WESTERN AUSTRALIAN TEAM OF THE 20TH CENTURY

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Right Back Pocket - Jack Clarke (East Fremantle)

Nicknamed 'Stork', Jack Clarke belied his somewhat ungainly appearance with supreme agility and formidable ball skills.  Moreover, in an era boasting many high quality knock ruckmen Clarke had few peers in the role.

Jack Clarke's many playing achievements, which included a Sandover Medal in 1957 and selection in no fewer than 4 All Australian teams, appear all the more remarkable in light of the fact that he played his entire 10 season, 206 game career as an amateur.  He was hotly pursued by a number of VFL clubs but later maintained "I was never interested in going to Victoria.  I was West Australian.  Loyalty was most important in that era.  No one shifted clubs or went to Victoria.  The thing that induces players to change clubs is money - there wasn't any about when I played." (see footnote 1)

Always quintessentially a team-orientated player, the highlights of Clarke's career were the 5 East Fremantle grand finals in which he participated (sadly, for only 1 flag), and the 1961 Brisbane Carnival in which Western Australia reigned supreme.  

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Full Back - Gary Malarkey (East Perth, Geelong, Geelong West)

Despite his comparatively small (185cm, 89kg) stature Gary Malarkey was arguably the finest full back in Australia during the late 1970s and early '80s.  Aggressive and determined, he used his muscular frame to good effect when engaged in the man-on-man duels which are such an integral feature of full back play.

A member of East Perth's 1972 premiership team Malarkey also won the Royals' fairest and best award the following year before heading to Geelong in 1977.  He played a total of 173 games for the Cats during a mediocre 10 season period for the club.  Never the most eye-catchingly brilliant of players, he nevertheless excelled in those attributes which coaches value and seek to nurture: toughness, a refusal to accept defeat, and 'one percent' activities like shepherding, smothering, spoiling and chasing.

An integral member of many of Western Australia's early state of origin teams, Gary Malarkey was named an All Australian after the 1979 Perth carnival.

He finished his playing career with VFA side Geelong West. 

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Left Back pocket - Brad Hardie (South Fremantle, Footscray, Brisbane, Collingwood)

Brad Hardie is perhaps best remembered for being one of the most highly decorated footballers of all time.  A member of South Fremantle's 1980 premiership team, for whom he booted 3 goals from a forward pocket after starting on the interchange bench, Hardie also won South's best and fairest 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.  Overall, and perhaps ironically, given the fact that he was the recipient of so many awards, the consensus of opinion on Hardie's career would possibly be that he under-achieved.  Nevertheless, during his peak years of the mid-1980s, with his trademark long-sleeved jumper (see footnote 2), flame red hair, and effervescent dashes out of the Footscray or Western Australian backlines, he was one of Australia's most instantly recognisable, and highly talented, footballers.

[For details of Brad Hardie's 1984 and 1986 Tassie Medal wins, click here.]

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Footnotes

1.  Quoted in Football Greats of Western Australia: Volume One by Anthony James, page 21.  Return to Main Text

2. Hardie habitually wore a long-sleeved playing jumper in order to hide from view the scars which covered his arms, legacy of serious burns received as a child.  Return to Main Text