POLLY

by Cyclops

Whenever the classic pub footy talk question "who is the greatest player you have ever seen?" is asked I answer Graham "Polly" Farmer without hesitation.

Imagine my delight when, who do I see standing in the departure area of Perth airport on Monday afternoon but the great man himself?

"Too good an opportunity" I say to myself so I go over, introduce myself and shake his hand. I mention that I was over for the WCE game and that he was the greatest, thanks for everything etc.

He was utterly charming and revealed something that I don't believe is common knowledge in the football world.

He told me that he was nearly a Demon himself.

Polly" said that East Perth played a post season game in 1956 between the VFL and WAFL premiers which Melbourne won by a mere 5 points. In the aftermath of the game, the Demons' coach Norm Smith and club secretary Jim Cardwell (whose job description in those days included everything including recruiting officer) made a sustained and concerted effort to have him sign with Melbourne. He was 21 years of age at the time and had just completed his fourth season with the Royals. He was the reigning Sandover medallist and had also won the Tassie medal that year.

He explained that he was seriously attracted by the approach but eventually decided against signing as he believed that he would not obtain a clearance. He went on to play 176 games for East Perth before choosing Geelong from a (by now) long list of Clubs seeking his signature and joining them at the beginning of season 1962.

It's now history that Graham "Polly" Farmer played 101 games for the Cats between 1962-67 including the 1963 premiership and won B & F's in 1963 and 1964. He returned to the west in 1968 as captain coach of West Perth where he played a further 79 games including 2 premierships and won the Simpson medal at the 1969 Australian Championships.

He was inducted into the inaugural Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 as a "Legend", and then into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

He even has a freeway named after him in Perth - the Graham Farmer Freeway which includes the Northbridge Tunnel linking East Perth to West Perth (as per his playing career) that is colloquially known as the "Polly Pipe".

I was already aware that Melbourne had once signed Darryl Baldock on a Form 4 in 1958 (before he went to St. Kilda and became a champion player there) and that Doug Wade trained with the club in the 1959 pre season and was told he wasn't good enough by Smith before he was signed by the Cats to go on and become their greatest ever goalkicker. So what about the salivation factor of the thought that Farmer, together with Baldock and Wade might all have been Demons during the 1960's.

Perhaps our great club's fall from grace after the 1964 grand final might have been delayed or avoided altogether!!!