Mark Robinson assesses which champions will join the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2021
There is a unique twist in the 25th Australian Football Hall of Fame night, and a host of champs are in contention to have their names etched into history.
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The rich — and possibly misplaced — history of Australian rules will be centre stage at this year’s Australian Football Hall of Fame dinner in June.
The occasion of the 25th anniversary will be used by Hall of Fame officials to buck charter protocols and elevate yesteryear champs to Legend status.
That’s champs plural.
And the one criteria is the player or coach has to be deceased.
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In a move ratified at the final meeting of selectors in 2020, at least one deceased former great who has been previously overlooked for the more recent Legends like Kevin Sheedy, Tony Lockett and Malcolm Blight, will be honoured.
“At least one’’ means there could be one, or two, or three players or coaches elevated to Legend status.
Traditionally, only one Legend is named for elevation, usually every second year, but this year shapes to be different.
In what looms as a treasured night on this year’s footy calendar, three recently retired players — Chris Judd, Adam Goodes and Dustin Fletcher — could be first-year selections into the Hall of Fame.
The three of them retired at the end of the 2015 seasons, which, after five years, makes them eligible for induction
Judd and Goodes are both two-time Brownlow medallists, while Fletcher is one of only four players to have played more than 400 VFL/AFL games.
Kevin Bartlett (403 games) is already a Legend, while Michael Tuck is a Hall of Famer. North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey (432) is yet to be a Hall of Fame inductee.
It is the elevation to Legend status, however, which is most intriguing.
Collingwood has several players for consideration.
The first goalkicking sensation of the sport, Walter Henry “Dick’’ Lee, has strong claims.
At just 175cm and weighing 76kg, Lee was a spectacular mark. Despite being plagued by a knee and a serious shin injury throughout his career, he played 230 games and kicked a then VFL record 707 goals. It was a phenomenal average when you consider teams, in 1910s, often only kicked five or six goals a game.
Bobby Rose is the other Magpie.
Rose only played 152 games, but he was considered by many to be Collingwood’s greatest player.
From Western Australia, David Christy is “Mr Premierships’’.
He started his career at Melbourne and finished at East Fremantle and at EF won premierships in 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911.
Merv McIntosh from Perth won three Sandover Medals (1948, 1953, 1954) and best and fairests in 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1954.
Jack Sheedy, who played for South Melbourne, East Fremantle and East Perth, is known as Mr Football in WA. He played 338 games from 1944-62 and coached 261 games.
The five obvious names from South Australia are Ken Farmer, Fos Williams, Jack Oatey, Len Fitzgerald and Bob Quinn. Farmer surprisingly missed out on the initial intake of Hall of Fame members in 1996 — he was inducted in 1998.
He is the most prolific goalkicker in South Australian football history with 1419 goals. His biography details how he was never held goalless and kicked 100 goals in a season for 11 consecutive seasons.
Williams was a star rover before becoming coach of Port Adelaide, where he won nine premierships and Oatey coached for 38 years and won 10 premiership at Norwood and Sturt.
Fitzgerald played 96 games for Collingwood and then joined Sturt where won three Magarey Medals (1952, 1956 and 1959), while Quin was a brilliant rover who won two Magarey Medals (1938 and 1945) with Port Adelaide.
Others who could be considered include Jim Stynes, the Irishman who won a Brownlow Medal and whose story could be the greatest in football history, Bulldogs legend Charlie Sutton, Richmond’s powerhouse goalkicker of the 1930s Jack Titus and the sport’s first recognised coach in Jack Worrall who coached five flags at Carlton and Essendon at the turn of last century.
The players in consideration for induction as a player include Carlton’s David McKay, St Kilda’s Nicky Winmar, Collingwood and North Melbourne spearhead Sav Rocca, Thorold Merrett, Jack Dugdale and Melbourne’s Don Williams.
There’s Richmond’s dynamic centreman Geoff Raines, Hawthorn’s Chris Mew and Gary Buckenara, Carlton’s Rod Ashman, Brisbane and Essendon forward Roger Merrett, Brent Crosswell and Footscray’s Kelvin Templeton.
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Originally published as Mark Robinson assesses which champions will join the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2021
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