive mastery of the essential skills of the game. Renowned for his ability to balk, dodge and weave his way out of trouble, Foote's mastery of the blind turn has rarely been equalled. He also possessed sure, one grab ball handling skills which, when combined with his trademark evasion propensities, repeatedly enabled him to get the jump on opponents. "Just when you thought you had him cornered, he'd slip the net with incredible ease. And he looked to have enough time to roll a cigarette in doing it" (see footnote 1). He was far from being just a 'receiver', however, and a combination of deceptively formidable upper body strength and great courage served him more than adequately in the clinches. Captain of North between 1948 and 1951, Foote was also a regular interstate player. Arguably his finest performance in a North Melbourne jumper came in the 1950 preliminary final against Geelong when he was far and away the main factor in his team's recovering from a 7 goal 1st quarter deficit to qualify for its first ever VFL grand final. Unfortunately, however, not even Les Foote - who was again North's best - could prevent the shinboners from crashing to an all powerful Essendon side the following week, and it would be almost another quarter of a century before the club again had the opportunity to play off for a flag. Money in football was not only in short supply in the 1950s, it was also often found in surprising places. In 1952, still aged only twenty-seven, Les Foote accepted what, for the time, was a highly lucrative offer from Berrigan Football Club in New South Wales: in return for £25 a week, a business, and a home, Foote would serve as the club's captain-coach, a position he occupied for two years. In 1954, however, he was back in the VFL, this time as captain and coach of St Kilda. In what was scarcely an Indian summer to his VFL career, however, Foote proved unable to lift the Saints off the bottom of the ladder, although he did play well enough in 1954 to add a best and fairest award to the three he had won earlier with North. The following season proved to be his last in league football, however, although he did manage a brief spell with Preston in the VFA before a spinal complaint forced his retirement in 1959. |
Footnotes1. Football's 50 Greatest by Greg Hobbs and Scot Palmer, page 61. Return to Main Text |
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| Known as 'Tracker', Essendon's Charles Forbes was one of many stars at Essendon during the 1890s when the club won four successive premierships between 1891 and 1894, and was perennially at the forefront of the game. Widely acknowledged as the best ruckman in Victoria in 1892, he was still among the finest ruckmen in the game six years later when the Essendon was one of eight founder members of the VFL. The Same Old went top that year, and Forbes was arguably the biggest single factor in their dominance. There have been more formidable ruckmen in terms of size and on field presence than Forbes, but few who have been so dominant over so long a period (more than a decade). |
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Keith Forbes (Coburg, Essendon, North Melbourne, Fitzroy)
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| As
a youngster, Keith Forbes tried out with his local league side, South
Melbourne, but was told that, at 171cm in height, he was too small for
VFL football. Instead, in 1927 he signed for reigning VFA premier Coburg,
whom he helped to a second successive flag by means of a 34 point grand
final win over Brighton.
Quick, elusive, and deadly near goals, Forbes attracted the attention of Essendon, and in 1928 he crossed to the league club without a clearance. He would go on to become one of the Dons' greatest ever players, despite playing in what, in terms of premiership success, was an unusually barren era for the club. In ten seasons and 152 games with Essendon, Forbes won the club's top award twice as well as twice finishing runner-up in the Brownlow Medal. In 1932 he became the first Essendon player to kick 200 league goals, and he ended up with a total of 415 at the incredible average, for a rover, of 2.7 goals per game. He topped the Dons' goal kicking list in four of his ten league seasons. A regular interstate player, Forbes played carnival football in 1930 at Adelaide, and 1937 at Perth. He transferred to North Melbourne as captain-coach in 1938 but his two seasons in charge were unsuccessful. He finished his league career at Fitzroy in 1940, but after just 4 games, which took his overall tally to 187, he was forced to retire because of injury. Keith Forbes' importance in the history of Essendon was officially acknowledged via his inclusion in the club's 'Team of the Century'. |
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Norman Ford (Footscray, Subiaco, Coburg)
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| Norman
'Shooter' Ford was a dynamic and imposing centre half back much admired
for his relentless attack on the football and his booming punt kicks out
of defence. He began his senior career with Footscray
in 1914, and at the end of the season was a member of the team's losing
grand final team against North Melbourne.
When the VFA suspended operations because of the war in 1916 Ford embarked
on military service and did not resume with Footscray until 1919, the
Association having recommenced the previous year. The 1919 challenge
final saw Footscray defeating reigning premier North Melbourne by 22
points, with Ford starring in his accustomed position of centre half
back. The following year he traversed the country to line up with
ambitious WAFL club Subiaco, where he was to
play a total of 30 games in two seasons. His form in 1921 was
particularly outstanding, and he represented his adopted state of Western
Australia with distinction at that year's Perth
carnival. In the decisive match of the series against South
Australia, Ford played for a time as first ruckman, before settling into
his more customary half back role. He featured prominently among the
best players in both positions as the sandgropers won by 10 points to
clinch their first Australian championship.
The 1922 season saw Norman Ford back at Footscray, albeit without a clearance - a fact that would come back to haunt him a few years later. In the meantime, he enjoyed further premiership success as the Tricolours overcame Port Melbourne by 14 points in the decisive match of 1923, and Williamstown by 55 points the following year. He also played in the losing challenge final of 1922 against Port Melbourne. At the end of the 1924 season a special challenge match was arranged between the VFL and VFA premiers, with the proceeds going to the Limbless Soldiers' Fund. With Norm Ford in typically sterling form, Footscray beat their VFL counterparts Essendon by 38 points, 9.10 (64) to 4.12 (36). In 1925, Footscray was admitted to the VFL, but 'Shooter' Ford was one of three players whose permits the league refused to sanction on the grounds that they had all crossed to the VFA without clearances. Somewhat reluctantly therefore, the Tricolours agreed to release Ford to Coburg, where he played out the remainder of his senior career, culminating in participation in the 12.9 (81) to 9.11 (63) grand final win over Brighton in 1926. |
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| Best remembered for his feat in kicking a record equalling 7 goals in the 1965 grand final, Essendon's Ted Fordham endured something of a topsy-turvy league career that was ultimately brought to a somewhat premature end by injury. The Bombers recruited him from Essendon Baptists-St John's, and he made his senior debut in 1961. Used either as a half back flanker or follower early in his career, he lacked consistency, and did not become a regular senior player until coach John Coleman had the idea of trying him at full forward late in the 1964 season. Despite the fact that his kicking could sometimes be wayward, his immense power coupled with a strong work ethic helped him to make a success of the role. In one on one marking duels with the full back he was extremely difficult to dislodge, and when he hit top form during the 1965 finals he became a major reason behind Essendon's eventual premiership success. In addition to the aforementioned 7 goal haul against St Kilda in the grand final, Fordham booted 6 in the preliminary final defeat of Collingwood. He topped the club's goal kicking list in 1965 with 54 goals, while his tally of 76 the following year was good enough to head the league's list as well. In 1967 and 1968 he was used as a utility player mainly because new coach Jack Clarke was less tolerant than Coleman had been of his sometimes errant kicking for goal. In the losing grand final of 1968 against Carlton he started in a forward pocket and did not have a noteworthy game. Injuries restricted him to a handful of appearances in the 1969 season and he opted to retire at the end of the year. He later served on the Dons committee between 1974 and 1983, and was chairman of selectors between 1976 and 1979. |
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Jim Forsyth (Essendon & West Torrens)
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| A solidly built ruckman with plenty of courage and desire, but who lacked pace, Jim Forsyth was a fringe player at Essendon before joining West Torrens, where he did well. He played 29 VFL games for the Bombers between 1963 and 1967, and 58 for the Eagles between 1968 and 1970. He represented South Australia against Western Australia in 1968. He was also a member of the South Australian squad for the 1969 Adelaide carnival, but did not play a match. |
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| Rover Bob Fosdike played 141 games for Norwood between 1951 and 1961. He topped the club's goal kicking list in 1956 with 33 goals. Quick, strong and energetic, he paired well with Peter Vivian during what was a frustrating period of proximate success for his team. |
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| Duncan Fosdike was a reliable and consistent player in 176 league games for Norwood between 1981 and 1991, during which he kicked 109 goals. He originally hailed from Sacred Heart College, and played on the wing when the Redlegs won grand finals against Glenelg in 1982 and Port Adelaide two years later. |
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Bert Foster (Richmond & Sandringham)
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| A powerful follower with good all round skills, Bert Foster was a key player at Richmond for the better part of a decade. Renowned for his fairness, he played a total of 133 VFL games and kicked 65 goals for the Tigers between 1928 and 1936. He was a member of the winning grand final team of 1934 against South Melbourne, and also played in the losing grand finals of 1931 and 1933. He moved to Sandringham as captain-coach in 1937 and went on to play 32 VFA games and kick 17 goals in two seasons. He won the Zebras' best and fairest award in 1938. |
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Des Fothergill (Collingwood & Williamstown)
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Des Fothergill's prodigious talent was evident from the time he made his Collingwood debut, three months before his seventeenth birthday, in 1937. Alongside Fothergill in that Collingwood team were champions like Jack Regan, Phonse Kyne, Ron Todd, and the Collier brothers, Albert and Harry, but the fact that the young Collingwood Technical School student lost nothing in comparison with any of them is emphasised by his victory in that year's Copeland Trophy, Collingwood's best and fairest award. Stocky in build, Fothergill, who was equally at home on the half forward line or as a rover, played the game with an effortlessness that suggested it was second nature to him, and won further Copeland Trophies in 1938 and 1940. The 1940 season also saw him feature in the first ever 'perfect tie' in Brownlow Medal history: both Fothergill and Herbie Matthews of South Melbourne, who had played an identical number of games, received seven first preference, four second preference and three third preference votes for a total of thirty-two. Faced with an unprecedented dilemma, the league opted to retain the actual 1940 Brownlow, presenting each of the winners instead with a cheap, miniature replica. Another dilemma confronting the VFL at this time was the emerging tendency for some of its top quality players to cross to clubs in the VFA without a clearance. The proffered bait, needless to say, was financial, and in 1941 Des Fothergill joined the likes of Bob Pratt, 'Soapy' Vallence and Ron Todd in 'biting', with Williamstown the lucky beneficiaries. From a personal perspective, Fothergill enjoyed a stellar 1941 season, winning the Recorder Cup for best and fairest player in the VFA, and kicking 77 goals, but he was unable to help steer the Seagulls to the finals, and they finished 5th. In 1942, Des Fothergill enlisted in the army, and did not resume his football career until 1945 when, taking advantage of a VFL amnesty on those who had earlier crossed to the VFA without clearances, he re-joined Collingwood. There was no Brownlow Medal in 1945, but 'Fother' immediately proved that his prowess had not deserted him by landing the prestigious Herald Trophy for the best player in the VFL. After a promising start to the 1946 season he sustained a serious knee injury and, although he endeavoured to struggle on, midway through the following year he accepted the inevitable and retired. Although his career had been comparatively brief, Des Fothergill loses nothing in comparison with anyone else among the long list of champion small men to have donned the Collingwood jumper over the years. |
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| Solid,
versatile and reliable, Gary Foulds was an important if underrated
contributor to the Essendon cause in
precisely 300 VFL games between 1974 and 1989. Most commonly used
across half back, he could also function effectively as a wingman, in a
back pocket, on the ball or in the forward lines. Foulds represented
Victoria at the inaugural
state of origin carnival in Perth in 1979, and also in 1985, when he
was selected as an All Australian.
He played in all three of the Bombers' grand finals during the 1980s - the
losing game of 1983, and the wins in 1984 (reviewed here)
and 1985, all of which were
against Hawthorn. Smoothly
confident in everything he did, Foulds was the sort of player who never
seemed to be under undue pressure, and his decision making and use of the
ball were first rate. He was equal second in Essendon's best and
fairest award in 1981, and third in 1979. In 1981 he was chosen on a
wing in the prestigious 'Inside Football' team of the year.
Between 2002 and 2004 Garry Foulds served as non-playing coach of VAFA side North Old Boys. He later joined St Bernard's Old Collegians as assistant coach to his former Bomber team-mate Simon Madden. |
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George Foulis (North Adelaide)
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| North Adelaide's George Foulis was precisely the sort of player to escape the plaudits he deserved, quietly but effectively going about his work while team mates such as Ken Farmer, Norm Drew and 'Dribbler' Hawke attracted all the attention. Nevertheless, every successful team has a back bone comprising several players of Foulis's ilk. Between 1927 and 1937 he played a total of 136 league games, and was, if the cliché can be allowed, a model of consistency. He was in a back pocket when North overcame Port Adelaide by 4 points in the 1930 challenge final, and 19th man for the following season's grand final win over Sturt. The quintessential utility player, he was equally at home in a variety of positions. |
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Laurie Fowler (Richmond, Melbourne, Waverley, Springvale)
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| Universally respected during his career as one of the toughest players in the game, Laurie Fowler also boasted more than his share of genuine football talent, as was evidenced by his winning back to back best and fairest awards with Melbourne. Originally from Oakleigh Districts, he commenced his VFL career with Richmond in 1971, and it was with the Tigers that he etched his name into the history books forever by pole-axing Carlton captain-coach John Nicholls moments after the start of the 1973 grand final. In doing so, he set the tone for an entire afternoon of almost uninhibited physicality on the part of the Tigers which laid the platform for an eventual 5 goal victory. Fowler, who lined up in a back pocket, was one of the key contributors to the win, but after missing the following year's grand final against North Melbourne he was surprisingly considered excess to requirements, and allowed to transfer to Melbourne, the club he had supported as a boy. In six and a half seasons with the Demons he played a total of 140 VFL games to add to the 49 he had strung together with Richmond. Besides the aforementioned best and fairest awards, which came in 1979 and 1980, he represented Victoria in both 1980 and 1981. Midway through the 1981 season, however, Fowler dramatically walked out on Melbourne after a dispute over his contract, and crossed to Waverley in the VFA. He was later appointed captain-coach of Springvale, which was admitted to the Association's 2nd division in 1982. The following year, with Fowler producing a typically stirring display as a ruck-rover, the newcomers earned promotion with a 17.9 (111) to 13.16 (94) grand final defeat of Brunswick. |
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Carl Fragomeni (East Perth & Port Adelaide)
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| Carl Fragomeni gave good service to both East Perth and Port Adelaide during the 1970s, but he was ultimately prevented by injury from achieving his full potential as a player. Dashing and determined, Fragomeni played in East Perth's 1972 premiership-winning team. Named on the wing in that match, he actually spent the majority of the time in the back pocket position that was his specialty. At Port Adelaide he was a firm fan favourite but, owing to injury, did not manage to participate in any of the club's premiership sides while he was there. He represented South Australia once. |
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Known affectionately as 'Puffer', because of his habit of puffing up his cheeks when charging through packs in pursuit of the ball, Brian France was an archetypal key position defender whose ambition every time he took the field was to keep his direct opponent kickless. This was never better exemplified than during the 1966 Hobart carnival when Western Australia and the VFL met on the final day in what was effectively the championship decider. France was given the daunting job of minding Big V skipper Darrel Baldock, who had been in irrepressible form throughout the series, and for the better part of two quarters he almost literally wore 'the Doc' like an extra jumper. With their main route to goal nullified, the Vics looked impotent, and the sandgropers, 5 goals in front and playing superbly, seemed well on course for victory. Early in the 3rd term, however, France was badly injured, and had to leave the ground, whereupon the hitherto unsighted Baldock immediately began to impose himself, enabling the Vics to eke out a 15 point win that at half time had looked distinctly improbable. After another injury twelve months later, Brian France's nine season, 159 game league career came to a premature end, although had the Cardinals allowed him the clearance he desired to arch rivals East Perth it may have provided him with the incentive he needed to continue. The fact that France had still been playing football of the highest order was emphasised when he finished just 1 vote adrift of joint winners John Parkinson and Bill Walker in the Sandover voting. Had he not missed 7 matches through injury there seems little doubt that he would have secured the Medal, which would have been an appropriate way of sealing a distinguished career that also brought a premiership in 1960, three club fairest and best awards, and 17 interstate appearances. |
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| One
of Southern Districts' most
noteworthy products, Fabian Francis made a couple of aborted efforts to
start a senior AFL career before finally igniting on his third attempt with Port
Adelaide.
Possessed of considerable upper body strength, a legacy of his combining rugby league with football as a youngster, Francis was an early developer who played senior football in the NTFL as a fourteen year old, and in the AFL before his eighteenth birthday. He failed to settle at his first AFL club, Melbourne, and played just 3 senior games during a 1991 season which culminated in participation in the Demons' losing reserves grand final team. The opposition on grand final day was provided by Brisbane, and it was to the Bears that Francis headed in 1993 for a 2nd stab at AFL footy. This time 'round he managed 20 games before a contractual dispute precipitated his departure. Joining Port Adelaide in the SANFL, he resurrected his career by playing some excellent football in the Magpies' 1995 and 1996 premiership seasons. In the latter of those years he was runner-up to eventual Power team mate Josh Francou in the Magarey Medal. In 1997, Port Adelaide entered a team in the AFL, and Fabian Francis was a key member from the start. Quick, strong, and a superb kick with either foot, he was equally at home in defence, on a wing, or in the forward lines. He enjoyed a superb 2000 season when he finished 3rd in the Power's best and fairest count, but after just one more season at the club he was left in limbo after failing to agree a contract. A move to Fremantle looked to be on the cards for a time, only for the Dockers' salary cap restrictions to scupper the arrangement. Sadly for a player with so much ability, Fabian Francis' career at the football's highest level was over, although he did play briefly for South Fremantle and Port Adelaide Magpies before finally calling it a day. |
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Jim Francis (Hawthorn, Carlton, St Kilda)
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| Until Jim Francis died aged ninety-four
in November 2004 he had been, for several years, the oldest surviving
member of Carlton's 1938
premiership-winning combination. As a youngster he had concentrated
on cricket and baseball, at the insistence of his father, but once he took
up football at secondary school, where it was compulsory, it became clear
that it was it was there that his real talent lay.
Noting his nephew's talent, Francis' uncle, Jim Jackson, a former league player with three clubs, suggested he try out with Hawthorn, in whose district he resided. He so impressed Hawthorn officials that he was selected to make his senior debut for the club almost immediately. That was in 1929, when Francis was eighteen, and over the next five seasons he would go on to play a total of 61 VFL games and kick 26 goals for the Mayblooms, mainly as a half forward flanker or centreman. Tall, thin and extremely quick, he was an excellent kick to position, and despite his late start in the game possessed a keen football brain. He was also extremely dedicated, playing for his entire time at Hawthorn without payment. After representing the VFL at the Sydney carnival in 1933, Francis returned home to find that he had been demoted to the bench by the Hawthorn selectors. Feeling extremely aggrieved, he immediately walked out on the club, and sought a clearance, but Hawthorn, not surprisingly, refused to play ball. Rather than sit idly by, Francis resumed his baseball career, making it obvious that he would rather do that than return to Hawthorn. In the end, midway through the following season, the club relented, and Jim Francis was cleared to Carlton as part of a pioneering exchange deal that saw full forward Jack Green moving in the opposite direction. If his time at Glenferrie had been promising, his ten season stint with the Blues, which yielded 162 games and 52 goals, was exceptional. When regular centre half back Gordon Mackie was injured, Francis stepped into the breach magnificently. Despite never having played the position previously, he took to it like the proverbial duck to water, and became arguably the finest exponent of the position in the game. Carlton best and fairest in 1935 and 1940, he represented the VFL against South Australia in 1941, and was captain of the club in five of his ten seasons. In the 1938 grand final against Collingwood he formed part of arguably the finest half back line in Carlton's history, along with Bob Chitty and Frank Anderson. After retiring as a player, Jim Francis coached Carlton's under 19s for six years, with great success. He later had stints as senior coach of both Carlton and St Kilda. |
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Tony Francis (Norwood, Collingwood, St Kilda)
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| An
ebullient, pacy and abundantly skilled rover, Tony Francis joined Norwood
from Campbelltown High and made his league debut in 1988. He played
47 games in two seasons for the Redlegs before crossing the border to join
Collingwood. His AFL career got off to
just about the worst start imaginable when he was reported for kicking
during the first match of the 1990 season against West
Coast at Subiaco. The Tribunal handed him a six week suspension,
but when he returned he was a more disciplined, if no less vibrantly
aggressive, player. At the end of the season he was a prominent
member of the Magpies' 13.11 (89) to 5.11 (41) grand final defeat of Essendon.
Francis continued in excellent form in 1991, winning Collingwood's best and fairest award, and gaining selection in the AFL All Australian team. Thereafter his effectiveness was undermined to a certain extent by a series of injuries, but he remained a serviceable player for the 'Pies until the end of the 1998 season, by which time he had played 142 AFL games and booted 103 goals. His final season came in 1999 when he played 19 games and kicked 5 goals for St Kilda. |
| Josh Francou was without doubt one of Port Adelaide’s most influential and important players during its first decade in the AFL, but his story is ultimately one of heartbreak and tragedy in that he was prevented by injury from contributing to the club’s greatest moment to date, the 2004 grand final win over Brisbane. Francou’s calibre was clear right from the outset of his career. He won the Magarey Medal with North Adelaide as a twenty-two year old in 1996, and made the transition from SANFL to AFL the next year with a conviction and confidence that made even the sternest Victorian critics sit nod admiringly. Always hard at the ball, and typically using it with unerring precision, his status as one of the pre-eminent on-ballers in the game was emphasised with consecutive top three finishes in the Brownlow voting in 2001 and 2002. Then the aforementioned tragedy struck in the form of a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in the left knee, sustained at training in January 2004, and Francou had to watch from the sidelines as his team mates surged to September success without him. The 2005 season saw him return to the fray, but he seemed to have lost his edge and at season’s end, after 156 AFL games, he opted to retire. |
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| Instantly recognisable owing to his long hair and full beard, Manuka key position forward and defender Robert Franklin would have caught the eye in any case thanks to his prodigious football talent. A member of Manuka's 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977 premiership teams, Franklin was at the forefront of the game in Canberra at a time when the standard was steadily improving, culminating in the famous victory over the VFL in 1980. Robert Franklin did not play in that particular game, although he was a regular ACT representative throughout the 1970s. (He is shown above spoiling official AFL Legend Barrie Robran's attempt to mark in a match between the ACT and then Australian club champions North Adelaide in 1973.) Towards the end of his career, he represented the ACT at state of origin level at the 1979 Australian interstate championships in Perth. The enormous impression Franklin made on informed followers of the Australian code in Canberra was demonstrated when, in 1999, he was selected at centre half back in the official 'ACT Legends' team chosen to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the ACTAFL. |
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Albert Franks (Kalgoorlie Railways, North Fremantle, South Melbourne)
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| Originally from country Victoria, Albert Franks travelled west in 1901, and commenced his league football career with Kalgoorlie Railways. Renowned as an extraordinarily powerful player, he moved to North Fremantle in 1903, before returning home to Victoria in 1906 where he joined South Melbourne. Occasionally accused of underhanded tactics, he was nevertheless a key member of South's 1909 VFL premiership team. |
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Don Fraser (Richmond, Port Melbourne, Prahran, East Launceston)
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| Remembered
today as one of the most ferocious and relentlessly aggressive players
ever to don a football jumper, 'Mopsy' Fraser was actually much more than
a simple thug; he was, in the view of some, one of the finest centre half
backs ever to play the game. Ironically, it was only after Richmond
coach Jack Dyer took Fraser to
one side early in his career and suggested that he seemed "a bit
frightened" that Fraser adopted his trademark 'take no prisoners'
style. Some of his finest performances came for the VFL at the
rain-soaked 1950 Brisbane carnival
when his failure to win the Tassie
Medal seemed, to many observers, inexplicable. Fraser was
actually a key position forward during his early time with the Tigers but
his woefully wayward kicking for goal earned him both the ire of his
coach, and 'demotion' to the backlines. The move to centre half back
re-kindled his career, and there were few if any players able to challenge
his supremacy in the position.
After 124 VFL games and 126 goals for Richmond between 1945 and 1952 Fraser accepted the captain-coach's role at Port Melbourne. In his first season at the helm the Borough overcame Yarraville by 60 points in the grand final, the culmination to a sensational year which had brought just two losses, and yielded an incredible percentage of 195.9. Fraser's own performance in the grand final was superb as he did more or less as he pleased, beating three different opponents, and kicking 7 goals. Fraser played a total of 33 games in three seasons for Port Melbourne before crossing to Prahran as captain-coach in 1957, where he ended up being rubbed out for more than half the season after being found guilty of abusing an umpire after a match. He then transferred to Tasmanian side East Launceston where he ended his career, but not before he had made a brief return to interstate football as a late emergency inclusion in Tasmania's 1958 Melbourne carnival team. Don Fraser's memorable nickname of 'Mopsy' allegedly derived from cartoonist Wells, who invariably depicted Fraser as a long broomstick with a mop of hair on top. |
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| Chosen
as centre half forward in Essendon's
official 'Team of the Twentieth Century', Ken Fraser was arguably the
finest exponent of that position to play in the VFL during the
1960s. Extremely quick and agile, he was a master at evading the
attentions of opponents and marking the ball in the clear. His
kicking, though ungainly in style, was extremely effective, and his ground
skills were impeccable for a big man (188cm, 85.5kg). Recruited from
Essendon Baptists-St Johns, he made his VFL debut for the Bombers in the
opening round of the 1958 season, and other than when injured that was
where he remained. He won Essendon's
best and fairest player award in 1963 and 1964, and was twice runner-up in
the Brownlow
Medal voting. His 9 interstate appearances for the VFL included
games at the 1966 Hobart carnival,
when he was the team's captain. Fraser was at centre half forward in
the Dons' 1962 and 1965 premiership teams, the latter as captain, but he
was forced to miss the grand final clash with Carlton
in 1968 because of injury. Given that the Blues only just scraped
home by 3 points you will find it impossible to convince ardent Bomber
fans that the absence of their champion centre half forward did not
deprive the club of a flag.
Ken Fraser announced his retirement at the end of the 1968 season after 198 VFL games in eleven seasons, during which he kicked 197 goals. He captain-coached Yarrawonga in the Ovens and Murray Football League from 1970 to 1973, and later returned to Essendon as coach of the reserves between 1975 and 1979. During the 1980s he served on the Bombers' management committee. |
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Danny Frawley (St Kilda & Richmond)
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| Danny Frawley was a tough, hard-hitting full back of the old school who gave St Kilda tremendous service in 240 V/AFL games between 1984 and 1995. A natural leader, he captained the Saints in a record 177 games. Winner of his club's best and fairest award in 1988, he achieved All Australian selection the same year, and was a regular member of Victorian state of origin sides for almost a decade. After retiring as a player he spent time as an assistant coach at Collingwood before being appointed to the senior coaching post at Richmond in 2000. In five seasons at Punt Road, however, he only managed to get the Tigers into the finals once. |
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| Quick, clever and hardy, Fitzroy's Jimmy Freake was a goalsneak par excellence who arguably vied with Collingwood's Dick Lee as the premier full forward of his era. Standing only 178cm in height and weighing barely 60kg he relied more on his pace and ball skills than his marking ability, and his acceleration when leading was phenomenal. Typically, he would crouch low with his chest almost scraping the turf and hurtle straight down the ground leaving the full back in his wake. Team mates like Percy Parratt knew that if they kept their passes low, fast and hard then Freake's small but vice-like hands, coupled with his incomparable maneuverability, would do the rest. His kicking for goal, whether using place kicks or punts, was unfailingly accurate. He was also a genuinely two-sided player who could snap goals from all angles. He topped the VFL's goal kicking ladder in 1913 with 56 goals and again two years later with 66. He was Fitzroy's leading goal kicker seven times, and won the club's 1918 best and fairest award. His 174 VFL games included membership of the Maroons' 1913 and 1922 premiership teams. He kicked 442 goals during his career at the impressive rate for the time of 2.54 per game. |
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| Arguably one of the finest Sydney born footballers of the twentieth century, Harry Free enjoyed an illustrious seventeen season senior career with Newtown, during which he played in excess of 380 games. Most of those games were played on the last line of defence, initially in the back pocket, but later as a redoubtable and reliable full back who conceded nothing to his opponents other than, on occasion, a centimetre or two. An almost perennial New South Wales representative (19 appearances), he played in a Newtown premiership side in his debut season of 1947, and thereafter in each of the ensuing three years as well. Despite playing in positions traditionally regarded as unglamorous, Free twice finished among the top three vote getters in the Phelan Medal, and won his club's best and fairest award on several occasions (the precise number, alas, is unknown). He is a member of the Sydney AFL Hall of Fame. |
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| Tough, resolute and extremely physical in his approach to the game, centreman Tony Free was a shining light at Richmond during a generally dire time for the club. A best and fairest winner in 1989 and 1993, he captained the club from 1994 until forced into premature retirement with a knee injury two years later. Between 1987 and 1996 he played 133 V/AFL games and kicked 46 goals. |
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| A
fine all round sportsman, Eric Freeman played state football for South
Australia, and Test cricket for Australia, but he would arguably be much
better remembered today had he elected to focus all his energy and
attention on just one sport. He began his football career with Port
Adelaide in 1964, and from 1965 to 1967 was arguably the most
consistently effective key position forward in the state, booting 229
goals in 62 games, topping the league list with 81 in the last of those
years, and representing South Australia. Of muscular build, he was a
powerful mark, and could kick accurately over substantial distances,
making him equally effective across half forward, which he preferred, or at the goalfront.
After missing most of the 1967-8 seasons because of cricket commitments, Freeman resumed in earnest in 1970, and with 75 goals for the year was a key reason for Port Adelaide's improvement from 6th place the previous year to minor premiers. He also played well in 1971 in what proved to be his last full season. All told, Freeman's 115 SANFL games yielded an average of 3.4 goals per match, and the Magpies were almost always a more potent combination when he took the field. In each of his five complete seasons he booted in excess of 70 goals to top the club's goal kicking list. He also kicked 13 goals in 6 interstate appearances for South Australia. Nevertheless, the feeling lingers that, overall, he failed to do full justice to his ability. |
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| One of East Fremantle's greatest ever rovers, and indeed players, Vic French played a total of 188 games for the club in 1940 and 1941, and from 1945 to 1952. He was first rover in Old Easts' premiership teams of 1945 and 1946. Fleet of foot, a smooth ball handler, and a superb exponent of handball, he won the Lynn Medal, East Fremantle's fairest and best award, on three occasions. He was also extremely dangerous when resting in a forward pocket, and topped the club's goal kicking list in 1945 and 1946 with 70 and 60 goals respectively. He also booted a creditable 16 goals in his 4 interstate appearances for Western Australia. In 1997, he was included in a forward pocket in East Fremantle's official 'Team of the Century'. |
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| Hedley Freundt was a hard working and intermittently brilliant ruckman who gave good service to Sturt in 75 SANFL games between 1955 and 1957 and 1959 and 1962. At his best he was a member of the game's upper echelon, as is evidenced by his running third in the Magarey Medal voting in 1956. However, overall he was too inconsistent to be regarded as an out and out champion. |
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Edward Freyer (Port Melbourne & Essendon)
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| After playing briefly with Port Melbourne as a teenager, Ted Freyer crossed to Essendon where he made his VFL debut in 1929. Tall and wiry, and possessing fine judgement, he habitually manned a forward pocket rather than the key attacking position, and his deadly punt kicking for goal capped off many a Same Old forward thrust. Freyer played a total of 124 VFL games with Essendon, and his 372 goals including club leading tallies in five seasons. At the end of the 1937 season he controversially returned to Port Melbourne without a clearance, where in 1940 and '41 he at last had the satisfaction of playing in premiership-winning teams. During the period from 1938 to 1941, Ted Freyer, now playing mainly at the goalfront, was indisputably one of the VFA's top draw cards. He topped the Association goal kicking list in 1938 with 86 goals, and again two years later with 157. After a break for the war, he resumed for one last season in 1945 before finishing his career with Waterside Workers in the Saturday Morning League. In 84 VFA games, Freyer amassed an incredible 464 goals at an average of 5.52 per match. |
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Fred Froude (Collingwood & St Kilda)
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| Fred
Froude commenced his Collingwood career as a
forward in 1930, but looked woefully out of place. In time-honoured
fashion, he was banished to the backlines, where he promptly settled down
to become one of the mainstays of the team for the remainder of the
decade. He played on a half back flank in the winning grand final
teams of 1935-6, as well as in the losing sides of the following two
years. In both 1935 and 1937 he was close to best afield.
Never spectacular, he was limpet-like in his commitment to restricting the
effectiveness of his immediate opponent, and combined solid ground work
with superior aerial ability. He played a total 148 VFL
games and kicked 41 goals for Collingwood between 1930 and 1939.
Froude returned to the VFL as non-playing coach of St Kilda in 1949, but his two seasons at the helm were unspectacular, yielding 11th and 9th place finishes. |
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Eddie Fry (Wanderers, South Adelaide, Sturt)
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Wanderers
product Eddie Fry enjoyed the longest SANFL career to date of any Territorian.
Joining South Adelaide in 1975 he gave that
club sterling service in 112 games, culminating in the 1979 losing grand final
against Port Adelaide,
when he was most people's choice as the Panthers' best player.
In 1980 he was lured across to Sturt where he continued to perform well, winning the club's best and fairest award in 1981. In 1983 he played in his second losing grand final as the Double Blues crashed to West Adelaide by 34 points. Just as in 1979, Fry proved he was a big game player with a formidable all round performance. Equally at home at either end of the ground, or on the ball, Fry was selected to represent South Australia on 6 occasions having also represented the NTFL twice prior to his move to Adelaide. After 153 games for Sturt, Eddie Fry retired at the end of the 1988 season. |
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| Geelong's Terry Fulton was a tenacious footballer with plenty of skill who played 51 VFL games and kicked 3 goals for the Cats between 1949 and 1954. Recruited from East Geelong, he played for most of his league career on a wing, and developed a fine understanding with half forward flanker Bob Davis, who invariably played on the same side of the ground as Fulton (usually the left). Combining scintillating pace with exceptional ball handling ability and superb foot passing skills he was a key component in the Geelong 'speed machine' that won consecutive VFL flags in 1951 and 1952. Had he played at the top level for longer there is little doubt that he could have become a champion. |
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Bob Furler (North Adelaide & Ainslie)
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| Bob
Furler was something of the archetypal football nomad who, after starting
his league career with North Adelaide
in 1938, where he played 26 senior games, spent some time in Whyalla
before enjoying a brief, but highly successful, stint with Ainslie
in the CANFL. In 1947, Furler represented Canberra in section two of
the Australian championships in Hobart, where in spite of his team's
failure to win a match, he was the recipient of seven Tassie
Medal votes, making him a joint winner of the award, along with
Western Australia's Les
McClements.
Captain-coach of Ainslie in both 1947 and 1948, Furler was successful in steering the side to a premiership in the former year, when the Tricolours won "a terrifically fast, hard and spectacular" (see footnote 1) grand final against Eastlake by 28 points. Furler had also been a member of Ainslie's premiership winning combination the previous year. In 1947, the rubber stamp to what was a superlative all round season for Furler came when he tied for Ainslie's fairest and best award with his vice-captain, Alan 'Ginty' Stevens. |
Footnotes1. The National Game In The National Capital: 60 Years Of Achievement by Barbara Marshall, page 63. Return to Main Text |
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| Strongly
built and powerful, Percy Furler played with considerable success for both
North Adelaide and the state in a
variety of positions over twelve seasons. He began his league career
in 1922, playing mainly as a centreman, and made his South Australian
interstate debut the following year. Always one to relish the physical aspect
of the game, he found what was arguably his natural on-field home as a
ruck shepherd later in his career, in which position he had few peers
anywhere in Australia. He gave added value by being a potent threat
when resting in a forward pocket, and in 1927 he topped North Adelaide's
goal kicking list with 41 goals.
Widely respected as an inspirational on field leader, he captained both club and state, and in 1931 led the red and whites to a 38 point grand final victory over Sturt. A year earlier, he had played a fine game as a ruckman in a premiership-clinching 9.13 (67) to 9.9 (63) defeat of Port Adelaide. Between 1922 and 1933, Percy Furler played a total of 205 senior games - 187 for North, and 18 for the state (see footnote 1) - and kicked 167 goals, 152 of which were for his club. His importance in the history of the North Adelaide Football Club was officially commemorated in 2001 with inclusion in the club's 'Team of the Century'. |
Footnotes1. Some sources give Furler's interstate match total as 19. Return to Main Text |
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Don Furness (Fitzroy & Port Melbourne)
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| After enduring something of a staccato start to his VFL career, during which he was tried in a variety of positions, Don Furness finally found his niche across centre and thereafter rapidly developed into one of the finest centremen cum wingmen in the game. Between 1949 and 1959 he played a total of 139 senior games for Fitzroy, and won best and fairest awards in 1953 and 1955. Quick, skilful and a superb exponent of the drop kick, Furness was an interstate representative for the VFL on a number of occasions, including games at the 1953 Adelaide carnival. In 1960 and '61 Don Furness served as captain-coach of VFA side Port Melbourne, for whom he played 21 games. |
