Australian Football

Ted Whelan, who played 248 games for Port Adelaide between 1948 and 1961, plus 20 interstate matches for South Australia, was an old school ruckman-defender of the resolute, socks down, heart on the sleeve variety, who in many ways personified the Fos Williams coaching philosophy.

The first Magpie player to reach 200 league games, he also enjoyed the rare distinction of captaining South Australia despite never being appointed captain of his club. This almost unique situation arose during South Australia’s injury-ruined 1958 carnival campaign: by the time of the state’s third match of the series against Tasmania, the selectors were without Fos Williams (captain), Neil Davies (vice-captain) and Lindsay Head (deputy vice-captain), and as Whelan was the most experienced member of the party who remained fit, they turned to him to skipper the side. It was a distinctly unmemorable experience for the Port champion, however, as Tasmania scored an upset two-point victory.

Although he spent the majority of his career either rucking or resting in a back pocket, Whelan could also provide a useful marking option on the forward lines, as his career tally of 91 goals appears to affirm. He played in all seven of Port’s premiership sides during the 1950s and was almost invariably listed among the best players. Indeed, in both 1956 and ‘57 he was many observers’ choice as the best player afield.

For much of his career, Ted Whelan combined with Lloyd Zucker and Fos Williams to give the Magpies the most formidable first ruck combination in the state. This ‘team within a team’ was widely regarded as the single biggest factor in the club’s sustained period of pre-eminence, in much the same way as the Kelleway-Reval-Quinn combination had been a couple of decades earlier.

Author - John Devaney