Right Half Back Flank - Bruce Doull (Carlton)

There were few frills about Doull's game, but equally there were few if any discernible deficiencies.  It was almost as though he was afraid of making a mistake.  When Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall kicked 6 goals against Doull in Doull's last ever VFL appearance there were some who regarded it as the one major blot on an otherwise perfect copybook; alternatively, it could be regarded as an indication that, just as with virtually every other decision required of him during 18 seasons of elite level football, Bruce Doull's decision over the timing of his retirement was tantamount to perfection.  As a result the memories which endure are those of his sure hands, effortless disposal skills, safe marking, fierce tackling, and sublime anticipation - attributes of a rare champion whose status as one of the game's true giants can now never be undermined.   

Centre Half Back - Ted Whitten (Footscray - vice-captain)

However, it is as a player that he earns inclusion in Victoria's Team of the Twentieth Century.  After being rejected by Collingwood (in whose zone he resided) in 1950 on the grounds that he lacked bulk Whitten was free to turn out with his boyhood heroes at the Western Oval.  His debut in 1951 has gone down in football folklore.  Opposed by renowned hard man Don 'Mopsy' Fraser of Richmond the young Whitten politely offered his hand prior to the opening bounce only to receive a sharp kick in the ankles in return.  Undeterred, Whitten goaled after marking early in the 1st term, an act of insolence which did not go down at all well with 'Mopsy' whose retaliation this time was even more pronounced - suffice to say that Whitten had much to reflect upon that night as he lay in his hospital bed!

E.J. Whitten was nothing if not a quick learner.  He soon realised that the best way to achieve success in the sport he loved was to intimidate rather than be intimidated, and if 90% of this was bluster it nevertheless could not mask the fact that he was also a supremely gifted - and tough - exponent of the game.

Aside from participating in Footscray's famous 1954 premiership win Whitten did not enjoy much success at club level during his career.  His volatile personality and fondness for back-chatting meant that he seldom fared well with the umpires when it came to Brownlow votes: equal 3rd half a dozen votes off the pace in 1959 was his best effort.  This perhaps in part explains his excessive partiality for interstate football - a predilection all the more remarkable when you bear in mind that many Victorians at the time regarded the interstate arena as redundant given the VFL's unarguable supremacy.  Whitten, however, liked nothing better than to remind the other states of that supremacy, a feat he achieved in 27 of the 29 interstate matches he played.    So fanatical was Whitten's devotion to interstate football, both during and after his playing career, that to many his name is synonymous with the big white V, an emblem tantamount to the Holy Grail to many South Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian footballers of the twentieth century.

An emblem which, sadly, was probably consigned to posterity at more or less the same time as the mortal remains of Edward James Whitten.  Both the emblem and the man played significant roles in the history of the greatest sport on earth, however, and as such deserve to be feted and acclaimed as long as the sport is played.  

[For details of Ted Whitten's 1958 Tassie Medal win, click here.] 

Left Half Back Flank - Francis Bourke (Richmond)

Initially a wingman, Bourke later excelled in defence where his courage, pace, anticipation and refusal to be beaten made him ideally suited.  Known affectionately as 'Saint Francis' Bourke represented Richmond in 302 VFL games and his state on 13 occasions.  He won the Tigers' top award in 1970, and was a member of 5 Richmond premiership teams.