Sam Newman pays tribute to former teammate and legendary Geelong ruckman Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer
Sam Newman has lauded the legacy of late Geelong ruckman Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer, describing the Cats legend and his former teammate as the greatest player he has ever seen.
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Graham Farmer is the greatest player I have seen. He revolutionised the game.
He was the first person to realise that handball could be proactive, that it brought teammates into the game.
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He was a consummate team player.
And he perfected the art of ruckwork.
He had to, because he wasn’t a big man and couldn’t leap that well because he injured his knee when he first arrived at Geelong in 1962.
He played under extreme adversity for most of his career — 101 games he played in five years — but he was as competitive and as polished as any player I have seen.
He did change the way the game was played with that attacking handball and he perfected the art of taking people out of the game — legally in those days — at bounces and throw-ins by jumping early at them.
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He was uncanny at that. Simon Madden actually went on to perfect it.
I came to know his skill by playing alongside Polly. He never gave me any instruction at all.
He probably had confidence that people he respected would have enough nous to work out how to emulate him just by watching.
Maybe it just wasn’t in his DNA to tell people what to do.
He just made sure he could be as good as he could be. And then let the coach and the match committee and anyone else worry about the rest of the side.
He didn’t whinge or complain or moan about anyone.
He was just dedicated to being the best.
And that probably came from the hardship of his formative years.
When you think about it, a lot of us get a fairly cushy ride through life, but nothing could be further from the truth for that man, and it’s why I admire him so much.
He decided he was going to be something, use the talent that he had, and prevail because of it.
He was a great get by Geelong coach Bob Davis, who worked tirelessly to get him over from East Perth.
I made it my business to know his background. It was pretty well documented, but it wasn’t spoken about much.
I got on extremely well with him, but he never gave me any verbal direction. I learnt all my football craft from watching him and being with him.
I know that sounds trite but he was a private, quiet, shy, modest person.
My first indirect contact with him was in 1963 when Bob Davis and then secretary Leo O’Brien came out to my school.
They had been told I was a reasonable schoolboy footballer, and they said would you come in and play the last three games in the reserves. And they gave me one of Polly’s training jumpers as an enticement.
I had nothing to do with him in 1963, really, just nodding acquaintances, and then I started at Geelong in 1964 when I left school.
He was the guiding light of the side, its figurehead, and while he wasn’t the captain in 1963 when they won the premiership, he quietly went about his own work.
The Geelong side was pretty talented but he was the stuff that held it together.
He was the architect. He was the go-to man when things got difficult or when the pressure was on.
I don’t want to diminish the other people in the side because there were great players like John Devine and Bill Goggin.
But he was our father figure, if I could say that.
Plenty of opponents tried to rile him or belt him.
But he was never compromised. He was nobody’s fool.
If someone did something untoward with him, he always gave a receipt.
The people watching would probably never notice it.
He wasn’t into histrionics or the theatrics of the game.
But he was as competitive as any person I’ve seen.
Everyone throughout their career has off days. When Polly had an off day he made sure his opponent didn’t prevail. He was clever at working out his opponent and how to play him on his weaknesses, not his strengths.
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His last game for Geelong was the 1967 Grand Final, but I was actually in hospital because I lost my kidney in the first semi-final against Collingwood. That was the last game I played with him. He was best on ground, but I have no fond memories of it because I lasted only seven or eight minutes. I got kneed in the kidney in the first quarter and that was it.
Polly left Geelong in ’67, and I recovered over the summer and took the mantle of No. 1 ruckman for the club.
When I played my 300th game in 1980, they must have invited him over because I have a photo of me shaking hands with him.
I wasn’t a close ally of his but I always made a point of trying to see him when I went to Perth because I had a great affection for him.
I saw him last year in Perth and he was in really poor health. But I did want to see him in case it was the last time, and it was.
Originally published as Sam Newman pays tribute to former teammate and legendary Geelong ruckman Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer
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