2014 Round 26, Quarter time.

2nd September Birthdays.

 
            Leon Cameron 1972, Thomas Roach 1985, Scott Spalding 1968.

 PLAYER OF THE DAY. Kyal Horsley, born 2nd September 1987.

Coming from Kalgoorlie in the Western Australian gold fields, Kyal was a junior state representative in field hockey and cricket.  He started playing football for the Kalgoorlie City Football Club in 2003 at 16 years of age. 

In 2006 he was awarded the Best and Fairest in the Goldfields football league and in 2007 he moved to Subiaco.  2011 put Kyal in the spotlight when he won his club Best and Fairest and came second in the Sandover Medal.

He was picked up by the Gold Coast Suns in the 2012 rookie draft and played 13 games in his first season. Playing only 1 game in 2013 due to a serious knee injury, he was delisted at the end of the year.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.

Princes Park.

The Carlton Football club had been rather nomadic since their formation in 1864, finding it difficult to secure a permanent home ground.

All this changed in the late 1890’s when they were granted permission to play on an area in the Carlton park land, and so Princes Park was born.

The stadium was built in 1897, the year the VFL was established, and was the clubs home ground right up until the 5^th May 2005 when the last regular game was played there.

Over the years the ground has seen many changes, to its structure and its name.  In 1993 it was one of the first stadiums in Australia to receive naming rights and it became Optus oval.  Later it was named MC Labour Park and is now Visy Park.

The largest seating capacity it has had is 35,000 but  currently it is approximately 27,000. Of course, as with all grounds, it originally had terraces and the largest crowd recorded is 62,986 for the 1945 Grand Final between Carlton and South Melbourne.

Hawthorn Football Club also called it home for 18 seasons and Footscray, Fitzroy and South Melbourne have also used it for short periods of time.

Source: Austadiums Website.

Top 3 in 1993 National Draft.

Darren Gasper was picked up by Sydney at pick # 1 and from 1994 to 1995 he played 21 games for 1 goal.

There were doubts that he was worthy of a number 1 pick but after moving to Richmond in 1996 he really started to shine.

Playing as a stalwart full back on some of the best in the game, he was in 207 games for the Tigers from 1996 – 2007 and even got to sneak forward a few times and kick 22 goals.

All Australian in 2000 and 2001, he also won Richmonds Best and Fairest in 2001.

Nigel Lapin moved from Victoria to Brisbane when he got drafted and no doubt by the end of his career he was happy he did.

From 1994 to 2008 (missing 2006 due to injury), he played 279 games for the Bears/Lions and kicked 174 goals.

Remembered best as a lightly framed on baller/winger, he was part of Brisbane ‘threepeat’ of Premierships, represented Victoria 3 times, was club Best and Fairest in 2004 and a 4 time All Australian.

Justin Murphy showed some good skills but was unable to find a club to stay with for a long time.

Joining Richmond at the draft, he was there from 1994-’95 in 12 games for 9 goals and was traded to Carlton in 1996.

He was happy at Carlton and except for 2001 which he spent at Geelong (18 games, 9 goals) he was with the Blues until 2003.  In that time he played 115 games for 105 goals.

2004 found him at his 4^th club, Essendon, where he stayed for 2 seasons and was in 40 games for 28 goals.  These were obviously productive years as he averaged 20 games a season.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers & AFL Record Season Guide 2013.
 

Fraser Gehrig.

Starting with the West Coast Eagles the year after their second flag win, Fraser played 115 games for them from 1995 to 2000 and kicked 159 goals.

His seemingly laconic attitude drew some criticism and his form did go up and down a bit and he was probably not at its best when traded to St. Kilda.

Making an impact at his new club, he represented them on 145 occasions for 389 goals, filling the full forward position left by Tony Lockett when he moved to Sydney.

Still showing his ‘boredom’ at times and struggling through injury he nevertheless was a favourite of the St. Kilda fans and won the clubs goal kicking from 2003-2007,  the Coleman medal twice and was also a 2 time All Australian.

Source: The Encyclopaedia Of AFL Footballers.