Greatest school footy teams: Sports reporter Matt Turner picks Le Fevre High and Woodville High’s all-time best 22s
Which Adelaide school has produced the best footballers? Sports reporter Matt Turner has pored over stats to pick eight more schools’ best 22s. Up next, Le Fevre High and Woodville High.
- See all our greatest school footy best 22s
- Greatest school footy teams ranked from 8-1
- Greatest school cricket XIs: Woodville High, Thebby Tech
The search for Adelaide’s best footy schools is back.
Twelve months after selecting eight Adelaide schools’ greatest 22s, The Advertiser sports reporter Matt Turner has picked another eight star-studded line-ups of old scholars.
He has again pored through the archives, scoured hundreds of footballers’ career statistics and spoken to dozens of historians and past players to finalise the teams.
There have been tough selection calls sure to cause debate — just as there will be discussions about which team is best.
Challenges of this exercise, which has taken more than three months, include comparing eras, choosing who to omit, weighing up team balance versus quality and short-lived brilliance against dogged longevity, and making calls on players we have not seen in action.
But with the help of the schools, footy-mad colleagues and SANFL club historians, particularly Rino Cialini and SANFL Budget editor Peter Cornwall, and school history buff Denis Brien, the squads have been chosen.
Turner has again made the final call with the same criteria as last year.
Players were picked on their post-school football careers, not First XVIII performances.
Achievements trumped ability, so emerging present-day footballers tended to be overlooked despite the possibility of future stardom.
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Stellar SANFL careers before the Crows came into the AFL in 1991 were given more weight but long-serving modern stars were also considered favourably.
Ultimately, gut feel was just as important as research, statistics and chatting to fans, teammates and opponents.
Day two of the five-day online series features CBC and Pulteney Grammar.
* Statistics as of Monday, August 12, 2019. AFL statistics were from afltables.com and the AFL Record: Season 2019. SANFL statistics came from the SANFL, Rino Cialini, Peter Cornwall, australianfootball.com and club historians, including the late Mark Beswick.
LE FEVRE BOYS’ TECHNICAL/LE FEVRE HIGH
This school in Port Adelaide heartland not only boasts Magpies from a variety of eras but a swag of premierships.
Only two players in the Le Fevre Boys’ Technical/Le Fevre High 22 have not played senior footy for Port – Norm Smith Medal-winning full-back Brian Lake, who attended the school for a year before switching to Henley High, and West Torrens defender Peter Cousins.
And just two members of the starting 18 and five in total have not claimed a SANFL or AFL premiership.
In all, the team has won 60 flags.
Le Fevre’s biggest name – and captain – was chosen in the centre.
The term legend gets thrown around far too often in sport but it fits Bob Quinn, whose exploits include winning Magarey Medal either side of serving in and twice being wounded during World War II.
Quinn was in the 2nd/43rd Infantry Battalion in North Africa, where he was shot above the knee, then came back to Australia with a Military Medal for his courage in the Siege of Tobruk, and later resumed service, only to be shot in his right forearm in New Guinea.
The four-time best and fairest was named in the forward pocket of Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team and kicked 386 majors from his 239 games, many as a rover.
But he also played centre at times during his career and was slotted there for team balance.
Two other members of the Magpies’ Greatest Team are in the side – Ted Whelan is ruck rover and Peter Woite at centre half-forward.
Woite was known mainly as a centre half-back but could play in attack and the team had a stack of key backmen and not as many forwards.
Whelan’s seven flags are the most in the team, ahead of 1999 premiership captain David Brown (half-forward) with six and Harold McDonald (wing) and David Gill (half-forward) with five each.
The most represented of Port’s successful eras is the ‘60s, which has eight players.
During that decade, ruckmen Bob Philp and Steve Traynor, Gill, back pocket Bob Fabian, half-forward flanker Richie Bray and centre half-back Graham Cooper snared three flags each, hardman Kevin Salmon grabbed two and key forward Reg Beaufoy added one.
Whelan, Gill, Fabian, McDonald and half-back flanker Ken Tierney were part of Port’s famed 1950s teams that won six premierships in a row – a feat recognised with induction into the club’s Hall of Fame last year.
As captain, Brian Cunningham led the Magpies – and Le Fevre wingman Kym Kinnear – to three consecutive flags from 1979-81 and also had the ultimate success in 1977, when Woite was a premiership teammate.
Cunningham, who was named this team’s rover, attended both Le Fevre and Woodville High.
Brown is the most recent Port premiership player in the line-up, while Quinn, with flags in 1936, ‘37 and ‘39, is the earliest.
Lake is the latest to enjoy the ultimate success from 2013-15 at Hawthorn.
Given Port’s success and the amount of talent Le Fevre produced during successful Magpies eras, premiership players were always going to be squeezed out of the school’s all-time 22.
Brian Coldwell and Jim Sawford were both triple flag winners but just missed selection.
Mark and Steve Pavlich, Rod Burton, Alan Gill, Terry Milera and Alf Steed were also in the mix.
Adelaide’s Tyson Stengle, St Kilda’s Robbie Young and Carlton’s Kym Lebois are still early in their AFL careers and may make this team by the end of them.
FP: Steve Traynor (Port Adelaide): 121 games, 163 goals, three flags (SANFL); state representative
FF:Reg Beaufoy (Port Adelaide): 80 games, 62 goals, one flag (SANFL)
FP: Lindsay Thomas (Port Adelaide/North Melbourne): 212 games, 329 goals (AFL); 14 games, 21 goals (SANFL)
HF: David Gill (Port Adelaide): 145 games, 101 goals, five flags (SANFL)
CHF:Peter Woite (Port Adelaide/Glenelg): 201 games, 141 goals, one flag, one best and fairest (SANFL); state representative, one Magarey Medal, Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team, SA Football Hall of Fame
HF: David Brown (Port Adelaide/Adelaide): 91 games, 73 goals (AFL); 182 games, 156 goals, six flags (SANFL); one Jack Oatey Medal
W: Kym Kinnear (Port Adelaide): 272 games, 125 goals, three flags (SANFL)
C:Bob Quinn (Port Adelaide) (c): 239 games, 386 goals, three flags, four best and fairests (SANFL); state representative, two Magarey Medals, Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team, SA Football Hall of Fame, Australian Football Hall of Fame
W: Harold McDonald (Port Adelaide):140 games, 9 goals, five flags (SANFL); state representative
HB:Ken Tierney (Port Adelaide): 160 games, 5 goals, four flags (SANFL); state representative
CHB: Graham Cooper (Port Adelaide): 118 games, 3 goals, three flags (SANFL); state representative
HB: Peter Cousins (West Torrens/Glenelg): 147 games, 4 goals (SANFL)
BP: Bob Fabian (Port Adelaide): 147 games, 3 goals, four flags (SANFL)
FB: Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs/Hawthorn): 251 games, 34 goals, three flags, one best and fairest (AFL); two-time All-Australian, one Norm Smith Medal
BP: Kevin Salmon (Port Adelaide):169 games, 49 goals, two flags (SANFL)
Ruck: Bob Philp (Port Adelaide): 132 games, 118 goals, three flags (SANFL); state representative
R/R: Ted Whelan (Port Adelaide): 248 games, 91 goals, seven flags, one best and fairest (SANFL); state representative, Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team, SA Football Hall of Fame
Rover:Brian Cunningham (Port Adelaide): 256 games, 428 goals, four flags (SANFL); state representative, SA Football Hall of Fame
I/C: Ray Hayes (Port Adelaide/West Adelaide): 178 goals, 8 goals (SANFL)
Kevin Beswick (Port Adelaide/West Adelaide): 180 games, 7 goals (SANFL)
Cain Ackland (Port Adelaide/St Kilda/Carlton): 74 games, 25 goals (AFL); 103 games, 34 goals (SANFL)
Richie Bray (Port Adelaide): 77 games, 65 goals, three flags (SANFL)
All-Australians: 1 – Lake
Magarey medallists: 1 – Quinn
Brownlow medallists: Nil
SA Football Hall of Famers: 4 – Cunningham, Quinn, Whelan, Woite
Australian Football Hall of Famers: 1 – Quinn
WOODVILLE HIGH
You will be hard-pressed to find a school in Adelaide, perhaps even in Australia, whose greatest 22 boast more than Woodville High’s 72 state league premierships.
Six Woodville High players do not have flags but seven have a staggering 53.
Woodville High’s captain, Geof Motley, has won the equal-most in SANFL history with nine, while Paul Northeast and Neville “Chicken” Hayes boast eight each and four others each have seven: Tim Ginever, Dave Boyd, Bruce Abernethy and George Fiacchi.
The common theme is they are all household Magpies from two of the club’s most successful eras, the 1960s and 1990s.
Le Fevre Boys’ Technical/Le Fevre High’s all-time side is also laden with players from Port’s glory days and comparing the two teams is interesting.
If they faced off, eye-catching match-ups would include Bob Quinn captaining against Motley, Boyd tussling with Ted Whelan and Brian Cunningham vying against … himself.
Cunningham went to both schools – he started at Le Fevre then finished at Woodville High – and was named rover for each team.
Little appears to separate the sides on paper but Le Fevre cannot get near Woodville High’s flag count, falling 12 short with 60.
Woodville High also has more Magarey medallists with five – pre-World War II gun Max Pontifex (1932), Sturt and Carlton ruckman Keith Dunn (1933), star on-baller Boyd (1956), champion half-back Motley (1964) and dashing wingman Greg Anderson (1986) – compared to Le Fevre’s one, Quinn (1938, ‘45).
And Woodville High features three Jack Oatey medallists: Abernethy (1988), Fiacchi (1990) and Darryl Wakelin (1994) – to Le Fevre’s one, David Brown (1996).
Two Magpies players and Woodville High old scholars, Eric Freeman and Neil Hawke also featured in Test cricket, opening the bowling for Australia.
Even though this team has a distinct Port flavour, Dunn, Pontifex and three others add a bit of variety to the side.
Ruckman Frank Spiel was Sturt’s best and fairest in 1982, a state representative the following year and also featured for South Adelaide and West Torrens, Bob Simunsen starred at Woodville, where he was its inaugural captain, and Peter Nicks was a 186-game half-back flanker at Central District.
Depth is a strength of the squad, enough so that state representative and three-time Port premiership defender Allen Greer is on the bench, along with Nicks, Andy Porplycia (also three flags) and Bruce Nyland (one).
That means there is no room for the likes of Ossie “Pat” O’Grady, David Baker, John Harvey, Tom West, Wayne Carty, David Chistie, Peter Mead, Victor Geue, Graham Howell, Ray Hocking and Mark Peters.
Renowned commentator Bruce McAvaney was also a Woodville High student – and school footy coach, overseeing Ginever’s Year 10 team.
FP: Tim Ginever (Port Adelaide): 314 games, 302 goals, seven flags, two best and fairests (SANFL), state representative, SA Football Hall of Fame
FF: Eric Freeman (Port Adelaide): 115 games, 390 goals, one flag (SANFL); state representative, once SANFL leading goalkicker
FP: Frank Spiel (South Adelaide/Sturt/West Torrens): 237 games, 50 goals, one best and fairest (SANFL); state representative
HF: Max Pontifex (West Torrens): 74 games, 50 goals, two best and fairests (SANFL); state representative, one Magarey Medal
CHF: Neil Hawke (Port Adelaide/West Torrens): 38 games, 124 goals (SANFL); state representative
HF: Milan Faletic (West Torrens/Port Adelaide/St Kilda): 24 games, 33 goals (VFL/AFL); 229 games, 239 goals, two flags, one best and fairest (SANFL); state representative
W: Greg Anderson (Port Adelaide/Essendon/Adelaide):162 games, 79 goals (VFL/AFL); 149 games, 77 goals, two flags (SANFL); state representative, two-time All-Australian, one Magarey Medal
C: Dave Boyd (Port Adelaide): 222 games, 183 goals, seven flags (SANFL); state representative, one Magarey Medal, Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team, SA Football Hall of Fame
W: Bruce Abernethy (Port Adelaide/North Melbourne/Collingwood/Adelaide): 112 games, 39 goals (VFL/AFL); 190 games, 115 goals, seven flags, one best and fairest (SANFL); state representative, one Jack Oatey Medal, SA Football Hall of Fame
HB: Geof Motley (Port Adelaide) (c): 250 games, 156 goals, nine flags, four best and fairests (SANFL); state representative, Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team, one Magarey Medal, SA Football Hall of Fame, Australian Football Hall of Fame
CHB: Shane Wakelin (Port Adelaide/St Kilda/Collingwood): 252 games, 20 goals (AFL); 3 games, 0 goals (SANFL)
HB: Neville “Chicken” Hayes (Port Adelaide): 217 games, 58 goals, eight flags, two best and fairests (SANFL); state representative, Port Adelaide’s Greatest Team, SA Football Hall of Fame
BP: George Fiacchi (Port Adelaide): 236 games, 53 goals, seven flags (SANFL); one Jack Oatey Medal
FB: Darryl Wakelin (Port Adelaide/St Kilda): 261 games, 12 goals, one flag (AFL); 24 games, 3 goals, one flag (SANFL); one Jack Oatey Medal
BP: Paul Northeast (Port Adelaide): 235 games, 11 goals, eight flags, one best and fairest (SANFL)
R: Keith Dunn (Sturt/Carlton): 38 games, 33 goals (VFL/AFL); 74 games, 13 goals, one flag, one best and fairest (SANFL); state representative, one Magarey Medal
R/R: Bob Simunsen (Woodville): 145 games, 75 goals, three best and fairests (SANFL); state representative, SA Football Hall of Fame
Rover: Brian Cunningham (Port Adelaide): 256 games, 428 goals, four flags (SANFL); state representative, SA Football Hall of Fame
I/C: Allen Greer (Port Adelaide): 173 games, 3 goals, three flags (SANFL); state representative
Andy Porplycia (Port Adelaide): 163 games, 148 goals, four flags (SANFL)
Peter Nicks (Central District): 186 games, 17 goals (SANFL)
Bruce Nyland (Port Adelaide): 164 games, 44 goals, one flag (SANFL)
All-Australians: 1 – Anderson
Magarey medallists: 5 – Anderson, Boyd, Dunn, Motley, Pontifex
Brownlow medallists: Nil
SA Football Hall of Famers: 6 – Abernethy, Boyd, Cunningham, Ginever, Motley, Simunsen
Australian Football Hall of Famers: 1 – Motley