by Peter Argent
East Fremantle's Jack Clarke in action against Perth. Clarke was selected in a record four All Australian teams.
| Backs | Lerrel Sharp (Collingwood) | Herb Henderson (Footscray) | Norman Sharp (Geelong) |
| Half Backs | John James (Carlton) | Jim Taylor (Norwood) | Des Rowe (Richmond) |
| Centres | Harold McDonald (Port Adelaide) | Lindsay Head (West Torrens) | Des Healey (Collingwood) |
| Half forwards | Barry White (South Fremantle) | Ray Poulter (Richmond) | Thorold Merrett (Collingwood) |
| Forwards | Jack Clarke (East Fremantle) | Norm O'Brien (Carlton) | Peter Pianto (Geelong) |
| 1st Ruck | John Marriott (Norwood) | Dennis Cordner (Melbourne) | Bill Hutchison (Essendon) |
The VFL once again dominated the 'Sporting Life' panel's selections, with only six spaces being found for players from the other major state league competitions in South Australia (four participants) and Western Australia (two).
Players with second selections from the Victorian League were Herb Henderson from Footscray, Des Rowe of Richmond, Des Healey of Collingwood and Melbourne big man Dennis Cordner.
Of the rovers, Geelong's Peter Pianto achieved his third selection in a row, and the great Essendon star Bill Hutchison showed his amazing consistency, getting picked for the eighth time in nine seasons.
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"I have a particular weakness for the kind of elegance that marks the play of......Bill Hutchison, of Essendon." (Jeff Pash) |
Two gentlemen by the name of Sharp were picked in the 1955 side, but they were at different ends of the football spectrum. Collingwood’s Lerrel Sharp was recruited from Tasmania, becoming a solid pack pocket in the team's 1953 premiership side as a 20 year old, and later in the fifties going on to play state football. In the 1953 grand final he played against the Geelong follower, Norm Sharp. The prodigiously talented Geelong player was a part of the Cats' powerful 1952 premiership side as a seventeen year old. Unfortunately, owing to his rugged style of play and a knee injury, Norm Sharp would retire from the game at 23, but not before he won a club best and fairest award in 1954. Another pick in this side would not play after the 1955 season; Noel O’Brien arrived on the VFL scene a winter earlier and quickly proved himself at this level. This year he would be runner up to Geelong’s Noel Rayson for the competition's leading goal kicker award, with 73 majors. Injured in a trial before the start of the next season, he never pulled on the boots again. |
Richmond's Ray Poulter, a powerfully built man who was known to have poor training habits, was selected for the first time this year. A left footed centre half forward, he led the club's goal kicking in 1949, 1950 and 1955. In the last of those years he also played state football, being renowned for his prodigious torpedo punts when kicking for goal.
In this the first of his three Carlton best and fairest years, John James gained his only 'Sporting Life' Team of the Year selection. A player of only moderate height (175cm - 5ft 9in), he was nevertheless capable of playing both the key forward and defensive positions. Always a good vote catcher, he finally won a Brownlow in 1961, and was a regular state player for many years. Quick, clever and capable, he was a great mark, but only an average kick.
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Lindsay Head, who "played with brilliance tempered with restraint; no artfulness for artfulness' sake....but great art in the service of West Torrens". (Jeff Pash) |
Perhaps the most interesting of the SANFL players
selected this year was Norwood’s centre half back, Jim Taylor. He had a
stellar career with South Melbourne, and in the middle of it had this one season
for the Redlegs. Twice a club best and fairest at the Swans, he played more than
a dozen state games, including the carnival in
1961, in his final season. In his
initial season of 1949 he progressed through the four grades at South Melbourne.
Norwood’s ruckman John Marriott kept his place in the team, missing out just once since his first selection in 1950 as a twenty year old. Unfortunately, the football world lost him at the end of the 1956 season. Port Adelaide’s premiership half back/wingman Harold McDonald’s fine season was rewarded with his second selection, and a lad from West Torrens, Lindsay Head, was give his first honour. Head, who had moved from Junior Colts (under 17s) directly to league football in 1952 as a sixteen year old, would win the first of his three Magarey Medals in this season. He would become one of the South Australian greats of the game over the next 15 years, playing 327 club games and representing his state on an amazing 37 occasions with distinction. |
Western Australia’s two selections for this side were both first timers, and also from each end of the playing range. Barry White was a goal kicking half forward cum rover, who was elusive and evasive, while big man Jack Clarke was another in the great breed of ruckmen out of the west. White played in three consecutive flags for South Fremantle and was a consistent state player in that era, with Clarke playing move than 200 games for East Fremantle between 1952 and 1962. Clarke and White would play 25 and 16 state games respectively, with the former collecting a Sandover Medal in 1957.
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