When  ran onto Fremantle Oval for the Derby on April 11, 1970, he became the second youngest player to have debuted in Western Australian League Football.

The fifteen year old, who played in the centre during his junior years, was selected as a rover. “The regular rovers were injured so they gave me a run,” said the modest Magro. “I got a game the following week against Swans and hardly got a kick, so it was back to the colts for me.”

It turned out to be a big year for the Bulldogs, Stan himself being part of a colts flag, and the league side taking out the premiership over Perth.

Stan Magro was destined to go to the top in football right from his junior days, when he was a dominant centreman who played in two State Schoolboys sides and captained the 1969 team. “Stan Magro was captain and the enforcer.  Superb leader and player,” was a comment from a teammate in that side, which tied with Victoria as carnival winners and provided seven of the All Australian team.

After several reserves appearances in 1971, he cemented a league spot in his accustomed centre position. One of the best and most ferocious tacklers in the game, he played it tough, and clashes he had with the hardnuts of the WANFL were on many a highlight reel.  The most notable of these were the duels with Gary Sidebottom from Swan Districts, and South-Swans contests became much anticipated events.

One of these in 1975 resulted in a suspension for Magro, and an incensed coach Colin Beard made it known that he would be using Stan as a runner for the game against Subiaco. Before the match began, Subiaco officials informed South Fremantle that they would be lodging a protest if the action was carried through. The South players, already upset by what they considered the injustice of Magro’s suspension, were angered by the apparent pettiness of the move.

It backfired for Subiaco, and they lost by sixty three points.

1975 was also a year that saw Stan Magro realise his potential. He made the first of his seven appearances for Western Australia in the Australian Carnival in Melbourne, against Victoria, in a game in which the Sandgropers were comprehensively beaten, but it was no fault of the debutant, awarded the Simpson Medal for his efforts. Ironically, Stan lined up on a half forward flank alongside Sidebottom.

One of South Fremantle’s best in the losing grand final of 1975, Magro continued to shine in 1976, lining up in the centre for WA when the Big V visited Subiaco in April of that year. His no nonsense, hard tackling, and courageous approach to the game was inevitably going to attract the attention of the Eastern Seaboard, and he fielded enquiries from a number of Victorian clubs, finally settling for Collingwood. “I was impressed with the way they went about things, and it was their professionalism, such as sitting me down and saying: “we envisage you doing this” that swayed me, plus the fact that two good South boys in Wayne and Max Richardson were there,” Stan explained.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however.

South Fremantle refused to consider a release for their star centreman, and it wasn’t until round ten of the 1977 season that Magro saw any VFL action. When he was finally unleashed, he showed the Pies that their investment was a good one. Despite the missed quota of the season, he finished third in the Copeland Trophy for fairest and best playing in the centre, and was part of the tied grand final with North Melbourne in what was the first premiership decider to be televised. The replay went to the Kangaroos by twenty seven points.

On October 8 of that year, Stan was a member of the Western Australian contingent for the first State of Origin game, against Victoria at Subiaco Oval, won by the locals in a canter. Max Richardson was also part of the WA side.

In a six year stint at Collingwood, Magro earned a reputation as a tough and consistent competitor. One shirtfront on Carlton’s Alex Jesaulenko is remembered today.

The arrival of “the Macedonian Marvel,” Peter Daicos, in round four of 1979 saw a new role open up for Stan. His style of play was well suited to a back pocket, and he became a specialist in the position, to the extent of being selected to play there for Victoria against Tasmania that year, as well as gaining another third place in the Copeland Trophy.

Magro was quickly switched back into the middle when conditions were wet, his ability to handle the heavy going always a plus for Collingwood.

After playing in losing grand finals in 1979 and 80, and with a young family, the twenty six year old Magro decided to return home. Intending to resume at South Fremantle, he wasn’t enamoured by the vibes from coach Mal Brown at the reigning WAFL premiers, so accepted an offer from East Perth. Injury hampered Stan at the Royals, the main culprit being a shoulder that regularly popped out, and he retired after the blue and blacks’ first semi final exit in 1984.

Magro’s credentials had coach written all over them, and as a mentor he had a meteoric rise, with a premiership at Wagin attracting the attention of the Bulldogs. After taking the South Fremantle reserves to a flag in 1986, he was appointed coach of a struggling league side, and guided them into a grand final in 1989. A four year stint at the Port was followed by two seasons at the helm of the Royals, before Collingwood made him an assistant coach in 1993.

A period at the Fremantle Dockers ended acrimoniously, when the club allegedly failed to honour commitments it made, and it’s still a touchy subject with Stan. The matter ended in the courts, but the effect it had on his coaching career couldn’t be compensated. Four years at the Perth Demons rounded off Magro’s coaching career in the West.

Stan reckons that Richmond rover Kevin Bartlett was his toughest assignment. “It was a lousy matchup,” he laughed. “Kevin was too quick for me.” He recalled the day that Bartlett played his four hundredth game. “Ray Byrne, who was playing on him that day, presented him with a large comb with no teeth.”

Stan was adamant that Stephen Michael would have been a star in Victoria. “Out and out champion.”

Stan Magro played a hundred and twenty five games at South Fremantle, ninety six for Collingwood, two seasons with East Perth, made seven appearances for Western Australia, and one for Victoria. His determination to win the hard ball, ferocious tackling, and reliable marking were features of his game, and he was an outstanding competitor in both Western Australia and Victoria.