Past Player Birthdays: 30th September

Greg Williams

Career : 1992 - 1997
Debut (Carlton): Round 7, 1992 vs Footscray, aged 28 years, 216 days
Carlton Player No. 983
Games : 109 (Carlton), 250 (career)
Goals : 89
Last Game: Round 16, 1997 vs Essendon, aged 33 years, 293 days
Guernsey No : 2
Height : 175 cm (5 ft. 9 in.)
Weight : 86 kg (13 stone, 8 lbs.)
DOB : 30 September, 1963
Premiership Player 1995
Norm Smith Medal 1995
Brownlow Medal 1994 (Also 1986 at the Swans)
Robert Reynolds Memorial Trophy -Best and Fairest Award: 1994
All Australian: 1993(vc), 1994(c)
Herald Sun Player of the Year: 1993, 1994
Leigh Matthew Trophy AFLPA MVP Award: 1994
Team of the Century: Centre
AFL Team of the Century
Carlton Hall of Fame (Inducted 1999)
AFL Hall of Fame (Inducted 2001)

One of the most brilliant and controversial players of all time, Greg "Diesel" Williams was twice rejected by Carlton as a youngster because he lacked natural leg speed. Nevertheless, he went on to carve his name into AFL history as a champion centreman at Geelong and Sydney, before returning to Princes Park and Premiership glory with the Blues. For sheer ball-getting ability, tenacity, and pin-point disposal by hand or by foot, Diesel Williams had few peers.

While growing up in suburban Ascot Vale, Williams was forced to wear callipers on both legs to correct a condition that made him severely ‘knock-kneed’, and he was never renowned for his speed on the playing field. But at the age of 10, he and his family moved to Bendigo, where the sports-mad youngster turned up looking for a game at Golden Square, and began a football journey that most youngsters dream about.

In 1980, aged 16, Williams was selected in the Victorian Teal Cup (Under 17) squad. This led to an invitation from Carlton to join in pre-season training in 1982. But Greg’s sojourn in Melbourne turned into a disaster. Homesick, and unable to cope with the intense competition for places – even in intra-club practice matches – he was soon informed by letter that Carlton no longer required his attendance.

While deeply disappointed by his failure to cope with the pressures of league football, Williams was still convinced that he was good enough to make the grade. He went back to Golden Square, where he had a dominant year in the centre for the Bulldogs, and won the Bendigo League Best and Fairest award by a record margin. When this was pointed out to Carlton, the club promptly reconsidered, and asked him back again for the 1983 pre-season.

But as before, all the Blues training staff could see was a short, somewhat pudgy individual, who trailed off in every time trial. He was tried as a half-forward flanker, not in the pivot, and while some were impressed with his instinctive, accurate hand-passing, and his neat foot skills off both sides of his body – it was generally agreed that there was really no place for Greg in the powerful Carlton side. For the second year running, he packed his bags and went home to Bendigo.

That second rejection could have crushed Williams’ spirit – instead it ignited his determination to prove the bastards wrong. He dedicated himself to training harder and longer than ever, and in September, won the BFL Best and Fairest award for the second year running. Golden Square then met Sandhurst in the ’83 Grand Final, and lost a torrid match by one kick. Best on Ground in the centre for the Bulldogs was 20 year-old Greg Williams, and watching on from the grandstand were two officials from the Geelong Football Club.

Trevor Fletcher

Career : 1976 - 1977
Debut : Round 17, 1976 vs Hawthorn, aged 22 years, 297 days
Carlton Player No. 861
Games : 4
Goals : 0
Last Game : Round 3, 1977 vs St Kilda, aged 23 years, 198 days
Guernsey No. 33
Height : 192 cm (6 ft. 3 in.)
Weight : 89 kg (14 stone, 0 lbs.)
DOB : 30 September, 1953

Another product of the Bendigo Football League - Carlton’s central Victorian recruiting zone prior to 1985 - Trevor Fletcher played four senior games (all off the bench) in a brief stay at Princes Park in 1976-77. Afterwards, the 192 cm ruckman-defender enjoyed a varied on-field career before turning his hand to coaching. He guided Bairnsdale to a famous Latrobe Valley League Premiership in 1981, and later, took charge of Footscray’s Under 19 squad.

Fletcher began his football journey in his home town of Charlton in northern Victoria, but it was his role in South Bendigo’s 1974 BFL Premiership that really sparked Carlton’s interest. Having agreed to terms with the Blues, he crossed to Princes Park in 1976 and took over the number 33 guernsey previously worn by another Bendigo boy; 1972 Premiership defender Paul Hurst.

Some eye-catching efforts in the ruck with Carlton Reserves ensued, before Fletcher was eventually called into the senior team for round 17, 1976, when the co-tenants of Princes Park - second-placed Carlton, and ladder-leaders Hawthorn - clashed in the match of the day. Sharing the reserves bench with Graeme Whitnall on that Saturday afternoon, Fletcher made it on to the field late in the game to become Carlton's sixth debutant of the year after Kevin Heath, Tony Pickett, Leigh McConnon, Jim Buckley and Peter Brown. The switched-on Blues were up for the contest, and upset the Hawks by 31 points.

Twice more over the following weeks – in rounds 19 and 22 – Fletcher watched the first bounce from the bench while the Blues kept on winning. Having snatched the minor premiership from the Hawks, Carlton shaped up for the finals with confidence, but Hawthorn turned the tables in a slogging Semi Final in the wet at Waverley. Then a week later at the same venue, North Melbourne inflicted a coup de grace to Carlton’s season - edging out the Blues by a single, heart-breaking point in the Preliminary Final.

Having missed out on a place in both of Carlton’s finals line-ups, but encouraged by winning the club’s Reserves Best and Fairest, Fletcher saddled up for his second season in 1977, and was named as 19th man for his fourth game when Carlton met St Kilda at Princes Park in round 3. Although the Saints had first use of a strong breeze blowing straight down the ground, they didn’t make the most of it. The Blues did, piling on 8 goals in the second term and another 12 after half-time, to smash their visitors by 107 points. Flamboyant ruckman ‘Percy’ Jones was a star for the Blues, before leaving the ground in the last quarter to allow Fletcher to join in the fun.

Sometime soon after that match however, Fletcher changed his mind about VFL football, and advised the Blues that he would not be continuing. A teacher by profession, he subsequently moved to western Victoria, and played good football for a couple of seasons with the Portland Tigers.

In 1981 he was appointed captain-coach of Bairnsdale in the strong Latrobe Valley Football League. Inspired by the potential of two outstanding teenagers in Brian Royal and Tom Alvin, Fletcher brought out the best in the club’s youngsters by challenging them at every opportunity, and the Redlegs came good at the business end of the season to beat Sale by 21 points in a cracker of a Grand Final.
 

Thanks to the Blueseum for player pics and bios.

Past Player Birthdays: 24th September

Peter Motley

Career : 1986 - 1987
Debut : Round 2, 1986 vs Richmond, aged 21 years, 192 days
Carlton Player No. 937
Games : 19
Goals : 4
Last Game : Round 6, 1987 vs Sydney, aged 22 years, 218 days
Guernsey No. 2
Height : 185 cm (6 ft. 1 in.)
Weight : 82 kg (12 stone, 13 lbs.)
DOB : 24 September, 1964

On Friday, May 1, 1987, Carlton (second on the ladder) met Sydney (third) at the SCG. It was a fierce, physical contest. Despite five goals to Carlton captain Stephen Kernahan, the Swans were a shade too good and won by seven points. Among the Blues’ best that sunny afternoon was Peter Motley; a rangy, blonde-haired 22 year-old budding champion, playing just his nineteenth game of AFL football in navy blue number 2.

Within a few short days after the game, Motley’s career was tragically ended in an horrific head-on car accident. Although he survived the crash, Peter’s injuries were so severe that he could not play again. The Blues – and more so football in general, was stunned by the loss of one of its fastest-rising stars.

Peter was the son of SANFL legend Geof Motley, one of his State’s greatest players. Geof (his name was spelt this way on his birth certificate) pulled on the boots in 250 games for Port Adelaide in an amazing era in which they won nine SANFL flags between 1954 and ’65. Geof was a significant part of every one of them, either as a player, captain or captain-coach, and he represented SA on 28 occasions.

Peter began his football at Sturt, where he quickly showed that he had inherited all of his father’s football ability, and more. By the age of nineteen he was a 185 cm, 82 kg free-running half back with superb foot skills, pace and balance. He won Sturt's Best & Fairest award in 1984, and again in 1985 when he was named All Australian. By then the AFL heavyweights were beating a path to the Motley’s front door. Sydney were the front-runners for his signature at first, before the chance to experience the football culture at its epicentre brought him to Carlton in the summer of 1985.

A series of minor muscle strains hampered Peter’s first year with the Blues, but by late in the ‘86 season he had made one half-back flank his own, in a strong Carlton team that finished third after the home and away rounds. Victory over Sydney, then a shock demolition of hot favourites Hawthorn put the Blues straight into that year’s Grand Final, but they were no match for a rampaging Hawks team who ran out winners by 42 points. The half-back flankers named for Carlton in that match were Peter Motley and Des English. English actually played in the back pocket, while Motley controlled his flank to be one of the Blues’ few clear winners.

That defeat, plus the shock of “Motts” accident early in ‘87, was compounded by further bad news when it was revealed that Carlton’s tough and popular defender Des English had been diagnosed with cancer. These twin tragedies galvanised the Blues, who dedicated their year, and their finals campaign, to their stricken team-mates. Carlton beat Hawthorn by 15 points in the second semi-final, then demolished the Hawks by 33 points to gain sweet revenge when they met again in the Grand Final.

As the victorious Blues ran a joyous, emotional lap of honour before more than 92,000 fans on that great day, their first stop was the players race. There, they shared the triumph of Carlton’s 15th Premiership first with Dezzy and Motts - the two special mates who would have, and should have, but couldn’t be out there with them.

Thanks to the Blueseum for player bio and pic.

Past Player Birthdays: 21st September

Happy 93rd Birthday to Ernie Spence!

If anyone out there knows Ernie, please contact the Spirit of Carlton at admin@spiritofcarlton.com, we would love to get in contact with him.

Career : 1944
Debut : Round 1, 1944 vs South Melbourne, aged 25 years, 227 days
Carlton Player No. 588
Games : 4
Goals : 0
Last Game : Round 10, 1944 vs Fitzroy, aged 25 years, 290 days
Guernsey No. 33
Height : 168 cm (5 ft. 5 in.)
Weight : 73 kg (11 stone, 7 lbs.)
DOB : September 21, 1918

In a career that spanned just 64 days at the height of World War II, Jacob Ernest ‘Ernie’ Spence played four matches for Carlton, but was only on the field for the first bounce once. A lightweight winger from Yarraville in the VFA, he was 19th man in his first three appearances, and celebrated the third win of his career in his final game.

One of three brothers who all signed up for wartime military service, Spence had had a crack at VFL football with Footscray earlier in his career, without progressing further than the Bulldogs’ Reserves. When war was declared, he joined the Royal Australian Engineers, who put his trade skills to work at their large Footscray workshops.

At about the same time, Ernie joined Yarraville, and in early 1944, he found his way to Carlton. Wearing guernsey number 33, he was included in the Blues’ senior team as 19th man in the opening game of the season, when Carlton lost to South Melbourne in what proved to be Spence’s only defeat in navy blue. He waited a month for another opportunity, but was back on the bench when Carlton beat Richmond and Geelong in succession in rounds five and six.

Omitted again after that, Ernie spent three weeks cooling his heels in the seconds, where his consistency eventually earned him a recall to the seniors - in the starting 18 at last - for the home match against Fitzroy in early July. Named on a wing to partner Les McCann in the centre and Vin Brown, Spence enjoyed his third victory on the trot when Carlton cruised home by 30 points.

Although on paper it was an easy win, Blues coach Percy Bentley apparently decided that Spence’s effort fell short of expectations, and he was left out of the team again the following week. At some time between then and the end of the season, Ernie realised that his time was up at Carlton, and he headed back to Yarraville.

Alex Ruscuklic

Career: 1974
Debut: Round 4, 1974 v North Melbourne
Carlton Player No. 843
Games: 9
Goals: 20
Last game: Round 21, 1974 v Essendon
Guernsey No. 24
Height: 191cm
Weight: 85kg
DOB: 21 September, 1948

Ruscuklic wore guernsey #24 in 9 games for Carlton after debuting in Navy Blue in Season 1974. He was listed as 191cm tall.

Ruscuklic managed an impressive 20 goals in those 9 games, leading to the obvious question of why he only managed those 9 games in Navy Blue! Alex was a notoriously unreliable kick for goal as well as, once, kicking 1 goal 10 behinds in a game!

Interestingly, Ruscuklic hasn't kicked the most goals for Carlton 9-gamers, in fact, he is sitting in equal third. The highest goal-kicker of 9-gamers belongs to Harry Davie with 26, then David Clarke with 21 in 1982. Ruscuklic shares third place with Rod Leffanue from 1933.

The answer to the obvious question is not so much 'why', but 'when'. Ruscuklic had crossed over from Fitzroy for the 1974 season, after playing 108 games for the Lions over 1966 - 1974. He had kicked 189 goals for the Roys.

In John Nicholls' autobiography "Big Nick", John wrote, when asked whether he wanted Ruscuklic as a player, that he didn't. But the Match Committee went ahead and got him anyway.

Past Player Birthdays: 15th September

Kevin Bergin

Career: 1955-56
Debut: Round 9, 1955 v Essendon
Carlton Player No. 692
Games: 12
Goals: 12
Guernsey No. 36
Last game: Round 2, 1956 v Melbourne
Height: 175cm
Weight: 73kg
DOB: 15 September, 1936

Bergin played 12 games for the Blues commencing in Season 1955, and managed to average a goal a game in his brief time at Carlton. He wore guernsey #36.

Bergin was recruited from Carlton Districts and Old Paradians (Bundoora).