When the bottom of the ladder Swan Districts selected two young wingmen to make their league debuts in the third last round of the 1951 season in a desperation move against the rampaging South Fremantle side, little did they know that the two would both become greats for the club. “It was a tough initiation,” recalled one of the pair, Dennis Carrick. “Brian Gray and myself had the choice of Eric Eriksson or John Colgan, both State players.” Carrick played on Eriksson, and did enough to hold his spot, as did Gray. A Swans supporter all his life, Dennis Carrick played his junior football as a centreman with Bassendean juniors, before playing in the Metropolitan Juniors competition. He was a late bloomer, just an average player in the under fourteens , but as a seventeen year old came under notice of Swans talent scouts with selection in the combined Metropolitan Juniors side, alongside some future stars, including Dicky Walker, who became a star with Perth, and South Fremantle rover Barry White. Playing on a half forward flank in his second league game, against Claremont, Carrick started the 1952 season on a wing, and he and Gray became permanent fixtures on either side of Bassendean Oval for the remainder of the fifties. At five foot ten, Carrick was a speedy customer, with the objective of feeding his half forwards, who were often on the end of bullet like stab passes.  A natural wingman, he used his elusiveness and judgement to good effect. There were plenty of top wingmen around at the time, with players like Paul Seal(East Perth), Tommy Robbins and Ron Triplett(Subiaco), Keith Harper(Perth), Brian Humphries(West Perth), Colgan and Erikksson(South Fremantle), as well as some star centremen, and it was a tough assignment for a winger to get into the State side. Selectors often went for the top three centreman across the centre line in State teams, so when Carrick made the 1955 West Australian combination to front South Australia at Subiaco, it was an achievement. With Harper on the other wing, Carrick was a solid contributor in a three point nailbiter, kicking a goal, but it was to be the only appearance he made in the black and gold, despite being part of several State squads over the years. His form in the clash with South Australia triggered an approach from Hawthorn, offering a good job as part of the bait. “It wasn't a bad offer,” Carrick said. “But it wasn't lucrative money wise, the money just wasn't there those days, and I had a good job with the Government, so I decided to stay put.” Runner up to Joe Lawson for fairest and best in 1958, Carrick decided to give league football away early in 1961, the season of Swans memorable premiership. “I was twenty seven, I had fractured a leg plus a few twinges, and thought I should try and make a quid in the country while I could still get a kick,” he laughed. “It wasn't the best timing, I know, but a new generation was what was best for the club.” Kicking off with Harvey-Brunswick, in the South West League, where he played for two years, Carrick then entered coaching ranks, where he enjoyed almost immediate success at Sunday League club Osborne Park, becoming the toast of the market garden suburb with their first ever A Grade flag in that League in 1965, his second season at the helm, a feat which was repeated two years later with former Perth player Bill Leuzzi in the chair. After deciding to finally hang up the boots at the age of thirty four, Dennis was talked into taking on the playing coach position at the Inglewood Sunday League club. “ I shouldn't have done it,”  he admitted. “ We always go a year too long.” Carrick moved to Mandurah, where he embarked on another career, at bowls with the Dudley Park club. Dennis gives his “hardest to beat” to Harper, Seal, and Colgan, while best team mate went to Ken Bagley. He rated his worst moment in the game as the incident in a match against Subiaco, when team mate Brian Currie's career ended after a sickening clash with Maroons centre half back Mike Somerford. “It was a bonecrushing clash, and Brian sort of twisted in the air and ended on his back, with his face upwards as Somerford took a mark and landed heavily on Brian's face, punching a hole in his forehead,” he explained. “He stood up, but was out of it, we could all see that. He was operated on that night for a depressed fracture of the skull.” A distraught Somerford, who was entirely innocent of any blame, visited Currie in hospital that night. The highly promising Narembeen recruit never played for the black and whites again, as doctors warned him of the risks, but did don the boots against their advice for Narembeen in later years, eventually to represent the State in lawn bowls. These days, Dennis Carrick is retired, and having a great time enjoying the seaside lifestyle, with three sons and a daughter to pay him a visit. The youngest, David, is a fifteen hundred metre runner, so it appears the Carrick speed is hereditory. A life member of Swan Districts, Dennis Carrick played 154 games in the black and white, and, in a club boasting many fine wingmen, is up there with the finest. As a player in an era of many lows and not a lot of highs at Bassendean, Carrick can hold his head high with his efforts for the Swan Districts Football Club.