{xtypo_dropcap}B{/xtypo_dropcap}ob Shields began his auspicious league football career by making history and ended it with a premature retirement when he was at the top of his form.

A star of the WANFL for almost a decade, he made his entry onto the elite stage by playing fourths, thirds, reserves, and league all in the same year, the only player to have done so. And he departed the scene at the age of twenty seven after finishing fifth behind Graham Melrose in the 1974 Sandover Medal count and representing Western Australia as vice-captain just two months before. {xtypo_quote_left}A star of the WANFL for almost a decade, he made his entry onto the elite stage by playing fourths, thirds, reserves, and league all in the same year, the only player to have done so...{/xtypo_quote_left}

Almost the complete footballer, with athleticism and pace, the ability to read the play, and one of the best aerialists of his day, Shields was a product of the Collier juniors, a club with a production line of stars that included future Perth team mates Ian Miller, Brian Cook, and John Quartermaine. He had an East Perth background, an uncle, Frank Ward,  having been a member of the 1936 premiership side and representing Western Australia in a one hundred and two game career, and both Bob’s parents were Royals members.

Shields was a talented athlete as a youth, and in 1964 won the State Schoolboys Triple Jump, losing the High Jump on countback to another high flyer who would also become a State footballer, Peter Troode.    

A ruckman in his junior years, it was in that role that he played his first league match, against Subiaco, in 1965. An injury to Bob Coleman approaching the end of the season saw Shields moved to centre half back, and he quickly established himself as a quality defender for the Demons. After finishing out of the four that year, Perth developed into a powerful combination under coach Mal Atwell, and Shields was one of the prime movers. He starred in their three consecutive flags of 1966,67,and 68, playing the first of his seven State games in the last of those years. 

Bob maintains that the last of the three premierships was the sweetest.

“We had many players who had been together through two of them, and we really wanted the hat trick,” he said. “I thought the side of sixty eight was marginally the best of them all.”

Bob wasn’t just a highly skilled player, he was also tough, resilient, and relatively injury free, therefore it was inevitable that he would attract interest from East of the border. South Melbourne, St Kilda, and Hawthorn all made offers, but he refused them all. “I was just starting out in business, and preferred to stay in Perth,” he said.  

No doubt 1970 was Shields’s toughest season.

Playing three times at centre half back for Western Australia, he fronted three of the all time stars of the game within the space of six weeks. On June 13, WA played Victoria on the MCG, with the home side falling in by six points, Shields lining up on Royce Hart, then two days later a tired team of Sandgropers suffered a rare defeat at the hands of Tasmania at North Hobart by two points, with Bob opposed to Darryl Baldock. At Subiaco Oval on July 18, WA won another close one over South Australia by four points, and this time it was triple Margarey Medallist Barrie Robran who accompanied Shields for the afternoon.

After finishing third in Sandover Medal voting with fifteen votes behind the inseparable Pat Dalton and Bill Walker(seventeen), he was expected to be one of Perth’s trump cards in the grand final, but a controversial behind the play incident midway through the game knocked out Shields; he stayed on the ground, refusing to go off on a stretcher. Shields played out the game but was badly concussed and the Demons lost to South Fremantle by forty three points. Why no investigation into whatever happened was held remains a mystery to many at Perth Football Club.

One of Shields’s main attributes was his reliability, week in and week out holding his form, but he admits that he was below his best in 1972 and 73 as his business interests and young family took precedence. At the end of the 1973 season he applied for both of the vacant Claremont and West Perth coaching jobs, but was unsuccessful, and, after discussions with Perth, decided to play again in 1974. “I wanted to go out on a high note, so I put everything into my game in 74,” he said. Enjoying one of his best years, Bob then followed it up by announcing his retirement after a hundred and eighty seven league games. “I’d done all that I could do and I knew I was not going to get any better, so decided to call it quits.”

An unexpected call from George Grljusich saw Bob Shields enter into a new dimension of the sport, and an eight year broadcasting career followed, seven years with Grljusich and Dennis Cometti on the ABC, and in 1982 with a stint on Channel Seven’s World of Football, his knowledge of the game and experience stamping him as one of the leading commentators of the day. 

These days Bob lives in Fremantle and loves the place, developing old warehouses into apartments and offices. He was also the developer and now a Director and part-owner of the Perth Waterfront property at Barrack Square, which includes the Lucky Shag Bar. He has been in the property business for forty years. He has two sons, Anthony, who played fifty games with Subiaco, Ben, who followed in his father’s footsteps as an athlete, and a daughter, Susannah, who is a rower.

Hart, Robran, and Baldock take pride of place as the best he’d played against, with West Perth’s John Wynne, who played alongside him in his interstate debut, getting an honourable mention. “We were similar types as footballers,” says Bob, “and Window’s was hard to keep up with.” Bob also remembers fondly the mammoth battles he had for many years with East Perth’s Malcolm Brown. Barry Cable gets the nod as best team mate. “Barry was a great player, but he had a strong supporting cast,” he said. Bob is still involved with Perth Football Club. “It’s a close group,” he said. “We have a happy social club, with many social events, and we get to a few home games each year.” A Carlton supporter, he gets to see the Blues when they are in town.

Bob Shields was included in Perth Football Club’s Team of the Century in 1999. It was a well deserved accolade for a great player. He was one of the stars of what was arguably one of the best sides to have played in the WANFL competition.