Melbourne - Prahran connection

[old dee 24,018]

8 minutes ago, joeboy said:

I was invited to partake in a pre season with Prahran in the early 70’s.. does that count as a Melbourne /Prahran connection?

Yep way better than I can come up with joeboy

[Demons3031 375]

19 hours ago, Vagg said:

There's a list of MFC Royalty, if ever I saw one! 

Emselle & Townsend were both great Rovers.  I seem to recall that they weren't both able to get on the park at the same time for long periods.  First one of them had a long-term injury.  And, just as he was returning to the field, the other one hit the long-term injury list.  Anyone else remember that?  (Or, is it just the Old-timer's disease kicking in again??)

Spot on Vagg. John Townsend suffered a serious knee injury after the 1965 season- My memory was it happened overseas in the USA in an exhibition game against Geelong- someone might correct me on this. Missed most of 1966-67 and  he re-injured it twice. Ken Emselle missed most of 19068-9 with a serious knee injury 

 

[dl4e 5,851]

6 hours ago, Docs Demons said:

Used to go watch Prahran a bit in those days seeing old Blackburn team mates in Rod Appleton and Alan Peach. Many a fine Sunday arvo was had by all particularly seeing we were allowed in those days to take our Tallies in !! By the way that Fitzroy player may have been Appleton as he had a couple of seasons at the Roys.

Those days in the VFA were great. Used to love Dandenong play Port Melbourne. Sure bet their would be a BIFFO

Appleton does ring a bell but I am sure it was Thornton. 

You are right about the vfa being great. Used to watch the second division finals at toorak park as you were sure to see a decent punch on.

[Tarax Club 4,112]

A distant memory, ruckman Peter Weekes played VFL with MFC and later VFA with Prahran. Remember his debut season kicking action, was very awkward perhaps the footy equivalent of Froggy Thompson’s bowling action on the ‘G. Other luminaries and less so who played for both clubs according to Demonwiki, include Bert Chadwick, Bryan Kenneally, John Lord Senior, Bob McKenzie, Barrie Vagg and Don Williams. Bob Spargo, Vin Catoggio, Kelvin Clarke, Greg Hutchison, Andrew Moir, Russell Richards ? and Peter Sinclair.

[Bobby McKenzie 2,401]

3 hours ago, Tarax Club said:

A distant memory, ruckman Peter Weekes played VFL with MFC and later VFA with Prahran. Remember his debut season kicking action, was very awkward perhaps the footy equivalent of Froggy Thompson’s bowling action on the ‘G. Other luminaries and less so who played for both clubs according to Demonwiki, include Bert Chadwick, Bryan Kenneally, John Lord Senior, Bob McKenzie, Barrie Vagg and Don Williams. Bob Spargo, Vin Catoggio, Kelvin Clarke, Greg Hutchison, Andrew Moir, Russell Richards ? and Peter Sinclair.

Bob McKenzie also went to Prahran Tech strengthening his affiliations with Prahran, Or 'Pran' as former Australian cricketer Ian Johnson  pronounced it.

[Demons3031 375]

10 hours ago, Tarax Club said:

A distant memory, ruckman Peter Weekes played VFL with MFC and later VFA with Prahran. Remember his debut season kicking action, was very awkward perhaps the footy equivalent of Froggy Thompson’s bowling action on the ‘G. Other luminaries and less so who played for both clubs according to Demonwiki, include Bert Chadwick, Bryan Kenneally, John Lord Senior, Bob McKenzie, Barrie Vagg and Don Williams. Bob Spargo, Vin Catoggio, Kelvin Clarke, Greg Hutchison, Andrew Moir, Russell Richards ? and Peter Sinclair.

Yes I remember Peter Weekes kicking for goal with his individual style action. Thats a  good list of players there Tarax!.I wish some of those had stayed on a season longer with the Dees but I guess they knew when it was time. 

[pineapple dee 2,892]

Not really relevant to the Prahran - Melbourne connection but I went to a Prahran / Dandenong match with Sam Kekovich playing for Prahran. He seemed a bit upset by something and started punching any Dandenong player within reach. Within one minute, there were 4 Dandenong players flat on their backs and more going down. It was less than 10 metres from where I was standing. That was in the era of strong fan / player interaction. As a Dandenong fan, I had an opinion about what Kekovich was doing but I thought the best thing would be to keep it to myself. 

Will never forget that image. 

[Redleg 41,983]

33 minutes ago, pineapple dee said:

Not really relevant to the Prahran - Melbourne connection but I went to a Prahran / Dandenong match with Sam Kekovich playing for Prahran. He seemed a bit upset by something and started punching any Dandenong player within reach. Within one minute, there were 4 Dandenong players flat on their backs and more going down. It was less than 10 metres from where I was standing. That was in the era of strong fan / player interaction. As a Dandenong fan, I had an opinion about what Kekovich was doing but I thought the best thing would be to keep it to myself. 

Will never forget that image. 

I was standing next to Stewart Gull, as he was having his split eye sewn up by a trainer, during a Dees practice game at the Prahran game.The needle looked dirty and the trainer was more a butcher than a Doctor. Stewart was one tough guy. Does that count a s a connection?

PS. I know Sam Kekovich and he is a funny guy and big.

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,297]

3 hours ago, Redleg said:

I was standing next to Stewart Gull, as he was having his split eye sewn up by a trainer, during a Dees practice game at the Prahran game.The needle looked dirty and the trainer was more a butcher than a Doctor. Stewart was one tough guy. Does that count a s a connection?

PS. I know Sam Kekovich and he is a funny guy and big.

Pretty sure I was there, was an intraclub trial.....i believe Phil Carman was the perpetrator in his first run with Dees.

[Whispering_Jack 31,221]

On 12/31/2019 at 3:07 AM, pitmaster said:

Wayne Johnston asked for a clearance to Melbourne while playing for Prahran. Unfortunately Alex Jesaulenko, then coaching Carlton, insisted on seeing Johnston in action before clearing him. So close.

There’s a Demonland connection there because Redleg and I were his managers at the time (early 1979). Jonno, who kicked 70 goals for Prahran but was residentially tied to Carlton) was struggling in his early practice matches with the Blues and was named on the extended bench for a “probables” v “possibles” game which means he was most likely not in their best 40 after allowing for injuries etc. He was lucky to get a run because a couple of recruits from Bendigo didn’t make it down to Princess Park but he only had a few kicks in the first half and looked deflated at the main break ... then ...

Jezza, who was a playing coach, pulled off the coaching move of his career by putting Jonno on a half forward flank and playing against him at the start of the the third quarter. Jonno kicked four goals for the term and, in the words of Springsteen, “that was all she wrote” - they were never going to clear him for any price (they wanted Robbie’s brother Tom Flower who had kicked 5 goals against Collingwood  in the last game of 1978).

We missed out on quite a few good players back in those days because we couldn’t match the professionalism and the commercial might of the big clubs like Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond. A decade earlier, we cleared a young Prahran player named Kevin Sheedy to the Tigers because Norm Smith didn’t think he was good enough and KB also came from that neck of the woods.

[dl4e 5,851]

I couldn't believe Johnstone was not playing vfl especially in 78. I knew of the carlton bit and was devastated it happened but the question is would he have been as good a player at Melbourne as at carlton. I know it sounds dreadful but one has to ask the question.

[Whispering_Jack 31,221]

6 hours ago, dl4e said:

I couldn't believe Johnstone was not playing vfl especially in 78. I knew of the carlton bit and was devastated it happened but the question is would he have been as good a player at Melbourne as at carlton. I know it sounds dreadful but one has to ask the question.

A valid question and I’ve often wondered about that myself with the conclusion  that it’s unlikely he would have reached the same heights at Melbourne as he did in his career at the Blues. We weren’t much of a side until John Northey came along and that was well past the halfway mark of Johnston’s career. 

[hemingway 7,633]

19 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

A decade earlier, we cleared a young Prahran player named Kevin Sheedy to the Tigers because Norm Smith didn’t think he was good enough and KB also came from that neck of the woods.

Two rejections. As a player and then as a coach.

A good reason to dislike the Club. 

Both rejections understandable.

Presenting as a player he would have appeared slow and no overly endowed with skill. Norm did not get an opportunity to see his innate determination and competitiveness.

As a coach, he appeared over the hill with a history of requiring total control of the FD and club. 

 

[goodwindees 2,586]

On 12/31/2019 at 8:24 PM, dl4e said:

Appleton does ring a bell but I am sure it was Thornton. 

You are right about the vfa being great. Used to watch the second division finals at toorak park as you were sure to see a decent punch on.

You might be thinking of a real tough nut called Garry Chapman.  Was a very tough half back/midfielder with Prahran who went onto play 2/3 seasons at Fitzroy.

Does anybody remember a big, overweight plumber full of tattoos called Steve O'Brien, Number 34 I think.  Made Toby Mitchell look like a clean skin.

[Demons3031 375]

On 12/31/2019 at 12:14 PM, hemingway said:

A great build for a centre half forward and a strong overhead mark.

Promised so much when he first played with Melbourne, but did not fulfill his promise.

Spot on Hemingway - we needed players with bulk, strength and marking ability..we seemed light on in this department compared to opposition players. I do remember a great game he played at Victoria Park which we  nearly (and should have won)

[Fidelista 39]

On 12/31/2019 at 11:23 AM, dl4e said:

I think the fitzroy player was Ross Thornton.

# 4 at the Roys.

[Supermercado 2,802]

This is the list I have (links came with copy and paste, I didn't manually add them all!). If there are any others let me know.

Bill Adams (Captain/Coach)
Robin Andrew
Mick Anthony
Bill Atkinson
Bert Avery
Maurie Bartlett
Art Beaumont
Stephen Bickford
Stuart Cameron
Vin Catoggio
Bert Chadwick
Doug Chapman
Kelvin Clarke
Jim Conquest
John Dellamarta
Brian Dixon
Rob Dowsing
Jim Durnan
Ken Emselle
Arthur Ferguson
John Forster
Alf George
Michael George
Glenn Giles
Peter Giles
Lew Gough
Shane Grambeau
Archie Grigg
Peter Hamilton
Peter Hannan
Ray Harvey
Jack House
Greg Hutchison (Captain/Coach)
Dennis Jones (Coach)
Ken Jungwirth
Bryan Kenneally
John Lord 1921-1923 (Captain/Coach)
Greg Lourey
Bob Love
Percy Love
Ian McGuinness
Bob McKenzie
Geoff McNaughton
Shane McSpeerin
Andrew Moir
Vern Moore
Bill Morrow
David Murray
Len Norman
Frank O'Connor
Ivan Porter
Rod Payne
Mike Power
Billy Quinn
Michael Reynolds
Russell Richards
Frank Richardson
Howard Richardson
Archie Roberts
Kerry Ryan
Lou Salvana
Peter Sinclair
Frank Smith
Kim Smith
Bob Spargo
Robert Stewart
Brian Stynes
Jim Stynes
Peter Thorne
John Townsend
Percy Tulloh
Bill Tymms
Barrie Vagg
Peter Weekes
Robin White
Don Williams
Gary Wynd
Graeme Yeats

Also worth checking out the site VFA Project, it's very rough but there's some good team lists on there.

[Demons3031 375]

Wonderful Supermercado! Thanks.:)

 

[TGR 1,367]

Sheeds.

We rejected him for Neeldy remember.  What a croc it was to put him through the process.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

1 hour ago, TGR said:

Sheeds.

We rejected him for Neeldy remember.  What a croc it was to put him through the process.

Bailey.

[Simong88 0]

Question: Did Kerry Ryan then go on to coach Prahran U19's? I had a coach called Rhino, played a game for Melb. Wondering? Appreciate any help from anyone who knows. Cheers Simon g

[nosoupforme 3,085]

On 12/31/2019 at 12:26 PM, Deemania since 56 said:

Graeme Osborne ( The Racehorse) - he was given games with Prahran in recovery from injury. Fastest bloke on the field, I'd reckon.

Kim Smith ex Melbourne played at full forward and kicked 7 goals Wayne Johnson Carlton played in the 78 GF as well Ross Thornton ex Fitzroy and  Sam Keckovich  ex NM and many more ex VFL players from  Prahran and Preston. 

[dieter 3,325]

On 1/1/2020 at 11:18 AM, pineapple dee said:

Not really relevant to the Prahran - Melbourne connection but I went to a Prahran / Dandenong match with Sam Kekovich playing for Prahran. He seemed a bit upset by something and started punching any Dandenong player within reach. Within one minute, there were 4 Dandenong players flat on their backs and more going down. It was less than 10 metres from where I was standing. That was in the era of strong fan / player interaction. As a Dandenong fan, I had an opinion about what Kekovich was doing but I thought the best thing would be to keep it to myself. 

Will never forget that image. 

A bloke I've come to know well via the Wine Business, roved for Prahran that day - a 50 game ex Bulldog, Graeme Austin. 

[Deemania since 56 6,767]

13 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

Kim Smith ex Melbourne played at full forward and kicked 7 goals Wayne Johnson Carlton played in the 78 GF as well Ross Thornton ex Fitzroy and  Sam Keckovich  ex NM and many more ex VFL players from  Prahran and Preston. 

Ahhh, the memories! Noted earlier note about The Racehorse, Graeme Osborne. He was so fast, I still reckon he was the fastest man I had ever seen on the footy field. 

[dieter 3,325]

1 hour ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Ahhh, the memories! Noted earlier note about The Racehorse, Graeme Osborne. He was so fast, I still reckon he was the fastest man I had ever seen on the footy field. 

And the worst kick ever!