Australian Football

Ned Hender was a superb rover whose reputation would perhaps have been even higher had his career at Port Adelaide not coincided to a large extent with that of one of the all time great small men in the game’s history, Bobby Quinn. As it was, Hender played 166 SANFL games for Port between 1931 and 1940, during which time he was a near automatic interstate selection for South Australia. His total of 25 state matches included games at both the 1933 Sydney and 1937 Perth carnivals, and he was state captain against Western Australia in Perth in 1938. 

Particularly damaging when resting in a forward pocket, Hender topped the Magpies’ goal kicking list in 1932 with 55 goals and the following season with 48. He was a member of Port Adelaide premiership teams in 1936, 1937 and 1939.

In 1941 Ned Hender crossed to Glenelg where he added another 47 league appearances before retiring at the end of the 1946 season. He was the Bays’ joint top goal-kicker in his final season with 26 goals.

Author - John Devaney