Jim Main's 100 greatest: Jack Dyer
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FEW YOUNG football fans realise how great a football legend Jack Dyer is. They see him as a television commentator, hear him as a radio broadcaster and general wisecracker. But few realise the depth of his football knowledge and the greatness of his playing career. Jack Dyer retired from VFL football in 1949, and when he threw his boots away an era ended. It has been said of Dyer that he was a ”living legend" and Dyer himself has done nothing to suggest otherwise.
The schoolboy Jack Dyer was raised in various parts of Victoria until his family settled down in Richmond. It was a tough neighborhood in tough times. Dyer had to prove himself to survive, first at St Ignatius school, and later, at De La Salle Catholic college. All through his school days Dyer showed outstanding football ability, and it came as no surprise when he was invited down to train with Richmond.
It was at the very start of the Great Depression, and Dyer could not afford to turn his back on the chance to make "an extra quid”. He soon forced his way into the senior side, and by 1932 was regarded as a Tiger regular. And boy, did those Tigers fight to maintain team places. Many players were married and their meagre football incomes kept their families because they themselves were out of work. Football was primarily a working man's sport, and few working men even had jobs.
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However, Dyer soon proved himself an outstanding ruckman, although just a shade over six foot. He wasn’t tall, but he had plenty of strength, and used it often. In fact, Dyer became almost legendary for his vigor. He didn't exactly look for trouble, but if there was trouble around Dyer would be in the thick of it. He was often the centre of controversy, soon earning himself the nickname "Captain Blood" after the Errol Flynn movie of the same name. Certainly, Dyer was a swashbuckling football hero.
Dyer played in the Tiger good times, and the bad times. When he arrived at Richmond in 1931 they were a top team, that year going down to Geelong in the Grand Final. They won a flag in 1932, and followed up with another in 1934. However they soon slipped as a VFL power, rising to be runners-up under captain coach Perc Bentley in 1940.
The following year Dyer was appointed captain coach, taking the tigers to fourth place. Dyer was 28 and reputedly in the twilight of his career. And although he carried knee injuries, he was as tough and as vigorous as ever. He proved it in 1943 when he led the Tigers to a five point grand final victory over Essendon. It was a great victory, and a fitting climax to the great man’s football career. It was the Tigers' first flag for nine years, and it was to be another 24 years to the next.
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Dyer kept on playing until he was 36, but retired in 1949. He had played 310 games and created a legend. He stayed on as coach until 1952, but did not have the success he deserved. He often had the Tigers in the finals, but they couldn‘t take another flag. He had a poor season as coach in 1952, the Tigers finishing an unaccustomed ninth.
The following year Alby Pannam was appointed coach. Dyer had finally quit the football scene. Opposition teams couldn’t believe their luck and Richmond fans couldn’t believe that a Richmond team would take the field without Dyer being in some way involved.
But that’s the way it was, Dyer fading off to his press and radio career. Richmond were the poorer without him. They finished tenth in their first year under Pannam, and even slumped to the bottom of the ladder in 1960. That was when Richmond decided to rebuild. the Tigers were a proud club and they had fallen along way since the Dyer days. Then, the catch-cry was: "Eat em alive, tigers!” Dyer, probably the toughest man to play VFL football, saw to that. His Tigers were mean and tough, giving the club a tradition they cherish to this day. Certainly, Dyer put the roar in the Tiger.
Footnotes
This is an excerpt from Australian Rules 100 Greatest Players, by Jim Main, published by the K.G. Murray Publishing Company in 1978. Click here to read Jim Main's 2013 article, in which he revisited and revised his 100 greatest players.
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