One of the best club sides seen in Western Australian football, the East Perth combination of the late fifties under Jack Sheedy boasted an array of stars, with an onball brigade to dream of. Farmer, Kilmurray, Hunt, and Kennedy ruled the air, while  Seal, Everett, and McGill pounced on every offering like hungry seagulls. A key ingredient of the side was rover Kevin McGill.  A fast, tenacious small man, McGill provided  the Royals with the onball expertise to complete a well drilled following division, with his delivery to fast leading forwards plus the ability to kick goals himself making him one of their most destructive forces. A product of Collie, McGill moved to Perth with his family when his father died in 1950. At Collie he had already shown enough promise with Collie Centrals Juniors to be regarded as a possibility for the State Schoolboys team, but because he was attending a convent school he was ruled ineligible. So it was that on moving to the city he enrolled at John Forrest High School, which made him eligible for, and he was indeed later chosen in,  the 1952 State Schoolboys side, which was captained by John Todd. It wasn't long before he was asking for a game of footy, and was snapped up by Highgate, part of the East Perth Junior Council, under the auspices of the newly revamped WANFL Junior Football Council. State cricket captain and Tigers supporter, Wally Langdon,  was the young McGill's teacher, and he had him pencilled in for a career at Claremont Oval until Highgate coach, Neville Reynolds, alerted East Perth about his talented young player, and he was promptly fitted out with the blue and black jumper for a reserves match at the age of fifteen, which effectively tied him to the East Perth Football Club. His brother, Neville, had previously played with the Royals but after receiving a broken hand he played most of his career in the WA Amateur Association, and another brother Ted was a long time member of the strong  Amateur club, Wembley. Playing in the centre for Highgate, Kevin McGill impressed so much that  in 1954, at the age of sixteen, he made his league debut with East Perth against Swan Districts.  It was a momentous occasion, with McGill being the first of the crop of the recently formed Junior Council to gain league selection, beating Todd by a few weeks, with a ceremony marking his selection attended by WANFL President Pat Rodriguez and Collingwood legend Phonse Kyne. As the centre spot was occupied by State player Tommy Everett, the debutant started as a rover, and it was a position he made his own over the following eight years. In only his third season as a league player, McGill was one of the Royals best in their 1956 premiership win that ended a twenty year drought. “It was phenomenal,” he recalled. “To play with, and win a premiership with, a great mob of blokes was an amazing  experience.” East Perth were dominant over the following five seasons, featuring in every grand final, and winning three of them. McGill missed the 1958 premiership side with a pulled leg muscle. “I reckoned I was OK to play but the selectors took the safe option,” he said. He was a member of two premiership sides at East Perth, and kicked 362 goals, winning the goalkicking award in 1957 and 60, with identical tallies of 52 each time. Players Teas were often used by players to “let their hair down” a bit, after the hard training they endured during the week. Kevin recalled one occasion, in which former Sandover Medallist Billy Thomas, who was at the time Mayor of South Perth, was giving a speech. “There was a bit of food flicking going on behind the scenes,”he recalled. “ Billy was a short, bald, chap, and he was dressed to the nines, with a nice suit, tie, and vest making him look a million dollars. As he was getting to the point of his speech, a bit of ice cream landed on his forehead, a fact obvious to all except Billy. As he spoke on oblivious to the reason for the audience being so engrossed in his speech, the ice cream slowly made it's way down his face. We were never really sure if he knew the cause of our mirth, or maybe he thought he was an entertaining speaker.”     In 1963 McGill was appointed playing coach of Cranbrook, and spent two years there, before new coach Kevin Murray enticed him back to Perth Oval, where he played the last of his 182 games with East Perth. The following season saw him back in the coaching chair, this time at Shepparton(Victoria) as replacement for Tom Hafey, taking them to a premiership in his first year and runners up in his second. Back in Perth, he coached Christian Brothers College in Highgate before switching his sporting talents to the golf course. A member of the Western  Australian Golf Club at Yokine, Kevin enjoys nothing more than the challenge and comaraderie of the golfing fraternity. He follows the fortunes of his old side, where sons Tony and Jamie played in the colts team. He likes the home life with wife Norma, plus getting together with his boys and three daughters, ten grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. Kevin McGill was a part of one of WA's greatest football teams, and has some fine memories and achievements in the game. East Perth have had the services of some fine rovers over the years, and Kevin McGill was up there with the best of them.