The last season/game(s) of the champs..

[GWW]

I thought of this topic whilst thinking of Robran. I was born in early 70's so never really got to see him play, but i do recall watching The Big Replay late one night in the early 80's (1980 i think) when he made a come back, and i could sense the enormous amount of hype about the game, and even at my young age i could tell this guy must have been a special player. I think the game i saw was played at footy park, i really can't recall how well he played, but it was obvious he was heavily restricted by injury.

Does anyone remember how many games he played in his comeback year, was it just the one (and he realised he couldn't go on)?

Russell Ebert retired in 1985, and i can recall watching quite a few games that year (i lived too far away to watch any SANFL for the previous 5 years), particularly at Alberton and he was still quite dominant. Despite being 36 i think he could have played on as far as form was concerned.

Rick Davies and Graham Cornes - funnily enough, both of these players who made their names at Sturt and Glenelg respectively, finshed up as playing coach of South Adelaide. From memory, Davies was still in good form playing wise and i think kicked a bag against Sturt in one of his first games (was it his first?) with South. Cornes' playing career with South i can't recall as well, i'm thinking he mainly coached from the bench, and didn't spend much time on the ground..??

Malcolm Blight - from research, i discovered he was particularly dominant in his last year in 85, when he topped the SANFL goalkickers with 126 goals. If he played the one more season, i can't help thinking the Warriors could have gone even further in the finals!

Peter Carey - I recall watching on tv when he retired it was a huge occasion running through the banner etc. Do Glenelg fans think he maintained his form in his last season(s)?

Anyone else got any memories from the last game(s) of some of the elite SANFL players who featured prominently in the "Golden Era" of the 70's and early 80's?

[spell_check]

I think Robran played the matches he needed to get to 200 more than anything else in his final year. He finished on 201 I think.

[Leaping Lindner]

Barrie played his last game at Footy Park and was playing like an 18yo. Kicking goals from 50m and dominating all over the ground. As I understand it he was so sore the next week he decided to retire.
Malcolm Blight played his last match at Prospect and kicked a lazy 6 or 7 goals against David Wildy and John Riley. The man looked unstoppable. As I understand (I could be wrong) in his final season he was so sore after matches that he scarcely trained during the week.
Funnily enough I always thought Woodville performed better as a team without Blight as they weren't relying on him to carry them which they had seemed to do, and he coached better from the sidelines.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Barrie played his last game at Footy Park and was playing like an 18yo. Kicking goals from 50m and dominating all over the ground.

LL, was his final game against Norwood, or was that his 200th? I recall seeing Barrie playing very well against us late in his career.

[Leaping Lindner]

Barrie played his last game at Footy Park and was playing like an 18yo. Kicking goals from 50m and dominating all over the ground.

LL, was his final game against Norwood, or was that his 200th? I recall seeing Barrie playing very well against us late in his career.

I was corrected today (thanks Drebin )that game was actually his 199th and it was against Norwood (and he collected 3 MM votes)

24/5/80 North Adelaide 14.21 (105) d Norwood 14.13 (97) Football Park (His 199th)
31/5/80 Port Adelaide 27.16 (178) d North Adelaide 8.8 (56) Alberton (Missed)
7/6/80 North Adelaide 23.17 (155) d Sturt 15.15 (105) Prospect (200th)
16/6/80 Glenelg 18.15 (123) d North Adelaide 6.12 (48) Prospect (201st and last)

[spell_check]

You said he got the 3 Magarey Votes that day (which would have been two lots of three then), is there a newspaper or any documents which show the round by round tallies from then? Or, I suspect that that info was from the Telecast of that count.

[GWW]

I wonder if anyone has got footage of any of those comeback games in 1980, that they could put on YouTube, probably unlikely, but i do recall the Footy Park game one being televised. Only problem i guess is that from memory VCR's didn't start to become common place until probably 2 or 3 years later.

[Adelaide Hawk]

You said he got the 3 Magarey Votes that day (which would have been two lots of three then), is there a newspaper or any documents which show the round by round tallies from then? Or, I suspect that that info was from the Telecast of that count.

LL may be able to confirm this later, but Barrie only played 3 games in 1980, the match against Norwood easily his best. So if he polled 3 votes (or 6) in the medal, it's safe to assume it was in this match.

[spell_check]

You said he got the 3 Magarey Votes that day (which would have been two lots of three then), is there a newspaper or any documents which show the round by round tallies from then? Or, I suspect that that info was from the Telecast of that count.

LL may be able to confirm this later, but Barrie only played 3 games in 1980, the match against Norwood easily his best. So if he polled 3 votes in the medal, it's safe to assume it was in this match.

In fact, he polled four votes in 1980 (two if you convert it). He got 1 2nd preference and 2 3rd preference, which means that he got votes in two matches.

[FattyLumpkin]

Made a special trip out to Prospect to see Blights last run. Worth the trip. An easy 6 or so, however I thought Wildy did ok.

My lil bro played against Barrie Robran in the 2's. Still says his greatest memory of footy was being tackled by him.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Made a special trip out to Prospect to see Blights last run. Worth the trip. An easy 6 or so, however I thought Wildy did ok.

Blighty kicked 7, as did counterpart Grenville Dietrich.

I think through history, you'd find a lot of players retiring whilst still at their peak. Two classic examples were my favourite Ron Kneebone who was still playing great footy but retired due to employment opportunities, and Don Hewett who retired at the end of the 1962 season having had his best season, winning Glenelg's B&F. He was only 28 and went home to coach South Whyalla.

One of the most famous final games in footy would have to be Fred Fanning of Melbourne who kicked 18 goals in his final match, was the VFL's top goalkicker with 97 goals, and played state footy in 1947, but then left the VFL to coach Hamilton at the age of 25.

Footballers were paid peanuts in those days, so early retirements and defections were not unusual.

[Magpiespower]

I think through history, you'd find a lot of players retiring whilst still at their peak.

Another one is Ray Whitaker Jnr. By all accounts, he was a genius.

Fos Williams thought so highly of him he brought him back from the country to play in the 1955 finals (his last game had been the 1953 GF loss to Torrens.)

Won his premiership and went home...

[leftlegger]

Barrie played his last game at Footy Park and was playing like an 18yo. Kicking goals from 50m and dominating all over the ground.

LL, was his final game against Norwood, or was that his 200th? I recall seeing Barrie playing very well against us late in his career.

I was corrected today (thanks Drebin )that game was actually his 199th and it was against Norwood (and he collected 3 MM votes)

24/5/80 North Adelaide 14.21 (105) d Norwood 14.13 (97) Football Park (His 199th)
31/5/80 Port Adelaide 27.16 (178) d North Adelaide 8.8 (56) Alberton (Missed)
7/6/80 North Adelaide 23.17 (155) d Sturt 15.15 (105) Prospect (200th)
16/6/80 Glenelg 18.15 (123) d North Adelaide 6.12 (48) Prospect (201st and last)

There is a good chance that I actually saw Robran's last game then.
Memory is pretty hazey, i was a kid and probably wasnt paying attention, somehow I have this memory of him taking an overhead mark in the goalsquare (maybe in defence) and just making it look oh so easy.

[Adelaide Hawk]

I think through history, you'd find a lot of players retiring whilst still at their peak.

Another one is Ray Whitaker Jnr. By all accounts, he was a genius.

Fos Williams thought so highly of him he brought him back from the country to play in the 1955 finals (his last game had been the 1953 GF loss to Torrens.)

Won his premiership and went home...

I think you'll find the truth to that story may be Ray Whitaker bet against his own team in the 1953 Grand Final and wasn't allowed back into the club for 2 years.

One Port Adelaide player who is the classic example of a player retiring in his prime is Ian Hannaford. Ian was a strongly built skillful player who was equally at home in the ruck or at CHF. He played 123 games and kicked 108 goals for Port Adelaide in a career spanning 1958 to 1964, playing in 4 premierships. He also played 17 games and kicked 11 goals for South Australia.

He was vice captain of the Magpies, and still had VFL clubs actively chasing him, when he retired at age 24 to join the priesthood (or so I believe).