Your Best by the Numbers.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:

southern bulldog wrote:How can we forget no 21 for us Peter Beythien

Multiple apologies, I had him in my list, but somehow deleted it.
Yes he was a rock solid player for the Doggies.
Must have notched up 200+ games?

He played 285 games for the Dogs, only second behind games record holder Peter 'Milky' Vivian.

Bit of Sturt bias showing up.... ( ) pretty hard to go past Roger Luders at full forward, I reckon

Lachlan2 wrote:Keith Spencer is a member of the Adelaide Shores Golf club where I'm a member. He plays off 18 I think.
Nevile Thiele another tough Port defender is also a member.

Thiele also played for us lachlan - one of several Port players Fos Williams lured across.

Big Phil wrote:

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:

southern bulldog wrote:How can we forget no 21 for us Peter Beythien

Multiple apologies, I had him in my list, but somehow deleted it.
Yes he was a rock solid player for the Doggies.
Must have notched up 200+ games?

He played 285 games for the Dogs, only second behind games record holder Peter 'Milky' Vivian.

I used to rent an office from Milky!

RODH2 wrote:Bit of Sturt bias showing up.... ( )  pretty hard to go past Roger Luders at full forward, I reckon

Was gonna put the Jumbo there. But he played mostly in Ruck.

Have a crack at your own R2. It's quite fun.
After doing about 5 sides (just haven't posted them) you are never gonna win. Someone always gets left out.
But you can't put 2 number 29s on the park!

PS Only 3 Double Blues!

Central had a player named Kane Officer who wore 20 for a while in the early to mid 2000's.

Retired pretty early due to a really bad concussion and a wretched run with injuries.

Was a very talented and courageous player. Could have had a very good career at League level.

Another very talented player to wear number 20 for the Dogs was Jason Rae, the son of Gary.

Jason ended up at the Eagles after a handful of League games for the Dogs in the late 90's and early 2000's.

Very athletic versatile player that had a bit of Buddy Franklin about him. Could have been a very good player.

Dean Farnham wore 20 as well

Some latter day players to wear 20:

Aaron Day (WWT)
Tony Armstrong (North)
Cameron Hitchcock (Glenelg)
Josh Thurgood (Port)
Dean Terlich (Norwood)
John Hinge (Sturt)

Robbie McKinnon was an outstanding player for Westies in No.20, playing 259 games over I think 14 seasons. His debut year was 1983, in which he had his jaw broken twice but still managed to play in the Premiership team.

David Drew also wore 20 in the late 70s/early 80s. His 70-odd game career was cut short by a knee injury that he never recovered from. He was a lightly built, tenacious, quick midfielder who had a very rapid rise through the ranks at Westies, going from U19s to League debut in a few short weeks from memory. Kerley's first comeback year, 1981, was Drewy's last. I can remember how elated he looked after we beat Norwood in a 1981 pre-season night competition game at Norwood, a reflection of how lean the previous 3 years had been at the club.

Okay, here are some names that wore No.20 that will test some people:

Alan Bitmead - West.
Robert Haines - Norwood.
Barry Pilgrim - Port.
Neil Fillery - Woodville.
Mike Sheridan - North.
Tracy Braidwood - Torrens.
Michael Chirgwin - South.
Ray Carroll - North.
Peter Phillipou - Torrens. (272 games).

But wait there's more:

Gary Smith - Centrals. (Was he the big full forward?)

Frank Hogan - West. (Well before my time but older supporters spoke very highly of him)

Barry Vaux - Torrens.

Dennis Modra - Norwood.

Brian Threadgold - South.

Colin Brown - West. (234 games, 10 State games, 3 B&Fs).

Bruce Simmons - Torrens.

John Mackay - West.

Thanks Flaggy I wasn't aware the Thiele played for Westies.

Colin Brown was a standout player for West in a strongera for the club.

Flaggy mentioned Frank Hogan. He was a lovely player, a classic rover of those times, best remembeed by me for his accurate short passes.

Not sure, but I think he came to us from Victoria.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:20 days to go now chappies........getting a bit exciting!
I am loving everyone's input to this. Cheers for that.

So I think we are starting to see a few more legends and greats amongst the numbers.

A quality list amongst #20
Colin Casey (St)
Neville Hayes (PA)
Wayne Phillis (G)
Rodney Robran (NA)
Wilbur Wilson (CD)
Doc Clarkson (St)
David Holst (G)

Rodney Robran bio.......1970-1982 (184 games)
Although inevitably overshadowed to a significant extent by his older brother Barrie, Rodney Robran was himself no mean footballer. He made his league debut for North Adelaide in 1970 and counted membership of the club’s 1972 premiership team, the 1976 best and fairest award, and the senior captaincy in 1980 and 1981 among his football achievements. A dynamic, strong marking forward, he was the Roosters’ top goalkicker in 1976 and 1977 with tallies of 34 and 59 goals. When he retired in 1983 he had played 184 senior SANFL games and kicked 312 goals. Somewhat surprisingly, he was never chosen to represent the state.

He lives on the Gold Coast now semi-retired in property management and plays golf 4 times a week. Interestingly he doesn't like the modern game with confusing 'holding the ball' rules and the constant changing focus with the rule changes.

If it wasn't for a pretty fair elder sibling, I think Rodney would have been offered more notoriety for his achievements.

Can Wayne Phillis be checked please as I thought from memory he wore number 2....perhaps he had two numbers or perhaps my memory is shot

A couple of premiership players in flaggies obscure list. Ray Carroĺl played in North's 1960 flag and Brian Thredgold was 20th man on South's 1964 flag. He did come on to the ground in the last quarter.
Gary Smith was a ruckman for Central. I think he went to Carlton in the late 1960s but failed to make the grade. I think he changed his surname to Lawson-Smith or something similar.
Mike Sheridan was a useful small man for North. He played in the 1963 losing Grand Final side.
Onto the well known players "Chicken" Hayes played in 8 flags. He would certainly have fitted in to the Stephen Riley, Glen Goss category. He was never reported but about 15 players were reported for hitting him. He made a mistake when Port were 1 point down in the 1953 Grand Final which led to a goal from Ray Hank to sew the game up for Torrens. He then played in 8 winning flags before playing in Port's losing Grand Final to South.
In his final year, 1965, he was 20th man for Port in the second semi final. He got a mark and kick very late in that game where Peter Mead kicked the winning goal aftrr the siren. He was dropped for the Grand Final thus missing the chance for a 9th flag.

Flag No.10 wrote:Robbie McKinnon was an outstanding player for Westies in No.20, playing 259 games over I think 14 seasons. His debut year was 1983, in which he had his jaw broken twice but still managed to play in the Premiership team.

He was indeed an outstanding player, quick, workrate, hard body. Westies had so many guns, and it almost seems criminal that they landed only the one flag as that 83' side is the best Ive seen in nearly 40 years of following the SANFL.

Mike Coligan also wore 20 for Norwood. Played 80-odd games mainly as a full forward I'm pretty sure and averaged over 3 goals a game.

I also think Tony Hunt wore No.20 for West in the 70s. Hunt was part of the trade with Richmond for Glynn Hewitt, in which Hewitt went to them and West received Hunt, David Gurney and Greg Hollick. Hunt didn't play many games for us, but we did pretty well out of that deal as Gurney and Hollick were excellent servants, and Hewitt returned to us two years later anyway.

20

Mike Coligan

1972 leading SANFL goalkicker
Club historian
Author
Club history tour guide
Committee Member

Anyone who has met or been associated with Mike, will tell you what a great clubman and individual he is

Mike Coligan on a lead and clutching the football and then dobbing a goal is a memory for me watching the Redlegs in the 1970s

bayman wrote:
Can Wayne Phillis be checked please  as I thought from memory he wore number  2....perhaps he had two numbers or perhaps my memory is shot

I think he wore both.
Not sure how many games in each.
Snouts louts lists him at 20

Wayne Phillis was definitely number 20 in the 1973 Grand Final.
Maybe he went to number 2 when he became vice captain?

Into the teens now.....
At #19 we have,
Michael Graham (St)
Carl Fragomeni (PA)
Stephen Copping (G)
Daryl Webb (NA)
Mark Coombe (SA)
John Duckworth (CD)
Glyn Hewitt (Wd)
Fred Phillis (G)
Joel Cross (SA)

Stephen Copping Bio......
Started his league career at Glenelg in 1974, a strongly built forward, with a great reach and grab. After finishing as Glenelg Football Club's joint leading goal kicker in 1979 and outright in 1981, Essendon recruited Copping to the VFL and he made his debut in the opening round of the 1982 season.
A South Australian interstate representative, Copping won a Fos Williams Medal for his efforts against Victoria at Football Park in 1982.
Copping returned to Glenelg in 1985 and topped their goal kicking once more with 83 goals and played in their premiership team. Glenelg went back to back in 1986 and Copping again featured in their side. 1986 was his final season for the Bays.
In 2004 he was inducted into the club's 'Hall of Fame'.

Flash Graham Bio........
Known as ‘The Flash’, Sturt’s Michael Graham was undoubtedly one of the most exciting footballers of the 1970s. He made his SANFL debut in 1971, and went on to play 282 club games over the ensuing 15 seasons. His emergence coincided with a period of transition for Sturt, which had been far and away the dominant club in South Australia since the mid-1960s. With Graham very much to the fore, the club returned as a force from 1973 onwards, winning flags in 1974 and 1976, and finishing runner-up to Norwood in 1978.

Second to Barrie Robran in the 1973 Magarey Medal count, and third in 1982, Michael Graham somewhat surprisingly never won Sturt’s best and fairest award, often seeming to reserve his most damaging performances for when it really mattered, such as in finals games, or the 11 interstate matches in which he played.

During the summer months, Graham played in Darwin with St Marys, where he established a reputation as one of the finest players ever seen in the NTFL. Winner of the 1973-4 Nichols Medal, he landed Saints’ top award the same season, and played in two NTFL premiership teams. Best remembered as a half forward flanker, in which position he gained selection in Sturt’s official ‘Team of the Twentieth Century’, he was also an excellent wingman or centreman. He spent the 1986/7 season coaching NTFL club Darwin.

You can still see Flash on the terraces at Unley with a quiet frothy.

DK Phillis bio.......
After beginning his league career with Glenelg as a centre half back in 1966, ‘Fred’ Phillis was to develop into one of the greatest full forwards in the history of the game, thanks partly to some inspirational lateral thinking by Neil Kerley, who took over as coach of the club in 1967. Aware that Phillis was extremely quick for his size (188 cm, 91 kg), and was one of the best marks at the club, he decided to try him at centre half forward, where he was moderately successful, and later at full forward, where he frequently saw enough of the ball to kick a swag of goals, but was profligate. His first season at the goal front saw him top Glenelg’s goal-kicking list with 30 goals, but he missed at least as many, and during the close season coach Kerley stipulated an intensive regime of goal-kicking practice which, in 1969, was to bear fruit in the most unexpectedly spectacular way.

Given that his name today is synonymous with excellence at the king of winter sports, it is perhaps surprising to learn that Phillis owed his nickname to his prowess at cricket. As a youngster, Phillis fancied himself as a fast bowler, prompting his schoolmates to dub him ‘Fred’, after the most famous Test paceman of the day, ‘Fiery Fred’ Truman of Yorkshire and England. In 1969, the name ‘Fred Phillis’ was on the back pages of Adelaide newspapers, and the lips of footy supporters, more often than any other.

While it would be misleading to suggest that he now kicked for goal with unerring accuracy - in the Australian championships in Adelaide that year he booted 12.12 for South Australia, for instance - overall he was registering nearly twice as many goals as points. Moreover, he was registering a lot of goals - a hundred by the end of July, and a league record 137 by the end of the Bays’ losing Grand Final clash with Sturt. Even the umpires were full of admiration, collectively bestowing 18 Magarey Medal votes on the twenty-one year old architecture student to make him the first ever winner of the award to spend the season predominantly at full forward.

Phillis went on to secure the elusive ‘ton’ on two further occasions, besides missing out by a single goal in 1971, and by two in 1976. Statistically, he is Glenelg’s greatest ever goalkicker - no mean achievement when you consider that the club also boasts Jack Owens and Colin Churchett among its former champions. Phillis’ career tally of 869 goals in 275 games places him third on the all time SANFL list, and included ‘bags’ of 10 or more goals on nine occasions. On one memorable afternoon at Glenelg Oval in 1975 he contributed 18 of his team’s record-breaking 49 goals against Central District, but almost certainly the highlight of his career came in 1973 when he failed to trouble the scorers as the Bays defeated North Adelaide by seven points in the last Grand Final (until 2014) to be played at the Adelaide Oval .

Sorry, Peter Phillipou should be No.19.

19
Graham Molloy [Norwood] 1969 Tassie Medalist

Sensational high mark , later played for Melbourne
I was disappointed when he was recruited by Melbourne in 1970

Scrappy wrote:19
Graham Molloy [Norwood] 1969 Tassie Medalist

Sensational high mark , later played for Melbourne
I was disappointed when he was recruited by Melbourne in 1970

Graham Molloy attempted a comeback in around 1982 if memory serves correctly. Was atound 33 at the time but only played Reserves.

Brian Haraida wore number 19 for Central and was a reliable, consistent CHB for the Dogs who started with the club junior grades in the 80's, making his senior debut in the 1990 season.

In the top 5 games played for Central with 268 appearances at League level and was a made a playing life member in 2000. He also represented SA on 3 occasions and was strongly considered by the Power for their initial squad in 1997.

He played in the first 3 flags for the Dogs with the 2000 Premiership also his 200th game. I think he had a year off in the late 90's and retired in 2004. Was a real nice guy off the field, as well. A great club man.