{xtypo_dropcap}C{/xtypo_dropcap}laremont player Denis Marshall was not only a champion of the game in two States, but was also the first of the West Australian footballers of the sixties to be wooed by checkbook. His was the signing that was the catalyst for the changing of the VFL signing rules, and opened the floodgates for the open slather in recruiting fees that were to follow in the seventies.

The VFL had in operation the “Coulter Law”,  which restricted players playing salaries and signing on fees, under which clubs could vote to penalise a club suspected of paying to entice players to their ranks. It was first used in 1930, when it was considered by the other eleven clubs that Fitzroy had contravened the law in signing Haydn Bunton snr, resulting in Bunton missing the whole of the 1930 season.{xtypo_quote_left}A prolific mark with accurate disposal by hand, Marshall was a master of all the skills of the game.{/xtypo_quote_left}

History was repeated in 1964, and Marshall was the unfortunate victim.

It took eleven weeks for a hearing to be held, during which time Marshall was unable to play, and the situation was resolved, but the aftermath signalled the start of the open slather cheque book policies of some of the cashed up Victorian clubs and paved the way for the signings of many other star WA players in the seventies. 

Deniston “Denis” Marshall was a football prodigy.

From an early age at Mosman Park juniors, it was taken for granted that he would be a star player. At just over six foot, weighing one hundred and eighty three stone, with a good turn of pace, he had the perfect build, able to play as a tall or a small. His kicking was a feature, and the pin point passes along with long dropkicks, brought crowds to the football both here in the West, and Victoria in the sixties and seventies. A prolific mark with accurate disposal by hand, Marshall was a master of all the skills of the game.

He possessed a footballing pedigree, with his grandfather, Gordon Tuxford, captaining South Fremantle in the twenties, and two cousins, Gordon and Norm, also representing the Bulldogs in the  sixties.

Marshall made an immediate impression on the WANFL competition when he debuted for Claremont on a half back flank at the age of seventeen in 1958. He played the first of his twenty games for Western Australia in August the following year, lining up on a half back flank. Such was his flexibility that in subsequent appearances in the Black and Gold, he played at centre half back, half forward, and centre.

After a scintilating second season, Marshall picked up the first of four fairest and best awards for Claremont.  A member of the 1961 Brisbane Carnival State team, he also picked up his second fairest and best trophy from the Tigers that year, and went on to be runner up to Haydn Bunton jnr at the 1962 Sandover Medal count.

It was only a matter of time before the big cash from Victoria was produced, and in 1964 Marshall signed with Geelong, immediately to become embroiled in the dismantling of a thirty four year old VFL law.

Initially as a defender, then in the centre, Denis Marshall became a star of the VFL. Geelong fairest and best in 1966, he also represented Victoria on ten occasions, was named All Australian after wearing the big V in the1966 carnival, and was runner up to Bobby Skilton for the 1968 Brownlow Medal, a year in which he had played all over the ground for the Cats. Unfortunately, a premiership eluded him, being a member of the Geelong side that went down to Richmond by nine points in 1967.

After 85 games at Geelong,Marshall returned to Western Australia as captain coach of Claremont in 1969, but the move home was almost as protracted as his journey East, with Geelong not prepared to lose their star without a fight. He continued his good form with Claremont, taking his fourth fairest and best award for the club in 1970, as well as making his twentieth appearance for Western Australia the same year. In 1972, his final season, Claremont made the four.

Denis Marshall's retirement at the end of the 1972 season, after fifteen years and 302 games at the top tier,  brought the curtain down on the career of  one of the most brilliant players to have graced the stage of Western Australian football.  He was a star in two States, evidenced by his induction into the Australian Football League Hall of Fame and the West Australian Football Hall of Fame, both in 2004.