Almanac (Creative) Footy: In full flight with the wingers
Wingers have a big stage to play on. They feed the forwards, provide the defenders with an outlet, snag the odd goal, and all the while think about how they can influence the play. The art of the wing is rather forgotten in these days of generic midfielders, but at least they do have to stay wide of the centre circle at the bounce. In the old days, wingers were traditionally much shorter, today more like six footers.
So who are some of the wingers that have captured our imaginations over the years, and what sort of things with wings might they embody? Of the many bird books my favourite is Field Guide to the Birds of Australia by Simpson and Day (Ringwood, Vic: Viking, 1984), often updated, which I’ve taken on road trips around the country, ticking off species with their locality and date. Another interesting reference book is The simple science of flight: from insects to jumbo jets by Henk Tennekes, (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1996) which is held in the State Library of South Australia.

Cartoon from Punch magazine
My highest flying winger is Melbourne’s team of the century Robert Flower, as elegant as the supersonic Concorde patronised by the rich who self-evidently support the Demons. First flying in 1969, Concorde’s distinctive ‘droop nose’ was able to be lowered during takeoff and landing to improve the pilot’s view of the ground below—who knew? Back on earth, my other half tells of a mate who is a mad keen Melbourne supporter. Joe is from a devout Catholic family. Stuck to the family fridge in his childhood were two photographs—his mother’s choice (The Pope) and Joe’s (Robbie Flower). Together they made quite a team, and Robbie had quite the nickname, ‘Tulip’.
Not far behind in excellence but from the more working class North Melbourne is the redheaded Keith Southby Greig MBE. He was only the fifth person to win consecutive Brownlow Medals, in 1973 and 1974, was a key player in the Kangaroos first premiership in 1975, and is in North’s and the AFL’s team of the century. Nicknamed ‘Racehorse’ he would be a match for Pegasus, the winged horse, which is also a constellation in the Northern hemisphere, so we don’t get to see it.
West Coast’s Peter Matera was a dynamic goalkicker who almost incidentally played on the wing, always fiercely concentrating, swooping on the ball like a Cormorant diving for fish. His Norm Smith winning five goals from the wing saw the Eagles win their first premiership in 1992, and of course he was in West Coast’s team of the decade as well as the Indigenous team of the century and the Italian team of the century.
Melbourne’s other team of the century winger was Brian Dixon who wrote the chapter ‘Wingmen for spectacle’ in High mark (Sydney: Murray, 1964). ‘Skilled wingmen frequently serve up some of the most spectacular football in a game. Wingers should be forwards when their side has the ball and backmen when the opposition has it. Generally wingmen should remain within the area defined by the half-back and half-forward lines. Above all, the wingman should position himself to help team-mates who have no closer source of help—the wingman is the link in the chain, and should get lots of kicks.’
It gets tricky: ‘He must think not only of what he will do but of what his team-mates think he will do if he is to co-ordinate with the entire team’. Blimey, no wonder they called Dixon ’the Prof’ from his economics teaching background—he’s describing game theory—for which they award Nobel Prizes. I guess the smartest bird is the Owl, even if in The House at Pooh Corner the name written on his front door is Wol. Brian Dixon further opines, ‘a wingman must study the play of his closest team-mates to give his forwards every opportunity of out-manoeuvering their opposite numbers. To do this he must master all the basic skills of the game, retain that essential speed and remain calm enough to calculate like an adding machine.’
I’m not sure the ebullient Robert DiPierdomenico read the Brian Dixon playbook on being calm like an adding machine. Dipper played with gay abandon, confident his powerhouse game would win the day, which it did in a team that was playing a new style of footy like a pack of commandos. With plenty of skill as well, Dipper was rewarded with a Brownlow in 1986 along with many other honours. He helped Hawthorn get over the line by a goal in the 1989 grand final despite playing with a punctured lung after a clash with Gary Ablett senior. I think of him as a Brown Goshawk, which according to the website animalofthings.com is ‘a majestic and powerful bird of prey found throughout Australia. With its distinctive brown plumage and piercing yellow eyes, the Brown Goshawk is truly a sight to behold. Their agility and speed make them highly skilled hunters. Despite their predatory nature, Brown Goshawks are also known for their playful behaviour, often engaging in elaborate aerial acrobatics and vocalizations’. It nailed that one.
Goshawks are raptors, and if you haven’t already, make sure you visit Raptor Domain next time you are on Kangaroo Island to see a fantastic display of raptor behaviour and fun tricks, from owls to frogmouths to eagles, and to hold same.
Another Hawk, the Footscray and Fitzroy winger Doug Hawkins, had a flamboyance to match the amusing and acrobatic Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. As well as having all the skills and pace, his burly frame helped him add tackling to his team-oriented game. Dougie amassed a then club record 329 games over the 17 seasons he was idolised at the Western Oval, where a sign proclaims the Doug Hawkins Wing. The website australianfootball.com says he patrolled his wing with the same air of ownership as a police officer on the beat. Among other accolades the jovial Dougie is on the wing in the Bulldogs team of the century, has a statue outside the Braybrook Hotel and was Victorian Father of the Year in 1998.

Remembering Laurie Dwyer on the North Melbourne website
Playing from 1956 to 1970, Laurie Dwyer, nicknamed ‘Twinkletoes’ because of his prowess as a ballroom dancer, is in North Melbourne’s team of the century on a wing. The 5’8” Laurie said ‘I came from the country where you learn to dance as a kid going along with mum and dad to the local balls. There was always someone looking for a dance, so I could dance enough to get by. In the city my mates were going to the learn-to-dance to get onto the girls so I tagged along. The teacher said “you should do your medals”, so one thing led to another and I ended up Australian champion. I was playing footy at the same time. One minute you are dancing in tails and next thing you are out on the footy ground. At Footscray one day they were yelling out “come on, Twinkles, give us a dance”, and in the end I turned around and gave them a bit of a shuffle’. What a great story, and of course Australia’s legendary dancing bird is the Brolga.
As a kid on the family farm at Cobden, Thorold Merrett practised stab passes through a suspended tyre, such that Jack Dyer reckoned he could ‘stab kick a footy right up a chook’s arse from 50 yards’. At 5’6” and two premierships later, he is in Collingwood’s team of the century on a wing. In the Sun-News Pictorial of 25 August 1952 we read, ‘racing goalwards in the first term at Footscray, Thorold Merrett met a hard, high kick from an opposing defender with a perfect half-volley kick and sent the ball 40 yards back to score Collingwood’s first goal’. I’d like to have seen that! The Sporting Globe of 29 August 1951 happily mixed its metaphors describing the 17-year-old as a jet-propelled midget and a thimbleful. This brings to mind the tiny Hummingbird, which I’ve been lucky enough to encounter in my sister’s garden in San Diego, California. You can hear the sound of its wings whirring like a small fan as it hovers over sugary flowers.
The other winger in Collingwood’s team of the century is Darren Millane, who was everything that black and white supporters wanted in their players—he would be the majestic black and white Albatross, forever flying free. In 1990, the year the VFL became the AFL, Daz at 6’2”was on the winning grand final wing against Essendon, whose star winger was another 6’2” blond mulleted Greg Anderson. Only a charmer like Greg could do the impossible in being beloved of both Adelaide Crows and Port supporters, like the graceful Flamingo that is admired by all. Greg won the 1986 Magarey Medal for Port in the SANFL and made the Crows first team of the decade on a wing.
I’m done with talking about Collingwood players, so I’m just going to lump together a group of their players named on a wing in All Australian Teams, as a flock of Choughs: Gavin Brown 1989, Graham Wright 1990, Mick McGuane 1992, Dale Thomas 2011 and Steele Sidebottom 2018. One of my favourite birds, the Australian White-Winged Chough is found in southern and eastern Australia. On the ground Choughs can be mistaken for crows or ravens because they only reveal their white wings in flight. They are highly sociable birds, living communally in groups up to 20.

Wilfred Chicken Smallhorn from the Weekly Times 16 September 1933
Fitzroy’s Wilfred Arthur Smallhorn at 5’7” was nicknamed Chicken because his mother could never catch him when he was young. No wonder he was on the wing in the Lions team of the century and also won the 1933 Brownlow Medal. In June 1940 Chicken enlisted in the AIF, was taken prisoner by the Japanese and spent three years in Changi prison, where in 1942 he was the main organiser of a football competition between six teams named after VFL clubs. With 15,000 Australian prisoners to choose from, the ‘League’ was said to be very strong. The nine-month season was properly run with clearances, tribunals and even a ‘Changi Brownlow’, which was won by Peter Chitty, who had played for St Kilda in the VFL. The medal, reputedly made from metal from a downed Japanese aeroplane, is now in the Australian War Memorial. The final game of the season between ‘Victoria’ and the ‘Rest of Australia’ attracted 10,000 spectators.
Francis Bourke and Dick Clay, swooping and powering over the ground like a couple of Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos, were unbeatable in Richmond’s premiership year 1967. Wayne Schwass was named as an emergency in North Melbourne’s team of the century—you just had to fit such a tough and classy ball handler into the team—and that’s before he went to the Sydney Swans. Schwatta was born in New Zealand with Maori heritage, and a longtime supporter and ambassador for Australian Rules in New Zealand, so he has to be Aotearoa’s most famous bird, the Kiwi.
Playing positions sometimes run in the family, in no more spectacular fashion than father and son Leo and Michael Turner who are on the wings in Geelong’s team of the century. The website australianfootball.com says Leo was extraordinarily elusive, with the knack of manoeuvring into space from seemingly impossibly tight situations. Could be one of the Pelicans you see around the bay at Geelong. Mick might be a Seagull, actually a Silver Gull, confident on land or in the air. His illustrious playing career was followed by an even more illustrious contribution as a mentor of young Geelong Falcons. I learnt of his recent death in a social media post by one of my family friends, David Jenkins, for whom Mick was a favourite player. He took the opportunity to recall that he too played on the wing at our old school, Brighton High. Now living in Ireland, Div can be one of its most widespread birds, the lively Wren, which is very vocal and often heard before seen.
Another Geelong winger Peter Riccardi took nippiness to a new level like the Road Runner, which is a figure of fun in cartoons but in Native American folklore is a symbol of strength, endurance, speed, and courage—Peter used these attributes to kick 286 goals over a 14 year career.
There are a bunch of St Kilda players who made the All Australian Team on the wing over the last 30 years: Nicky Winmar reminds me of a jaunty Willie Wagtail with its penchant for display, Nick Dal Santo an intriguing Puffin with its red beak, while Austinn Jones and Leigh Montagna are a couple of neatly turned out Penguins.
Robert Murphy has interesting thoughts on football and life and is now on ABC Melbourne 774 breakfast radio. In 2013 Bob listed his Top Ten wingers of the last 30 years. His number 1 was Robbie Flower ‘patron saint of skinny blokes’, then Michael Long, Peter Matera, Nicky Winmar, Doug Hawkins, Nigel Lappin, Wayne Schwass, Chris Mainwaring, Simon Goodwin and Dipper. Of those I haven’t looked at, Michael Long with his Essendon stripe is like the flashy Red Browed Firetail (formerly Finch), Brisbane’s Nigel Lappin the gritty Tawny Frogmouth, West Coast’s Chris Mainwaring the stocky Cape Barren Goose which is found along coastal southern Australia, and Adelaide’s Simon Goodwin an earnest Bronzewing Pigeon.

Eastern Ground Parrot
Essendon’s recently retired Dyson Heppell was All Australian winger in 2014. The popular Bomber started out with Gippsland club Leongatha, known as the Parrots. Its emblem might have been based on the swift flying but mainly ground dwelling rare Eastern Ground Parrot, which is found in the Gippsland. There is a lovely illustration of it in the three volume Parrots in captivity by William Thomas Greene (London: Bell, 1884-1887) which is held in the State Library.
On the other wing in Adelaide’s team of its first decade is an old-fashioned winger, Simon Tregenza, who, like Greg Anderson, had success with Port Adelaide winning four premierships in the SANFL. According to australianfootball.com, ‘a pacy wingman with a touch of class, Simon Tregenza caught the eye from the very outset of his career with his penchant for embarking on long, sinuous runs into the forward lines’. South Australians are known as Croweaters supposedly because the early settlers used to eat them in pies, but we could have been Raveneaters, as South Australia has both. Which brings to mind the curious Edgar Allen Poe poem ‘The Raven’, which repeats the word Nevermore, while Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series has a raven called Quoth. Bird guru Sean Dooley says that Australia has five species of crows and ravens, all Corvidae, with only small differences between them. Inland can be found the Little Crow, but if you are in Perth, Canberra, or Sydney, chances are you are seeing an Australian Raven. If you are in Melbourne or Adelaide, chances are it’s a Little Raven, which is only a centimetre shorter. If you’re in Hobart, it’s a Forest Raven, and if you’re in Darwin or Brisbane, it’s a Torresian Crow.
In the SANFL Tony Burgan and Brenton Miels were Sturt’s gallant wing twins in the late 1960s and seemed unusually tall for wingers at that time, although they were only six footers. Tony is on the wing in Sturt’s team of the century—the fair-haired one, he was like the outgoing Cockatiel, while the dark-haired quieter Brenton was more like the solitary Tree Creeper that spirals up trees in a clockwise direction looking for insects. Acknowledging his years of service fundraising for the club, the Brenton Miels Service Award goes to someone who shows the same dedication and passion for the club that Brenton showed over many years.
Preceding them was Darryl Hicks OAM, a passionate and enthusiastic player who my brother recalls was a fabulous drop kick pass on the run, and could pick out a team-mate between two opponents. Writing in 1962 Jeff Pash confirmed Hicksy’s trademark ‘immaculate dropkicked pass’. A chirpy blue Budgerigar, he kicked nearly a goal a game, leading Pash to write about ‘the exhilarating dasher’ and that ‘to watch Hicks is to feel young again’. Who was Jeff Pash? After a playing career with North Adelaide, Jeff Pash wrote a weekly football column for the now defunct News, from which a collection of his insightful writings has been published as The Pash papers: Australian Rules Football in South Australia 1950-1964 (Oaklands: Pioneer Books, 1999).
On the other wing for Sturt in its team of the century is Clarrie Scrutton, who played with his two brothers for Sturt in 1923. The News of 5 August 1926 wrote, ‘there is none of the showy type of football about the game Scrutton plays. Accurate passing counts as much with a wingman as with a centre man. Long, low passing is the game, and Scrutton practises it to perfection. Across the centre Vic Richardson and Scrutton have a perfect understanding’. The Register of 7 May 1926 wrote, ‘His scrupulously fair tactics compelled the admiration of even the disgruntled section of the opposing supporters, and if every footballer in the game played the ball, and left the man alone, as Scrutton does, the League Commissioner would, like Othello of old, find his occupation gone’. Golly, with a wrap like that he can only be an Angel.

Phil Gallagher
One of Norwood’s greats, Phil Gallagher played mainly on the wing from 1973 to 1986, landing there in the Redlegs team of the century. Despite that tousled hair and ungainly looking body, it seemed that Gags could run as fast backwards as forwards, like the mythical Oozlum bird of British folk tales and known for its peculiar habit of flying backwards. The Oozlum is a whimsical representation of the unexpected and the nonsensical—we need more of that. Gags was also a good wicketkeeper/batter for Glenelg, who Rulebook remembers as a raucous appealer, unlike his quiet persona on the field.
Like son like father, Kevin James ‘Sam’ Gallagher was also a Norwood winger, joining the club in 1945 after a stint in the Royal Australian Air Force, where his last role was Flight Sergeant in 94 Squadron which flew de Havilland DH98 Mosquitos. My ears pricked up when I learned this, because a DH9 was the plane flown by Ray Parer and John McIntosh in the Great Air Race of 1919. I have just written an introduction to a re-publication of Ray’s book Flight and adventures of Parer and McIntosh being published by the Friends of the State Library of South Australia in 2025. Back to Sam Gallagher the footballer, he was described by Jeff Pash as a ‘nonchalant wayward genius’ whose marking was ‘a wild flight into the unknown’. He starred on the wing in the 1950 grand final win over Glenelg, a day that was notable for a real Tiger from Wirths Circus leading a procession in a cage on the back of a lorry from the Bay to the southern gates at Adelaide Oval. The Gallagher-Williams Cup was first presented in 1991 for competition between the old rivals Norwood and Port.
North Adelaide has had some brilliant wingers, none more so than Barrie Barbary, a pocket Hercules who brings to mind the burly but sociable Flying Foxes that moved into North Adelaide in 2010. In 1963 Barbary was part of arguably South Australia’s greatest ever state team that defeated Victoria at the MCG, winning the O’Halloran Trophy as best on ground. Jeff Pash wrote, ‘At the MCG on Saturday his speed, tenacity and sure ball-handling were dominating factors in South Australia’s seven point win over Victoria. A steadfast refusal to admit defeat and the ability to gain possession against overwhelming odds are two of Barbary’s greatest attributes. Barbary knows his capabilities, exploits his skill to the full and lifts the morale of his team mates with his courageous and dashing approach’. Reflecting on his 1960 Magarey Medal season Pash wrote, ‘As a footballer, he must please the most severe critic; his play is based on the solid, boring rush forward, complete technical mastery of his craft, and a serene, Bunton-like concentration. Strength plus dexterity makes for the brilliant effects’.
My memory of Barry Stringer is that as a wingman he was very tall for his time, but he was actually no more than six feet. Talking about the 1972 Champions of Australia game North v Carlton, Barrie Robran said ‘I can remember Patto saying to our defenders, if you are in trouble, kick long to Barry Stringer’s wing’ and he would outmark almost everyone. A Koolunga boy, Barry Stringer won the 1970 Mail Medal for Gulnare-Redhill Football Club in the Broughton League. As a country boy he would know about Roosters, one of the tallest being the Australorp.
Phil Maylin was a popular winger in Woodville’s team of the century, later moving to Carlton. Carlton’s website says ‘A hard-running, tenacious, red-haired utility, Phil Maylin was a popular member of Carlton’s 1981 and ‘82 premiership sides. Virtually from the day of his arrival at Princes Park in the early summer of 1979, Maylin’s skill set and work ethic demanded that a place be found for him in the reigning Premiership team’. Nicknamed ‘Shark’ he has to be a Flying Fish that glides over the sea on its long wing-like pectoral fins to escape predators. Ron Hateley kicked eight goals from a wing on his debut for South Adelaide in 1973. From Tantanoola in the south east, he was nicknamed ‘Snake’ after being bitten by one at a training camp. The only bird I can think of that tackles snakes is the Kookaburra.

Rainbow Bee-Eater
Westies player, Ken Eustice won the 1961 Magarey Medal on a wing before moving to Centrals and Glenelg. After South Australia’s heroic 1963 win over Victoria, Fos Williams called the 5’9” Kenny ‘pound for pound the best footballer in Australia’. So of course his biography is called Pound for pound, written by Glenelg club historian Peter Cornwall with Ken in 2005. Peter tells me that ‘Ken was brought up in Maggea, a railway siding town of about 20 residents in the Murray Mallee, and went to school with a handful of local kids in the town hall. He booted a goal with his first kick in football as an 11 year old playing against grown-ups in Mantung, on a ground covered in stones with some saltbush and the odd clump of tufted, coarse grass’. No wonder Kenny was so tough, like the Rainbow Bee-Eaters which catch flying insects like bees and wasps on the wing, then take them to a roost to knock the sting out before eating them. They dig a 30cm long nesting burrow, so narrow that when they enter or exit, their bodies pressing against the walls act like a piston, pumping in fresh air and pushing out stale air. Amazing. They are said to be widespread and common but sadly I’ve never seen one.
In the AFLW, Carlton’s Darcy Vescio is an AFL Multicultural Ambassador with Italian and Chinese heritage, so with that exotic heritage the blue bagger might be the Dark Pencilled-Blue Butterfly found on the east coast. Originally a forward, coach Mathew Buck moved Vescio to the wing, which Darcy said in an August 2024 interview had ‘reinvigorated football for me. It’s challenged me to think differently about footy and sort of push my capacity as an athlete as well. It’s really fun, because obviously you’ve got an opponent, but you’re also playing your own game as well’. It’s an interesting observation that on the wing you can play your own game.
Next time, we meet the half back flankers and find out which specimen of horse some of our favourite players will be associated with—think of the ‘small and weedy’ mountain pony ridden by ‘The Man from Snowy River’ or Roy Rogers’ palomino Trigger or the two time Melbourne Cup winner Rain Lover. Suggests for players welcome.
The All Australian wingers for 2024 were Collingwood’s Nick Daicos and Sydney’s Errol Gulden. What more can you say about Nick Daicos? He’s everywhere on a footy field, like the ubiquitous Magpie that is regarded fondly around the country, while Errol Gulden with his black hair and superb grooming is the Black Swan, which seems to be a tautology as there are no White Swans in Australia.
So the wingers are a spectacular bunch indeed. It’s a fun exercise to think who you would want to have playing on a wing and what sort of winged creature they would be in a team playing in an airy heaven.
Read more of Carolyn’s delightful stories HERE
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About Carolyn Spooner

Not a chough, but Ricky Barham is my favourite Collingwood wingman. Speedy, ungainly, flighty, cranky and delicate, he was more the plover.
Great read again -Carolyn spot on re Barry Stringer and yes I can hear Gags appealing now thank you
Nailed it Carolyn. Maybe Mick Turner at Geelong and Phil Kelly of East Perth and North Melbouwho won 2 x sandover medals. He is the dad of the GWS champ.