Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
Walter Frederick Victor Sykes

Known as
Wally Sykes

Born
2 May 1881

Place of birth
Fitzroy, VIC (3065)

Died
4 October 1967 (aged 86)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 23y 5d
Last game: 31y 107d

Senior clubs
Collingwood; Richmond; Melbourne

Jumper numbers
Melbourne: 20

Recruited from
Collingwood (1905); Richmond (1907)

State of origin
VIC

Wally Sykes

Advanced stats
Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
CollingwoodV/AFL1904200.00100%———0
RichmondVFA1905-1906————————
MelbourneV/AFL1907-191241170.4141%———0
V/AFL1904, 1907-191243170.4044%———0
VFA1905-1906————————
Total1904-191243170.40—————

AFL: 935th player to appear, 4,696th most games played, 4,008th most goals kickedCollingwood: 98th player to appear, 1,018th most games played, 917th most goals kickedMelbourne: 176th player to appear, 389th most games played, 333rd most goals kicked

Regarded for a time as one of the finest centremen in the game, Walter Sykes made his name with Richmond in the VFA, for whom he starred in the 1905 challenge final defeat of North Melbourne. Pacy and assured, and a consummate team player, he orchestrated many of his team's most damaging attacking forays, and it was no surprise when he was lured to the VFL by Melbourne in 1907. In actual fact, this was to be Sykes' second stab at VFL football as he had spent the 1904 season with Collingwood, but had found it difficult to break into the team. With Melbourne he was much more successful and added 41 games in six seasons to the two he had managed with the Magpies.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications, Richmond VFA statistics courtesy of tigerlandarchive.org.

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Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.