TOPIC:

Do you swans guys recall Jeff Collier? I knew him and thought he was a very good footballer, but those pesky Narkles made it bloody hard for him to get a gig I reckon! Went to SANFL

ooollllrrrrrry2 wrote: Looking at some comments and thinking back, it's Avery from Claremont that stands out. Kicked an absolute bucketload in the twos week after week and struggled to get a senior game.
Not sure if the eras aligned but I think Warren Ralph played a key role in keeping him out.

Came over to West Perth, and to be honest he wasn't that good. Big, slow, decent set of hands and a bit of a two hand drop in his kicking action. Delivery at West Perth not as good as it would have been at Claremont, but still, he wasn't up to it at league level.

GC: We agree on Avery, but he was worth a punt -- excuse the pun -- given his record at Claremont, albeit in the reserves.

Which shows he probably was a ressie specialist.

ArkRoyal wrote: GC: We agree on Avery, but he was worth a punt -- excuse the pun -- given his record at Claremont, albeit in the reserves.

He played Reserves at Claremont and Perth before having a couple of seasons at WP.
Played 17 games-44 goals 1983-84.
Was the leading goalkicker at WP in 1983 with 41 goals.

BH -- thanks -- Geoff Christian had a right go at him in the paper one day, and he is still controversial among the WP faithful to this day.

AR if you can remember back to those late 70s-early 80s Claremont had a plethora of Full Forwards coming through the ranks that had to bide their time in the magoos as Warren Ralph was the incumbent.
Peter Avery, Alan Rowe, Craig MacArthur etc
In fact Ralph himself had to wait his turn behind the likes of Ross Ditchburn & Norm Uncle.

Singha wrote: Do you swans guys recall Jeff Collier? I knew him and thought he was a very good footballer, but those pesky Narkles made it bloody hard for him to get a gig I reckon! Went to SANFL

I vaguely remember him Singha a blonde wingman from memory?
He played 18 games-5 goals from 1977-1980 for the Mighty Black & Whites.

ArkRoyal wrote: GC: We agree on Avery, but he was worth a punt -- excuse the pun -- given his record at Claremont, albeit in the reserves.

Absolutely, West Perth were crying out for a forward that could kick a bag back in those days. Was probably a bit harsh on the Falcons mids re the delivery, had some very good users of the ball - Menaglio, Fong, Bewick x 2, Warwick, Gastev, Murnane, Bell, Chaplin - we just had run of the mill forwards. From the top of my head, can only recall 3 times in the early - mid 80's that a West Perth player kicked a bag - Bradmore 8 in his first game; Fong 7 Round 1 v South 84ish and Ron Davis had a big day. I'm sure Derek Kickett probably kicked a bag at some stage as well.
Surprised Avery's record was as good as it was at West Perth, was another one from Claremont a few years later - Shane? O'Neill, bit undersized as a full forward, but did move and kick well.
No shock that when Bradmore had a good year, and we had some forward magic in Kickett we had a decent year in 85

GC I couldn’t believe it at the time when WP cleared Chris Stasinowsky to SF mid way through 1982 as I always thought he was a dangerous forward for you guys.
WP played a number of blokes at Full Forward in the 1980s for limited success the likes of Avery, Comerford, Davis, Bradmore (more CHF), O’Neill, Taylor, Fitzsimmons, Stasinowsky, Adamson, Wilson, McEvoy, Stephens, Foley, Lockman, Mugavin were just a few off the top of my head...