2014 Round 3, Half time.

27th March Birthdays.

Dean Laidley 1967.

PLAYER OF THE DAY. Reg Hickey, born 27th March 1906.

Reg was Geelong through and through, serving the club as player, captain and coach over a period of 35 years.

He played 245 games and scored 24 goals from 1926 to 1940.  Playing most of his career on the half back line, he was a great aerialist and had a dashing turn of pace, which the team used as he broke out of the backline and delivered the ball downfield.

Geelong won the premiership in 1932 and 1937 with him as captain/coach and again in 1951 and 1952 with him as non playing coach.  He also won the clubs best and fairest twice and represented Victoria on 18 occasions.

 

Source: The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers.

Dual Magarey Medalist.
 

Jim Deane was a dual Magarey medallist with South Adelaide in 1953 and 1957, with the second being awarded in 1998 when the SANFL changed the way they handled tied medals.

He also won six best and fairests at South Adelaide and played for the state fifteen times. 

In 1954 he began playing with Richmond but was only there for two seasons, playing 33 games and kicking 17 goals.

Following his time at Richmond he coached Myrtleford in the Ovens and Murray League from 1958 to 1962 and South Adelaide in 1971 and 1972.

 Source: The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers & Wikipedia. 

Drawn Grand Finals.

 

There has been a lot of discussion about what should happen if both teams are level at the end of a grand final.

Whilst it can be an issue as everybody has to redo everything the next week, the fact is that there have only been 3 drawn grand finals in the history of the VFL/AFL.

The first grand final draw was in 1948 between Essendon and Melbourne.  Essendon had finished on top of the ladder with 16 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.  Melbourne were second with 13, 0 and 6.

In the drawn grand final Essendon scored 7.27.69 to Melbourne's 10.9.69.  In the replay, Essendon scored 7.8.50 to Melbourne's 13.11.89.  The win gave Melbourne their 6th premiership.

In 1977 North Melbourne and Collingwood played off for the flag. North probably had the momentum having appeared in the previous three grand finals, winning in 1975.  Even so it was actually Collingwood that had finished first at the end of the season with 18 wins and 4 losses to North Melbourne's third place with 15 and 7.

The first grand final ended up with North Melbourne kicking 9.22.76 to Collingwood's 10.16.76. In the replay North Kicked and amazing 21.25.151 to Collingwood's 19.10.124. 

Collingwood appeared again in the most recent draw in 2010.  They were on top of the ladder with 17 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses and their opponents, St Kilda, had finished in third place on 15,1 and 6.

At siren time to end the first grand final Collingwood had 9.14.68 to

St Kilda's 10.8.68.  However, in the replay it seemed that the previous game had taken its toll on the Saints as Collingwood beat them easily 16.12.108 to 7.10.52, giving Collingwood its 15th flag.

Source: Wikipedia.

Craig & Brad Sholl.

Of the two Sholl brothers Craig is the older, and spent his whole footballing career at North Melbourne.  Starting in 1987 he played 235 games for 165 goals and finished in 2000.

Beginning in the backline he earned 6 state guernseys as a defender then in 1996 he was pushed forward and pretty much stayed there.  He made a good forward as he knew how to play on back men.

Part of North Melbourne's 1996 and 1999 premiership sides he won the best and fairest in 1991.

Brad on the other hand played for two clubs. North for just 2 seasons (1993-94) in only 2 games and Geelong from 1995 to 2002 for 169 games and 46 goals.

Like his older brother he was a defender, but due to the back pocket position being taken he didn't have many opportunities at North and so he moved on to Geelong.

Once there he was able to show his abilities and became a fixture on the back line, occasionally going forward to kick a goal or two.

 

Source: The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers