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Austin Robertson was one of Western Australia’s finest ever full forwards.  He kicked 1287 goals for Subiaco, 60 in his only season at South Melbourne, and 44  in ten games for Western Australia.  He led the WANFL goalkicking list  eight  times and topped the hundred in six of the eleven years he played with Subiaco.     His total of 157 in the 1968 season is a record and will stand for many years to come. Yet for the bulk of his career Robertson played in bottom four sides. In thirteen seasons he only played in six finals. This makes his performances even better than the already impressive statistics would suggest.  Austin Robertson was a product of the Subiaco Juniors, and played his early football with the Floreat Park juniors.  He joined Subiaco in 1961, and made his league debut in 1962, at the age of eighteen.  He was an instant sensation.  He kicked 89 goals in that first year and topped the league list. Robertson inherited the speed qualities of his father Austin Robertson snr, who besides being a champion footballer was an accomplished athlete, at one time being known as “the fastest man in the world”.  Robertson jnr was lightning quick out of the blocks and was a dependable mark, but it was his kicking that set him apart from his peers. Like his champion predecessor, Bernie Naylor, he practised and perfected the drop punt, and he rarely missed a shot on goal. Tallies he kicked when topping the league list were: 1962(89), 1964(94), 1965(108), 1968(162), 1969(116)1970(116), 1971(111) and 1972(98). It has to be said that, although Subiaco were a bottom side for most of the sixties, they did possess some great midfielders, who complemented Robertson’s game with superb footpassing.  Reg Hampson, Cam Blakemore, and Peter Metropolis were stars for a battling Subiaco side and  developed an understanding with the star sharpshooter. Full backs from opposing sides breathed a sigh of relief when Austin Robertson went to Victoria in 1966 to line up with the club who still hold his father in high esteem, South Melbourne. He only played there for one season, but it was enough to let the Vics see his ability first hand, booting 60 majors for the lowly VFL side. After returning to Subiaco in 1967, he picked up where he had left off, but it was the following season that his game moved into another gear. In 1968 he was unstoppable, and went into the last game of the qualifying rounds fourteen goals behind Bernie Naylor’s benchmark of 156. He kicked fifteen in that game, against a hapless East Fremantle,  to set a new high for full forwards in Western Australia.  Five more in the finals that year took his season’s tally to 162. He capped off the year with a Subiaco fairest and best award. The following three years saw Robertson kick three figure totals, followed by 98 in 1972.  In 1973, the drought ended for Subiaco,  and the long awaited premiership was theirs. Although the Maroons changed their style of play to give them more forward options, Robertson was still their number one goalkicker. Austin Robertson retired after the 1974 season at the age of 31. For a full forward to win a fairest and best is an achievement. Robertson won two for Subiaco.  He set a standard for full forward play and accurate kicking that will last as long as there is football in Western Australia.               

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