Ukovic was why I changed my jumper number from 1 (Harvey) to a very narrow-spaced 11 (Hardwick).
The same numbers are just barely holding on now…
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Very handsome. Looked a bit like Guelfi. Also wore 35.
Watched an old game last night, from 2009 vs FC. Pears was outstanding on Fevola, looked like being an absolute gun. Such a shame what happened to him injury wise. Terrible bad luck.
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One I think about is Adam Ramanauskas. He played from 1999-2008, but missed huge periods of time in the middle due to cancer, which thankfully he recovered from. Could have and should have been a 250+ game champion. At least he played in the 2000 premiership and was no small part of it.
He makes sensible comments in the media too.
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Huge indeed!
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Ben Doolan
…Stockbroker?
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Remember that game clearly. Came second in the rising star that year I think. Terribly sad that injuries absolutely destroyed him, he had all the makings of a star
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And they were weird injuries too.
Lacerated pancreas I think was one. Had another stupid one that damaged an organ. Wasn’t just a simple hamstring or knee injury
Broke his arm that Jack Riewoldt kept punching at…Steve Kretiuk on Lloydy style.
I thought I was the only one who remembered that. I kept banging on to my Richmond mates who were with me about what a ■■■■ bloke Riewoldt was for doing that.
Surely you realise that I remember everything…albeit uncertainly at times.
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Des Tuddenham.
Four years of Tuddy’s aggression rubbed of on the likes of Cassin, Roberts, Andrews, Beaumont, Shaw.
We didn’t win too many games but we won our share of the toe to toe stuff.
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I try as hard as possible not to think about Des Tuddenham or the years he was at Essendon or the damage that he did while he was.
They were the worst in my 50+ years of supporting the club, apart only from the saga years.
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Why is that?
We’d come off a few years of serving up rubbish and made the finals in '72 and '73. Yes we were thumped up at least we got there.
And with a fairly average team.
72 was the first year I became a member. Fields, Roberts, Cassin, Andrews, Noonan, Blethyn and Tuddenham were the reasons I went along.
I might add though…I have met Tuddenham on a few occasions over the years (usually as he is trying to score free drinks at the end of a bar in South Melbourne), and he doesn’t strike me as a pleasant kind of guy.
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He tried to turn us into a team of thugs, and succeeded to a certain extent for a time.
Tough, aggressive players are great. Thugs are not.
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Laycock and Alex Brown should have better careers.
Laycock showed a lot of potential and could have been one of the better rucks but couldn’t bring it all together.
Well, Alex Brown I thought could have played more footy. Injuries aside I don’t think they gave him enough chances.
The club must have for it right though or he would have been given a chance at another club.
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Fair enough. I can see where you are coming from.
I felt differently…that we finally stood our grown.
My favourite in those early to mid seventies always seemed to be on the receiving end.
Fields, Cahill, Roberts, Robins, Burdett. I have visions of them all flat on their backs.
Different era I know. And I’ve never liked the snipper stuff but at least we didn’t take it anymore.
Will Hams
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Nifty Neville Fields and Kenny Roberts were sensational
I remember Polly Farmer saying you needed to play 2 players on Neville Fields to stop him because everytime he kicked the ball it went 70 metres
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