1978 The year it was

[mal]

MENZEL
Gary ''Alby"" Menzel was a blonde haired rover
Alby was a real competitor, what he lacked in skill level he made up for tenacity and a willingness to play at this level, Alby forged out a good career in the SANFL
Hawk is correct, this was Garys Debut season and he played 11 games
Alby was a regular on the nightclub scene
Often we would catch up at places like Bojangles [Newmarket Hotel]
Albys drinking buddy would sometimes be fellow rover Greg Turbill who was a real night owl !

The arrival of Nunan in 1978 and with other rovers Von Bertouch, Palm and Turbill prob was the reason why Alby missed out on a Grand Final berth this season [unless injured?]
Those 4 players were exceptional rovers

[nickname]

West's first year players were Roger Luders, Dirk de Jong, Mark Weideman, Lou Reynolds, Graeme Robertson, David Morgan, Leon Grosser, Steve Rechner, Ian Robertson and Mick (I think, not Mark) Beech.

[GWW]

MENZEL
Gary ''Alby"" Menzel was a blonde haired rover

From memory, he finished up playing in the back pocket in the 1980's.

Re Bruce Lindsay who has also been mentioned...I can remember the television ad he appeared in, probably was around 1979, I think it was for KESAB ("drop something sport")..

Does anyone know if he played in WWT's premiership side in 1993?

[GWW]

West's first year players were Roger Luders, Dirk de Jong, Mark Weideman, Lou Reynolds, Graeme Robertson, Neil Hagan, David Morgan, Leon Grosser, Steve Rechner, Ian Robertson and Mick (I think, not Mark) Beech.

Robertson also played at Port I think? Was that before or after his time at West.

Also, I can recall Rechner having a pretty good career at Woodville, so presumably he moved to the Peckers not long after making his debut with West.

[mal]

MENZEL
Gary ''Alby"" Menzel was a blonde haired rover

From memory, he finished up playing in the back pocket in the 1980's.

Re Bruce Lindsay who has also been mentioned...I can remember the television ad he appeared in, probably was around 1979, I think it was for KESAB ("drop something sport")..

Does anyone know if he played in WWT's premiership side in 1993?

Lindsay played at WWT in the first year of the club in 1992 [was he the inaugural captain ?]
He didnt play in the 1993 Grand Final against NW
By not playing that Grand Final victory means he never played in a Sanfl/Afl premiership team

An exceptional player
He had a bad knee injury during his career as well that stopped him for about 12 months

[bayman]

bruce is now an insurance broker & i have recollections that he played a game or two for the crows when they started ???

[bayman]

I can understand Mike's annoyance with Sturt's dismissal of him, but I thought it was a bit much hearing him tell Norwood members that night that the 4 flags he won at Sturt meant nothing to him. In view of that exhibition, I've often wondered about what Nunan said about Norwood when he got to North Adelaide.

Thats an interesting story He's an interesting and controversial character, and the story described above reminds me a little of the story of how he removed some of Robran's memorabilia from the NAFC clubrooms as a means of demonstrating that the NAFC was to no longer live in past glories.

my take on this would be that he said that because of the 'audience' he had, ie he had a norwood 'audience' who wouldn't be interested in sturts premierships anyway

[GWW]

He played in 1991 for the Crows. I think he was only on their list for 1 year.

He may have then had an involvement with one of the Adelaide Hills clubs as a coach a few years ago too.

[nickname]

West's first year players were Roger Luders, Dirk de Jong, Mark Weideman, Lou Reynolds, Graeme Robertson, Neil Hagan, David Morgan, Leon Grosser, Steve Rechner, Ian Robertson and Mick (I think, not Mark) Beech.

Robertson also played at Port I think? Was that before or after his time at West.

Also, I can recall Rechner having a pretty good career at Woodville, so presumably he moved to the Peckers not long after making his debut with West.

Robertson went to Port after us.
Rechner played with us up until 1984 so I assume it was 1985 he went to Woodville. Unlucky not to have played more League with us, one of the most beautiful kicks you'd ever see. Heavily involved with the Past Players Association at the club these days.

[200 Killer Wasps]

West's first year players were Roger Luders, Dirk de Jong, Mark Weideman, Lou Reynolds, Graeme Robertson, David Morgan, Leon Grosser, Steve Rechner, Ian Robertson and Mick (I think, not Mark) Beech.

Lou Reynolds was camping on the river at Moorook in the late 1980s and was asked if he could play football and would he have a game with Moorook. Moorook didnt find out until after he had played his first match about his SANFL history.

[baggy8]

I always thought that upon returning from overseas, Nunan asked to leave as he wasn't too happy at earning his spot back due to the emergence of Jim Derrington.

Haven't heard that dummy spitting angle before smithy. It surely wouldn't have taken Nunan long to assert his superiority over a young Derrington (if he'd had a mind to, which apparently he didn't). Amazing but irrelevant stat is that Nunan and Derrington both played 188 games for Sturt.

I can understand Mike's annoyance with Sturt's dismissal of him, but I thought it was a bit much hearing him tell Norwood members that night that the 4 flags he won at Sturt meant nothing to him. In view of that exhibition, I've often wondered about what Nunan said about Norwood when he got to North Adelaide.

I'd forgotten that rather ungracious remark AH. One hopes that he doesn't still feel the same way; if he does he may end up a bitter and twisted old man.

[baggy8]

Lindsay played at WWT in the first year of the club in 1992 [was he the inaugural captain ?]
He didnt play in the 1993 Grand Final against NW
By not playing that Grand Final victory means he never played in a Sanfl/Afl premiership team

An exceptional player
He had a bad knee injury during his career as well that stopped him for about 12 months[/quote]

In my memory, had it not been for his knee injury, Bruce Lindsay would have gone on to be one of the top 10 of post-war players. Then again the spectacular way he played always put him at risk of injury. Ended up playing just half a dozen games for both the Eagles and the Crows, and later coached Bridgewater in the Hills League. (Peter Schwarz captained the Eagles for their first four seasons.)

[GWW]

Bruce Lindsay certainly was a great player.

I wonder where he would rank in all time WT players? Perhaps 4th after Head and the Hank brothers?

[robranisgod]

Bruce Lindsay certainly was a great player.

I wonder where he would rank in all time WT players? Perhaps 4th after Head and the Hank brothers?

Which of the Hank brothers would you have in the top three.

Bob is generally considered the greatest Torrens player ever and Head second but Ray and Bill Hank were just good to very good players and nowhere near in Torrens best 10 players ever. In fact Alf Roberts was always considered Torrens third best player of the era in the early 50s which included the 1953 premiership.

Personally in my time Shearman would have been Torrens third best player definitely in front of Bruce Lindsay. Remember Shearman captained SA to that famous victory at the MCG in 1963.

[JK]

Bruce Lindsay certainly was a great player.

I wonder where he would rank in all time WT players? Perhaps 4th after Head and the Hank brothers?

Which of the Hank brothers would you have in the top three.

Bob is generally considered the greatest Torrens player ever and Head second but Ray and Bill Hank were just good to very good players and nowhere near in Torrens best 10 players ever. In fact Alf Roberts was always considered Torrens third best player of the era in the early 50s which included the 1953 premiership.

Personally in my time Shearman would have been Torrens third best player definitely in front of Bruce Lindsay. Remember Shearman captained SA to that famous victory at the MCG in 1963.

Having not been privileged to experience that era, where does Freddy Bills sit in the pecking order?

[mal]

Freddy Bills was more of a cult figure than star player
Used to play some games as a ruck rover, and was a very honest reliable footballer

Whe we talk of the best to play for WT we have to put Neville Rocky Roberts as a player high on thier best

So at this stage for mine is :

1 HEAD
2 HANK
3 ROBERTS
4 SHEARMAN
5 LINDSAY

I could be wrong with the order
Didnt see HANK
Did see a magicianal HEAD, blessed with great skills
When I think SHEARMAN I think drop kicks , but only saw the tailend of his career
ROBERTS was an amazing footballer, I cant imagine how much greater he could have been if not for injuries, awesome mark
LINDSAY was a spectacular mark for his size and a very good player

[nickname]

Matt Rendell would be top 10 material wouldn't he?

[robranisgod]

Freddy Bills was more of a cult figure than star player
Used to play some games as a ruck rover, and was a very honest reliable footballer

Whe we talk of the best to play for WT we have to put Neville Rocky Roberts as a player high on thier best

So at this stage for mine is :

1 HEAD
2 HANK
3 ROBERTS
4 SHEARMAN
5 LINDSAY

I could be wrong with the order
Didnt see HANK
Did see a magicianal HEAD, blessed with great skills
When I think SHEARMAN I think drop kicks , but only saw the tailend of his career
ROBERTS was an amazing footballer, I cant imagine how much greater he could have been if not for injuries, awesome mark
LINDSAY was a spectacular mark for his size and a very good player

Mal, I have to agree with you, you never saw Hank. Every person I know who saw both Head and Hank rate Hank above Head. Hank won 9 Best and fairests at Torrens in an era where they were very competitive.

[JK]

ROBERTS was an amazing footballer, I cant imagine how much greater he could have

Pound for pound he's about the best mark I've ever seen.

[Adelaide Hawk]

The arrival of Nunan in 1978 and with other rovers Von Bertouch, Palm and Turbill prob was the reason why Alby missed out on a Grand Final berth this season [unless injured?]
Those 4 players were exceptional rovers

Yep, Alby lost his place to Greg Turbill in the 2nd Semi Final. Turbs had been out injured since early in the season.