Bleached hair, wild hairstyles — they don’t make AFL players like they used to

AS the AFL season fast approaches it’s the perfect time to look back on the game’s most controversial - and some of the most loved - characters.

Melissa Meehan

3 min read

January 23, 2017 - 8:35AM

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PLAYING with a punctured lung, a signature hairdo or boasting a ‘colourful’ personality - they don’t make footy characters like they used to.

The countdown to the AFL season is on so it seems like a perfect opportunity to look back at the characters of the game.

Robert DiPierdomenico — The former Hawthorn player “Dipper” was known for his toughness. He proved that when suffering numerous broken ribs and a punctured lung in the last quarter of the 1989 Grand Final. Despite the pain, Dipper played on until the final siren. The man with the stache would be a familiar to those of a younger ilk — he rode the boundary for Channel 7’s television coverage after he retired.

Kevin Bartlett — The Richmond great, known as “Hungry” because of his unwillingness to handball, could win the game off his own boot. Bartlett could be seen most matches running at full pelt down the wing with his famous comb-over flapping in the wind. He played in five Richmond premierships and won the Norm Smith Medal in the 1980 Grand Final after kicking seven goals.

Kevin Bartlett channelling the 1980 Grand Final. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Dermott Brereton — His permed hair and coloured boots made him stand out on the field, but “Dermie” was also known as one of the toughest players to play the game. He played five premierships for Hawthorn, including the 1989 grand final, where he was shirt fronted at the beginning of the match. Despite breaking his ribs, he played on. He went on to become a popular television personality, including as a travel reporter for Channel 9’s Getaway program.

Max Gawn — A current day player with a personality to boot. The shaved-head bearded ruckman is the second tallest in the league, a towering 208cm behind Docker Aaron Sandilands is 211cm). The All-Australian is most famously known for being caught smoking in his car before training when he was 17, but he turned that around.

Big Maxy Gawn: A current day player with a personality to boot. Picture: Getty

Bruce Doull — The “flying doormat”, his trademark navy blue and white headband and his extreme comb-over hairstyle are best known for being harassed by Carlton scarf wearing streaker Helen D’amico in the 1982 Grand Final. The normally reserved player, kept to himself and was never reported by the umpires for foul play — but lost his cool when Hawthorn player Kevin Ablett tackled him around the neck. Doull chased Ablett with the commentator saying “Bruce Doull has gone berserk”.

Did we miss anyone? Who do you think has been the AFL’s biggest character?

Mark “Jacko” Jackson — One of the most famous characters of the game, best known for his appearance in the Energizer battery add, Jacko’s career was full of controversy. He played with five teams (Melbourne, St Kilda, Geelong, Richmond and South Fremantle) and still holds long harboured grudges against those who he believes ruined his football career.

Mark “Jacko”Jackson in his playing days with Geelong

Kevin Sheedy — The former Richmond player and Essendon coach is probably best known for his quirky antics, outspoken nature and dry sense of humour. He often referred to the umpires as Martians and is best known for waving his bomber jacket above his head after the Bombers beat West Coast in a close match in 1993 — when Paul Salmon kicked a goal 30 seconds before the siren.

Jason Akermanis — The Brownlow medallist with the bleach blonde hair and his contrasting black beard is best known for his not-so politically correct statements about his own teammates and coaches — leading to not so friendly exits from the two clubs he played for. But when the outspoken Brisbane and Bulldogs player hit the field his flair and grace did the talking.

Jason Akermanis holding the 2001 AFL premiership cup.

Joffa — Joffa Corfe must be the best known AFL fan in Melbourne, his sparkling gold jacket standing out in the Collingwood cheer squad. He’s even made a movie Joffa: The movie which was released in 2010.

Dustin Martin — The heavily tattooed tiger is best known for his signature “don’t argue” fend off as opposition players try to tackle him around the ground — but he also hasn’t been far from controversy. Most recently he was in hot water for threatening a woman at a Prahran restaurant with chopsticks, but police investigations into the incident found there were no criminal charges to be laid. His father Shane has also been in the media — deported to New Zealand because of his alleged links to the Rebels Motorcycle Gang.

Martin in the middle of one of his infamous “don’t argue’s” Picture: Getty Images

Ben Cousins — The former Eagle captain’s fall from grace has been well documented, the Brownlow medallist banned in 2007 for bringing the game into disrepute because of his recreational drug use. The ban lasted a year and he was thrown a lifeline by Richmond but his comeback was plagued by injury. Since his retirement in 2010, Cousins has stayed in the news, arrested numerous times in relation to drug possession, outrunning police and breaching restraining orders.