TOPIC:

who knows when this article is going to go up, it looks like its gone to sleep!!

Well as I am getting zero response from Mike or George on here which is dissappointing I will post my article on Kevin Taylor as a general post and hopefully when they awake from slumber they can put it in the News and articles section

Here it is in the attachment, hope this works

Didn't work ill try again

"Where are they now"? Kevin` Squizzy` Taylor

By Swandog
One of the iconic names of the West Australian Football League throughout the halcyon days of the late 1970`s into the mid 1980`s was elusive and sometimes enigmatic rover Kevin 'Squizzy' Taylor.
Born on the 15th of September 1958, Taylor forged a league career totalling 181 games and booting 414 goals. In the breakdown he played 101 games for East Fremantle kicking 257 goals, in two stints between 1978-80 and 1982-84, South Melbourne 14 games and 24 goals in 1981, Swan Districts 33 games and slotting through 76 majors in 1985/86, Fitzroy 1 game and 1 goal in 1984, and West Torrens in the SANFL, 33 games and kicking 52 goals in 1987/88.
An interesting quirk during Taylors career, is he played with 3 clubs that are now extinct by name being Fitzroy, South Melbourne, and West Torrens and he appeared in games between 4 clubs now extinct in name - South Melbourne v Fitzroy in 1981 and West Torrens v Woodville in 1987/88. West Torrens and Woodville merged some 4 years late in 1991 to become the Eagles in the SANFL, South Melbourne relocated to Sydney in 1982 and Fitzroy were merged into the Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions in 1997.
The scene is set, it's the final round of home and away fixtures of 1979 and East Fremantle are playing Subiaco at East Fremantle Oval and fine tuning their game before a tilt at the flag over the next month. Swans are playing South Fremantle at Bassendean, and are making a rampaging finish to the season trying to win their 5th game on the trot, laying the foundations of a golden era of success. Swan Districts sharp shooter Mark Olsen has a slight lead (79 goals) in the goalkicking award from Kevin Taylor (77), and the race is on to see who claims the coveted goalkicking award and prize money which was the princely sum of $300 at the time.
When recalling what transpired that particular afternoon Taylor said he had everyone and anyone looking to get the ball to him, so he could claim the goalkicking award, and in the process breaking a 28 year old record as the highest scoring rover in a season of WAFL previously held by East Fremantle legend Jim Conway. Later that season in the Grand Final versus South Fremantle, Taylor became the first and only rover to boot 100 (102) goals in a season, finishing with 7 goals and winning the Simpson medal in the process. Taylor laughs and said he had players like Ken Judge, Jim Sewell, Rod Lester-Smith,Brian Peake and Tony Buhagiar kicking the ball backwards and sideways to make it easier for him and even coach Brad Smith had people listening to the Swans game on the radio and telling the runner "you have to get it to Tails as Olsen`s kicked a couple and he is only one in front now!" For the record Olsen kicked 5.6 to finish 2 goals behind Taylor with 84 goals.
Originally from Carnamah and Nicknamed Squizzy (after the notorious Victorian underworld figure of the early 1900`s) by a couple of old East Fremantle trainers old `Frankie` and `Ronnie`, Taylor was initially enticed to Moss street after gaining the attention of East Fremantle's Northern coastal scout of the time `Fisherman Smith`, during a colts game playing for Carnamah. During this particular game he booted 23 goals and later on that day in the League game he kicked 4 goals. Old Fisherman Smith said "this young fella can play a bit” and went about getting him down to East Fremantle. Being a shy country kid Taylor used to get picked up by legendary East Fremantle administrator and Hall of Fame inductee, Bob Uittenbroek on Friday nights and driven down for games in the early days of his time with East Fremantle, before they eventually organised a butchers apprenticeship with Woolworths for him, and the rest is history.
On March 27th 1978 Taylor made his league debut for East Fremantle playing Swan Districts at Bassendean oval with lots of country people coming down for the day. Lining up on tough and uncompromising Swans back pocket Bill Skwirowski, plus a big 10 thousand strong crowd, Taylor feels he was a little overawed and didn't put up his best showing kicking 0.3. One thing he does recall was the noise coming from the famous McDonald stand, where he said "they were hitting floorboards and anything else to make as much noise as possible" and perhaps this contributed to being overawed on the day. He must have done enough though as he survived selection the next week and chimed in with 2.1 versus Claremont at East Fremantle in front on 9000 fans.
Although only playing 10 reserves games in 1978, Taylor managed to win the Prendergast medal with 18 votes. Being very shy and uncomfortable with crowds of people, Taylor had to be coaxed into his dinner suit so he could turn up to the Sandover medal count at the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton to collect his medal. In a famous night it was the first time the Sandover medal had prize money attached to it. Other prominent names up on the dias that night were Sandover medallist, East Perths Phil Kelly and Medallists medal winner in the colts, the late Chris Stasinowsky, with runner -up Steve Malaxos.
Among his career highlights Taylor predictably mentions the 1979 Grand Final in front of a record crowd of 52,781 and the famous State of Origin games at Subiaco oval on those glorious Tuesday afternoons against the Vics.
On the 1979 Grand Final, Taylor says he almost has to pinch himself even now to appreciate and believe that not only was he amongst it, but he was an integral part of that win with his 7 goals. This put his name up in lights with 4 or 5 VFL clubs clambering to get his services, and this was the case for much of the early to mid 1980`s with Hawthorn, Geelong, South Melbourne, Fitzroy and StKilda all having a sniff. In fact Taylor says that Hawthorn were very keen at one stage in the mid 80`s, and the only side to fly over and wine and dine him, trying to entice him to come over as they could see Leigh Mathews was nearing the end and they wanted Taylor to be another goalkicking rover and foil for the in and under John Platten, who was also on their radar.
When talking about his State of Origin appearances, his most indelible memory is of big Garry Sidebottom picking him up after he booted the winning goal in 1983, a performance Taylor says went a long way to earning him and All-Australian jumper, something he is extremely proud of considering the names he is amongst from WA, SA and VIC. The next year versus Victoria he remembers taking a grab late in the last quarter and handballing off to Allen 'Shorty' Daniels, who went on to kick the winning goal and himself earning All-Australian honours." It is funny how football pans out sometimes" Taylor laughs. All up Taylor appeared in 5 State of Origin games for W.A. , kicking 7 goals and providing West Australians with some of their finest memories of footy during that era.
Of the many VFL clubs looking to obtain the talented Taylor after season 1979, South Melbourne were the successful suitor and wooed him across to Albert Park with a 3 year contract. Taylor thoroughly enjoyed his short time in the red and white of the Swans and said he felt privileged to play alongside names like, Barry Round, Stevie Wright, Graham Teasdale and the Morwoods as well as being coached by triple Brownlow medallist, Ian Stewart, whom he learnt a lot from.
Ultimately though, missing home, and not being very keen to move and relocate his family to Sydney when the Swans went there, resulted in Taylors return to East Fremantle. He said just the move to Melbourne alone was huge and to contemplate another shift to the unknown of Sydney was too much to handle for he and his young family at the time. Looking back Taylor says it is probably his biggest regret in not sticking it out for the duration of his 3 year deal, but adds "Hindsight is a wonderful thing". He did however make an impression at South during his short stint and debuted in round 1 of 1981 versus North Melbourne at a jam packed Arden street and thus announcing himself onto the VFL stage with 5.3 goals. He recalled "The big hype on the day was all about the other recruits playing, but old Kev Taylor flew under the radar a bit, and bobbed up with 5 goals". An incident during the game however halted his fairytale debut for a few weeks, when he was reported for striking Kangaroos champion, Keith Greig. Taylor says "I was sheparding one of our players, and didn't mean to do anything really, when Greig just happened to run into my elbow and i copped 2 weeks for it, so I had to sit out just after being one of the best afield in my debut, but that's the way it goes". He backed up that first showing in his return games though with a couple of other 4 goal hauls versus St Kilda and Melbourne, amongst some other fine efforts.
After some really good football upon his return to East Fremantle in 1982/83, Taylor this time attracted the attention of Fitzroy who managed to talk him into having another crack in Melbourne. But this was not after a short wrangle with the Sharks, who eventually agreed to a cash deal clearance in March 1984. His time with Fitzroy got off to a bad start though during a pre-season trip to Hawaii, Taylor recalls " Fitzroy paid big bucks for me to go over to Hawaii and we played a scratch match over there versus Collingwood who were also over there and i played pretty well, but what happened was I went body surfing in some of those huge waves off Hawaii and i came off second best on one occasion and tore a hamstring pretty bad". Taylor subsequently didn't want to tell Fitzroy that this injury was really hampering him but after he played his first game against Melbourne he knew he just wasn't right and told coach Robert Walls that he was really struggling and would go home to West Australia. He ended up playing 7 games with East Fremantle for the remainder of the season, including the Grand Final loss versus Swan Districts, which proved to be his final appearance in blue and white.
The day after the Grand Final loss in 84, Taylor received a knock at the door from none other than Swan Districts President, Bill Walker, Coach John Todd, and player ex-East Fremantle team mate Leigh Brenton trying to entice him to Bassendean for season 1985. The carrot being dangled being a possible chance to play in the then mooted composite side to enter the VFL in the next few years. Toddy told Taylor that with him most probably being the inaugural coach that it would be a good transition to come to Swans and then gain a birth with the VFL team. Taylor was also disgruntled at East Fremantle and wasn't happy with a few players who he thought were being carried, culminating in a famous 10 goals to zip first quarter in the 84 Grand Final kicked by Swans to set up the triumph. Taylor threw everything bar the kitchen sink at Swans to try and get his side back into the contest resulting in him giving away a few free kicks and getting booked for striking Steve Richardson which later earned him a 2 week suspension. East Fremantle did get to within a goal at half time, but in the end they just were not up to it. The move to Swans however, which was a swap for Gerard Neesham, never did result in him gaining a spot with the newly formed West Coast Eagles, as Ron Alexander was appointed coach and given he wasn't happy that Taylor had left East Fremantle in 84, there was virtually no chance for Taylor getting selected. Taylor said it was a shame and perhaps leaving East Fremantle was a mistake and with hindsight had he stayed he may have played a couple of seasons with the Eagles. He doesn't however regret his 2 years with Swans as he thoroughly enjoyed his time playing under Toddy and met a lot of good people there on and off the field. He still occasionally goes to past players events at both East Fremantle and Swan Districts and says its great to catch up with old faces like Tony Solin, Garry Sidebottom, Don Holmes, Graham Kickett, Graham Carter and Mick Jez, just to name a few.
After it became apparent that he wasn't on the radar of the Eagles, Taylor received offers from clubs in the SANFL and eventually made the move to West Torrens. The SANFL at that stage was still a very strong competition, and they hadn't yet succumbed to joining the expanded VFL. Whilst at Torrens Taylor recalls playing alongside a very young Michael Long before he went on to a stellar career with Essendon in the VFL. Taylor spent 2 years at West Torrens playing 33 games before retiring from top level football and returning to the West. Upon his return Taylor finished his playing days with Canning in the Sunday league alongside some other big names in Peter Bosustow and Benny Vigona. He enjoyed his time with Canning when Sunday league was strong and said it was a shame there wasn't a good breeding ground to bring through the younger players with the surrounding areas being more of an older demographic compared to the Thornlie, Gosnells, and Huntingdale areas of the time. After his first year playing he took over from Bosustow as playing coach and then continuing as non playing coach for a couple of years after that.
During his playing days it was reported that Taylor, who had a love hate relationship with Umpires, felt he was being targeted by them and back in 1984 after the Grand Final loss he was encouraged to go public with his perceived vilification from them. When pressed on the issue Taylor said " I think I was targeted a bit from the umpires because it was perceived that I was a fiery fella who would generally retaliate when being tagged heavily and stirred up, and I suppose a weakness of mine was that I didn't just walk away from these situations " and added "I had a habit of hitting someone right in front of the umpire in retaliation and getting reported" He said this cost him a few games of league footy. He recounts a time playing West Perth at Leederville oval one day when he hit Dean Laidley in retaliation but just couldn't walk away and said "I gave him one, and then another, and then another, and ended up copping 6 weeks" This happened in front of the West Perth members and he said "I was spat on coming off the ground and going on the ground, the West Perth fans, well they were a mad lot, the worst in the comp and the most passionate" he says laughing, also adding that the atmosphere at Leederville in those days was fantastic.
Taylor had many fine coaches during his time, including Alan Joyce, Brad Smith, Ian Stewart, Ron Alexander, John Todd and Robert Walls. When recalling their influences on him, and although not liking him at the time, Taylor credits Joyce with laying the foundation of his career by perhaps holding him back a little in the ressies and getting him really hungry for league football. He did say a weakness of Joyce was he had no personality, was sometimes arrogant, was difficult to get to know, and didn't mix in with the players. Taylor could not fault his tactical nouse however. On Brad Smith he credits him with bringing a lot of East Perth toughness into East Fremantle, who were perceived as being a little yuppie and precious, similar to Claremont. He said "Smith brought some aggression, hard tackling and if you can't pick it up then knock it on type of thing to our game instead of playing the fancy kind of football and always trying to get out on your own". He described Smith as a bit of a laid back character who enjoyed a laugh and a joke, but someone who brought that toughness to their side and looked after the younger players really well. On Alexander he said " Ron was a good coach who was still young in coaching terms and just learning the caper and was also a laid back character who enjoyed a joke , but Toddy was, "Well he didn't have too many friends" Taylor laughs and added " Probably only two, and that was Chairman of selectors Bob Manning and ex- Swans President John Cooper, they were like three that you couldn't separate" He remembered that Todd was a bit of a loner as coach and said " It was probably a good idea not letting anyone get too close to him and seeing what type of character that he was" he did enjoy playing under Todd though, even if he was quite ruthless at times.
When asked what he thinks of today's football and whether it has become a little sanitised, he said " Well I think it's all about marketing, promotion and dollars really and was the way things probably had to go with the other codes such as soccer, rugby and basketball etc catching up to us, but it is a shame when you look back at the WAFL and SANFL when it was strong and when there were the staunch fans that went along to follow their local clubs every week but it is not like that now and has changed for the best i believe". "You still have the rivalry between the two clubs in West Coast and Freo and had to change with the times really". Taylor believes the opportunity for players now to be earning substantial money, if they are good enough, is a step in the right direction from when he played when players had to work a full time job and earned a pittance from football in comparison and said the monetary rewards reflect the professionalism of 7 days a week football.
When asked about the best players he played with or against Taylor didn't hesitate to mention Brian Peake, Doug Green, Stephen Michael, Rob Wiley, Les Fong, Peter Menaglio, Neil Taylor and Noel Carter, just to name a few, and shows it wasn't easy to get a kick back then, with so many good little players going around. He also managed to play a few games on the great Barry Cable when he went to East Perth to finish his career, which was a highlight.
Fast forward 20 years and Taylor, the new league coach of the Gosnells Football club in C1 amateurs is directing his charges at 3 quarter time to capitalise on their 22 point lead, using all his vast football experience to do so. On his new role this season Taylor is passionate and enthusiastic on developing the young talent coming through and building a strong team on and off the field. He and newly appointed club president Michael McCaughan seem to have had an early effect with 85 players being on the track at one stage last week which has prompted the decision to field a 4th team competing on Saturdays. When explaining his vision for the club Taylor said " It is all about developing these young kids and with Gosnells always traditionally being a strong club particularly in the old Sunday league when it was strong, it would be ideal to see Gosnells back up there in A or B grade amateurs" But Taylor said in achieving that they need to "establish a good relationship with the juniors over the next 4 or 5 years and provide a good pathway for them to go on to bigger and better things and identify Gosnells as their home team rather than going to a Huntingdale or Thornlie and if we manage to win a few flags along the way, then that's great too". Gosnells finished up 38 point winners versus Ocean Ridge, much to the pleasure of Coach Taylor.
Taylor said his body has stood up pretty well after his career finished and never really had any major injuries luckily. He has managed to keep himself in reasonable shape over the years although laughs when saying " apart from the belly getting a bit bigger as I enjoy a beer or two".
Married to wife Sue, Taylor has 3 boys playing at Gosnells, Casey, Damien, and Kevin jnr. Another son Andrew doesn't play. He also has a couple of daughters, and both are doing very well in life. He says he is fortunate to have good kids and family. Two of his boys work with him on the wharf in Fremantle for Patricks and the other son Kevin is a second year medical student. Taylor said he loves his job and wishes he had this job 20 years ago. Part of his job is in a mentoring type of role with a group of indigenous workers and the main thing is teaching them life skills like being punctual, saving their dollars, buying a house and giving them a career path. He believes he has the best job in the world and really enjoys it. In his spare time Taylor plays golf with two of his boys, enjoys a beer at the Corfield tavern and the occasional punt at the TAB. He loves being around his boys and feels this keeps him young at heart.
When asked if he had any regrets throughout his career Taylor said he didn't really have any major ones and now really enjoys putting back into the game, something he was taught from some of the great coaches and players he has been close to. A couple of small regrets he does have is he believes he should have played a couple of years with the West Coast Eagles and also wishes he had of completed his 3 year contract with South Melbourne/Sydney Swans and seen where that may have taken him.
On a closing note Taylor laughs as he said he believed Mike Ball should have paid that famous mark that was disallowed during one of those Tuesday arvo state games versus Victoria. And perhaps this sums up Taylors remarkable career, where he often displayed the spectacular and brilliant sides to footy, whilst occasionally being thwarted by the men in white. But Taylor is a man at peace with the world and deserves his place in Western Australian football history, as one of the finest indigenous players to grace our fields, during a very strong era.

Swandog wrote: "Where are they now"? Kevin` Squizzy` Taylor

By Swandog
One of the iconic names of the West Australian Football League throughout the halcyon days of the late 1970`s into the mid 1980`s was elusive and sometimes enigmatic rover Kevin 'Squizzy' Taylor.
Born on the 15th of September 1958, Taylor forged a league career totalling 181 games and booting 414 goals. In the breakdown he played 101 games for East Fremantle kicking 257 goals, in two stints between 1978-80 and 1982-84, South Melbourne 14 games and 24 goals in 1981, Swan Districts 33 games and slotting through 76 majors in 1985/86, Fitzroy 1 game and 1 goal in 1984, and West Torrens in the SANFL, 33 games and kicking 52 goals in 1987/88.
An interesting quirk during Taylors career, is he played with 3 clubs that are now extinct by name being Fitzroy, South Melbourne, and West Torrens and he appeared in games between 4 clubs now extinct in name - South Melbourne v Fitzroy in 1981 and West Torrens v Woodville in 1987/88. West Torrens and Woodville merged some 4 years late in 1991 to become the Eagles in the SANFL, South Melbourne relocated to Sydney in 1982 and Fitzroy were merged into the Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions in 1997.
The scene is set, it's the final round of home and away fixtures of 1979 and East Fremantle are playing Subiaco at East Fremantle Oval and fine tuning their game before a tilt at the flag over the next month. Swans are playing South Fremantle at Bassendean, and are making a rampaging finish to the season trying to win their 5th game on the trot, laying the foundations of a golden era of success. Swan Districts sharp shooter Mark Olsen has a slight lead (79 goals) in the goalkicking award from Kevin Taylor (77), and the race is on to see who claims the coveted goalkicking award and prize money which was the princely sum of $300 at the time.
When recalling what transpired that particular afternoon Taylor said he had everyone and anyone looking to get the ball to him, so he could claim the goalkicking award, and in the process breaking a 28 year old record as the highest scoring rover in a season of WAFL previously held by East Fremantle legend Jim Conway. Later that season in the Grand Final versus South Fremantle, Taylor became the first and only rover to boot 100 (102) goals in a season, finishing with 7 goals and winning the Simpson medal in the process. Taylor laughs and said he had players like Ken Judge, Jim Sewell, Rod Lester-Smith,Brian Peake and Tony Buhagiar kicking the ball backwards and sideways to make it easier for him and even coach Brad Smith had people listening to the Swans game on the radio and telling the runner "you have to get it to Tails as Olsen`s kicked a couple and he is only one in front now!" For the record Olsen kicked 5.6 to finish 2 goals behind Taylor with 84 goals.
Originally from Carnamah and Nicknamed Squizzy (after the notorious Victorian underworld figure of the early 1900`s) by a couple of old East Fremantle trainers old `Frankie` and `Ronnie`, Taylor was initially enticed to Moss street after gaining the attention of East Fremantle's Northern coastal scout of the time `Fisherman Smith`, during a colts game playing for Carnamah. During this particular game he booted 23 goals and later on that day in the League game he kicked 4 goals. Old Fisherman Smith said "this young fella can play a bit” and went about getting him down to East Fremantle. Being a shy country kid Taylor used to get picked up by legendary East Fremantle administrator and Hall of Fame inductee, Bob Uittenbroek on Friday nights and driven down for games in the early days of his time with East Fremantle, before they eventually organised a butchers apprenticeship with Woolworths for him, and the rest is history.
On March 27th 1978 Taylor made his league debut for East Fremantle playing Swan Districts at Bassendean oval with lots of country people coming down for the day. Lining up on tough and uncompromising Swans back pocket Bill Skwirowski, plus a big 10 thousand strong crowd, Taylor feels he was a little overawed and didn't put up his best showing kicking 0.3. One thing he does recall was the noise coming from the famous McDonald stand, where he said "they were hitting floorboards and anything else to make as much noise as possible" and perhaps this contributed to being overawed on the day. He must have done enough though as he survived selection the next week and chimed in with 2.1 versus Claremont at East Fremantle in front on 9000 fans.
Although only playing 10 reserves games in 1978, Taylor managed to win the Prendergast medal with 18 votes. Being very shy and uncomfortable with crowds of people, Taylor had to be coaxed into his dinner suit so he could turn up to the Sandover medal count at the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton to collect his medal. In a famous night it was the first time the Sandover medal had prize money attached to it. Other prominent names up on the dias that night were Sandover medallist, East Perths Phil Kelly and Medallists medal winner in the colts, the late Chris Stasinowsky, with runner -up Steve Malaxos.
Among his career highlights Taylor predictably mentions the 1979 Grand Final in front of a record crowd of 52,781 and the famous State of Origin games at Subiaco oval on those glorious Tuesday afternoons against the Vics.
On the 1979 Grand Final, Taylor says he almost has to pinch himself even now to appreciate and believe that not only was he amongst it, but he was an integral part of that win with his 7 goals. This put his name up in lights with 4 or 5 VFL clubs clambering to get his services, and this was the case for much of the early to mid 1980`s with Hawthorn, Geelong, South Melbourne, Fitzroy and StKilda all having a sniff. In fact Taylor says that Hawthorn were very keen at one stage in the mid 80`s, and the only side to fly over and wine and dine him, trying to entice him to come over as they could see Leigh Mathews was nearing the end and they wanted Taylor to be another goalkicking rover and foil for the in and under John Platten, who was also on their radar.
When talking about his State of Origin appearances, his most indelible memory is of big Garry Sidebottom picking him up after he booted the winning goal in 1983, a performance Taylor says went a long way to earning him and All-Australian jumper, something he is extremely proud of considering the names he is amongst from WA, SA and VIC. The next year versus Victoria he remembers taking a grab late in the last quarter and handballing off to Allen 'Shorty' Daniels, who went on to kick the winning goal and himself earning All-Australian honours." It is funny how football pans out sometimes" Taylor laughs. All up Taylor appeared in 5 State of Origin games for W.A. , kicking 7 goals and providing West Australians with some of their finest memories of footy during that era.
Of the many VFL clubs looking to obtain the talented Taylor after season 1979, South Melbourne were the successful suitor and wooed him across to Albert Park with a 3 year contract. Taylor thoroughly enjoyed his short time in the red and white of the Swans and said he felt privileged to play alongside names like, Barry Round, Stevie Wright, Graham Teasdale and the Morwoods as well as being coached by triple Brownlow medallist, Ian Stewart, whom he learnt a lot from.
Ultimately though, missing home, and not being very keen to move and relocate his family to Sydney when the Swans went there, resulted in Taylors return to East Fremantle. He said just the move to Melbourne alone was huge and to contemplate another shift to the unknown of Sydney was too much to handle for he and his young family at the time. Looking back Taylor says it is probably his biggest regret in not sticking it out for the duration of his 3 year deal, but adds "Hindsight is a wonderful thing". He did however make an impression at South during his short stint and debuted in round 1 of 1981 versus North Melbourne at a jam packed Arden street and thus announcing himself onto the VFL stage with 5.3 goals. He recalled "The big hype on the day was all about the other recruits playing, but old Kev Taylor flew under the radar a bit, and bobbed up with 5 goals". An incident during the game however halted his fairytale debut for a few weeks, when he was reported for striking Kangaroos champion, Keith Greig. Taylor says "I was sheparding one of our players, and didn't mean to do anything really, when Greig just happened to run into my elbow and i copped 2 weeks for it, so I had to sit out just after being one of the best afield in my debut, but that's the way it goes". He backed up that first showing in his return games though with a couple of other 4 goal hauls versus St Kilda and Melbourne, amongst some other fine efforts.
After some really good football upon his return to East Fremantle in 1982/83, Taylor this time attracted the attention of Fitzroy who managed to talk him into having another crack in Melbourne. But this was not after a short wrangle with the Sharks, who eventually agreed to a cash deal clearance in March 1984. His time with Fitzroy got off to a bad start though during a pre-season trip to Hawaii, Taylor recalls " Fitzroy paid big bucks for me to go over to Hawaii and we played a scratch match over there versus Collingwood who were also over there and i played pretty well, but what happened was I went body surfing in some of those huge waves off Hawaii and i came off second best on one occasion and tore a hamstring pretty bad". Taylor subsequently didn't want to tell Fitzroy that this injury was really hampering him but after he played his first game against Melbourne he knew he just wasn't right and told coach Robert Walls that he was really struggling and would go home to West Australia. He ended up playing 7 games with East Fremantle for the remainder of the season, including the Grand Final loss versus Swan Districts, which proved to be his final appearance in blue and white.
The day after the Grand Final loss in 84, Taylor received a knock at the door from none other than Swan Districts President, Bill Walker, Coach John Todd, and player ex-East Fremantle team mate Leigh Brenton trying to entice him to Bassendean for season 1985. The carrot being dangled being a possible chance to play in the then mooted composite side to enter the VFL in the next few years. Toddy told Taylor that with him most probably being the inaugural coach that it would be a good transition to come to Swans and then gain a birth with the VFL team. Taylor was also disgruntled at East Fremantle and wasn't happy with a few players who he thought were being carried, culminating in a famous 10 goals to zip first quarter in the 84 Grand Final kicked by Swans to set up the triumph. Taylor threw everything bar the kitchen sink at Swans to try and get his side back into the contest resulting in him giving away a few free kicks and getting booked for striking Steve Richardson which later earned him a 2 week suspension. East Fremantle did get to within a goal at half time, but in the end they just were not up to it. The move to Swans however, which was a swap for Gerard Neesham, never did result in him gaining a spot with the newly formed West Coast Eagles, as Ron Alexander was appointed coach and given he wasn't happy that Taylor had left East Fremantle in 84, there was virtually no chance for Taylor getting selected. Taylor said it was a shame and perhaps leaving East Fremantle was a mistake and with hindsight had he stayed he may have played a couple of seasons with the Eagles. He doesn't however regret his 2 years with Swans as he thoroughly enjoyed his time playing under Toddy and met a lot of good people there on and off the field. He still occasionally goes to past players events at both East Fremantle and Swan Districts and says its great to catch up with old faces like Tony Solin, Garry Sidebottom, Don Holmes, Graham Kickett, Graham Carter and Mick Jez, just to name a few.
After it became apparent that he wasn't on the radar of the Eagles, Taylor received offers from clubs in the SANFL and eventually made the move to West Torrens. The SANFL at that stage was still a very strong competition, and they hadn't yet succumbed to joining the expanded VFL. Whilst at Torrens Taylor recalls playing alongside a very young Michael Long before he went on to a stellar career with Essendon in the VFL. Taylor spent 2 years at West Torrens playing 33 games before retiring from top level football and returning to the West. Upon his return Taylor finished his playing days with Canning in the Sunday league alongside some other big names in Peter Bosustow and Benny Vigona. He enjoyed his time with Canning when Sunday league was strong and said it was a shame there wasn't a good breeding ground to bring through the younger players with the surrounding areas being more of an older demographic compared to the Thornlie, Gosnells, and Huntingdale areas of the time. After his first year playing he took over from Bosustow as playing coach and then continuing as non playing coach for a couple of years after that.
During his playing days it was reported that Taylor, who had a love hate relationship with Umpires, felt he was being targeted by them and back in 1984 after the Grand Final loss he was encouraged to go public with his perceived vilification from them. When pressed on the issue Taylor said " I think I was targeted a bit from the umpires because it was perceived that I was a fiery fella who would generally retaliate when being tagged heavily and stirred up, and I suppose a weakness of mine was that I didn't just walk away from these situations " and added "I had a habit of hitting someone right in front of the umpire in retaliation and getting reported" He said this cost him a few games of league footy. He recounts a time playing West Perth at Leederville oval one day when he hit Dean Laidley in retaliation but just couldn't walk away and said "I gave him one, and then another, and then another, and ended up copping 6 weeks" This happened in front of the West Perth members and he said "I was spat on coming off the ground and going on the ground, the West Perth fans, well they were a mad lot, the worst in the comp and the most passionate" he says laughing, also adding that the atmosphere at Leederville in those days was fantastic.
Taylor had many fine coaches during his time, including Alan Joyce, Brad Smith, Ian Stewart, Ron Alexander, John Todd and Robert Walls. When recalling their influences on him, and although not liking him at the time, Taylor credits Joyce with laying the foundation of his career by perhaps holding him back a little in the ressies and getting him really hungry for league football. He did say a weakness of Joyce was he had no personality, was sometimes arrogant, was difficult to get to know, and didn't mix in with the players. Taylor could not fault his tactical nouse however. On Brad Smith he credits him with bringing a lot of East Perth toughness into East Fremantle, who were perceived as being a little yuppie and precious, similar to Claremont. He said "Smith brought some aggression, hard tackling and if you can't pick it up then knock it on type of thing to our game instead of playing the fancy kind of football and always trying to get out on your own". He described Smith as a bit of a laid back character who enjoyed a laugh and a joke, but someone who brought that toughness to their side and looked after the younger players really well. On Alexander he said " Ron was a good coach who was still young in coaching terms and just learning the caper and was also a laid back character who enjoyed a joke , but Toddy was, "Well he didn't have too many friends" Taylor laughs and added " Probably only two, and that was Chairman of selectors Bob Manning and ex- Swans President John Cooper, they were like three that you couldn't separate" He remembered that Todd was a bit of a loner as coach and said " It was probably a good idea not letting anyone get too close to him and seeing what type of character that he was" he did enjoy playing under Todd though, even if he was quite ruthless at times.
When asked what he thinks of today's football and whether it has become a little sanitised, he said " Well I think it's all about marketing, promotion and dollars really and was the way things probably had to go with the other codes such as soccer, rugby and basketball etc catching up to us, but it is a shame when you look back at the WAFL and SANFL when it was strong and when there were the staunch fans that went along to follow their local clubs every week but it is not like that now and has changed for the best i believe". "You still have the rivalry between the two clubs in West Coast and Freo and had to change with the times really". Taylor believes the opportunity for players now to be earning substantial money, if they are good enough, is a step in the right direction from when he played when players had to work a full time job and earned a pittance from football in comparison and said the monetary rewards reflect the professionalism of 7 days a week football.
When asked about the best players he played with or against Taylor didn't hesitate to mention Brian Peake, Doug Green, Stephen Michael, Rob Wiley, Les Fong, Peter Menaglio, Neil Taylor and Noel Carter, just to name a few, and shows it wasn't easy to get a kick back then, with so many good little players going around. He also managed to play a few games on the great Barry Cable when he went to East Perth to finish his career, which was a highlight.
Fast forward 20 years and Taylor, the new league coach of the Gosnells Football club in C1 amateurs is directing his charges at 3 quarter time to capitalise on their 22 point lead, using all his vast football experience to do so. On his new role this season Taylor is passionate and enthusiastic on developing the young talent coming through and building a strong team on and off the field. He and newly appointed club president Michael McCaughan seem to have had an early effect with 85 players being on the track at one stage last week which has prompted the decision to field a 4th team competing on Saturdays. When explaining his vision for the club Taylor said " It is all about developing these young kids and with Gosnells always traditionally being a strong club particularly in the old Sunday league when it was strong, it would be ideal to see Gosnells back up there in A or B grade amateurs" But Taylor said in achieving that they need to "establish a good relationship with the juniors over the next 4 or 5 years and provide a good pathway for them to go on to bigger and better things and identify Gosnells as their home team rather than going to a Huntingdale or Thornlie and if we manage to win a few flags along the way, then that's great too". Gosnells finished up 38 point winners versus Ocean Ridge, much to the pleasure of Coach Taylor.
Taylor said his body has stood up pretty well after his career finished and never really had any major injuries luckily. He has managed to keep himself in reasonable shape over the years although laughs when saying " apart from the belly getting a bit bigger as I enjoy a beer or two".
Married to wife Sue, Taylor has 3 boys playing at Gosnells, Casey, Damien, and Kevin jnr. Another son Andrew doesn't play. He also has a couple of daughters, and both are doing very well in life. He says he is fortunate to have good kids and family. Two of his boys work with him on the wharf in Fremantle for Patricks and the other son Kevin is a second year medical student. Taylor said he loves his job and wishes he had this job 20 years ago. Part of his job is in a mentoring type of role with a group of indigenous workers and the main thing is teaching them life skills like being punctual, saving their dollars, buying a house and giving them a career path. He believes he has the best job in the world and really enjoys it. In his spare time Taylor plays golf with two of his boys, enjoys a beer at the Corfield tavern and the occasional punt at the TAB. He loves being around his boys and feels this keeps him young at heart.
When asked if he had any regrets throughout his career Taylor said he didn't really have any major ones and now really enjoys putting back into the game, something he was taught from some of the great coaches and players he has been close to. A couple of small regrets he does have is he believes he should have played a couple of years with the West Coast Eagles and also wishes he had of completed his 3 year contract with South Melbourne/Sydney Swans and seen where that may have taken him.
On a closing note Taylor laughs as he said he believed Mike Ball should have paid that famous mark that was disallowed during one of those Tuesday arvo state games versus Victoria. And perhaps this sums up Taylors remarkable career, where he often displayed the spectacular and brilliant sides to footy, whilst occasionally being thwarted by the men in white. But Taylor is a man at peace with the world and deserves his place in Western Australian football history, as one of the finest indigenous players to grace our fields, during a very strong era.

Thank you Swandog for a very interesting, informative & well written article. I appreciate the time & effort that you put into writing this piece. I hope you follow this article up soon.

top job SD.....really enjoyed that mate.....good to get some insight on those good ole days when the WAFL was the number 1 comp Australia wide....used to get through school just......then it was Saturday at the footy......great memories.....

Great stuff mate I really enjoyed your article on Kevin Taylor certainly worth the wait.

Freezin wrote: top job SD.....really enjoyed that mate.....good to get some insight on those good ole days when the WAFL was the number 1 comp Australia wide....used to get through school just......then it was Saturday at the footy......great memories.....

Thanks mate, yeh ive been itching to get this up! I hope admin put it in the where are they now section!!

That was a great read SD and a good insight into the bloke. Well done!