2014 Round 14, Half Time.

12th June Birthdays.

 

Warwick Capper 1963, Bob Davis 1928, Simon Estaugh 1973,
Paul Haselby 1981, Harry Matheson 1891, Shane Stevenson 1970.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Frank Adams, born 12th June 1935.

Frank 'Bluey' Adams was one of the players privileged to play with the Melbourne Football Club during the mighty 1950's and '60's.

Playing on the wing Frank was with the club from 1953 to 1964 in 164 games for 180 goals and was part of the Premiership teams of 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964.

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

CHANGING THE RULES TO SUIT THE GAME.

With the 1859 rules being so basic it didn’t take long for ‘grey areas’ to be found.  One of these being the fact that there was no restriction on the distance a player could run with the ball.  Therefore, a quick and evasive player could tuck the ball under his arm and run for 40-50 meters before kicking. 

This anomaly was rectified in the 1866 review of the rules along with other added items such as:                                             

-         Goal posts would be 7 yards (6.4 metres) apart.

-         Teams would change ends after a goal was scored.

-         The ball must pass ‘cleanly’ between the goal posts without being touched by an opposition player for a goal to be counted.

1874 saw a couple of interesting changes to the rules.  It was decided that from this time teams would only change ends after half time, a practice that was already being used by some clubs, and that the umpire would throw the ball up to start the second half.

Other new rules were, when the umpire threw the ball in after an out of bounds decision, it must land on the ground before any player could touch it and that for a goal to count it must come off the boot rather than just being ‘forced’ though.

Around the mid 1860’s people started to question the fact that ‘behinds’ weren’t counted in a teams score and therefore the team with the most scoring shots would not necessarily win the game.  Even though goal umpires had been signalling goals or behinds with flags since 1887 the inclusion of behinds to the final score was not introduced until 1897 when they started to allocate 6 points for a goal and 1 for a behind.

The 1960’s were years of some change also as in 1964 coaches were allowed to address their team at quarter time and in 1966 a centre square was trialled at a match between Carlton and Fitzroy.  It was agreed upon for that game by the two coaches but was not adopted by the league until the early 1970’s and started out as a diamond.

Source: More Than A Game & A National Game.

Rex Hunt – Journeyman.

‘Er Yibadah Yibadah –That’s All Folks’ is well known as the last line of many a Bugs Bunny cartoon.  But it also became a common catch cry of radio Football commentator Rex Hunt.

Before joining the media Rex had a playing history across 3 clubs in 11 seasons.

Starting at Richmond in 1968 he was there until 1974 and played 113 games, kicking 121 goals.

He was Reserve in the 1969 Premiership side and played in the Back pocket in the 1973 flag side.

A job transfer saw him move to Geelong mid 1974 where he spent just 2 years and played 32 games for 44 goals.  

1976 found him back in the city and signed with St. Kilda. Over the next 3 seasons he was in 57 games and again he proved a goal scorer with a tally of 111 to his name.

After playing some wonderful games with the Saint’s he left the VFL to play with Sandringham in the VFA where he kicked 93 and 110 goals in 1980 and 1981.
 

Source: The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.

Top 3 Draft Picks - 1990 National Draft.

Stephen Hooper was the first player to be selected in this draft and joined the Geelong Football Club.

He played in 1991 and 1993 in a total of 21 games.

James Cook went at number 2 and started his career at Carlton where he didn’t play his first game until 1994.  Over that season and the next he managed just 25 games and kicked 35 goals.

Moving to the Western Bulldogs in 1996 he played 49 games for 96 goals up to the end of 1999.

2000 found him at his final club, Melbourne, where he spent just 1 year, played 3 games and kicked 8 goals.

The third spot that year went to David Donato who went to Fitzroy where he only played in 12 games in the 1991 season and kicked 2 goals. 

Other players to be selected in that draft include Jason McCartney (#4), Allen Jakovich, Nick Daffy and James Hird (#79).

Source : AFL Record Season Guide 2013 and The Encyclopaedia of  AFL Footballers.