2014 Round 13, Three quarter time.

7th June Birthdays.

 

Stewart Anderson '11, Leigh Colbert '75, Ted Fidge '63, Tom Hislop '88, Michael Jez '54, Luke Vogels '83.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Lance Picioane, born 7th June 1980.

Arriving at Adelaide with a good reputation as a junior footballer, Lance was only able to play 4 games in 1998 before injury saw him sidelined.  After recovering he was not able to get another senior game and finished at the Crows in 1999. 

Moving to Hawthorn in 2000, it took him a while to find his feet but once he was on the team, initially as an interchange player, he showed some good form.  Then injury took its toll again and he didn't really get going till 2003.  That year was more positive but again he was out late in the season due to a fractured cheekbone.

He finished at the club at the end of 2004, by which time he had played 58 games and kicked 24 goals.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

3 Top Dogs.

Albert ‘Alby’ Morrison donned the number 7 jersey at Footscray in 1928 and though he changed his number a few times in his 224 games it didn’t stop him being a top goal scorer with 369 to his name.

Alby played in 3 stints for the club, 1928-1938, 1941-1942 and 1946. Though he would have been a great forward he didn’t spend all his time there, as being such a complete footballer he was moved all around the field.

Between his last two times at the club he did some military service in Sydney and came back to play at 37 years of age.  He won the Best and Fairest twice and was the leading goal kicker 5 times.

Doug Hawkins is one of those players that epitomises the club.  When you think of Footscray (Western Bulldogs), his is one of the first names to come up. He was with them from 1978 to 1994 and played 329 games for 216 goals.

He was a dashing wingman with an infectious personality and by 1982 he was named on the Victorian team.  On the state squad again in 1984 and 1985, he became Captain of his club in 1990 and held that position until 1993.  In 1994 he became the clubs games record holder but was released by the them at the end of that year.

Scott West was another dashing player for the Bulldogs in his 324 games from 1993 to 2008 for 104 goals. He took over the number 7 in 1995 and became a real barometer for the performance of the team.

He was one of the reasons they managed to play finals football in the 1990's, something they hadn't done for some time.

Scott’s personal achievements include 7 club Best and Fairest awards and being in the All Australian side 5 times.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

CHALLENGE CUP AND GRAND FINALS.

Though the Melbourne and University teams played for a ‘Silver Cup’,the first ‘trophy’ played for by a number of clubs was the Challenge Cup, introduced in 1863.  Two teams played for the cup with the winner holding the cup and then it was open to challenge by other clubs.  If a club won three challenge matches it kept the cup. No one won it in 1863 but Geelong were in possession of it at the end of the season.  In 1864 Geelong did win the required number of games and got to keep it.

A new cup was provided in 1865 but cup matches were played separately to the normal competition.  The Challenge matches became very popular much like the finals series that were introduced later.

In 1871 it was decided that there would just be one grand final at the end of the season.

The VFL introduced a ‘finals series’ in 1897, with the top four teams to play off in a round robin format to find the ‘premier team’.

Of course the number of teams in the finals has changed as the competition has grown from four to five to six to eight.

Source: More Than A Game and A National Game.
 

 

Robert ‘Tassie’ Johnson.

Robert Johnson was recruited to Melbourne in 1959 and was given the nickname ‘Tassie’ as there were already other Johnsons on the team including another Robert.

Hailing from North Launceston where he had played a lot of his football on the forward line he slotted well into the back line and was in fact named in both Tasmania’s and Melbourne’s teams of the century in that position.

He played 202 games between 1959 and 1969, kicked 20 goals and was part of Melbourne’s Premiership teams in 1959, 1960 and 1964.

Representing Victoria on 12 occasions he was also part of Australia’s first touring team (the Galahs) in 1968.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers and Wikipedia.

 

 

Kevin & Murray.

Kevin Murray was a Fitzroy great of the late 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s, but it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that one event made him realise how much effect he had had on some people.

He was at the Brunswick street oval after one of the Brisbane Lions Premierships when two men walked up to him and asked if they could have their photos taken with him.

When he asked their names the reply was Kevin and Murray.  It appears their father, who had since passed away, was a dedicated Fitzroy supporter, and obviously a Kevin Murray fan too!

Source: The Champions by Ben Collins.