Ultimate Wool Team: Victoria

Victorian team

 

Full Backs:      Bill Ryan                     John Hyde                   Peter Walker

Half Backs:     Rupe McDonald                     Ian Bluey Shelton       Shane Heard

Centres:          John Goold                 Carji Greeves              Hugh Delahunty

Half Forwards:            Doug Nicholls             Fred Flanagan             Russell Renfry

Full Forwards:             John Sudholz              Roger Merrett             Jim Jess

Followers:       Russell Crow               Tom Wills                    Des Tuddenham

Interchange (from): Brian Muir, Frankie Coghlan, Bill McMaster, Brian Barney Morrison (gun shearer, national record holder), Fenley McDonald (killed at Gallipoli, 25 April, 1915), Russell Renfry, Ernie Hug, Stewart Gull, John Hyde, John Haygarth, Norman Yeo (leader in the wool industry), George Cuttle, Jack Stevens (once classed 4500 ewes in a day), Billy McGrath (Member of Parliament), Matthew Carland, Rod Waddell, Andy Collins, John Stevens, Mick Delahunty, Eric Brown, Alister Carr, Geoff Case, Michael Close, Frank Drum, Alan Eade, David Grenvold, Ian Morgan, Bruce Petering, John Thomas, Clyde Vearing, Don Worland, Mike Patterson.

 

Coach:                         Reg Hickey

Runner:           Jack Curran (also won the Stawell Gift)

 

 

Bill Ryan                     Geelong, 1963-72. 167 games, 220 goals. Recruited from Swan Hill. Famous for his high marking. Wool classer. Gordon Institute.

John Hyde                   Geelong 1948-54. 108 games, 12 goals. Recruited from Port Arlington. Key backman. Centre half back in Geelong 1951-52 premierships sides. Big strong mark. Cleared to Claremont where he played 1955-56.  One of six Geelong players of the day to be employed in the wool industry or have a wool background.

Peter Walker               Geelong 1960-71. 159 games, 1 goal. From Beeac. Played in the 1963 premiership side. Best and fairest in 1965. Good mark. Loved a run.

Rupe McDonald         Geelong 1929-35. 111 games, 2 goals. Dashing half back flanker from Winchelsea. Played in the Cats 1931 premiership side.

Ian Bluey Shelton       Essendon 1959-65. 91 games, 2 goals. Tough and uncompromising key defender who played centre half back in the 1962 premiership side. Recruited from Avernel where the Sheltons have been stalwarts of the local community since the mid-nineteenth century.

Shane Heard               Essendon 1977-87, 1991. 168 games, 39 goals. An early exponent of the tight tag. Played in the 1984 Bombers flag. Sheep farmer in the Wimmera, originally from the Horsham area.

John ‘Raggsy’ Goold              Carlton, 1963-70. 108 games, 3 goals. Usually a back flanker but could take a strong mark and could play in a key position. From Healesville. Something of a bounder who wound up in the fashion industry and has had (still?) an association with sheep properties in the Mortlake district.

Carji Greeves              Geelong, 1923-33. 124 games, 17 goals. 1925 and 1931 premierships Inaugural Brownlow medallist. Geelong Best and Fairest is named after him. Classical mover and great all-round sportsman. From a sheep property near Cressy.

Hugh Delahunty         Essendon 1971-73. 46 games, 18 goals. From Murtoa sheep-wheat property in the Wimmera. Monivae College. Minister for Sport and Recreation in the Baillieu/Napthine Governments.

Doug Nicholls             Fitzroy, 1932-37. 54 games, 2 goals. Legendary Aboriginal (Yorta Yorta) footballer from the Cummeroogunja community near Barmah. Pro runner and Jimmy Sharman boxer. Later an ordained clergyman (‘Pastor Doug’). Knighted. Governor of South Australia. It is said he worked on sheep stations and with river dredging teams as a boy.

Fred Flanagan             Geelong, 1946-55. 164 games, 180 goals. Captain of the 1951-52 premiership sides. From Swan Hill ‘Troubles’ Flanagan (who had served in New Guinea) was a brilliant centre half forward. Wool classer.

Russell Renfry              Geelong, 1946-56, 201 games, 165 goals. 1951-52 premiership sides. Flanker/ruck rover who could win the footy. (one of the six in the famous Geelong wool photo)

John Sudholz              South Melbourne, 1966-71. 86 games, 176 goals. Full forward from a sheep-wheat farm near Rupanyup in the Wimmera.

Roger Merrett             Essendon and Brisbane Bears, 1978-95. Versatile key position player and ruckman. Enforcer. From a sheep-wheat property at Kaniva in the Wimmera.

Jim Jess                       Richmond 1976-88. 223 games, 160 goals. Great character who could play pretty well anywhere, forward and back. 1980 premiership. Coached in the country. Shearer who was once offered a mob of merinos for coaching Balranald in the western Riverina.

Russell Crow               Fitzroy 1960-64, 1968-73. 158 games, 114 goals. Shearer from Warracknabeal in the Wimmera. Ruckman.

Tom Wills        Melbourne, Geelong, 1858- (last game?). One of the founders of the game. Of pastoral heritage. His father, Horatio’s run – 120,000 acre Lexington – was near Mt Ararat in central Victoria. The family established a run in central Queensland, which ended in tragedy.

Des Tuddenham          Collingwood and Essendon, 1962-77. 242 games, 316 goals. Half forward flanker, ruck rover and rover. Played in three losing Grand Finals. From a cattle and sheep farm near Ballarat. Could shear 80 in a day.