Port Adelaide legend Geof Motley dies, aged 88

Geof Motley leaves behind an incredible football legacy after his passing, with one of his former premiership teammates praising both his toughness and his leadership.

Geof Motley (centre) was inducted into Port Adelaide’s hall of fame with Kane Cornes and George Fiacchi in 2019. Picture: Dean Martin

Those who knew Geof Motley say the same thing whether you ask them about his football or personality.

“You had no doubts about Mots,” Port Adelaide premiership teammate Bob Philp told this masthead.

“It was either black or white

“It was never on the line, you knew what he thought and he played football the same.”

Motley, who died on Tuesday, aged 88, after a short illness, made his name at Port Adelaide and in South Australia as a tough, natural leader, as well as the ultimate winner.

Fifty-seven years after retiring, the Australian Football Hall of Famer still shares the SANFL record for most premierships as a player with nine.

His illustrious, 250-game, 156-goal career included claiming the 1964 Magarey Medal, four best-and-fairest wins and four flags as captain.

Geof Motley passed away on Tuesday.

He also played 28 games for South Australia.

Philp said Motley’s sustained excellence came from always demanding the best.

“He was not only mentally strong, he was physically strong,” Philp said.

“You didn’t dare cross him because when he poked you in the chest with those fingers, it was like getting poked with a piece of steel.

“He was very tough, one of the toughest and strongest men playing football.

“They say (Neil) Kerley was strong, but Motley was stronger than him, physically, and mentally maybe, I reckon, too.”

Motley was the only Magpie to play in nine premierships – Central District duo Chris and James Gowans also won that many – and one of six to feature in each of the club’s national record six consecutive flags from 1954-59.

Port Adelaide great John Cahill described his ex-teammate as a born leader.

“He was just so talented and so rarely, if ever, got beaten,” Cahill, who played with Motley from 1958-66, told this masthead.

“He was brilliant.”

A boyhood Port supporter, Motley grew up in Magpies heartland at Albert Park and his father, Arthur, played reserves for the club.

Motley debuted in 1953 then featured in the first of Port’s six in a row the next year.

He established himself on the opposite half-back flank to close friend and fellow Woodville High classmate Neville “Chicken” Hayes, but was lauded for his versatility.

In the 1957 grand final, Port swung Motley from centre to the forward line and he kicked seven goals, including four in the last term, to help his side beat Norwood by 11 points.

“Mots played everywhere,” Philp said.

“If you were in trouble, put him there.

“He took a few of those interstate players apart.”

The former Port player was one of the most famous names in South Australian football.

Motley was fierce, but never reported.

Nor did his hard-nosed approach stop him from having a “wonderful sense of humour”, according to Philp.

“He’d set you up as quick as a flash,” the ex-ruckman said.

“When I was about 19 or 20 trying to get into Port Adelaide, we were in the showers … and I was a green apprentice boilermaker, wet behind the ears, and Motley said to me ‘do you cleanse your body? Detox?’

“I went home and asked mum if we had any Epsom salts to help me clean out my body, like if you eat steak and it sits in your body.

“You know what happened, I was s****ing all night.

“Mots came up two days later and said ‘how you’d go cleansing the body?’

“I said ‘yes, thank you very much’ and he laughed like buggaree.”

Motley became Port Adelaide’s captain-coach in 1959 when Fos Williams stepped down after steering the club to five flags in a row.

The Magpies had offered Motley the position on several occasions and eventually wore him down.

As captain-coach, he led the club to its sixth consecutive premiership in 1959, but was sacked and replaced by a returning Williams two years later after successive third-placed finishes.

“If you don’t win premierships down there, they give you the bullet,” Motley told this masthead with a laugh in 2020.

Glenelg almost secured a coup by luring Motley to be its captain-coach ahead of the 1962 season, but his family’s Port history proved too big a hurdle.

“I’d lost my father a couple of years before then and my mother said ‘your dad wouldn’t be happy and the family aren’t that happy’, so I told Glenelg I wouldn’t go,” Motley said.

“I’m glad that I did that and it’s important to me personally that I was a one-team player.”

Motley steered Port to five straight flags.

Philp said Motley showed loyalty to finish his career at the Magpies after his sacking as coach.

“He was Port Adelaide,” he said.

“You walk down the street in the Port with Geof and people would all come up and say ‘how you going, Mots? Big one this week’.

“People loved him and he was good around kids, doing a lot for the children’s hospital.”

Motley helped to foster a tight-knit squad as captain.

In 1963, when the Magpies won the SANFL’s “big gold cup” for the first time, Philp got a call while working as a boilermaker in Semaphore and it was Motley telling him to come to Alberton to drink champagne out of the new trophy.

“He got every player there that day,” Philp said.

“It holds six bottles of champagne and I reckon my tooth mark is still in that cup.”

The team returned the favour the next year, going to Motley’s house in Woodville the night he won the Magarey Medal.

“There would’ve been 20 of the 40 players in his house within 20 minutes of him winning the medal,” Philp said.

“He won it for the club, not only for himself.

“It was part of ours and us.”

Motley was Port’s games record holder when a knee injury led to his retirement in 1966.

He went on to coach North Adelaide from 1967-69, was chairman of selectors with the Magpies and state teams, and on the match committee at Sturt, where his son, Peter, played.

His business ventures included running Motley and Greer sports store with teammate Allen Greer and a manufacturing company.

Motley later moved into player management, looking after champions like Craig Bradley, Nathan Buckley and Warren Tredrea.

Off the field, Motley devoted himself to supporting Peter after his career at Carlton was cut short due to a car crash in Melbourne in 1987.

Geof Motley unveils the Geof Motley Race at Adelaide Oval with his sons Peter and Brett. Picture: Sarah Reed

Bradley paid tribute to a great man and close friend.

“Geof had such a presence in everything he did and will be missed,” the Port Adelaide and Carlton great said.

“It’s a very sad time.”

Motley’s name will live on at Port Adelaide.

In 2008, he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

The club picked him on a half-back flank in its Greatest Team and named its players’ race at Adelaide Oval in his honour in 2014.

Port chief executive Matthew Richardson said Motley was a club legend whose nine flag wins in 12 years was an incredible achievement.

“He always had that great sense of connection to our people and our community,” Richardson said.

“The one quote I always remember of Geof is ‘we did it for the people of Port Adelaide and the one thing we could deliver for them was a premiership’.”

Motley was inducted into the Port Adelaide hall of fame with Kane Cornes and George Fiachi in 2019. Picture Dean Martin

An Advertiser panel ranked Motley at No. 4 among Port Adelaide’s greatest ever players for the club’s 150th anniversary in 2020.

Asked at the time what made the best Port Adelaide footballers, Motley did not hesitate: “You have to be successful. Winning wasn’t everything at Port Adelaide, it was the only thing.

“They’ve got to have a certain level of ability but, more particularly, a work application that’s over and above the normal.

“They are prepared to be disciplined … and are committed to the cause.

“Most people hate our guts because we were Port Adelaide and we kept winning, but we won for a reason – we had an application that was better than theirs and a work ethic better than theirs.

“You’ll never take the Port Adelaide out of me.”

Motley is survived by his three children, Wanita, Peter – a fellow SA football hall of famer – and Brett.