Mike Patterson

Mike Patterson (aka The Swamp Fox) had a solid playing career as a ruckman with Richmond during the 60's, playng in the 1967 premiership side. He came to North Adelaide in 1970 as playing coach and won back-to-back flags with the Roosters in 1971 and 1972. His ultimate success was in guiding North to the Australian Championship by beating Carlton.

He continued to coach North until 1977, then had two and a half years with St Kilda. In 1984 he went back to Punt Road to coach Richmond, but coaching success in the VFL eluded him.

Bill Barrot

Another Richmond premiership player to move to SA as a captain-coach was Bill Barrot. He came to West Torrens in 1973 after having had rather unsuccessful stints at St Kilda and Carlton. Renowned as a raking drop kick, Barrot kicked a goal at Thebarton Oval which cleared the fence at half post height - from the centre circle! Torrens had only moderate success under Barrot and after a year and a half he was replaced by Wayne Jackson - yes, the current CEO of the AFL!

Gary Hardeman

Gary Hardeman joined Sturt in 1978 as a star recruit after over 200 games in 11 seasons with Melbourne. He was a half back with great fighting spirit who struggled early in his career, but once he clicked he became a regular Victorian representative and was runner up in the 1974 Brownlow Medal to Keith Greig. Hardeman played three seasons with the Blues before returning for another season with the Demons. He is currently on the board at Melbourne.

Bob Kingston

A key position player at South Melbourne who debuted at 16 years of age. Kingston stood out of football for half of 1967 in trying to win a clearance to Port Adelaide. After temporarily returning to the Swans, he eventually transferred to Port and went on to win State selection for SA.

Noel Teasdale

Noel Teasdale was a magnificent ruckman for North Melbourne over 12 seasons before joining Woodville as captain-coach in 1968. He lost the 1965 Brownlow Medal on a countback, but was awarded it retrospectively many years later. A clash of heads with a teammate in 1964 put Teasdale perilously close to death in hospital, but he returned better than ever with the use of a headguard. A Victorian representative on 17 occasions, he also played for SA against his home state. "Teaser" was a serviceable player for the Peckers for three years and coached for a further season. After a stint commentating for Channel 9, he also coached West Torrens in 1975 and 1976.

Ken Mansfield

Kenny Mansfield had played nearly 50 games as a rover for Essendon when he transferred to Woodville in 1981. Sounded good, and he played a few good games, but he was a tad slow and fell on the ball a lot. It was also a pretty bad side he stepped into. Mansfield was, however, a tough bugger; he had "Mans" tattooed inside his lip. And he is the only bloke I ever saw David Granger take a backward step from.

John Nicholls

What was a VFL premierhip coach and absolute legend in the game like John Nicholls doing in South Australia? After a stellar playing career with Carlton over nearly two decades - 18 years as player, 4 as coach, 8 as captain, 6 as vice-captain - Big Nick found himself coaching down at the Bay in 1977. Taking over from Neil Kerley, Glenelg made the Grand Final but dropped to seventh the next year. And that's the last the football world saw of John Nicholls in any hands-on capacity. Apparently, Leonard Nimoy has had the "In Search Of..." team out looking for him, but with litle success.

Maybe it's the shame of wearing a gold coloured polo neck skivvy....

John Birt

John Birt was a two-time premiership rover with Essendon (1961,1965) - indeed, he was best and fairest in those two years, as well as 1967 - who captain-coached West Torrens from 1968 to 1970. He was best and fairest in his first two seasons with the Eagles and they made the finals in 1969. He returned to Victoria to coach the Dons for a year before becoming a highly respected administrator.

Murray Weidemann

Collingwood strongman turned professional wrestler Murray Weidemann also moved to SA in 1968 to captain-coach West Adelaide. He had been a three-time Copeland Trophy winner and former captain. Weidemann played for two years, steering the Blood'n'Tars into the finals, before continuing for a further two years as non-playing coach. He then coached Collingwood for two years, claiming the Magpeis' first ever wooden spoon in 1976.

David Darcy

David Darcy was a solid full back for Footscray for many years before crossing over to captain-coach South Adelaide in 1972. South were pretty bad at the time, and in three years as coach Darcy couldn't get them out of the bottom three. He went on to become a prominent figure in Channel Nine's football coverage as well as in the hospitality industry.

Ross Dillon

Ross Dillon was a bespectacled key forward for Norwood who had played 85 games with Melbourne in the late 60's and early 70's. Dillon was a strong mark who topped the Demons' goalkicking list in 1969 and 1970. His finest season with the Redlegs was probably in 1975 when he was best and fairest and leading goalkicker in a premiership year, Norwood's first for 25 years. He went on to create a newsagency empire at West Lakes Mall.

Geoff Blethyn

Three-times Essendon leading goalkicker Geoff Blethyn joined Port Adelaide in the mid 70's. The man with the Dick Smith glasses had somehow booted a century for the Dons in 1972, but never looked like doing so in SA. If you don't think he was a dud, then e-mail me.

Barry Goodingham

Big Lurch came to Woodville in 1978 from North Melbourne, where he had sat on the bench in the 1975 premiership side. Although not doing much around the ground, he was an expert palmer of the ball in the ruck. He took over as coach the following year and steered the Peckers into their first ever finals series. After losing a number of key players, the Peckers finished bottom the following year.

Rod Olsson

Former Hawthorn player Rod Olsson had coached Geelong for four seasons, taking them into finals. He came to replace Barry Goodingham as coach of Woodville in 1981, but things didn't get any better. Rod loved the sound of his own voice and wife Elli was a clothes horse - square pegs in the round hole that was working class Woodville. Two wooden spoons later (including a memorable 1-win season in 1982), they were gone.

Robert Muir

Robert Muir - magnificent skills, electric pace, great reflexes... and white line fever. After a controversial career in the VFL with St Kilda (suspensions and "disappearances" restricted him to 20 matches in his last five seasons), he turned up at Woodville in the mid 80's during the Malcolm Blight era. Muir put in some fabulously disciplined performances for the Warriors, but one day at Thebarton the West Torrens fans threw water filled cans at him. Blighty told him at half time to ignore it, but by the end of the game Muir snapped. After the final siren, he went to jump the fence and a group of people have never scattered so quickly. He never played for the Warriors again.

Neil Balme

Rugged ruckman/forward Neil Balme, originally from Subiaco, joined Norwood in 1980 from Richmond as player-coach. Two times premiership player and twice leading goalkicker for the Tigers, he played little for the Redlegs, but coached for 11 seasons. In this time, Norwood won two flags and never missed a finals series. He went on to be inaugural coach of the newly merged Woodvile-West Torrens and then coached Melbourne in the AFL. Balme was sacked in his fifth season with the Demons by the Gutnick regime and is now football manager with Collingwood. In contrast to his reputation as one of the most feared players in the VFL, Balme is one of the game's more eloquent speakers.

Colin Graham

Colin Graham was an Aboriginal forward who played 35 games for Melbourne in the mid 70's after learning his football in Penola and Kyabram. Arriving at Woodville in 1980, he walked into a side about to go down the gurgler and never showed his best. He turned up at Sturt in the mid 80's, playing alongside relative Michael Graham, and showed some promise before disappearing into the football ether.

John Cassin

The son of an Essendon premiership player, John Cassin had played 50 games over four seasons with the Bombers when he came to play with West Torrens in 1975. The fiery rover revived his career with the Eagles over the next couple of seasons despite them finishing bottom on both occasions. He captained the club in 1976. Cassin went back to the VFL in 1977 and was part of North Melbourne's premiership side that year. After five seasons with the Roos, he finished his career with a brief stint at Fitzroy.

Graham Campbell

Graham Campbell was a Fitzroy best and fairest who had played for Victoria. He had already coached West Perth and Fitzroy before taking on the Bays for two seasons in the mid 80's. After a disastrous start, he got them to third, nurturing a young Stephen Kernahan along the way. Famous for his machine gun mode of speech, he went on to become the TAB's Mr Footypunt.

Jeff Sarau

Stripped of the St Kilda vice captaincy at the start of 1984 after eleven years and two best and fairests with the Saints, Jeff Sarau transferred to West Torrens. He was best and fairest in his first season at Thebarton and was a terrific player for the Eagles. He later coached Frankston in the VFA.

Shane Grambeau

An occasionally brilliant but inconsistent ruckman at St Kilda for five years, Shane Grambeau moved to Melbourne and developed into a key defender. In 1979 he came to Woodville and played in their inaugural finals team, before moving on to West Torrens.

Glenn Elliott

Glenn Elliott was a highly talented centreman whose career began at the end of St Kilda's golden era. A regular State player for Victoria, he played over 150 VFL games (including a season at Melbourne) and was best and fairest for the Saints in 1974. Coaching West Torrens in the early 80's, he managed four ninth placings in a row - lucky Woodville were even worse.

Ron Andrews

Rotten Ronnie Andrews was a rough and tough but popular defender over 11 seasons and 150 games for Essendon, even becoming captain in 1982. He missed out on the 1983 grand final, spent a year at Collingwood then finished up at Westies. By then he was past his best and plagued with injuries. Later became a joke boxer.

Rod Galt

So much talent, so little fulfilment. Rod Galt was touted as the new Carl Ditterich for St Kilda in the early 70's, but after five seasons was sold to Carlton. Although he averaged over two goals a game, he once again failed to achieve consistency and after four years transferred to West Torrens where he preened himself for five seasons in the early 80's.

Bob Beecroft

Bob Beecroft had been a ruckman with Swan Districts before becoming an excellent full forward for Fitzroy, topping their goalkicking from 1977 to 1980. Coming to Woodville in the early 80's, he was still an imposing figure and had plenty to offer. Only trouble was that the rest of the team was crap.

Colin Hounsell

Colin Hounsell was a rover who came to Woodville in 1981 from South Melbourne. He had plenty of pace, but broke his contract and went back to Melbourne because of a homesick fiancee. He went on to play over 100 games for the Swans.

Wally May

After nearly 100 games in the VFL, playing with the likes of Dick Reynolds and John Coleman, two time Essendon premiership ruckman Wally May stood out of football in 1953 to transfer to lowly Sturt. He was a durable player who was also handy in defence. Best and fairest in 1955, he went on to captain-coach the Blues to a wooden spoon the next year, but is probably best remembered as an absolutely bloody legendary TV commentator. Famous for the expression, "If you can't kick, you can't play". Comment, Wally May!

Max Kruse

Max Kruse played nearly a hundred games for South Melbourne/Sydney Swans in the early 80's. He could hold down key positions at either end of the ground. So why was he so crap when he played for the Bays?

Michael Poynton

Michael Poynton came to North Adelaide in the mid 80's after over 50 games with Fitzroy. He was one of those lightly built half forward flankers with a sharp eye for goal; his VFL career was cut short by a serious knee injury.

Bob Keddie

After winning two best and fairests for Hawthorn (in 1967 and 1969) and winning the 1971 VFL Grand Final almost off his own boot in the final quarter, Bob Keddie came to West Adelaide in 1973 as captain coach. He was best and fairest, but the Bloods finished bottom and he moved to South Adelaide. He captained the Panthers for three years, picking up another best and fairest.

Steven Knight

Steven Knight was a very annoying player for Port Adelaide who came from Footscray. A small forward, he had the knack of being precisely where the fights were. Played mainly in the unsuccessful Russell Ebert coaching spell.

Jeff Fehring

After spells with St Kilda (for whom he kicked a goal from the centre circle) and Geelong, ruckman Jeff Fehring moved to Norwood. Not a star, but had the most booming kick in the competition.

Robert Whatman

Robert Whatman came to Port Adelaide after 34 games for Geelong in the early 70's. A wingman at Kardinia Park, he played mostly in the forward line for the Magpies, proving a useful foil for Tim Evans. Whatman had a unique style in that he tucked the ball under his arm between bounces like a rugby player.

Wayne Primmer

In three seasons with Essendon, Wayne Primmer notched up 40 games and nearly two goals per game. A livewire rover, he transferred to West Torrens where he was a moderate performer under Neil Kerley.

Ted Langridge

Ted Langridge was a very good rover for Richmond over eight seasons, heading their goalkicking on three occasions (5th on the VFL list in his last season). He moved to Sturt as they were about to start their golden era. Later, he was a commentator on Channel 7.

Adrian Battiston

Battiston was the 1981 Morrish Medallist (Under 19's) in the VFL. He was a left footed rover who played 96 games for Melbourne before a brief two season career with the Sydney Swans. He battled injury and was an ordinary player at Glenelg but stayed to eventually become the club's general manager.

David Bolton

Woodville (thanks to Rod Olsson) picked up the speedy David Bolton from Geelong Under 19's in 1981 and he proved to be a prolific possession winner over three seasons. He returned to Geelong for a couple of seasons to give good service before moving to Sydney and becoming a star in the club's Geoffrey Edelsten salad days. Had the distinction of playing for SA, Victoria and NSW.

Michael Wright

Michael Wright played 39 games over three seasons for South Melbourne from 1978 to 1980. He transferred to Central District in the early 80's and played many fine games for the Bulldogs at centre half forward.

Syd Jackson

Syd Jackson was a fabulous legend for Carlton during the 70's. Former teammate John Nicholls got him to the Bay in the late 70's where he proved to be the poster boy for over the hill VFL stars looking for a final payday.