SA Footy

The Jack Oatey medal was first presented in 1981, the inaugural winner being Russell Ebert

Ive got hold of some correspondence by historian and footy budget reporter Peter Argent, compiled in 2008
He has listed who may have been a Grand Final best player pre -1981
These are the players Peter Argent thinks would have been worthy Jack Oatey Medallists had an award existed

1945 MAX NICHOLLS [WT]
1946 IVAN HOLLIDAY[NW]
1947 BERNIE SMITH [WA]
1948 BOB HANK [WT]
1949 JEFF PASH [NA]
1950 JOHN MARRIOTT[NW]
1951 ALAN GREER [PA]
1952 ALLAN ALDENHOVEN[NA]
1953 MICK CLINGLY [WT]
1954 LLOYD ZUCKER [PA]
1955 FOS WILLIAMS [PA]
1956 TED WHELAN [PA]
1957 TED WHELAN [PA]
1958 NEVILLE HAYES [PA]
1959 GEOFF MOTLEY [PA]
1960 BARRY POTTS [NA]
1961 TREVOR RUE [WA]
1962 IAN HANNAFORD [PA]
1963 TREVOR OBST [PA]
1964 DAVID KANTILLA [SA]
1965 TONY CLARKSON [ST]
1966 mal HILL [ST]
1967 BRENTON ADCOCK [ST]
1968 PAUL BAGSHAW [ST]
1969 mal GREENSLADE [ST]
1970 PAUL BAGSHAW [ST]
1971 BARRIE ROBRAN [NA]
1972 BARRIE ROBRAN [NA]
1973 BOB HAMMOND [NA]
1974 RICK DAVIES [ST]
1975 NEIL BUTTON [NW]
1976 RICK DAVIES [ST]
1977 BRIAN CUNNINGHAM [PA]
1978 MICHAEL TAYLOR [NW]
1979 DARREL CAHILL [PA]
1980 GREG PHILLIPS [PA]


1948 BOB HANK
Of interest was the selection of WT superstar Bobby Hank in 1948
Many who saw Bobby Hank and Lindsay Head play are of the opinion that Bob was the better footballer
That is quite an accolade as I consider Lindsay Head to be one of the most skillful footballers I have seen

1948 GRAND FINAL
NW 5-4....5-6...9-14....15-16 [106]
WT 1-4....3-9....4-9.......6-13 [49]
NW avenged a second semi final loss by 3 points to WT
NW then beat WA by 4 points in the prelim
Bobby Hank must have played one helluva game in the grand final , as WT lost by 57 points

Bobby Hank was also a smart harness pacer who raced in SA at the turn of this century

mal wrote:The Jack Oatey medal was first presented in 1981, the inaugural winner being Russell Ebert

Ive got hold of some correspondence by historian and footy budget reporter Peter Argent, compiled in 2008
He has listed who may have been a Grand Final best player pre -1981
These are the players Peter Argent thinks would have been worthy Jack Oatey Medalists had an award existed

1945 MAX NICHOLLS [WT]
1946 IVAN HOLLIDAY[NW]
1947 BERNIE SMITH [WA]
1948 BOB HANK [WT]
1949 JEFF PASH [NA]
1950 JOHN MARRIOTT[NW]
1951 ALAN GREER [PA]
1952 ALLAN ALDENHOVEN[NA]
1953 MICK CLINGLY [WT]
1954 LLOYD ZUCKER [PA]
1955 FOS WILLIAMS [PA]
1956 TED WHELAN [PA]
1957 TED WHELAN [PA]
1958 NEVILLE HAYES [PA]
1959 GEOFF MOTLEY [PA]
1960 BARRY POTTS [NA]
1961 TREVOR RUE [WA]
1962 IAN HANNAFORD [PA]
1963 TREVOR OBST [PA]
1964 DAVID KANTILLA [SA]
1965 TONY CLARKSON [ST]
1966 mal HILL [ST]
1967 BRENTON ADCOCK [ST]
1968 PAUL BAGSHAW [ST]
1969 mal GREENSLADE [ST]
1970 PAUL BAGSHAW [ST]
1971 BARRIE ROBRAN [NA]
1972 BARRIE ROBRAN [NA]
1973 BOB HAMMOND [NA]
1974 RICK DAVIES [ST]
1975 NEIL BUTTON [NW]
1976 RICK DAVIES [ST]
1977 BRIAN CUNNINGHAM [PA]
1978 MICHAEL TAYLOR [NW]
1979 DARREL CAHILL [PA]
1980 GREG PHILLIPS [PA]


1948 BOB HANK
Of interest was the selection of WT superstar Bobby Hank in 1948
Many who saw Bobby Hank and Lindsay Head play are of the opinion that Bob was the better footballer
That is quite an accolade as I consider Lindsay Head to be one of the most skillful footballers I have seen

1948 GRAND FINAL
NW 5-4....5-6...9-14....15-16 [106]
WT 1-4....3-9....4-9.......6-13 [49]
NW avenged a second semi final loss by 3 points to WT
NW then beat WA by 4 points in the prelim
Bobby Hank must have played one helluva game in the grand final , as WT lost by 57 points

Bobby Hank was also a smart harness pacer who raced in SA at the turn of this century

Very interesting list. A lot of Magarey Medallists on that list.

I never saw Bob Hank play, but every old timer I ever talked to said that Hank was definitely a better player than Head and that is not to decry Head.

A few comments on some of the other early players who I have only heard about

Bernie Smith must have been a great player. He, of course, won a Brownlow, captained Geelong, played in dual premierships for Geelong, was an All Australian, made Geelong's Team of the Century and was named in the back pocket in the AFL Team of the Century. Bernie sadly died whilst only in his 50s

Jeff Pash had won his Magarey Medal 10 years earlier and he was best on the ground in his very last league game. Haydn Bunton senior had relegated Pash to the reserves the year before, but Ken Farmer took over as coach and restored Pash to his rightful position as a league player. He was also an Inspector of Schools and a brilliant writer on the game.

John Marriott was a champion ruckman. His career was truncated because he was a dentist but he still managed to win a Magarey Medal, play for South Australia an astonishing 23 times and he was named in Norwood's Team of the Century. Merv Agars named him in his greatest South Australian side of the first 100 years of SA football. He too died whilst still a relatively young man in his mid fifties, and it is not stretching the truth to say the state as a whole mourned his passing.

Allan Greer was a Port Adelaide stalwart who is probably best known as a proprietor of a sports store with Geof Motley called Motley and Greer. He was Port Adelaide vice captain under Fos Williams and played in the 1951, 1954 and 1955 premierships He was a successful Amateur League coach. wining 4 premierships with Adelaide Uni, before coaching West Torrens for a couple of years.

Allan Aldenhoven was a champion country ruckman who played very spasmodically for North Adelaide. He only played 55 games for North because of his country employment but he did win North's Best and Fairest in 1951 and represented the state twice. North used to bring him back from the country for finals. He won Mail Medals in three different competitions. A couple of measures to show how good he must have been were firstly that his best on the ground performance in 1952 was against Norwood's champion ruckman, John Marriott. Also when North named their Team of The Century, Doug Thomas stated that as much as he admired Mick Redden who was named as North's second ruckman behind Tom Leahy, he thought that Aldenhoven was an even better player than Mick Redden and should have been in the team. Aldenhoven played country football until he was 40.

It's interesting how many of the top footballers of yesteryear were also top cricketers.

E.g. of the players you mentioned with a Torrens connection, Hank, Head, Clingly, Greer, all were top club cricketers and some represented SA.

Barry Robran (I think) also played first class cricket, perhaps only a few games. Eric Freeman did as well and I recall that Craig Bradley was an Australian u/19 player.

Footy in winter, cricket in summer.

DOC wrote:Barry Robran (I think) also played first class cricket, perhaps only a few games. Eric Freeman did as well and I recall that Craig Bradley was an Australian u/19 player.

Footy in winter, cricket in summer.

Barrie*

Was also a fantastic basketballer,

Yeah Robran had a big partnership with KG in a one-day game at the Adelaide Oval, chasing a run-a-ball target (a big total in those days). They both got run out but South Australia got over the line right at the end.

Bradley was also a FC cricketer.

WA 6/211
SA 7/213 won with 7 balls to spare
Barrie Robran 0/19 [4]
42 off 67 balls
He and KG took the score from 3/64 to 4/149

Interesting middle order batting order
4 Ken Cunningham
5 Barrie Robran
6 Eric Freeman


It was the only limited overs game Barrie Robran played for SA
So he finished his career with a great one day average of 42

Bruce Duperouzel played for WA in that match
Bruce played for Claremont in the WAFL and later in the VFL for St Kilda and Footscray

RB wrote:Yeah Robran had a big partnership with KG in a one-day game at the Adelaide Oval, chasing a run-a-ball target (a big total in those days). They both got run out but South Australia got over the line right at the end.

Bradley was also a FC cricketer.

Attached is the link to the game to which RB is referring :

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/862 ... on-1971-72

South Australia had 3 players who played league footy in the team, Robran, Freeman and McCarthy plus Ken Cunningham who umpired league football and Don Sutherland, whose father played and coached at League Level.

Western Australia had at least 5 players who played football at League level. Graeme Watson, who played for Melbourne in the VFL, Bruce Duperouzel, both in the WAFL and VFL, Derek Chadwick, who seemingly we would see representing WA at Adelaide Oval both in summer and winter for about a decade, Ken McAullay, who won the 1972 Tassie Medal and Ian Brayshaw who played in Claremont's 1964 premiership.

robranisgod wrote:Western Australia had at least 5 players who played football at League level. Graeme Watson, who played for Melbourne in the VFL, Bruce Duperouzel, both in the WAFL and VFL, Derek Chadwick, who seemingly we would see representing WA at Adelaide Oval both in summer and winter for about a decade, Ken McAullay, who won the 1972 Tassie Medal and Ian Brayshaw who played in Claremont's 1964 premiership.

Father of James, presumably.

Correct

Magellan wrote:

robranisgod wrote:Western Australia had at least 5 players who played football at League level. Graeme Watson, who played for Melbourne in the VFL, Bruce Duperouzel, both in the WAFL and VFL, Derek Chadwick, who seemingly we would see representing WA at Adelaide Oval both in summer and winter for about a decade, Ken McAullay, who won the 1972 Tassie Medal and Ian Brayshaw who played in Claremont's 1964 premiership.

Father of James, presumably.

And a very, very good cricketer. He played for WA from 1961 until 1978, scoring 4,325 runs at 31.8 and taking 178 wickets at 25.08. One of the best cricketers never to play test cricket. He once took all ten wickets in an innings against Victoria.
I dare say, like Ken Cunningham he was born in the wrong era.

Neil Hawke I believe played for Port and Torrens and cricket for SA and Aus. Did ok in WA too.

Neil Dansie might have played for Norwood and SA? Did Hookesy ever play footy?

Across the border and Keith Miller one of the most famous to play both codes

Don't think he played league but was certainly an under age player at Torrens. Perhaps reserves.

JK wrote:Neil Hawke I believe played for Port and Torrens and cricket for SA and Aus. Did ok in WA too.

Neil Dansie might have played for Norwood and SA? Did Hookesy ever play footy?

Across the border and Keith Miller one of the most famous to play both codes

Played 39 games for Norwood before retiring at 21 to concentrate on cricket.

JK wrote:Neil Hawke I believe played for Port and Torrens and cricket for SA and Aus. Did ok in WA too.

Apparently he's the only man to represent both SA and WA in both cricket and footy.

Hookesy played junior footy for West Torrens. Defiantly 17s, not sure if he progressed to 19s and twos.

am Bays wrote:Hookesy played junior footy for West Torrens. Defiantly 17s, not sure if he progressed to 19s and twos.

I seem to recall Hookes speaking about playing in a grand final for West Torrens in 1973, I think it was the Under 17s.

Magellan wrote:

am Bays wrote:Hookesy played junior footy for West Torrens. Defiantly 17s, not sure if he progressed to 19s and twos.

I seem to recall Hookes speaking about playing in a grand final for West Torrens in 1973, I think it was the Under 17s.

You are close. It was under 19s, and he didn't actually play. As he used to say, he did a Derek Kickett, he was dropped for the Grand Final after playing all season.
Keith Miller, Merv Waite, David Sincock, Vic Richardson, Clem Hill, George Giffen, Gil Langley, Dinny Reedman, Ernie Jones, Barry Jarman, Neil Hawke, Eric Freeman, Nip Pellew and Martin McCague all played SANFL or the forerunner SAFA senior football and played test cricket.

robranisgod wrote:

Magellan wrote:

am Bays wrote:Hookesy played junior footy for West Torrens. Defiantly 17s, not sure if he progressed to 19s and twos.

I seem to recall Hookes speaking about playing in a grand final for West Torrens in 1973, I think it was the Under 17s.

You are close. It was under 19s, and he didn't actually play. As he used to say, he did a Derek Kickett, he was dropped for the Grand Final after playing all season.

Cheers RiG, that sound right now I read it.

Back to pen pix of the Peter Argent "winners". And feel free to add or correct anything I have written. Remember that I never saw any of the early winners play so I am relying on hearsay.
The 1945 "winner" was Max Nicholls. He had won the 1940 Reserves Magarey Medal, which is now recorded by his other given name, Eric, but he was universally known as Max. He played 99 games for Torrens, represented the state in 1946 and ended his career at Port Adelaide. He was chosen for the state as a wingman, but he played as an on baller changing in the forward pocket in the 1945 Grand Final. He scored 3 goals in the second quarter as Torrens fought back from a 6 goal deficit. Old timers told me that 1994 was the absolute inverse of 1945 and as far as they were concerned the same two teams were playing but with role reversal.
In 1946, Ivan Holliday was universally considered the best man on the ground. He was a brilliant Centre Half Back who had played in a Norwood-North flag in 1944. He had just turned 20 in 1946 when he played brilliantly in the Norwood premiership side. He had already represented the state on 4 (some say 5) occasions and a huge career beckoned. Sadly he missed all of 1947 with a knee injury and only managed one league game in his last year, 1948. He was awarded Norwood's best backman trophy in both 1945 and 1946. One can only ponder what might have been. His son, Michael, played a handful of games in the late 1970s before he, too, succumbed to a knee injury.
I have covered the 1947 until 1952 "winners"
Onto 1953. Michael Thomas Clingly. What a character. As already mentioned, he played interstate cricket and football. He was universally considered Torrens best player in their fourth and final premiership as a separate entity. Surprisingly he dominated in an unusual position for him, permanent back pocket checking the resting ruckmen. He normally played as a key forward. He led Torrens goalkicking 3 times and he is the last player to score a goal with a place kick, which he did when he scored his 12th goal against Glenelg in a 1956 match. He retired in 1960 but he played cricket for Woodville until the 1970s. Many of you will remember him as an around the grounds commentator and also an ABC TV panellist for many years. He had a legendary cheek about him. Legend has it when he first entered the West Torrens change rooms prior to his first ever training run, in front of the Hank brothers, Alf Roberts, Jim Coverlid, Don Prior and Frank Graham and various other top players, he didn't just quietly walk in, but rather announced himself with "I'm Mick Clingly. You'll be hearing a lot more about me!" If many people behaved that way, they would be considered a brash upstart, but Mick was such a loveable larrikin, no one was offended and furthermore he was right.
I will continue with the Port players from their six in a row tomorrow. I certainly saw a couple of them play so I can give my own personal reflections instead of relying on what I have heard.