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Action from the SA-WA clash at the 1969 Adelaide Carnival, in which the two eventual Tassie Medallists feature prominently. South Australian Graham Molloy is on the ground attempting to drag the ball in, while standing immediately behind him is his blond-haired WA opponent Peter Eakins. Both players polled 4 votes in the Medal and could not be split on a countback. |
Eric Tassie was a South Australian football administrator who served with distinction on the Australian National Football Council. In 1937, it was decided to commemorate this service by introducing an award in his name for presentation to the best player at every Australian interstate championship series. (Unlike with many such awards, the word 'fairest' was never included in the description, meaning that reported players remained eligible to receive it.) The Eric Tassie Medal was awarded at every Carnival from 1937 to 1988, with the exception of the 1975 knock-out series.
Click on a name to view a brief biography of the player concerned:
'Mick' Cronin Les McClements Bob Furler Terry Cashion Merv McIntosh Graham Farmer Allen Aylett Ted Whitten Brian Dixon Barry Cable Peter Eakins Graham Molloy Ken McAullay Brian Peake Graham Cornes Stephen Michael Brad Hardie Dale Weightman Mark Naley Paul Salmon
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1937 Perth Carnival - D.J. 'Mick' Cronin (Western Australia) |
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East
Perth centreman D.J. 'Mick' Cronin (given name 'Deverick') was at the peak
of his form during the 1937 interstate football carnival in Perth when he
put in two near best on ground performances in helping Western Australia
to annihilate South Australia by 19 goals, and get to within 8 points of
al powerful 'Big V' combination. A forceful, energetically dynamic
performer, Cronin was just as much at home on the half forward line as in
the centre, and it was as a half forward flanker that he represented the
Royals in their winning grand final team of 1936. In 1939, he took
over as coach of the club from the legendary 'Jerry'
Dolan, steering his
side to two finals appearances in his three years at the helm. He
also continued playing, but a series of bad leg injuries limited his
appearances, and adversely affected his form when he was able to front up.
After retiring as a player, 'Mick' Cronin took up umpiring for a time, and it was in this capacity that he ventured to Hobart in 1947 for the first post-war Australian interstate championship series. He returned to East Perth as non-playing coach in 1951 but in five seasons in charge he was unable to lift his charges above 4th place on the ladder. Besides his Tassie Medal, Cronin also won the Royals' fairest and best award in 1931, and represented Western Australia in the interstate arena on twelve occasions. He also coached the state in 1951. |
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highlight of ruckman Les McClements' much decorated, 244 game senior
football career came during the 1947 Australian championships when, on a
North Hobart Oval turned into a veritable quagmire by incessant rain, he
"threw a stout heart and a strong body into the fray" (see
footnote 1) in helping propel his Western Australian team
mates to a famous 4 point victory over the VFL. Having earlier
displayed superlative form against both South Australia and New South
Wales, McClements was a 'shoe-in' for the Tassie Medal as best player in
the carnival, an honour he eventually shared with Canberra's Bob Furler.
Les McClements began his senior football career with Claremont in 1941, the year after the third of the Tigers' inaugural three premierships in a row. In 108 games with Claremont the closest he came to a flag was playing in a losing 1st semi final team in his debut season. On the individual front, however, honours flooded his way, with no fewer than five successive Claremont fairest and best awards between 1946 and 1950, followed by a couple more with Clarence where he moved in 1951. Besides representing Western Australia in both the 1947 Hobart and 1950 Brisbane carnivals, McClements went to Adelaide in 1953 in the colours of his adopted state of Tasmania. Despite conceding up to 5 inches to many of his opponents in the ruck, McClements managed to be more than competitive owing to his "magnificent build and an ability to lift his powerful frame high" (see footnote 2). |
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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 3) 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. |
| Much
travelled rover Terry Cashion seems destined to remain the only Tasmanian
ever to win interstate football's most noteworthy individual prize, the
Tassie Medal. After preferring soccer as a youngster, Cashion saw
the light as a thirteen year old when he began playing under age football
with Buckingham. After four seasons there he exploded onto the big
league scene with New Town in 1939 when he
finished runner up in the TFL's best and fairest award, the George
Watt Memorial Medal, a feat he duplicated the following year.
During the war he spent some time stationed in Victoria with the army, and
played a handful of VFL games with South
Melbourne before being sidelined with a knee injury. Cashion's
next major port of call following his discharge from the army and recovery
from his injured knee was Clarence, where he
played for a couple of seasons, including the 'Roos first ever TFL season
in 1947. That year also saw Cashion donning a Tasmanian jumper for
the first time, and his performances during the Hobart Carnival were
sufficiently meritorious for him to be awarded the Stancombe Trophy as
Tasmania's most noteworthy performer of the series.
Three years later at the Brisbane Carnival the by this stage seasoned performer, now with Longford, played even better, securing not only a second Stancombe Trophy, but the coveted Tassie Medal itself as well. In a series marred by atrocious weather conditions, the Tasmanians as a whole performed with a considerable amount of credit, comfortably beating the VFA, and giving a respectable account of themselves against all three of the major football states. Much of the credit for this belonged to Cashion, who positively revelled in the conditions, matching or outplaying all of his supposedly more illustrious opponents in every game. Cashion again represented Tasmania at the Adelaide Carnival of 1953 in what proved to be his interstate swansong. Back in the TFL by this stage, with Sandy Bay, he retired from top level football at season's end with a total of 193 senior games under his belt. An excellent indication of his consistency is his achievement in winning a total of 7 club champion awards in only 10 full seasons of senior football. |
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Powerfully
and athletically built, Perth ruckman Merv McIntosh combined strength and determination
with a formidable football brain. However, he rarely made
illegitimate use of his strength, regarding football as essentially a game
rather than the all out war facsimile into which it was gradually evolving
in Victoria. Indeed, it was alleged that he could "short pass
as daintily and turn as nimbly as any footballer of more reasonable
proportions" (see footnote 4).
During the 1953 Adelaide Carnival, despite Western Australia's patchy overall form, 'Big Merv' was at the peak of his playing prowess, earning best afield honours in the sandgropers' opening game against the VFL, and performing well in each of his state's other three fixtures. All told, McIntosh represented Western Australia in the interstate arena on 24 occasions between 1947 and 1955, during which period he had few peers as a ruckman anywhere in Australia. Aside from his Tassie Medal, Merv McIntosh's proudest moment in football undoubtedly came in the 1955 grand final, which also happened to be the formidable ruckman's last game, and provided his club, Perth, with its first premiership in nearly 50 years. (For a detailed report on the match, click here.) In addition to his Tassie Medal, McIntosh won no fewer than 7 club fairest and best awards, was 3 times voted the fairest and best player in the WANFL, and won the coveted Simpson Medal on 3 occasions. Although subsequent Western Australian rucking greats like Jack Clarke, 'Polly' Farmer and Graham Moss perhaps enjoy more auspicious reputations, but 'Big Merv' was arguably the template from which all of them, to some extent, derive. |
| 1956 Perth Carnival - Graham 'Polly' Farmer (Western Australia) | |
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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 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 clear.
Much of Farmer's best football probably came during his time with East Perth when, along with Sandover Medals in 1956 and 1960 (see footnote 5), 7 club fairest and best awards, All Australian selection on 3 occasions, and more than 20 interstate appearances for Western Australia, he was honoured with the most prestigious individual award available to a player at the time, the 1956 Eric Tassie Medal. In front of his adoring home fans, Farmer put in 4 superb performances as Western Australia ran second to a supremely powerful 'Big V' combination. Farmer's form at each of the next two carnivals was almost as good, and indeed in the game against the Vics at the MCG in 1958 he produced a mighty display that almost saw him single-handedly propel his side to an improbable win, only to fall short at the death by 19 points. |
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1958 Melbourne Centenary Carnival - Allen Aylett (Victorian Football League) |
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As
a football administrator, Allen Aylett was undoubtedly one of the most
important figures in the game's history during the second half of the 20th
century, but prior to that he enjoyed a career of considerable note as a
player. The highlight of that career came in 1958 when, as first
rover in arguably the strongest ever VFL side to take the field, he polled
7 Tassie Medal votes (2 first preferences and a third) at the 1958
Centenary Carnival in Melbourne to edge out team mate Ted Whitten (also 7
votes, but containing only 1 first preference) for what was, at the time,
football's most prestigious individual award. A quick and highly
elusive player, Aylett was also a good deal stronger than the average
rover, enabling him to win possession of the ball seemingly at will.
Once in possession, his disposal skills were immaculate, and few rovers in
the history of the game have been as dangerous near goals. At the
1968 Melbourne carnival he booted 15 goals, second only to North
Melbourne team mate John Dugdale (18) on the goal kicking list, while
three years later at Brisbane he was the tournament's leading scorer with
19 goals.
Aylett enjoyed a stellar season all round in 1958, not only securing the Tassie Medal and All Australian selection, but also winning the first of three successive club champion trophies, and topping the poll in virtually every VFL media award for the year. In the Brownlow Medal, however, he finished a disappointing 7 votes adrift of surprise winner, Neil Roberts from St Kilda. |
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1961 Brisbane Carnival - Brian Dixon (Victorian Football League) |
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Arguably
the finest VFL wingman of his era, Brian Dixon played 252 games for
Melbourne between 1954 and 1968, including the winning grand finals of
1956, '57, '59, '60 and '64. Tremendous pace allied to great
tenacity enabled him repeatedly to win possession of the ball before
breaking into the clear and getting his kick away. Perhaps the only
real weakness in his game was his disposal, which was sometimes slipshod;
however, the sheer number of possessions he managed to accumulate helped
to compensate for this.
At his peak during the early 1960s, Dixon won Melbourne's club champion award - undoubtedly the most competitive in football at the time - in 1960 before putting in 3 dominating performances at the following year's Brisbane Carnival to secure both All Australian selection and the Tassie Medal. Away from football he enjoyed a successful political career which saw him appointed Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation for a time. |
| Like
his Western Australian predecessor (and, for a time, contemporary) and
fellow Tassie Medallist Graham 'Polly' Farmer, Barry Cable was one of
those rare individuals whose contributions to the game can be said, in a
sense, to have revolutionised it. Old fashioned in some respects -
he still occasionally favoured both the drop kick and the stab pass right
until the end of his career in the late '70s - his intuitive understanding
of the essential features of the 'run on game', coupled with his
effortlessly sublime mastery of the art of handball, made him, for well
over a decade, arguably the quintessential modern
footballer.
Sometimes criticised for lacking the explosive pace of contemporaries like Keith Doncon and Bill Walker, Cable nevertheless managed to find the ball with a frequency that often astounded, and to use it time and again with impeccable imagination, swiftness and precision. More significantly perhaps, these qualities did not desert Cable when maximum pressure was applied, such as during finals, or in the torrid atmosphere of Carnival football. Emphatic evidence for this is afforded by his winning of three successive Simpson Medals for his performances in the grand finals of 1966, '67 and '68, his securing of All Australian status in 1966 and 1969, and, most tellingly, his 1966 Eric Tassie Medal win. Cable gave clear evidence both of his intentions and ability in the opening game of the 1966 Hobart Carnival when his 4 goal best afield performance helped Western Australia to a 133 point annihilation of the VFA. Four days later he was again prominent as the sandgropers, after seeming dead and buried late in the 3rd term, staged a stirring last quarter comeback to overcome South Australia by 15 points. Cable needed to be at his very best again in Western Australia's next game as the host state mounted a stern challenge which was only ultimately overcome during the dying moments of the game, with Cable's 6 goals constituting arguably the key difference between the teams. The Western Australians stayed on course to retain their national title until late in their final game against the VFL, only to succumb disappointingly in the end by 15 points. Not that Cable could remotely be blamed for this, and with his justly earned Tassie Medal win he would take the first major step towards establishing himself as, without question, one of the truly great footballers of all time. |
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Archetypal
'blond bombshell' Peter Eakins burst onto the WANFL football scene with Subiaco
in the opening round of the 1966 season when, although shaded on the day
by East Perth's Mal Brown, he displayed
enough skill and poise to serve notice of a noteworthy career in prospect.
Tall, strong and perfectly balanced, Eakins could also kick the ball a
proverbial 'country mile', and would become one of the primary ingredients
in Haydn Bunton junior's rebuilding programme at the club, which began
with his arrival in the coaching hot seat in 1968. That same season,
Eakins made the state team for the first time, while the following year
saw him achieve his career highlight, the Tassie Medal (shared with South
Australia's Graham Molloy), after a sequence of performances of great
verve and authority at the Adelaide carnival.
Consistently eye catching performances at interstate level were increasingly becoming passports to the VFL at this time, and it was small surprise that the 1970 football season saw Eakins relocating to Melbourne, where he lined up with Collingwood. The Magpies reached the grand final that year, losing one of the most famous VFL grand finals of all time to Carlton after leading by more than 7 goals at half time. In common with many of his team mates, Eakins was a conspicuous performer during the first two quarters of the game, but faded badly in the second half. It was a similar story with his VFL career: after a promising start, a succession of injuries undermined his performances, and after just 3 seasons and 32 games he returned home to Subiaco. Unfortunately, however, the pressure and intensity of VFL football had taken their toll, and after just one senior and three reserves appearances he was forced into retirement, aged just twenty six. |
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his fellow winner, Peter Eakins of Western Australia, South Australia's
Graham Molloy probably reached his peak as a footballer in 1969.
Indeed, in Molloy's case, that peak was probably even more confined,
comprising just the two or three months prior to, and the 7 day period of,
the '69 carnival itself. Afterwards, Molloy, who moved from Norwood
to Melbourne in 1970, was only sporadically the same player as the one who
thrilled the record crowds at Adelaide Oval during the carnival.
Equally at home on the ball or across half forward, Molloy's pièce de résistance was his phenomenal leaping ability, which time after time enabled him to soar above even the densest of packs, as often as not coming back to earth cradling the leather in his arms. A left footer, his pinpoint kicking to position, sometimes over prodigious distances, was another noteworthy feature of his game. Less conspicuous but equally significant was the fact that "he provided an infusion of 'devil' with his vigour and willingness to 'go through' regardless of bruises" (see footnote 6). Persistent niggling injuries limited Molloy's effectiveness as well as the number of his appearances after his move to Melbourne and he managed only 68 VFL games in six seasons before moving to VAFA club, Ringwood, as coach in 1976. |
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A
superb all round sportsman, Ken McAullay represented his home state of
Western Australia at both cricket - his first sporting love - and
football. In 1971 and '72, he 'peaked' as a footballer, winning East
Perth's fairest and best award in the former year, and the Tassie
Medal and two Simpson
Medals (for the carnival game against the VFL, and the Royals' grand
final win over Claremont) in the
latter. It takes a lot for a full back to attract the notice of
fairest and best adjudicators, but clearly McAullay was no run of the mill
full back. In his three carnival games, for instance, his opponents
managed a collective tally of just 4.4; little wonder then that he won the
Tassie Medal by such a runaway margin, his 17 votes nearly doubling the
total of his nearest rival, Len Thompson of the VFL.
Asked about his approach when playing the difficult position of full back, McAullay remarked: "It has always been my policy to work hard at maintaining the front position and to keep pressure on the full forward. Make him aware that whenever he goes for the ball you will either be beside or in front of him. I am not big and must rely on my judgement and anticipation to prevent my opponent from getting a kick. I was fortunate enough (in the carnival) to keep a tight rein on the full forwards." (See footnote 7) Ken McAullay's football career came to a premature end in 1975 after he suffered crippling achilles tendon injuries. Unfortunately, these injury problems also helped to prevent him from achieving his greatest sporting ambition, which was to represent Australia in the Test cricket arena, and it is probably for his achievements on the football field that he will be best remembered. |
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1979 Perth State of Origin Carnival - Brian Peake (Western Australia) |
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Tassie Medal returned after a seven year break in 1979 when, for the first
ever time, an Australian championship was conducted, albeit somewhat
loosely, along state of origin lines. As far as the Tassie Medal
itself was concerned, however, it was very much a case of 'business as
usual', with Western Australia reaffirming its status as the source of the
nation's richest vein of footballing talent by providing yet another
winner - the 8th in 11 carnivals - of the game's most prestigious
individual award.
The winner on this occasion was sandgroper captain Brian Peake, who had been a dominant force for East Fremantle throughout the 1970s, winning the club's fairest and best award an incredible 5 times in succession between 1976 and 1980, as well as a Sandover Medal in 1977. A few days prior to the start of the 1979 Carnival he had been a prominent contributor to his club's 33 point grand final defeat of arch rivals South Fremantle, and he carried this form over into the championships. Quick, tough, aggressive, and displaying tremendous endurance, Peake was in good enough form in the opening game annihilation of a hapless Tasmania, but his display in the Carnival decider against Victoria - which the home state won by 15 points - defied superlatives. Rarely can there have been a more popular Tassie Medal winner, or indeed a more popular choice as captain of the All Australian team, an accolade that also went to Peake after the championships. Peake's excellent form in a Western Australian jumper continued at the 1980 Adelaide Carnival when, despite the team's indifferent form, he was again selected in the All Australian team. Six years later Peake was once more the skipper of a Western Australian championship winning team, and was rewarded for his personal contribution by captaincy of the All Australian team, making him the only player ever to be so honoured on two separate occasions. |
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1980 Adelaide State of Origin Carnival - Graham Cornes (South Australia) |
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Among
post-war South Australians, perhaps only Fos
Williams and Neil
Kerley can rival Graham Cornes in terms of the extent and duration of
their all round contributions to interstate football, both on and off the
field of play. In Cornes' case, that contribution began with 21
appearances as a player, highlighted by All
Australian selection in 1979 and 1980, a Simpson
Medal against Western Australia at Subiaco Oval in 1979, plus of
course the 1980 Tassie Medal.
Described by his first League coach Neil Kerley as looking "like a skun rabbit" (see footnote 8), Cornes nevertheless belied his appearance with considerable all round football ability that was effectively redoubled by his exemplary wholeheartedness, endeavour, energy and enthusiasm, qualities which would earn him 3 club best and fairest awards in 317 games with Glenelg between 1967 and 1982. Cornes also played 5 games with North Melbourne under Ron Barassi, and a further 47 games for South Adelaide, where he commenced his career as a league football coach in 1983. Cornes later enjoyed considerable success as coach of Glenelg, and was also the man responsible for establishing the Adelaide Crows in the 'big time' when that club took its AFL bows in 1991. However, it was as an interstate coach in charge of South Australia that he achieved the greatest renown, twice achieving selection as All Australian coach, and leading his team to an astonishing 6 wins in 8 games against the hitherto virtually invincible 'Big V'. The picture opposite, however, perhaps captures Graham Cornes in the type of pose most closely associated with him, and indeed arguably his most famous moment as a player came during the dying moments of the 1973 SANFL grand final against North Adelaide when, after taking a trademark grab of the type pictured, he booted what proved to be the winning goal of the match for the Tigers. |
| Stephen
Michael had all the attributes of the complete footballer. His
strength and prodigious springing ability meant that he could compete on
more than equal terms with opposition ruckman, while his pace, poise and
consummate ball skills enabled him to beat virtually any opponent at
ground level. Added to these attributes was an astonishing
consistency which saw him rarely fail to perform to standard.
On the interstate front, Michael represented Western Australia 17 times during a period when state of origin games against Victoria were interspersed with inter-league matches against the other states, chiefly South Australia. His 1983 Tassie Medal was won on the basis of a superlative, best on ground performance against South Australia at Subiaco in an inter-league game, followed by a highly creditable display in the championship decider, which was a state of origin victory over the Vics, again at Subiaco. In addition to the Medal, Michael was named as captain of the All Australian team, dual accolades which represented the pinnacle of a career that was to be effectively short-circuited only months later following a horrendous shooting accident. |
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Some
of Brad Hardie's achievements in football are never likely to be
emulated. In particular, in a dazzling three season spell between
1984 he provided perhaps more persuasive evidence than anyone before or
since that he was the nation's premier footballer, winning two Tassie
Medals (1984 and 1986) either side of the 1985 Brownlow.
Given this, it is perhaps somewhat surprising that he was seldom accorded
his due recognition as a champion, being more typically described as
'efficient' or 'workmanlike'.
Always an energetic, vibrant performer, Brad Hardie began his senior football career with South Fremantle, playing in that club's 1980 premiership team, and winning a fairest and best award in 1982. He won both the Tassie Medal and a Simpson Medal in 1984 and joined Footscray the following year, causing a sensation by winning the Brownlow Medal after a series of eye-catching, tear away performances from the back pocket. His fine form continued in 1986 when he created history by becoming the first, and to date only, player ever to win 2 Tassie Medals. However, a highly publicised bust up with Footscray coach Michael Malthouse precipitated Hardie's departure from the Western Oval and the 1987 season saw him taking the field at Carrara with the fledgling Brisbane Bears. Playing in a variety of roles with the Bears Hardie's performances never quite recaptured the verve and panache which had characterised his time with the Western Australian and Victorian Bulldogs. Nevertheless, he twice topped the Brisbane goal kicking list, and was the first player at the club to reach 100 games. Hardie moved to Collingwood in 1991 but, with his best years clearly behind him, he failed to ignite, and after 2 erratic seasons decided to call it a day. Nevertheless, during his peak years of the mid-1980s, with his trademark long-sleeved jumper, flame red hair, and effervescent dashes out of the Footscray or Western Australian backlines, he was one of Australia's most instantly recognisable, and, undue criticism notwithstanding, highly talented, footballers. |
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Tenacious,
fleet of foot, and highly skilled, Dale Weightman's 1985 Tassie Medal was
fitting reward for a player whose performances in a 'Big V' jumper were
seldom other than exemplary. During a time when his club, Richmond,
were suffering something of an ignominious decline, Weightman appeared
increasingly to regard interstate fixtures as being effectively equivalent
to finals football, and he approached games against Western Australia and
South Australia with the same intensity, pride and determination as he had
the 1980 VFL grand final against Collingwood.
Always a highly effective and eye catching interstate performer, Weightman - known popularly as 'the Flea' - was at his peak in 1985, a season which saw Victoria re-establish its pre-eminence in the interstate arena after several seasons playing second - or even third - fiddle (see footnote 9). Given a proverbial armchair ride by the consummate supremacy in the ruck of his Richmond team mate Mark Lee, Weightman cut both South Australia and Western Australia to ribbons in successive near best afield performances. Dale Weightman's achievements as a player, which include triple All Australian selection and two Richmond best and fairest awards in addition to his Tassie Medal, are all the more remarkable when you consider that he suffered from diabetes - not that anyone watching him play with such energy, verve, determination and aggression could ever possibly have guessed. |
Along with John Platten and Tony McGuinness, Mark Naley provided South Australia with interstate football's most accomplished roving trio since Western Australia's 'Cable-Doncon-Walker act' of the mid to late '60s. Of the three, Naley was possibly the least celebrated and least consistently eye-catching, but on his day - as the photograph opposite helps attest - arguably the most spectacular. At his peak between 1984 and 1987, Naley's explosive pace off the mark made him an extraordinarily difficult player for opposition taggers to contain. He was a winner of South Adelaide's best and fairest award, the Knuckey Cup, in 1984, while in 1986 a conspicuously energetic display for South Australia against Victoria helped him to All Australian selection. In 1987, Naley joined Carlton, and after taking a while to hit his straps he developed into a more than useful performer for the Blues in what became a premiership year. His performance in the interstate match against Victoria was once again of the highest order, and this time earned him interstate football's highest individual accolade, the Tassie Medal. Mark Naley remained with Carlton until 1990, but in his last couple of seasons he was struck by chronic hamstring complaints which greatly undermined his effectiveness. On his return home to South Adelaide in 1991, however, he recaptured his best form, winning that season's Magarey Medal, before going on to give his club a number more years of sterling service. |
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There
have been taller players than 205cm ruckman/forward Paul Salmon (though
not too many) but arguably none who have managed to use extreme height to
such potent effect, whether pursuing the ball around the field in the
traditional role of knock ruckman, or providing teammates down field with
an imposing marking target in he goal square.
A highly accomplished junior player, Salmon was a key member of Victoria's 1981 Teal Cup winning side, claiming the Larke Medal for best and fairest in the competition. During the initial phase of his his senior career, Salmon was Essendon's leading goalkicker on 7 occasions as well as forming a formidable ruck partnership with Simon Madden. A regular Big V representative (14 appearances) he won the Tassie Medal at the 1988 Bicentennial Carnival, largely on the basis of a superb 7 goal, best on ground performance against Western Australia in Victoria's opening game On moving to Hawthorn in 1996 after 209 games and 509 goals for the Bombers Salmon seemingly gained a new lease of life and was instrumental in the Hawks' return to prominence after a number of lean years. He won his first ever club best and fairest award after his first season at Hawthorn and repeated the feat the following year. He also gained selection in the 1997 AFL All Australian team exactly a decade after the first of his two selections as an old style All Australian. Salmon retired at the end of the 2000 season after 285 senior games only to be tempted out of retirement a year later by his old mentor Kevin Sheedy who was anxious to bolster Essendon's big man strength. After one last season in the 'big time', however, Salmon finally decided to hang up his boots for good. |
1. The Tigers' Tale: The Origins And History Of The Claremont Football Club by Kevin Casey, page 62. Return to Main Text
2. Ibid, page 72. Return to Main Text
3. The National Game In The National Capital: 60 Years Of Achievement by Barbara Marshall, page 63. Return to Main Text
4. The Pash Papers by Jeff Pash, page 257. Return to Main Text
5. Farmer was also later awarded a retrospective Medal for the 1957 season in which he had originally been placed second on a countback of 1st preference votes to his arch rival Jack Clarke of East Fremantle. Return to Main Text
6. South Australian Football Record Yearbook 1970, page 17. Return to Main Text
7. Football Close-Up 1973, page 19. Return to Main Text
8. Pride Of The Bay by Peter Cornwall and John Wood, page 176. Return to Main Text
9. Ironically, however, Victoria was stripped of its title after a technical indiscretion by coach Kevin Sheedy. Return to Main Text
