Initially a reluctant Demon, Ross Millson was one of Perth's most influential players in the late sixties and early seventies. Coming from a dyed in the wool West Perth-supporting family, Millson didn't go straight from Centrals juniors, where he played mainly as a centre half forward, to Lathlain Park, preferring to have a year off.
Persuasion from friends who had made the transition finally won the talented Millson over, however, and in 1966 he lined up with the fourths, and quickly graduated to thirds, under the coaching of Brian Ashbolt, and the Jack Ensor-mentored reserves, where he played at full forward.
It was in a scratch match during the pre season of 1967 that league coach Mal Atwell played the five foot eleven(180cm) and 70.5 kg Millson as goalsneak for the league side. “It was against East Fremantle and I was playing on Trevor Sprigg,”he recalled. “Spriggy gave me one of his customary ribtickling bumps, and I ended up with a broken collarbone.” It was to be the forerunner of many such setbacks for Ross in an injury- plagued career.
Making his league debut midway through the season against South Fremantle, the signs were ominous again, when, after bagging a goal with his first kick off a half forward flank, Millson was carted off the ground with concussion. Millson went on to chalk up twelve games for Perth that season, on a half forward flank, and became a member of the second leg of the club's memorable hat trick of premierships when they defeated East Perth on grand final day.
A player of skill and determination, Millson was a strong marking, elusive, and accurate-kicking wingman over an eight year career with the Demons, and part of one of their best sides of all time. Perth boasted names like Greg Brehaut, Barry Cable, Bob Page, Bob Shields, Ray and John Mills, Paddy Astone, Ian Miller, and Pat Dalton at the time, but Ross Millson contributed as much to the success of Perth in those days as anyone.
Moved to a wing in 1968, Millson made his State debut in his second season, on a wing against South Australia, opposed to Darryl Hicks, with Ray Mills occupying the other wing, and followed that with selection against Victoria, a game in which he played on Francis Bourke. It was a stellar season for Millson, with the icing on the cake supplied by a second grand final win, once again over the Royals, in which he was one of his side's best players. His third to Cable in club fairest and best voting underlined the form he had displayed during the year, and his value to the team.
Perth made the grand final once again in 1970, lowering their colours to South Fremantle. Millson began to experience the frustrations of repetitive injury problems, with hamstring and groin problems, as well as the affliction which was later to become known as osteopubis. After the 1974 season, at the age of twenty six, and having represented the Perth Football Club a hundred and three times, he called it quits.
“It was a tough decision to make, and it's still one of the regrets of my life, but I had become disillusioned after suffering recurring injuries,” Ross said.
Millson later served the club for five years as runner for the reserves, initially with Alan Styles coaching, then later under Barry Cable and Mick Moylan.
He regarded Cable as the best he'd seen. “They were all fantastic players,” he said. “Everyone I played with was a top player in my eyes. They were all fantastic to play with, many of them are still friends, and the ones I don't see much are not forgotten.” As for opponents: “they were all hard to beat.”
It was always Ross Millson's ambition to serve Perth for two hundred games, an aim thwarted by injury problems, but his name will always be associated with the achievements of the team of the late sixties, as one of the driving forces behind a dominating combination and a star wingman in his own right.
