Off season reminiscences for history heads

[Bloods05]

There was no All Australian team in 1977, back then the AA team was only selected when there was a State v State carnival (1972 nd 1979 were the cloest).
So Adam Goodes is the closest we've ever come to an AA ruckman, the only other contender was Greame John in 1966.

Graeme John never played in the ruck. As far as I can recall, he always played at centre half forward.

[Bloods05]

I think Graham Teasdale may have qualified as an All Australian if if existed then.

The season he won the Brownlow I reckon I watched 15-16 games and I have NEVER seen such an impactful player.

He kicked 17 goals in the first two rounds (one from damn near the centre of the MCG) and Ian Stewart decided he wasnt a forward so put him in the ruck!

The All-Australian team goes back to 1953.

[Foreign Legion]

One last thread hijack on Teaser, as Sandridge said he took on 2 Brownlow Medallists at Victoria Park - Len Thompson and Peter Moore and thrashed them!

[Blood Fever]

Jim Taylor

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Vagely remember seeing him play when my dad took me to my first games. Billy Gunn was another I just remember.

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He was truly magnificent that year! I saw most of those games, too, and the one that stood out was when he virtually beat Collingwood on his own at Victoria Park. Sensational!!

!977 was a great year. Ian Stewart as coach. Barry round CHF. Francis Jackson CHB. Lost to Richmond at Waverley in an elimination final. Final five that year IIRC.

[111431]

One last thread hijack on Teaser, as Sandridge said he took on 2 Brownlow Medallists at Victoria Park - Len Thompson and Peter Moore and thrashed them!

I remember that game. An amazing game by an amazing player

[Ruck'n'Roll]

There was no All Australian team in 1977, back then the AA team was only selected when there was a State v State carnival (1972 nd 1979 were the cloest).
So Adam Goodes is the closest we've ever come to an AA ruckman, the only other contender was Graeme John {who competed in forward line ruck contests for South} in 1966.

Graeme John never played in the ruck. As far as I can recall, he always played at centre half forward.

Your recollection is correct, he never played as a ruck for South. He did contest ball ups and boundary throw-ins in the forward line for South in that year though. It allowed Fred Way (a much under appreciated Swans ruck) to play a kick behind.
My sentence did leave room for ambiguty, I have added a few extra words {in brackets} to fix that.

South also had Elkin Reilly doing the same thing down back at that time - yep a tall Aboriginal man competing in ruck contests against far taller opponents, while wearing red and white - long before Adam Goodes was even born.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

One last thread hijack on Teaser, as Sandridge said he took on 2 Brownlow Medallists at Victoria Park - Len Thompson and Peter Moore and thrashed them!

I was there that day too, in the Collingwood members stand, it was a wonderful day.

!977 was a great year. Ian Stewart as coach. Barry round CHF. Francis Jackson CHB. Lost to Richmond at Waverley in an elimination final. Final five that year IIRC.

I was also there that day, I recall it was wet and windy and we never realy had a sniff.

Perhaps one of the Mods could shift these non-2023 List Management posts to a separate thread. A little reminiscing while we wait for the draft would be quite enjoyable. The '77 team in particular was such a fascinating group.

[Scottee]

There was no All Australian team in 1977, back then the AA team was only selected when there was a State v State carnival (1972 nd 1979 were the cloest).
So Adam Goodes is the closest we've ever come to an AA ruckman, the only other contender was Greame John in 1966.

There was an All Australian Team selected in the 1950s in the Sporting Life magazine.

Jim Taylor was selected in that team playing for Norwood in 1955 being one of the first Victorian players to move interstate for money.He returned to the Swans the next year.

He played for SA against Victoria and at least according to some, was BOG.

He mainly played ruck, resting back pocket and CHB.

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[dejavoodoo44]

Hmm I did wonder about this (Goodesy was a marvel wasn't he?) - as I say Spida's eventual trade to us would be, I think, the last time we had an AA ruckman on our list (he won 3 of them, who knew?).

Yes, one of my favourite memories of his athleticism, was when he was up against Sandilands in the ruck, one afternoon at the SCG. From a standing start at a ball up on the wing, Goodesy rose high above Sandilands to get a clear tap. Watching the replay, I slowed it down to work out how the hell he managed that. Amazingly, it was a pure leap, where his first contact with Sandilands was shin on shoulder.

[Mel_C]

They relaxed it a little to allow us to trade in Sinclair when Jetta announced he wanted to leave. I can’t remember the exact terms of the relaxation. Maybe just player in for player out?

I think the change was we could trade a player in, but with a cap on that player's salary. The figure of $300,000 or $350,000 is coming to mind. It was still a joke and I'm glad that article highlighted the injustice.

[stevoswan]

They relaxed it a little to allow us to trade in Sinclair when Jetta announced he wanted to leave. I can’t remember the exact terms of the relaxation. Maybe just player in for player out?

Ahh, fair enough.

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He was truly magnificent that year! I saw most of those games, too, and the one that stood out was when he virtually beat Collingwood on his own at Victoria Park. Sensational!!

Yeah, Teaser was incredible!

[Bloods05]

Your recollection is correct, he never played as a ruck for South. He did contest ball ups and boundary throw-ins in the forward line for South in that year though. It allowed Fred Way (a much under appreciated Swans ruck) to play a kick behind.
My sentence did leave room for ambiguty, I have added a few extra words {in brackets} to fix that.

South also had Elkin Reilly doing the same thing down back at that time - yep a tall Aboriginal man competing in ruck contests against far taller opponents, while wearing red and white - long before Adam Goodes was even born.

It was customary at that time to play as many as four rucks, two of them playing as "followers" and the other two playing most of the game in the forward and back pocket respectively, and relieving the followers when they needed a rest. There was of course no interchange. A very different game.

Elkin Reilly's career was not a long one, but he was a very solid player who stuck with the Bloods to his dying day.

[Meg]

I think the change was we could trade a player in, but with a cap on that player's salary. The figure of $300,000 or $350,000 is coming to mind. It was still a joke and I'm glad that article highlighted the injustice.

I recall that the cap was $400,000. And that the Jetta / Sinclair exchange was approved as a straight swap. That is, it was a one-off exception to the ban.

[KSAS]

I'm late to this thread and enjoying reading everyone's recollections. Unfortunately, I wasn't there that day at Vic Park in 1977 to see Teaser tear up the Pies. That would've been a sight to behold. I saw him live plenty times at home that year, where he was incredible.

I do recall in the 70's "The Truth" newspaper having "The Cazaly Awards", where they named the best specialist player in every position (not just a bevy of midfielders like today). It was a pre-cursor All Australian which gained a lot media attention. Remember Brian Woodman being named best pocket, Gary Brice on the wing to name a few of the time.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

The Swans team from that Victoria Park game contains a lot of very interesting players, some out and out champions, others with an unusual history, nicknames and unusual physiques. They seem so much more colourful than todays players.

Brice, Gary
Browning, Mark
Demetriou, Andy
Dempster, Graham
Goss, Norm
Gull, Stewart
Jamieson, Ray
McLeish, David
Morrison, Peter
Morwood, Paul
O'Neill, Terry
Quade, Ricky
Rantall, John
Robertson, Max
Round, Barry
Smith, Michael
Teasdale, Graham
Woodman, Brian
Young, David
Zantuck, Shane

Not forgetting Ian Stewart. Billy Picken, Ricky Barham and Len Thompson were in the Collingwood side that day and I think Terry Daniher was out injured for the Swans.

Did anyone see the reurn match, I had to listen to it on my dad's tranny because we couldn't go.