In eighty nine years of Sandover Medal voting, few counts have been as interesting as the one in 1975. Fourth placed East Perth supplied the winner(Alan Quartermaine) and two of the three equal runners up(Ross Glendinning and Peter Spencer tying with Swan Districts player Stan Nowotny). Quartermaine won with sixteen votes, two in front of the other trio. To add to the scenario, throw in the name of Graeme Schultz.  The victim of a clearance wrangle, the former Essendon player didn’t take the field for Subiaco until July, playing just twelve games, and polled twelve votes, just four behind the winner in what must surely be one of the best performances in the history of the medal. Schultz, who had finished in third place behind Graham Moss in Essendon Football Club fairest and best voting the previous season, was the type of player umpires noticed. A clever rover with a touch of flair, a dangerous customer around the goals, as well as possessing the ability to play midfield, he was an instant hit at Subiaco, and an important player for them in the late seventies. Graeme Schultz hailed from  Warracknabeal, three hundred and thirty kilometres north west of Melbourne,  and attracted the attention of VFL and SANFL clubs when, starting the 1970 season as a sixteen year old, he kicked 122 goals in the Wimmera League senior competition.  Tied to Essendon, he went straight into the Bombers league side the following year, playing in a forward pocket on David Parkin, who three seasons later would be his coach at Subiaco. Schultz booted four majors on debut. “It was a huge initiation into league football,” he recalled. “Hawthorn were a powerhouse at that time, with blokes like Hudson, Matthews, McKenzie, Scott and Knights.”A member of Essendon’s 1973 and 74 sides that were beaten in elimination finals, Graeme played fifty eight games over four seasons, before handing the club a bombshell at the end of the 1974 season. The player who had just finished third in the club’s fairest and best award and won the most improved player trophy for his club applied for a clearance to Subiaco Football Club in Western Australia. “I’d been drifting from job to job, there wasn’t much money in football those days, and I wanted to get into physical education, a course in which only the University of WA and Queensland University offered a degree,” Graeme recalled. “Basil Fuller from Subiaco got wind of this, and with the bursar at the WA Uni a huge fan of the club, he had been able to arrange for me to do the course there.”      Essendon wouldn’t have a bar of it, and were steadfast in their refusal to even consider a clearance, and it was only at the deathnock of the June 30 deadline that they relented, but throughout the rover’s stay in Western Australia they remained in touch until his return six years later.  “The standard of football in the Seventies in Western Australia was very high,” said Schultz. “I enjoyed the drier climate and bigger grounds.” An outstanding onballer in his time here, plus leading goalkicker for Subiaco in 1976, he was unable to be rewarded with  State selection because of the State of Origin concept.It was almost at the start of the 1981 season that Schultz, having completed his degree, noticed an advertisement for a development position at Essendon Football Club. Applying for the job, he was advised it had been filled, but Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy immediately contacted him and urged him to return.  “In May of that year I left a dry Perth and arrived in Melbourne  with rain tumbling down,” Graeme recalled. “My first night game I was head to toe in mud.” On the bench against Carlton in round eight of the season proper, Schultz maintained his place in the side as they advanced to the finals. A knee injury to Neil Daniher in a vital game against Geelong didn’t help the cause, and they lost the elimination final at Waverley. A posterior cruciate injury in a practice game against St Kilda in the 1982 pre season cost Graeme fourteen weeks of action, but he regained his place for the finals only to be part of another elimination final loss, the fourth in a row at Essendon for him, following the 1973, 74 and 81 disappointments. The St Kilda curse struck again in 1983, a broken leg in the second game of the season against the Saints sidelining him again, but he recovered to be part of a reserves flag.Schultz made a shortlived move to Footscray the following year before spending a season at Camberwell. He then lined up for Maryborough in the Ballarat League for three years, with two as coach,where he was a regular inter league representative, playing in two grand finals and achieving that elusive premiership flag. In 1988, with teaching taking him back to Melbourne, Graeme played with Keilor at the age of thirty five, and finished his playing career at the scene of his greatest heights, Windy Hill, beating hot favourites Strathmore in a memorable and fitting finale. Schultz returned to the Bombers as a running and skills coach and was a runner for the reserves in 1992 before helping former Richmond player Mervyn Keane at the Western Jets under eighteens, with a grand final appearance in their first year, a three year stint becoming four with the formation of the Calder Cannons in 1985. These days Graeme is still involved in football, son James, also a promising basketballer, embarking on a career with Avondale Heights, and also enjoys a game of golf. He is still at Essendon as president of the Past Players Association.He reckons Leigh Matthews, Rob Wiley, and Alan Davis were all bloody tough to get a kick against, and Barry Davis, Geoff Pryor, Geoff Blethyn and Alan Noonan were best he played with, but for sheer entertainment value Ronny Andrews won hands down. “His bouts with Mark Jackson were legendary.”After a delayed but explosive impact in 1975, Graeme Schultz  became a highly regarded player at the Subiaco Football Club, giving the club six outstanding  seasons before returning to Essendon, where he continued a fine career.