Sean Wight (Melbourne)

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Although it would be Dubliner Jim Stynes who would garner most of the accolades Sean Wight's career in Australian football was also highly commendable.  In 150 games with Melbourne between 1985 and 1995, mainly as a defender, Wight established a reputation for the spectacular and the unexpected.  Because he had not been brought up within the traditions of Australian football he frequently performed actions which appeared idiosyncratic: for instance, he often spoiled opponents' attempts to mark by coming in from the side, tapping the ball back over his head rather than forwards.

While it would probably be fair to say that Wight's spectacular marking ability was the most memorable feature of his game, he was also a stern, resolute defender who rarely conceded an easy possession. 

And Wight's own evaluation of his stint in the game?  "If I had played any other sport, my body would have been a lot better, but this has been a lot of fun," he told Glen Quartermain during his final season.  "This is one of the best games in the world."  (See footnote 1)

Footnotes

1.  From 'Wight Hits His Stride' by Glen Quartermain, in 'Sports Weekly', 3 May 1995, page 23.  Return to Main Text

Len Wigraft (Preston & Fitzroy)

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Len Wigraft captained Fitzroy in 1927, his last league season, before retiring after 135 VFL games.  Two games into the 1934 season he returned to the club to replace Jack Cashman as coach, Cashman having walked out on the club in acrimonious circumstances.  However, he was unable to motivate his charges to rise above 8th place on the ladder.

Frank 'Scotty' Wildy (West Perth & Subiaco)

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Robert Wiley (Perth, Richmond, West Coast)

He was confident as he was skilful, a player of immense class and ability.

He stood out against almost every opponent he played against in both Western Australia and Victoria in a career that spanned fifteen seasons between 1974 and 1988.

Wiley remains the last of Perth's great rovers ......  (See footnote 1)

A key member of the Demons' 1976 and 1977 premiership teams, Wiley won fairest and best awards in each of his first five seasons with the club.  In 1979 he moved to Victoria where he joined Richmond, and after an injury interrupted debut season he emerged as one of the finest rovers in the VFL.  Wiley played 95 games for the Tigers and was an important contributor to the club's 1980 grand final win over Collingwood.  He was also, somewhat perversely, twice selected to represent Victoria in so-called 'state of origin' games.

In 1984, he returned home to Perth, and promptly picked up where he had left off by claiming fairest and best awards in 1984-85-86 to establish a new club record of eight wins in all, one more than both Barry Cable and Merv McIntosh managed.  The 1986 season saw him selected as an All Australian after helping Western Australia to the national title.  When West Coast arrived on the scene the following year they had little hesitation in procuring the thirty-two year old to add some much needed experience to their youthful squad.  Wiley did not let the Eagles down, adding 18 creditable VFL games to his tally before electing to see out the remainder of his career with Perth.

After one last season with the Demons - a season which, uniquely, did not produce a fairest and best award - Robert Wiley decided to hang up his boots.  It is doubtful if West Australian football has seen his like since.

Rob Wiley was senior coach at Perth in 1988 and 1989, steering the side to 5th and 7th places respectively.

Footnotes

1.  Football Greats of Western Australia Volume One by Anthony James, page 69.  Return to Main Text

Rod Willet (Morningside & Subiaco)

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Like good wine, Rod Willet seemed to improve with age.  As his career developed, he demonstrated tremendous versatility, being equally at home in a key attacking position as in the backlines.  In 1992 he topped Subiaco's goal kicking list (with 43 goals), and the following year he was the recipient of the club's fairest and best award.  He had also captained the Lions in 1992.

Rod Willet retired after the 1994 season with 188 WAFL games to his credit, having also represented his home state of Queensland at state of origin level, and his adopted state of Western Australia in inter-league state football.

Footnotes

1. See, for example, Diehards 1946-2000: the Story of the Subiaco Football Club, page 218, for Willet's own account of his initial confrontation with the 'bad boy' of WA football in the early '80s, Gary Sidebottom.  Return to Main Text

Colin Williams (Subiaco)

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Craig Williams (Prahran, St Kilda, West Adelaide)

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Something of a 'jack of all trades', Williams only really began to hit his straps after he joined West Adelaide in 1980.  In ten seasons with the Bloods he played 160 SANFL games, kicking 50 goals.  His best season was 1983, when he helped the club to a long overdue premiership courtesy of a 34 point grand final defeat of Sturt.  Earlier that year he had achieved All Australian selection after two excellent performances at full back for South Australia against Victoria at Football Park and Western Australia in Perth; he was the seventh and last West Adelaide player to be so honoured.  Williams' biggest asset was his formidable leaping ability which he used to good effect both in the ruck and in key positions.

Don Williams (Melbourne & West Perth)

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In 1961, Don Williams had the satisfaction of being chosen in Western Australia's triumphant Brisbane carnival team, and of putting one over his erstwhile Victorian colleagues in the process.  He carried on at West Perth in 1962, but the following year he returned home to Victoria after accepting a coaching role at country side Sale.  Still aged only twenty-eight, however, he was keen to prove himself at the top level once more, and in 1964 he resumed at Melbourne for whom, playing in the centre, he was one of the best players afield in a nail-biting 4 point grand final win over arch rivals Collingwood.

Over the course of his last five seasons Don Williams played some of the finest football of his career.  Selection for the VFL in 1965 brought his total number of interstate appearances to 11 - 8 with his home state, and 3 with Western Australia.  

When, in 2000, Melbourne announced its official 'Team of the Century', Don Williams was chosen on a half back flank.

Foster Williams (West Adelaide, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide)

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In hindsight, Port Adelaide's achievement in prising this champion away from West Adelaide, where he had played 54 games between 1946 and 1949, has to rank as one of the 'steals' of the century.  Perhaps more than any other single individual, Fos Williams was responsible for catapulting South Australian football out of its predominantly casual, laissez faire mentality into the same kind of professional, brutally expedient, 'win at all costs' mindset as prevailed across the border in Victoria.  Fos Williams' champion Port Adelaide sides of the 1950s and '60s were seldom pretty to watch, but they won, and that, when all is said and done, is the central aim of football.

Most discussions as to the greatest coach in the history of South Australian football centre on two men: Fos Williams and Jack Oatey (although John Cahill also has his advocates).  Both were supremely successful (Oatey ten premierships, Williams nine); both knew their own minds; both were enormously influential - Oatey in his advocacy of skill, Williams in the way he imbued his teams with Victorian style tenacity and fanaticism.  (This is not, of course, to suggest that skill, tenacity and fanaticism had hitherto been unknown in South Australian football, but merely to acknowledge Oatey's and Williams' feats in elevating these attributes to previously unprecedented heights.)

Where Williams arguably scores over his great adversary is in the interstate sphere, particularly in matches against Victoria.  South Australia had beaten the Vics on many occasions in the past, of course, and included in those victories were the only four occasions in history that the 'Big V' had succumbed to interstate opposition on home turf.  However, under Williams South Australia's performances against Victoria reached a consistently higher plane, including record-breaking wins at home in 1960 and 1965, and a historic triumph on the MCG in 1963.  Williams also masterminded two triumphs against Western Australia in Perth where South Australia historically had never enjoyed much success.

At club level all of Fos Williams major achievements came during twenty-one seasons (in two separate stints) in charge of Port Adelaide.  Again, the premierships and grand final appearances tell only part of the story: Williams' most significant achievements were, in the strict sense, unquantifiable, revolving as they did around the nurturing and honing of what might be termed 'the Alberton culture', a culture which Williams himself was responsible for defining perhaps more lucidly than anyone else:

The Creed of the Port Adelaide Football Club

We the players and management of the Port Adelaide Football Club accept the heritage which players and administrators have passed down to us; in so doing we do not intend to rest in idleness but shall strive with all our power to further this club's unexcelled achievements.

To do this we believe there is great merit and noble achievements in winning a premiership.  To be successful, each of us must be active, aggressive and devoted to this cause.  We agree that success is well within our reach and have confidence that each member of both the team and management will suffer personal sacrifices for the common end.  Also we know that should we, after striving to our utmost and giving our everything, still not be successful, our efforts will become a further part of this club's enviable tradition.

Any team which faithfully adhered to the above philosophy would be certain to perform to its optimum.  Any team coached by Foster Neil Williams would have no choice but to conform to the above philosophy to the letter.

Footnotes

1.  Merv Agars, quoted in Dynasty by Fos Williams and Michaelangelo Rucci, page 35.  Return to Main Text

Fred Williams (Fitzroy & Carlton)

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Frederick Williams (Subiaco)

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Geoff Williams (Geelong & Yarraville)

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Greg Williams (Geelong, Sydney, Carlton)

Often criticised for being slow, Williams showed that a player did not have to be endowed with phenomenal pace in order to wreak havoc among opposing backlines.  Given that the football, when either handballed or kicked, tends to move appreciably faster than even the sprightliest players are able to run, Williams' unequalled disposal skills with both hand and foot made him, when playing at his peak, almost uncontainable.  Of course, he had to get the football first, before he could use it, and this he was pre-eminently and repeatedly able to do owing to that marvellous, untutored sense of anticipation which all champion players possess, and which Williams himself possessed in unparalleled abundance.

The Greg Williams career fits neatly into three stages.  Between 1984 and 1985 he played for Geelong, winning the Cats' best and fairest award in the latter year whilst simultaneously displaying a nascent ability to catch the umpire's eye with 15 Brownlow votes.

In six seasons in the Harbour City with the Swans he truly came of age.  The compact Sydney Cricket Ground suited his style and he quickly established a reputation as the game's most prolific and effective exponent of handball, and indeed arguably its most renowned (in the sense of being 'identified' with the skill) practitioner since 'Polly' Farmer.  In 1986, he tied for the Brownlow Medal with Hawthorn's Robert Dipierdomenico.

The final phase of Williams' career saw him at Carlton where he won a second Brownlow in 1994.  Then, in 1995, he achieved his last major remaining ambition of playing in a premiership side.  His selection as Norm Smith Medallist after the Blues' demolition of his original club Geelong was the quintessential 'icing on the cake' of a stellar career.

Jack Williams (Geelong)

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John Williams (Essendon, Collingwood, Brunswick)

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Mark Williams (West Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Collingwood, Brisbane)

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Scarcely what you would call elegant in his approach, with one of the most ungainly kicking styles imaginable, Mark Williams pre-eminently demonstrated that such factors count for nothing when it comes to playing effective, match-winning football.  

The 1981 season saw Williams on the move to Collingwood, where he was an immediate success, helping the club reach a grand final, representing Victoria, and winning the first of two Copeland Trophies for Collingwood best and fairest.  In all, he played a total of 135 games in six seasons with the Victorian Magpies, captaining them from 1983-6.  An unfortunate contract dispute at the end of the 1986 season saw Williams reluctantly make the move north to join the fledgling Brisbane Bears, but any initial uncertainty soon dissolved as he put in a series of high quality, influential performances for the newcomers.

Midway through the 1990 season, after 66 games for the Bears, and 201 in all in the VFL, Mark Williams 'retired' - or, at least, that was how the Melbourne media described it.  In actual fact, he had returned home to help Port Adelaide to another premiership, a feat which was repeated two years later, following which Williams genuinely did retire.

Having served a coaching apprenticeship with Glenelg (the team against which he had contributed to two premiership wins as a player) and as assistant to, first, Kevin Sheedy at Essendon, and then John Cahill at Port Adelaide, Mark Williams took on the Port Adelaide senior job full time in 1999, and in September 2004 piloted the club to its first ever AFL premiership.  As a result of this, and his numerous other accomplishments, a prominent place in football's roll of honour seems assured.

Paul Williams (North Hobart, Collingwood, Sydney)

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Originally from North Hobart, Williams impressed as a dynamic, long kicking centreline player and on-baller who was capable of turning a match off his own boot.  He was recruited by Collingwood and made his AFL debut as an eighteen year old in 1991.  In ten seasons with the Magpies, he played a total of 189 games and kicked 223 goals, and at his best was widely acknowledged as one of the finest running players in the game, with his ability to kick prodigious distances while moving at full pelt being arguably the most distinctive feature of his play.  After being badly hampered by ankle problems during the mid-nineties he recovered to play some of his best football towards the end of the decade, although at the same time it emerged that he was becoming unsettled with life at Victoria Park.  In 2001 he crossed to Sydney where his impact was immediate and considerable; he won consecutive club best and fairest awards in 2001-2 and in 2003 was included in the AFL All Australian team.  However, far and away his most noteworthy achievement was participation in the aforementioned 2005 premiership team.  After kicking 2 vital goals in the preliminary final win over St Kilda, Williams produced a typically effervescent, hard running performance on grand final day to amass 18 telling disposals and prove a constant thorn in the side of the opposition.  Paul Williams went on to play a dozen games in his final season to take his tally at retirement to 306; he booted 307 goals.

Roy Williams (Queanbeyan & Queanbeyan-Acton)

Williams spent the 1952 season with VFL club Collingwood but, despite impressing as "a skilled aggressive performer" (see footnote 1), was unable to force his way into the Magpies' formidably strong senior line up.  Had he remained at Victoria Park, who knows what he might have achieved, but playing in Melbourne had not yet become the be all and end all of every talented footballers' aspirations, and Williams returned home to Queanbeyan, one presumes, with few regrets.  In any case, he continued to play superb football, winning the combine's best and fairest award in 1954, and continuing to perform with distinction for the 'post-divorce' Queanbeyan until 1959.

In common with his brothers, Roy Williams was also a talented rugby league player and represented the Queanbeyan Blues for several seasons.  In 1999, he was selected as a member of the official 'ACT Legends' team.

Footnotes

1.  Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright: Queanbeyan Australian Football Club History 1925-1988 by Ron Fowlie, page 137.  Return to Main Text

Thomas Williams (Fitzroy)

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Tom Williams (Port Adelaide)

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William Williams (South Melbourne & Williamstown)

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Jack Williamson (Eastern Suburbs)

Walter Williamson (West Torrens & Hawthorn)

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John Willis (West Torrens)

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William 'Tiny' Willis (Subiaco)

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Tom Wills (Melbourne, Geelong, Richmond)

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Sir - Now that cricket has been put aside for some months to come, and cricketers have assumed somewhat of the chrysalis nature (for a time only 'tis sure), but at length will burst forth in all their varied hues, rather than allow this state of torpor to creep over them, and stifle their now supple limbs, why can they not, I say, form a foot-ball club, and form a committee of three or more to draw up a code of laws?  If a club of this sort were got up, it would be of vast benefit to any cricket ground to be trampled upon, and would make the turf quite firm and durable; besides which, it would keep those who are inclined to become stout from having joints encased in useless superabundant flesh.

Wills then went on to suggest the formation of a rifle club as a possible alternative, but it was the football idea that proved more appealing, and later in the year the Melbourne Football Club, with Tom Wills as inaugural captain, was formed.  Wills later also captained both Geelong, and the original Richmond Football Club (which bears no relation to the current club of that name).

As a footballer, Wills was clearly highly proficient, frequently earning prominent mentions in dispatches in newspaper accounts of matches in which he participated.  Although precise figures are hard to substantiate, he is reckoned to have played at least 170 matches for Geelong, 31 for Melbourne, and an unknown number with Richmond.  He also enjoyed an illustrious career in cricket, which was always far and away his first sporting love.

During the 1870s Tom Wills was beset by alcoholism and other personal problems.  On 2 May 1880, in a state of acute depression, he stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors.  He was just forty-five years of age.

The epitaph on his grave stone succinctly describes him as 'Founder of Australian Football and Champion Cricketer of his time'.

Andrew Wilson (Essendon)

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Brian Wilson (Footscray, North Melbourne, Melbourne, St Kilda)

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Colin Wilson (Melbourne)

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Ernest Wilson (Collingwood)

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Garry Wilson (Fitzroy)

Regularly among the favourites to land the Brownlow Medal, Wilson's best season was 1979 when he finished just one vote shy of the winner, Collingwood's Peter Moore.  He also came a close third in 1978 behind Malcolm Blight and Peter Knights.  His importance to Fitzroy was amply illustrated by his feat in winning no fewer than five club best and fairest awards.  He also topped the club's goal kicking list on two occasions.  From 1982 -84 he fulfilled a long term ambition by emulating his hero, Kevin Murray, with whom he had played at the outset of his career, and captaining the Lions:

"I remember running onto the ground near Kevin and it really made an impression on me.  He looked and acted the way a captain should and it felt good to be around him.  It gave me confidence.  That's how I want the young Fitzroy players to feel around me."  (See footnote 2)

Some of Garry Wilson's finest performances came in the interstate arena.  He represented either the VFL or Victoria 12 times, and he won consecutive All Australian blazers in 1979 and 1980.

Footnotes

1.  Wilson stood 179cm tall and had a usual playing weight of 70kg.  Return to Main Text

2.  Hutton's 1981 Footy Book by Jim Main, page 10.  Return to Main Text

James Wilson (Geelong)

Percy Wilson (Collingwood, Melbourne, Port Melbourne)

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Wilson crossed to Melbourne as captain-coach in 1921 and added another 51 VFL games in three seasons.  As a coach, however, he was found wanting, and a wooden spoon in 1923 hastened his departure.  Wilson later had two stints as non-playing coach of Port Melbourne, from 1927 to 1929 and in 1932.  In both 1928 and 1929 he managed to get his side as far as the premiership play-off, but first Coburg and then Northcote proved too strong.  In 1930 and 1931 Wilson coached rival VFA club Camberwell, but the side struggled, finishing 2nd from last in his first season, and bottom in his second.

Peter Wilson (East Fremantle, Richmond, West Coast)

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Ray Wilson (Hawthorn)

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Tom Wilson (North Melbourne, Fremantle, Imperials, East Fremantle)

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Captain of Old Easts from 1898 to 1900, and again between 1904 and 1909, Wilson led the club to a total of 5 premierships, and never saw it fall below 2nd place on the ladder.  He was also a key player, under the captaincy of 'Spot' Chadwick, in the club's 1902 and 1903 premiership-winning sides.

As a player, Wilson was tough, resolute but fair; if he tackled you, you knew about it, but he never intentionally went outside the boundaries of the laws of the game.  His leadership style was described as "strict but kindly" (see footnote 1); he had that rare knack of being able to elicit maximum effort from his charges, and if he was something of a traditionalist - insisting, for example, that players remained in their set positions - the proof of the efficacy of his methods is in the record books.

Revered as 'the father of the club', Tom Wilson was a familiar figure at East Fremantle matches long after his retirement as a player.  He served the club as both secretary and treasurer, was a delegate to the league, and was a state selector for the 1924 Hobart carnival.  Fittingly, he was also the first person to be made a life member of the East Fremantle Football Club. 

Footnotes

1.  Celebrating 100 Years Of Tradition by Jack Lee, page 13.  Return to Main Text

Wilbur Wilson (Central District)

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A left footer, whose right leg was, as the cliché has it, 'for standing on', Wilbur Wilson was a half forward flank specialist who gave the Central District Football Club exemplary service in 171 games between 1974 and 1986.  He also booted a highly commendable 331 goals, which included 45 in 1983 and 67 the following year to top Centrals' list.  Much more to the point, however, only Tony Modra in recent years has come close to matching the levels of hero worship and adulation enjoyed by the man who could lay strong claim to having been Central District's favourite son.

William Wilson (Richmond & Glenelg)

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Wilson, who was a regular 'Big V' representative (10 games in all) for most of his VFL career, played 185 games and kicked 226 goals for the Tigers between 1944 and 1954.  He won the club's best and fairest award in 1947 and, along with Bill Morris and Roy Wright, gave Richmond arguably the best first ruck combination in the league for much of his time in the game.  Many old timers will probably have considered Wilson to be a 'shoe-in' for a roving berth in the Tigers' official 'Team of the Century', but the selectors had other ideas, and went for the more recent, hence safer, pairing of Kevin Bartlett and Dale Weightman.

Billy Wilson finished his senior career with Glenelg, where he played 39 league games (plus 4 for the state) and booted 45 goals from 1955 to 1957, winning both the Bays' best and fairest award and the prestigious News-Ampol Trophy in his first season.  He also ran third in the Magarey Medal voting the same year.

Fred Wimbridge (Perth, West Perth, South Melbourne)

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Adaptable in the extreme, and a thumping kick, he could perform with equal effectiveness at the goalfront, across half forward, or at full back.  He commenced his league career with Perth in 1911, and was a key member of the side which contested five finals series out of six between 1911 and 1916.  He was the Redlegs' top goal getter in 1915 with 36 goals.  

The second phase of Wimbridge's career saw him at West Perth, where he produced arguably the best football of his career.  In 1921 he was a member of the victorious Western Australian combination at the Perth carnival.  Lining up at full back in both of the state's matches, he performed particularly impressively in the the clash with the VFL, which the home state ended up winning by 5 points.  His performances appear all the more creditable when you consider that he spent most of the 1921 season playing as a forward for his club, for whom he booted a total of 30 goals to head its goal kicking list.

Wimbridge spent the 1925 season in the VFL with South Melbourne, where he played 8 games and kicked 12 goals.  He then undertook his aforementioned spell in Victorian country football before rounding off his career with two seasons back at Perth in 1928-9, taking his final tally of league appearances with that club to 105.

William Windley (South Melbourne)

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Gary Window (Central District)

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Then came Window's Magarey Medal win, and suddenly the entire South Australian football community was talking about the Bulldogs.  

Window, who had played a major role in Centrals' early development, lost nothing in comparison with previous winners of the oldest major best and fairest award in football:

He handles the ball surely in the air and on the ground, can pass with low stab kicks or else fire a 50 yard shot at goal.

Cool, clever and calculating, he makes position well and creates his own opportunities.  (See footnote 1)

Two years earlier, in the final season of Centrals' reserves apprenticeship, Window had served notice of his potential by winning the seconds Magarey Medal.  His high standing at the club was emphasised the following year when, in the absence of captain-coach Ken Eustice, who was still seeking a clearance from West Adelaide, he was chosen to lead the Bulldogs in their first ever league fixture against West Torrens.  Later in the year he became Central District's first ever interstate representative.

Window's form, along with that of most of his team mates, fell away badly in 1966.  He then spent two injury and illness-affected years as captain-coach of East Gambier, before resuming with Centrals in 1969.  However, he never recaptured the form of his Medal-winning season, and midway through 1970 he was dropped to the seconds.  The 1971 season saw Window installed as captain-coach of the Bulldogs' seconds team which he promptly steered to a first ever premiership.  His time as coach of Centrals' senior team was considerably less successful, however.  After taking over from Tony Casserly in 1976 he steered the side to 6th and 10th place finishes in his two seasons in charge.

All told, Gary Window played just 82 SANFL games, one of the shortest league careers of any Magarey Medallist.  However, in 2004 his iconic status within the club was emphatically affirmed when he was selected as centreman in Centrals' official 'All Time Greatest Team'.  

Footnotes

1.  South Australian Football Record Yearbook 1966, page 63.  Return to Main Text

Neil 'Nicky' Winmar (South Fremantle, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs)

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Voted the Saints' fairest and best player on two occasions, Winmar nevertheless often made life difficult for himself by failing to accord members of the club hierarchy the levels of respect they felt they warranted.  Ultimately, after one run in with authority too many, Winmar was off-loaded to the Western Bulldogs at the end of the 1998 season.  He gave the Bulldogs a serviceable season in 1999 before retiring.

Arguably possessed of sufficient talent to have been one of the few genuine all time greats of the game, Nicky Winmar was nevertheless worthy of a place in almost any team because of his ability to excite, enthrall, and come up with the unexpected.

All told, he played a total of 309 senior league games, comprising 58 with South Fremantle, 230 at St Kilda, and 21 for the Bulldogs.

John Winneke (Hawthorn)

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Bruce Winter (Sturt, Norwood, Woodville-West Torrens)

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Hardly the most spectacular or eye-catching of players, Winter was the personification of dependability and assurance - the sort of qualities which win premierships.  During his career, Bruce Winter played in three SANFL premiership sides: 1974 with Sturt, and 1982 and 1984 with Norwood.  Arguably his best performance in a grand final came in 1978, however, when he was a member of the Sturt team cruelly beaten at the death by a Norwood side determined to celebrate the club's centenary season in style (for a full, blow by blow summary of the game, go here). Winter was obviously impressed by what he saw, because he moved to Norwood the following year, playing the final 178 games of his career with the Redlegs, as well as twice being selected to represent South Australia.

Footnotes

1.  Quoted in True Blue by John Lysikatos, page 222. Return to Main Text

Stan Wittman (Melbourne)

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Roy Witzerman (New Town & Devonport)

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Witzerman made his TFL debut with New Town in 1945, the season which saw the inception of district football in southern Tasmania.  He represented Tasmania at the 1947 Hobart carnival, and the following year, under the expert coaching of Roy Cazaly, was a member of New Town's grand final winning team against North Hobart, as well as of the victorious state premiership side.  He later capped off an excellent year by winning the club's best and fairest award.

In 1949, in front of a then record grand final crowd of 15,086, New Town again won the premiership, with Roy Witzerman heavily instrumental in restricting opponents Hobart to just 4 goals for the match.  Witzerman played in a third premiership team two years later after New Town annihilated North Hobart in the grand final by 71 points.  In all three of his winning grand finals, Roy Witzerman was named high in the best players.

The 1952 and '53 seasons saw Witzerman at Devonport as captain-coach but he was unable to steer the Magpies to a flag.  He did, however, represent the NWFU in intrastate football, and in 1953 he was best afield in a 7 point win against the TFL at his old, familiar stamping ground of the North Hobart Oval.

Witzerman returned home for one last season with New Town in 1954.  His selection at full back in Glenorchy's (see footnote 1) official 'Team of the Century', announced in 2000, was presumably virtually automatic.

Footnotes

1.  New Town became known as Glenorchy in 1957.  Return to Main Text

Peter Woite (Port Adelaide & Glenelg)

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Woite began with Port Adelaide in 1969, when he starred on the half back flank in the first two quarters of a pre-season match against Melbourne, only for injury to put him out for virtually the remainder of the year.  His full scale resumption in 1970 was spectacularly successful, and he earned selection on a wing in South Australia's team to meet the VFL at the Adelaide Oval in May, when he was widely acclaimed as the home side's best player.  Apart from anything else, the performance highlighted his versatility, as he was being used at centre half forward by Port in club games.

Arguably Woite's best position, however, was centre half back, where his authoritative, one grab marking, excellent anticipation, and good rebound skills came to the fore.  Recognising these traits, North Melbourne endeavoured to sign him in 1976 with an offer that would, allegedly, have made him the highest priced South Australian recruit in VFL history.  In the end, Woite elected not to transfer, although that was far from the end of the matter as North took him to court in an attempt to recoup an alleged $10,000 'signing on' fee.  Fortunately for Woite, the judge ruled in his favour.

A member of Port's 1977 premiership team, Woite later joined grand final rivals Glenelg where he saw out his career with a further 20 league games in 1979-80, taking his final tally to 202.  He represented South Australia a dozen times.

At the turn of the century, Peter Woite was selected as an interchange player in Port Adelaide's official 'Greatest Team 1870 to 2000'.

Arthur Wood (South Melbourne)

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Bryan Wood (Richmond & Essendon)

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Footnotes

1.  This, rather than the rendering in the above photograph, is the correct spelling of Wood's Christian name.  Return to Main Text

Peter Wood (Oakleigh & Fitzroy)

William Wood (South Sydney & Footscray)

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Herbert 'Bill' Woodcock (St Kilda & East Perth)

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Woodcock, who had commenced his senior career with the Saints in 1908, headed west in 1915 to join East Perth, where he spent the ensuing three seasons.  In 1918, however, he returned home, and played out the final four years of his career with St Kilda, bringing his final tally of VFL games to 155.

Roger Woodcock (Norwood)

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Dale Woodhall (Mayne, Collingwood, West Adelaide)

by Murray Bird and Peter Blucher

Allan Woodley (Hawthorn)

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Brian Woodman (South Melbourne)

Tom Woodroofe (Norwood)

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Dave Woods (East Fremantle)

Ike Woods (Geelong)

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Michael Woods (Melbourne)

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Jack Woollard (West Adelaide, Sturt, West Torrens, Mines Rovers, Kalgoorlie City, East Perth, Port Adelaide)

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Originally from Broken Hill, Woollard's league career began in 1899 with West Adelaide, where he spent two seasons before joining the newly formed Sturt club.  After performing serviceably in the Blues' first ever fixture - a 33 point loss to Norwood - Woollard, playing mainly as a ruckman, was a "tower of strength" (see footnote 1) all year.  However, in 1902 he was on the move once more, this time to West Torrens, where he again spent just a single season before heading west.

From 1903 to 1905 Woollard played his football in the goldfields competition, initially for Mines Rovers, and later for Kalgoorlie City.  He was a prominent player, of whom it was remarked: "It is hard for others to compare with his brilliance" (see footnote 2).

The 1906 season found Jack Woollard on the coast where he spent the year as captain of East Perth's inaugural league team before heading home to South Australia and another twelve months at Sturt.

The most illustrious part of Woollard's career came during its final phase.  Between 1908 and 1910 he played for Port Adelaide, captaining the club to a premiership - the only one of his senior career - in his final season.  According to Dolph Heinrichs, that 1910 Port Adelaide team was the finest he ever saw.  The Magpies not only defeated Sturt in the challenge final, they also overcame eventual WAFL premier East Fremantle in Perth, and VFL premier Collingwood in the championship of Australia decider in Adelaide, achievements which made Jack Woollard arguably the most successful captain seen in football up to that point.

Footnotes

1.  True Blue by John Lysikatos, page 13.  Return to Main Text

2.  From 'The Western Argus', and cited in Gravel Rash by Les Everett, page 213.  Return to Main Text

Fred Wooller (Geelong & Penguin)

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Michael Woolnough (Geelong & Collingwood)

Bert Worner (Geelong)

Jack Worrall (South Ballarat, Fitzroy, Carlton, Essendon)

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After his retirement as a player, Worrall took these leadership abilities into another arena as a prototype coach with Carlton and Essendon.  Whereas clubs had appointed 'coaches' before, their role had invariably been subsidiary to that of the team captain; Worrall, however, assumed complete control of all team-related matters, even donning football togs to participate in training.  This revolutionary approach bore substantial fruit as, between 1906 and 1908, the Blues became the first team to win three consecutive VFL flags.  

Jack Worrall had a similar impact on the Essendon Football Club when he went there in 1911.  In his first season in charge, he lifted the club to its first premiership in a decade, and the following year he coached his team to the most conclusive VFL grand final win achieved up to that point, as the Same Old annihilated South Melbourne by 74 points.

After retiring as a coach at the end of the 1919 season, Worrall became a celebrated if somewhat opinionated sports writer.  He died in 1937 at the age of seventy-seven.

John Worsfold (South Fremantle & West Coast)

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Kevin Worthington (Claremont, Collingwood, Perth)

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Brian Wright (Glenelg)

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In addition to his strong and elegant marking, Wright was safe and sure at ground level, and one of the longest kicks in the competition.  He was one of the favourites for the 1957 Magarey Medal but finished well down the field with just 9 votes, 16 behind winner Ron Benton of West Adelaide (see footnote 2).  

Footnotes

1.  The Pash Papers by Jeff Pash, page 219.  Return to Main Text  

2.  South Adelaide's Jim Deane also polled 16 votes but lost on a countback.  He was later awarded a retrospective Medal.  Return to Main Text

Graham Wright (Devonport & Collingwood)

Herbert Wright (Essendon)

Jack Wright (Geelong)

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Jim Wright (West Adelaide)

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Kevin Wright (Fitzroy & Dandenong)

Roy Wright (Richmond)

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Jack Wrout (North Melbourne & Carlton)

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Alby Wundersitz (Sturt)

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Eddie Wylde (West Perth)

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Scott Wynd (Footscray/Western Bulldogs)

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Tony Wynd (Queanbeyan)

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Wynd would go on to be a major contributor to a striking resurgence in fortunes at Queanbeyan which saw the club contest no fewer than eight grand finals in a row between 1985 and 1992, emerging victorious on four occasions. Later in the 1990s when the Tigers re-emerged from a period in the comparative doldrums, Wynd was still a force to be reckoned with, and was a member of the club's 1998 and 1999 premierships sides before retiring after a League record 347 games.  In addition, he represented the ACT no fewer than 41 times, which included a fair number of appearances as captain.  Had he chosen to try and establish himself in a stronger competition interstate there seems little reason to suppose that he would not have enjoyed considerable success.

Footnotes

1.  'South Australian Bicentennial Football Budget', 2-5 March 1988, page 46.  Return to Main Text

John Wynne (West Perth & Norwood)

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In 1970 Wynne transferred to Norwood, initially with the intention of playing in South Australia for a year before moving on to the VFL.  However, Wynne found a 'home away from home' at the Parade, and went on to spend no fewer than thirteen seasons there, contributing in no small measure in the process to the Redlegs' renaissance after a decade in the doldrums.  Playing mainly as a ruck-rover or centre half forward, Wynne helped the Redlegs secure finals participation on an annual basis throughout the 1970s, capped by premierships in 1975 (with Wynne himself as captain) and 1978.  The 1978 grand final against Sturt is today remembered almost as much for a controversial incident involving Wynne and legendary Double Blues coach Jack Oatey as it is for Norwood's dramatic, single point victory.  (Click here for a review of the match.)

After retiring as a player in 1982, Wynne helped develop Norwood's junior academy for a while before accepting the position of senior coach at his original club, West Perth, in 1985.  Wynne coached the Falcons for two seasons with minimal success.

John Wynne was chosen as an interchange player in Norwood's official 'Team of the Century'.  He played a total of 289 senior games, comprised of 193 for Norwood, 84 with West Perth, 8 for South Australia and 4 for West Australia.

Tony Yaksich (West Perth)

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John Yeates (Geelong)

Mark Yeates (Geelong & North Hobart)

Graeme Yeats (Prahran & Melbourne)

Percy Youlden (Boulder City, Subiaco, South Fremantle)

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Youlden played one final season with Subiaco in 1915, with the last of his 72 appearances in a Maroon jumper coming in the season's premiership deciding match against Perth, a game which Subi won with just 2 points to spare, 3.3 (21) to 2.7 (19).  A stint back at Boulder City followed, before he ventured back to the coast to round off his career with 21 games for South Fremantle in 1921-2.  Youlden later coached South for part of a disappointing 1924 season that saw the club officially placed 4th despite managing just 5 wins from 15 matches for the year.

Barry Young (Richmond, Essendon, Hawthorn)

Charles Young (Melbourne)

Garry Young (Hawthorn)

George Young (Subiaco & St Kilda)

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Henry Young (Geelong)

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A stirring and vocal on-field leader, Young had the honour of captaining the VFL at the inaugural Australasian championship series in Melbourne in 1908 as well as skippering the Pivotonians from 1901 to 1909.

He was a prominent all round sportsman who enjoyed success in rowing, cycling and amateur boxing.  Tragically, and somewhat ironically given his obsession with physical fitness, he died young in 1923 after sustaining a massive heart attack.

Maurie Young (Hawthorn)

William Young (St Kilda)

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Colin Youren (Hawthorn)

Mark Zanotti (Subiaco, West Coast, Brisbane, Fitzroy)

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Shane Zantuck (North Melbourne, South Melbourne, Melbourne)

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Reg Zeuner (West Adelaide & Perth)

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Denis Zeunert (Carlton)

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Murray Zeuschner (Footscray)

Eric Zschech (Richmond, Lefroy, Sandy Bay)

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After leaving Richmond, Eric Zschech played with great distinction for Lefroy, captain-coaching the side to a premiership in 1937, and winning the George Watt Memorial Medal for the best and fairest player in the TANFL on no fewer than three occasions.  After a break for the war he resumed his senior football career with Sandy Bay, and was a member in 1946 of that club's first ever TFL premiership side.

Lloyd Zucker (Port Adelaide)

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Lloyd Zucker was a member of six Port Adelaide premiership teams in all in a career which lasted between 1949 and 1959 and saw him amass 183 league games whilst booting 259 goals.  Prior to joining the Magpies he had played with Exeter in the amateur competition, helping the side to an A1 premiership in 1948.  He also played interstate amateur football for South Australia.  While with Port he was the club's top goal kicker with 51 goals in 1949, and represented South Australia in 1955 and at the 1956 Perth carnival.

Footnotes

1.  The Pash Papers by Jeff Pash, page 214.  Return to Main Text

Noel Zunneberg (Fitzroy)