A second Cordner, Dennis, was proclaimed as a 'Sporting
Life' 'All Australian' this year, following his brother Don Cordner's selections
in 1947 and 1949. Dennis was a centre half back, who later went into ruck, and
he won the Melbourne Football Club's best and fairest awards in 1950 and 1954.
The man who was awarded the 1952 Brownlow Medal on
count back was Richmond’s 'gentle giant', Roy Wright. In a league career
that started in 1946 as a seventeen year old, Wright was understudy to Tiger
greats, Jack Dyer and Bill Morris. Second ruckman, Wally May, was a part of
Essendon’s premiership successes in 1949 and 1950, before moving over to Sturt
in the SANFL. In later life, he became a commentator on the game. His father,
Charlie, played in the Essendon 1923-4 premiership sides.
One of the smallest players in the game at the time was
another first year selection, Collingwood’s Thorold Merrett. Like Len
Fitzgerald, he played league football as a sixteen year old; he also won two
Copeland trophies as the club's best player in the late fifties, before retiring
at the age of 26 after his second broken leg. The last player from the VFL for
this winter was Fitzroy’s back pocket and consistent state player, Bill
Stephen. Among the finest defenders of the era, he was a good mark and had
superb anticipation. A dual club best and fairest recipient, he was
captain-coach of the club between 1955 and 1957, and then had two other stints
in the coaching box, during the sixties and seventies.
|
Frank
Johnson (no. 11) of Port Melbourne, one of the all time greats of the VFA. |
Western Australia had two selections this winter, Frank
Sparrow and Steve
Marsh, the former being rewarded for his first and only time.
Steve Marsh was a giant of the game in every sense except stature. As a rover,
he played in six South Fremantle premierships between 1947 and 1954, collected
the Sandover Medal this year, and moved on the coach arch rival
East Fremantle
in 1957. On top of this he played 21 matches for the sandgropers. Francis
'Frank' Sparrow, like his father Val, would play over 200 games in the WANFL. A
state captain, he would be more of an itinerant than this father, playing for
East Perth, Swan Districts and West Perth.
Port Melbourne’s ruckman from the Victorian Football
Association, Frank
Johnson, was also selected. He was in the middle of an
illustrious career with this club, which included eight consecutive grand
finals, before moving over to 'sister' club South Melbourne in the VFL at the
age of 28. He was the Swans' best and fairest player in his initial year of VFL
football, and would have been recognised as one the greats of the game if he had
moved across earlier. |
This was the first year that 'Sporting Life' failed
to select the team in position.
