Jim Main's 100 greatest: Roy Wright
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IF MEDALS were struck for sheer courage in football Roy Wright would have won one. Few footballers have had to overcome disabilities and frustration like Roy Wright had to, both as a youngster and as a senior footballer. There is no doubt that a man with less courage would never even have played League football. But Wright went on to play 194 games and win two Brownlow Medals simply because he knew how to fight when the going was toughest. But perhaps he can thank his background for his fighting spirit.
Wright was a sickly child, his legs going into splints before his tenth birthday. He also had to fight off rheumatic fever during childhood. He never played junior football and wasn’t able to compete on a team basis until he stripped with North Kew in 1945 when aged 16. Wright, with little football background, showed enormous initial ability and Richmond soon made overtures to the youngster. He was tied residentially to Richmond and promised to play with them in 1946. He made the seniors that year, but could not command a regular place in the side.
The Tigers were blessed with ruckmen, champions like Jack Dyer and Bill Morris, both featured in this book. Wright, although promising, played only a handful of games in his first five years with Richmond. It was enough to break most footballers’ hearts. But not Wright. Although he applied continually for clearances to neighboring Hawthorn, Richmond kept refusing.
Wright just worked harder at his game, and when Bill Morris crossed to young VFA club Box Hill in 1951 Wright got his big chance. The number one ruck spot was his, and the 6.3 Tiger didn’t waste the opportunity. He played as if he had been a regular for years, soon earning himself a reputation as the best knock ruckman in the League. Richmond were patting themselves on the back because they had refused his clearance applications, and Hawthorn were left to reflect on what might have been.
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Wright, who was still only 22 when he grabbed his big chance, improved so quickly that he won the 1952 Brownlow Medal. it was a most fitting reward for his efforts, as the previous year (his first full season) he had shared the Tiger best arid fairest with champion half forward Des Rowe. He also won the Richmond best and fairest award in 1952 to cap a magnificent season.
But luck wasn’t with Wright. He had a terrible season in 1953, mainly through injuries. It seemed there was a curse on him because just when he had risen to the top, his world came tumbling down again. But he forced his way back in 1954 bigger and better. He won his second Brownlow Medal that year, and this time he romped it in.
When he won his first Brownlow in 1952, Wright defeated Essendon rover Bill Hutchison on a countback after both polled 21 votes. But in 1954 Wright polled 29 votes, 10 votes more than his nearest rival, Collingwood ruckman Neil Mann. Wright was runner-up to St Kilda’s Brian Gleeson in 1957, but generally polled poorly in other Brownlow years. However, he tied or won Richmond’s best and fairest tour times to create an enormous reputation at the club.
Wright played on until he was 30 and retired at the end of the 1959 season..He had played in only one finals match, in 1947, and most of the time he had spent at Punt Road, Richmond were unsuccessful.
Wright often carried the Tigers on his own back and received little help. On retirement he was snapped up for work as a radio and television commentator, becoming enormously popular with his “Wright on the Ball” segment on the ABC.
Wright was no stylist, and many critics believed he was lucky that the Tigers persevered with him. But Wright proved once and for all that big men often take years to develop. And how Wright developed! He became one of the greatest ruckmen of all time, his knockout a feature of his play and a lesson for all young ruckmen.
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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