Australian Football

Michael Taylor was a pivotal figure in Norwood's re-emergence as a league power during the mid-1970s. Hailing from Kingston in the south-east of South Australia, he made his senior debut in 1972, winning the first of an eventual six club best and fairest awards (a Norwood record shared with Walter Scott) the following year. In 1975 he was in a back pocket - his favoured position early in his career - as the Redlegs ended a 25-year premiership drought by beating Glenelg by two goals in the Grand Final. Three years later, Norwood won another flag, with centreman Taylor skippering the side to a heart-stopping one-point grand final win over Sturt. In the opinion of many, he was the game's pre-eminent player that day.

Michael Taylor - known as 'Kingo' after his home town - captained the Redlegs from 1978 to 1980, winning club best and fairest awards every year, and in 1981 he became one of several high-priced recruits to join Collingwood. Playing mainly in the back pocket, he gave the Magpies excellent service in 92 VFL games over the ensuing four years. He returned to Norwood in 1985 with plenty of good football still left in him and carried on for three further seasons to take his final tally of SANFL games to 289. He also played 13 times for South Australia.

After cutting his coaching teeth with Collingwood reserves and as an assistant to Graham Cornes at Adelaide, Taylor was appointed senior coach of West Adelaide in 1996. In five seasons at the helm he steered the Bloods to finals qualification twice.

When Norwood announced its official 'Team of the Twentieth Century', few if any people were surprised to see Michael Taylor named in a back pocket, the position he adorned with such distinction for much of his career.

Author - John Devaney