2014 Round 5, Three quarter time.

12th April Birthdays.

 

Jim West 1966.

PLAYER OF THE DAY. Paul Wheatley, born 12^th April 1981.

Paul was eased into first grade football during his first year at Melbourne in 2000.  He was mainly used off the interchange bench in his 12 matches and for limited game time. 

In 2001 he was able to hold a regular place in the team, mainly in defence, even though he had shown a capacity to play in most key positions in his junior football.
 

2003 saw him dogged by injury but he came back strongly to play 20 games in 2004. Overall he had times when he had a good run of games and others where he struggled.

By the time he finished at Melbourne in 2009 he had played 135 games and kicked 34 goals.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers.

Six Players Dropped For A Grand Final.

Nearly all players say that playing in a grand final side, particularly a winning one, is what they play for. So, imagine how they feel if they get dropped for the big game.  That is what happened to these 6 for various reasons.

Len Ablett – 1942. Played 70 games for Richmond between 1939 and 1943 and kicked 5 goals. He was named on the bench for them in the 1943 grand final.

Tony Buhagiar – 1984. Even though he was a ‘favourite’ at Essendon he was cut for this grand final, which Essendon won. He was with the club from 1981 to 1984 for 83 games and 135 goals.

George Goninon – 1953. Kicking 278 goals for Geelong in his 78 games between 1950 and 1954 you would think he was a certainty to be in a grand final side.  But nothing is certain in football as he found out in 1953.

Derek Kickett – 1993. Even though he had played every game of the season Derek was not included for the ultimate game of the year. Being left out of the premiership side hit him so hard that Derek walked out on the club at the end of the year.

Ron McKeown – 1990. This was a case of ‘hard luck’ as Ron had an injury that kept him out of the preliminary final and even though fit was not selected for the ‘big game’. He was at Collingwood from 1984 to 1993 playing 123 games and kicking 105 goals.

Geoff Rosenow – 1963. Having played more than 100 consecutive games at one stage of his career he was no doubt an integral part of the Geelong team.  However, this did not stop him from being dropped for the finals series of 1963.

Source: The Greatest Game by Ken Piesse & The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

John Northey Player & Coach.

In his time as a coach John travelled around.  He coached 4 VFL/AFL clubs between 1985 and 1998.
Starting his career at Sydney in 1985 after gaining experience in a Sydney competition and at Ballarat and St Kilda reserves, he led them to 6 wins and 16 losses for the season.
Moving to Melbourne in 1986 and there until 1992, he was able to get them into the finals for the first time in 23 years in 1987.  In all he coached them for 167 games for 90 wins, 1 draw and 76 losses.
His third club was the club he had played for, Richmond, where he stayed from 1993 to 1995.  His results there were pretty much 50/50 as in the 67 games he coached they had 32 wins, 1 draw and 34 losses.
Brisbane was the final club he coached, and his move there was unexpected as he had managed to get the Tigers into the finals in 1995.

Maybe his move was not such a good idea as he got sacked midway through 1998.  In the 96 games he coached there they had 96 wins, 2 draws and 28 losses.

As a player he was a great half forward flanker with an ability to rip sides apart.  In his 118 games from 1963 to 1970 he kicked 192 goals and was a part of the 1967 and 1969 premiership sides.

 Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

 

Arden Street Oval.

In these days of ground naming rights Arden Street is now known as Aegis Park.

Like many other football grounds Arden Street started life as a cricket oval with the Hotham football club moving there in 1882.

The town of Hotham became North Melbourne in 1887 and the football and cricket clubs started using that name from 1888.

With a capacity of 2000 the main grand stand was erected in 1928 but had to be closed to the public in 1991 and was demolished in 2006.

Whilst the ground is now totally covered in turf, from 1957 to 1962 there was a greyhound racing track surrounding the oval.  This meant that spectators were able to stand right next to the playing surface.

Having a current capacity of 10,000, the largest crowd at the ground was 35,116 in 1949 for a match between North Melbourne and Carlton.

Source: Austadiums Website.

 

Writers Choice.

 

Ivor Warne-Smith  is the final player of those selected by all 4 football writers listing  their top 6 players.

 

As a student at Wesley College Ivor had already shown his sporting ability in football, cricket and as an all-round athlete.

 

He initially played for Melbourne in 1919 then took a break, returning in 1925 and playing until 1932.  Over all he played 146 games and kicked 110 goals.

 

Being very agile for a tallish player (182cm) he was a great high mark, could kick with both feet and was one of the first to use handball as an attacking weapon.

 

A part of Melbourne’s 1926 premiership team he won the Brownlow in 1926 and 1928 becoming the first dual Brownlow Medalist.

 

 Source: Great Australian Football Stories by Ken Piesse & The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers.