Two-time Palmerston Magpies premiership player Jerry Frank dies after a short illness

TERRITORY football lost one its genuine wizards this week with the death of dual Palmerston premiership player Jerry Frank after a short illness

Dual Palmerston premiership player Jerry Frank has died. Picture: Peter Bennett

TERRITORY football lost one its genuine wizards this week with the death of dual Palmerston premiership player Jerry Frank.

Originally from Cairns where he plied his trade with the City Cobras, Frank set the NTFL competition alight when he arrived virtually unannounced in the mid 1990s.

A short playing stint with the Darwin Buffaloes was followed by eight glorious seasons at the Magpies where he played in two premierships and represented the NTFL against Collingwood.

Frank’s premiership captain Mark Tyrrell remembers him as a player of extraordinary talent who preferred to let his football do most of the talking for him.

Tyrrell said his premiership teammate was the first indigenous player to make him aware of the special skills his people possessed.

“It was a time in the 1990s when a lot of us white blokes came to Darwin looking for a game of footy in a whole new place,’’ Tyrrell said.

“We knew the indigenous guys could play footy at another level to us and when I saw Jerry play my first reaction was “wow, is this guy for real?’’

“For me Jerry Frank was very special, a person who never said a lot but when he did you stopped and listened, because it made a whole lot of sense.’’

Tyrrell was the beneficiary of more than one foot pass from Frank and he still rubs his chest to this day from the accuracy and force of those kicks.

“Jerry was a great player and not a lot of people may know this, someone who was extremely loyal to the Magpies,’’ he added.

“He was a big part of our back-to-back premierships in 2000-01 and 2001-02, but just as important was his decision to stay at the club during our tough times when that golden era was over.

“I’ll certainly miss him and so will a lot of people associated with the Palmerston Magpies and NT footy.’’

Jerry Frank is survived by his wife Sonya and sons Ezekiel and Mathias.