2014 Round 9 Three quarter time.

10th May Birthdays.

 

Ben Holland 1977, Kevin Keaton 1965, Ron McKeown 1967,
David Wearne 1970.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Daniel Harris, born 10th May 1982.

Daniel had captained the Victorian under 18 team before being drafted by North Melbourne and he started his career there in 2001.

After 8 games in that year he dropped back to 4 in 2002 then had 14 in 2003 and 21 in 2004.  He was a mid fielder who knew how to find the ball and a great clearance player. 

By the time he finished at North in 2008 he had played 139 games and kicked 41 goals.

Entering the rookie draft in 2010, he was picked up by the Gold Coast Suns where he played 11 games and scored 2 goals in his one year with the club in 2011.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

 

The Father-Son Rule.

The Father-Son rule was introduced by the VFL in 1950 after lobbying by the Melbourne Football Club. Ron Barassi Snr had played for them in the late 1930’s and they were worried that if Ron junior turned out to be a good player he might get picked up by another club as he didn’t live in their recruiting zone.

As it turned out Ron Barassi was not the first player picked under this rule, though he did end up at Melbourne and played 240 games for them, kicking 195 goals.

Harvey Dunn was selected by Carlton, his father’s old club in 1950 but played just 9 games.  His father had played 71 and kicked 139 goals.

Like most things this rule has developed since its inception and there are different conditions for clubs in different states as well as the standard rulings.

Source: The Champions by Ben Collins and The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

West Australian Sharp Shooter.

In an interstate carnival in 1924 Hugh 'Bonny' Campbell of Western Australia kicked 23 goals in a game against Queensland.  The finals scores were WA 43.19.277 defeated Qld 2.1.13 at the North Hobart oval.

He had started his career at North Freemantle but the club folded and so he moved to South Freemantle and played in their premiership teams in 1916 and 1917 on a half back flank. Moving to the forward line in 1922 he won the league goal kicking that year.

Because of a transfer dispute he had to sit out the 1923 season but he won the league goal kicking again in 1924 at East Perth and was in their flag winning sides in 1926 and 1927.

Source: AFL Record Season Guide 2013 and Wikipedia.
 

 

3 x 5 at Geelong.

Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer wore the number 5 guernsey at Geelong from 1962 – 1967. He arrived with great fanfare but his debut year was cut short by a knee injury in his first game. However, by the time he finished at the Cats he had played 101 games for 65 goals.

As a child he had practiced handballing through a car window and brought his well honed skills to Victoria and was a game changer in the way he used handball as an attacking weapon. He was a fine ruckman and played in Geelongs 1963 premiership team.

Gary Malarkey was in East Perth’s premiership team at the age of 19 and Geelong snapped him up.  The trouble was, East Perth would not let him go until he had played 100 games; so he didn’t actually move to Victoria until he was 24.

From 1977 to 1986 he played 172 games as a nuggety full back who used his strength and reading of the game to beat full forwards.

He played state games for both Victoria and Western Australia.

Gary Ablett kicked 1021 goals for Geelong in a career spanning 242 games from 1984 to 1996.

He seemed at times to be very lackadaisical and tried the patience of his coaches; but at the end of the day he certainly managed to perform, with one of his best days out being a haul of 14.7 against Essendon in 1993.

Winning the Coleman Medal three years in a row he represented Victoria 11 times and was All Australian 7 times.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

 

Neil Craig – Player and Coach.

As a footballer in South Australia Neil played 126 games for Norwood, 134 for Sturt and 61 for North Adelaide.  He also represented South Australia on 11 occasions.

Therefore he had a wealth of experience behind him when he started coaching at Adelaide in 2004.  Up until the end of his tenure with the Crows he had been at the helm for 166 games for 92 wins and 74 losses; a winning percentage of 55%.  They had also appeared in 9 finals.

He had a short time coaching at Melbourne in 2013 where in 11 games they won 1 and lost 10.

Source: AFL Record Season Guide 2013 and Wikipedia.