2014 Round 1, Fourth Quarter

16th March Birthdays.

Daniel Motlop 1982.

PLAYER OF THE DAY. Cain Ackland, born 16th March 1982.

If you are playing for the Port Adelaide Magpies, it almost seems a natural promotion into the Port Power side and this is what happened to Cain. He started off well in his first season of 2001, however was yet another player who was dogged by injury up until the time he was delisted.  In that time he had played only 12 games and kicked 3 goals.

He went to St Kilda in 2005 and was there for two seasons for 41 games and 18 goals. 2005 was his best year but he re aggravated is knee injury in the preliminary final.  In 2006 he played 19 games but was not considered for the finals team.

In 2007 he moved on to Carlton where his form was patchy and he played 21 games and kicked 4 goals before finishing at the end of 2008.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

Moorabbin & St Kilda.

When you mention either Moorabbin or St Kilda to an Aussie Rules fan they immediately think of the other one as well as they seem to always go hand in hand.

The City of Moorabbin committed to building a stadium that was up to VFA standards in 1951 to house the Moorabbin Football Club.  At the time of completion it was know to have the largest playing surface of any VFA ground, similar in size to the MCG.

It was hoped that the Moorabbin football club would be accepted into the VFL but when that didn't happen the council started approaching VFL clubs to see if any of them would like to make it their home. St Kilda came to the party and moved there from the Junction Oval in 1965.

The council then made improvements to the ground which saw its capacity rise to 50,000.  However the current capacity is only 27,000 due to the introduction of seating.  St Kilda also committed to making further improvements.

Moorabbin oval hosted 254 home & away games with the last being in round 20 1992 which saw a win to the Saints over Fitzroy.  The last AFL 'event' there was a pre season game between St Kilda and North Melbourne on 11 May 2005. The record crowd for the ground was 51,370 against Collingwood on 17 April 1965.

Source: Ausstadiums website & Wikipedia.


Mark Arceri - Journey man.

Mark Arceri was a rover from Williamstown who plied his trade at three different clubs, not seeming to be able to really fire at any of them.

He was first drafted to North Melbourne where he played 70 games between 1984 and 1990 and kicked 102 goals. The next club he joined was Carlton.  He was only there for two seasons ('91 & '92) and played 17 games for 26 goals.  Mark had the dubious honour of being the only player to score a goal for the team in their round 11 1991 loss to the Bulldogs.

His final club was St Kilda where he was only able to play 5 games and kick 5 goals in his last year of football in 1993. As a rover that kicked an average of more than a goal a game he would have been a handy player to have on your team, it is a pity he couldn't get more matches into his 10 year career.

 Source: The Encyclopaedia of AL Footballers.


Hawthorn Number 23.

Up to the end of the 2013 season the number 23 gurnsey had been worn by 26 players and it is the only number to have been worn in all 11 of the clubs premierships.

There are however 4 members of the group that stand out for their own particular reasons, and it is interesting to note that, apart from the first one, the other three were in awe of the one who wore it earlier than them.

John Peck played for the Hawks from1954 to 1966 for 213 games and 475 goals.  Starting as a 16 year old, this tall heavily built man was used in the ruck, at centre half forward and centre half back before settling at full forward.

He was known to really milk the slightest touch and was able to outpoint most full backs with his strength and footy smarts.  This can be seen from the fact that he was the leagues highest goal scorer in '63, '64 and '65.  John was the vice captain in the 1961 premiership side.

Don Scott will probably be best known for his support of the club when they were struggling and there was talk of them having to merge with another club.

His career started as John Pecks ended playing from 1967 to 1981. He broke the 300 game barrier (302) and scored 133 goals.  Though a little short for the position, he was played as a ruckman and had to use his body to get him through.

Not kicking a great deal of goals he was no less a very valuable team member because of his tenacity and work around the ground.  He played in the 1971 premiership team and was captain in the 1976 and 1978 premierships.

Dermott Brereton was probably the most 'flamboyant' of these four players, known for his on field antics, bright boots and 'interesting' hair style.

He played for the Hawks from 1982 to 1992 in  189 games kicking 427 goals.  Centre half forward was 'his' position and he will be remembered for his hardness and self assurance on the field.

Dermott was in the '83, '86, '88, '89 and '91 premiership sides, won the best and fairest in 1985 and played for Victoria 9 times.

Lance Franklin is of course an ongoing story, but he did wear the number 23 for Hawthorn from 2005 till 2013.  Everyone is aware of his goal kicking abilities and in the 182 games he played he kicked 580 goals.

While he has had some ups and downs this extremely self confident player topped the league goal kicking in 2008 with 113 goals and did it again in 2011.  He was part of the clubs 2008 and 2013 premiership sides topped their goal kicking  6 times.
 
Source: The Encyclopaedia of AL Footballers & Wikipedia
 
 Tom & Brett Allison.

Tom Allison played for North Melbourne from 1963 to 1970 and was a half forward drafted form West Coburg kicking 61 goals in his 106 games.

He represented Victoria in 1965 before later moving to Canberra which was where his son Brett came from.

Like his father Brett played for North Melbourne on a half forward flank.  He kicked 276 goals in 219 games between 1987 and 1999. Playing in the clubs 1996 and 1999 flag sides, he was also in 7 state of origin teams.

Moving to Sydney in 2000 he played just 9 games for 9 goals and retired at the end of that season.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of AL Footballers.