Australian Football

Donald Lindner was one of the greatest names to be associated with the North Adelaide Football Club, a club which boasts more great names than most. Probably best remembered for his spectacular aerial feats, he was the sort of player able to take a game by the scruff of the neck, and almost single-handedly alter its course. 

He did this most memorably when playing for South Australia against Western Australia at the 1961 Brisbane carnival. At three-quarter time the South Australians looked down and out having been outscored 9.14 to 4.2 over the previous two quarters, whereupon Lindner cut lose with an irrepressible burst of play that saw him take numerous gravity-defying grabs as well as boot two goals to help engineer an astonishing turnaround that ultimately saw the Croweaters home by two points. Len Smith, coach of the Victorians at that carnival, described Lindner’s effort as “out of this world”.

Lindner’s North career spanned the period between 1954 and 1970 and saw him play a total of 290 senior games and kick 273 goals. Fittingly, his 16 interstate appearances for South Australia gave him a career tally in excess of 300. Voted the Roosters’ best and fairest player three times, he skippered the side between 1963 and 1969 and was captain-coach for the first four of those years. When North edged past Norwood by five points in the 1960 Grand Final, Lindner - known variously as ‘Leaping Lindy’ or ‘Daredevil Don’ but most commonly as ‘Butch’ - was serviceable rather than brilliant at centre half forward, a legacy of the close attention he invariably received from opposing centre half backs. 

Lindner played the majority of his football in the key attacking position, but when shifted to the comparative freedom of the ruck in 1967 he produced arguably the most consistent season of football of his career, and ended up tying with Port’s Trevor Obst for the Magarey Medal, only to be placed second on a countback. Three decades later the SANFL awarded him a retrospective medal.

When North Adelaide announced its official ‘Team of the Century’ in 2001 absolutely no one would have been surprised to see Don Lindner selected at centre half forward. He was also named as vice-captain of the side.

Author - John Devaney