Centrals 50th Anniversary in SANFL

[UK Fan]

Ditto ... Impossible not to respect your club and it's achievements.

For the last ten years anyway.

I am jealous of CDFC's achievements over the last decade, and would love my club to put together a similar golden dynasty of success, but for the forty years before that they were a joke. Let's be honest here people.

[Ronnie]

Central's have turned into the giants of the SANFL. On and off the field they set the benchmark.
The old powers Port, Norwood and Sturt are no doubt left scratching their heads.

[Voice]

Congrats to the CDFC on your milestone. Would have to be much sweeter than any other milestone for the club considering the success you guys now enjoy.
Like the guernsey BTW. Out of interest, how many different designs have Central had over the years.

About 5

- The Footscray style one (ala the commerorative guernsey)
- The 'V' Style (1970's)
- The white one (1980's)
- The current home one (from 1991ish)
- The current away one (from 2008)

I'm sure someone can confirm this, or add any I've missed.

BTW I love the commerorative guernsey.

Thanks for that. I knew about the predominantly white one with two vertical stripes but nothing before that.

[CENTURION]

Ditto ... Impossible not to respect your club and it's achievements.

For the last ten years anyway.

I am jealous of CDFC's achievements over the last decade, and would love my club to put together a similar golden dynasty of success, but for the forty years before that they were a joke. Let's be honest here people.

I love a good joke.

[Big Phil]

After doing some research over the last few days, I have found some information that may be of interest to a few of you out there. I wasn’t able to find out anything about the Dogs very first side in 1959 in any of my resources but when I get a chance to speak to the Centrals Club Historian Robert Laidlaw next, I will see what I can find out. The one thing I can tell you is that in our Rnd 1 game of this season against the Eagles at home, the club did recognise 2 players from that first team in 1959.

There was a picture in the Monday Advertiser after the game of Des Clarke and Murray Thompson, both original members of that first reserves team back in ’59, going around the oval on the back of a ’52 Chevrolet Ute, a General Motors production. They then presented Centrals President Tom Zorich with the 2008 Premiership flag that was unveiled that night.

Thanks to the ‘Centrals 40 Year Almanac’ written by Robert Laidlaw, I can post the very first team that competed for Centrals when promoted to the League competition in 1964 after serving a 5 year apprenticeship in the reserves competition. Also, teams of each decade.

CENTRALS 1st LEAGUE SIDE:

FF:Stan Volbretch, Don Eagle, Frank Middleton
HF: Sonny Morey, John Ashby, Alan Hayes
C:Tony Sorrell, Gary Window, Lynton Reeves
HB: Graham Johnston, Jim Bentley, Colin Stutley
FB: Graeme Close, John White, Mick Daly
RK: Brian Kemp, Sam Donovan, John Kennedy
INT: Robert Edmonds, Paul Chenoweth
COACH: Ken Eustice

So they were the players that will go down in history forever as representing the club in their first league game ever.


TEAM OF THE 60’s:

FF: Rick Vidovich, Mich Daly, Terry McGee
HF: Keith Shorthill, Tom Grljusich, Lyle Skinner
C: Sonny Morey, Gary Window, Ken Eustice
HB: Colin Stutley, Robert Edmonds, Jim Bentley
FB: Doug Whickham, Trevor Stanton, Julian Swinstead
RK: Dean Farnham, Dennis Brown, Robin Mulholland
INT: Gary Smith, Richard David
COACH: Ken Eustice
CAPT: Ken Eustice

In the 60’s, the Dogs played 120 games for 25 wins and 95 losses so of course their first decade in the league competition was a bit of a struggle, albeit it was for only 6 of the 10 years of the 1960’s.


TEAM OF THE 70’s:

FF: Phil Haughan, Gary Jones, Barry Norsworthy
HF: Peter Jones, John Wyley, David Saywell
C: Richard Cochrane Snr, Dean Mobbs, Peter Vivian
HB: Kevin Johns, John Duckworth, Peter Nicks
FB: Terry Moore, Bill Cochrane, Sonny Morey
RK: Dean Farnham, Tony Casserly, Robin Mulholland
INT: Lyle Skinner, Graham Reed
COACH: Dean Jones
CAPT: Tony Casserly

The 70’s saw a considerable increase in victories for almost a 50/50 win loss ratio, winning 100 games out 216 played with 114 losses and a couple of draws in their first full decade in the SANFL league competition.


TEAM OF THE 80’s:

FF: Greg Edwards, Rudi Mandemaker, Mark Norsworthy
HF: Dean Mobbs, Peter Beythien, Wilbur Wilson
C: Gilbert McAdam, Peter Kreig, Peter Vivian
HB: Mark Prior, John Duckworth, Phil Graham
FB: Scott Lee, Peter Bubner, Terry Moore
RK: Richard Cousins, Rene Van Dommele, John Platten
INT: Greg Smith, Darel Hart
COACH: Daryl Hicks
CAPT: Dean Mobbs

The decade of the 80’s saw the Doggies win more games than they lost playing a total of 227 games for 114 wins, 110 losses and 3 draws. This era saw many great players such as John Platten, Rudi Mandemaker, Greg Edwards and Wilbur Wilson dominate for the Dogs.


TEAM OF THE 90’s:

FF: Somin Luhrs, Grant Coffee, Tim Cook
HF: Daniel Hulm, Anthony Ingerson, Robert Handley
C: Trevor Roe, Rick Macgowan, Stephen Schwerdt
HB: David Green, Brian Haraida, Scott Lee
FB: Tony Lynn, Paul Geister, Damien Hicks
RK: Damien Arnold, Roger Girdham, Gavin Chaplin
INT: Michael Wakelin, Craig Potter, Jim Wynd
COACH: Alan Stewart
CAPT: Roger Girdham

The 90’s will go down an integral part of future success for the Dogs although their win loss ratio was similar to the last 2 decades. With 113 wins, 107 losses and 1 draw in a decade that saw the side win their first final for 22 years and the introduction of Alan Stewart who would change the club for all the right reasons.


TEAM OF THE 2000’s:

FF: Chris Gowans, Sam McArdale, Matthew Slade
HF: James Gowans, Kynan Ford, Simon Arnott
C: Nathan Steinberner, Rick Macgowan, Daniel Healy
HB: Heath Hopwood, Brian Haraida, Quinton Graham
FB: Brent Guerra, Paul Geister, Damien Hicks
RK: Damien Arnold, Daniel Hulm, Marco Bello
INT: Paul Scoullar, Daniel Stevens, Michael Stevens
COACH: Peter Jonas
CAPT: Daniel Hulm

This side was only picked on the first 3 years of the 2000’s because it was in 2003 that the Almanac this information comes from was released. Of course, this decade has bought about so much success for the Dogs and the side above may just have changed slightly with 4 more premierships since then. The highlight no doubt for this decade is of course the side breaking through for the clubs first ever league premiership.


1st LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP SIDE:

FF: Daniel Hulm, Sam McArdale, James Gowans
HF: Daniel Healy, Kynan Ford, Stuart Dew
C: Daniel Stevens, Rick Macgowan, Michael Stevens
HB: Heath Hopwood, Brian Haraida, Quinton Graham
FB: Brent Guerra, Paul Geister, Damien Hicks
RK: Radlee Moller, Chris Gowans, Marco Bello
INT: Damien Arnold, Nathan Steinberner, Matthew Slade
COACH: Peter Jonas
CAPT: Daniel Hulm

Of course, this side will be forever in history as the 21 players who broke through on that first weekend in October to bring all long suffering Doggies fans their first premiership after their 33 years in the competition. That first flag will always be something special and of course was just the beginning of an amazing run of 9 consecutive Grand Final appearances for the Dogs, amassing another 6 premierships and 2 runners up.


ALL TIME TEAM:

FF: Greg Edwards, Rudi Mandemaker, Robin Mulholland
HF: Tony Casserly, Peter Jonas, Dean Mobbs
C: Gilbert McAdam, Gary Window, Peter Vivian
HB: Heath Hopwood, John Duckworth, Mark Prior
FB: Scott Lee, Bill Cochrane, Sonny Morey
RK: Dean Farnham, Roger Girdham, John Platten
INT: Richrad Cochrane Snr, Ken Eustice, Chris Gowans,
James Gowans, Tom Grljusich, Brian Haraida,
Daniel Hulm, Rick Magowan, Terry Moore, Wilbur Wilson
COACH: Peter Jonas
CAPT: Roger Girdham

With a selection panel of Robert Laidlaw, Alan Stewart, Gary Window, Roy Laird, Tony Casserly and Sonny Morey the task of selecting an ‘All Time Team’ would no doubt be challenging. That being the case, they decided to name 10 players on the bench and of course with the clubs more recent success, there is every chance that could swell to a few more. Up until 2003, the Dogs had an all time playing record of 873 game played for a return of 424 wins, 443 losses and 6 draws. Of course over the last 5 years the side has racked up many wins and without a doubt would have that win loss record in the positive for victories.


BIG PHIL’S TEAM OF THE 2000’s:

FF: Chris Gowans, Daniel Schell, Ian Callinan
HF: James Gowans, Luke Cowan, Simon Arnott
C: Nathan Steinberner, Rick Macgowan, Daniel Healy
HB: Heath Hopwood, Brian Haraida, Paul Thomas
FB: Tyson Hay, Damien Hicks, Richard Cochrane Jnr
RK: Jason Mackenzie, Matthew Slade, Marco Bello
INT: Paul Scoullar, Quinton Graham, Damien Arnold, Daniel Hulm,
Elijah Ware, Brent Guerra, Andrew Hayes, Luke McCabe,
Sam McArdle, Adam Switala, Scott Dutschke, Michael Stevens
COACH: Roy Laird
CAPT: Daniel Healy


For what it is worth, here is my team of the 2000’s that I selected. It was a tough job and of course I don’t eny anyone that has this kind of job, there is so much to consider. There was no way I could only select 21 players so much like the ‘All Time Team’, I decided to have a very extended interchange change bench with 12 players. Also, below is a list of ALL players to have won a premiership for Centrals and how many flags they have won individually.


PREMIERSHIP PLAYER HALL OF FAME:

7 FLAGS: Chris Gowans, James Gowans, Matthew Slade
6 FLAGS: -
5 FLAGS: Marco Bello, Daniel Healy, Heath Hopwood, Nathan Steinberner, Richard Cochrane Jnr, Daniel Schell
4 FLAGS: Simon Arnott, Quinton Graham, Tyson Hay, Paul Scoullar, Jason Mackenzie, Paul Thomas
3 FLAGS: Damien Arnold, Luke Cowan, Brent Guerra, Brian Haraida, Elijah Ware
2 FLAGS: Jeremy Aufderheide, Ian Callinan, Stuart Cochrane, Brad Currie, Scott Dutschke, Kynan Ford, Paul Geister, Andrew Hayes, Damien Hicks, Shannon Hurn, Rick Macgowan, Sam McArdle, Luke McCabe, Chad O’Sullivan, Micahel Stevens, Adam Switala, Brad Symes
1 FLAG: Stuart Dew, Daniel Stevens, Eddie Sansbury, Charles Slattery, Jonathon Griffin, Nathan Grima, Daniel Havelberg, Radlee Moller, Daniel Hulm, Heath Lawry, Alan Obst, Martin McKinnon, Trent Goodrem, Jonathon Giles, Matthew Westhoff, James Moss, Ryan Williams, Brayden O’Hara

_____________________________________________________

SOURCES:

Premier Bulldogs: 40 Year Almanac - Robert Laidlaw
The Advertiser
Sunday Mail
www.cdfc.com.au