Australian Football

Australian Football League - 1899 Year in Review

'Old Boy' of the Argus reviews the 1899 VFL season in which Fitzroy won its second successive premiership, and names Fitzroy defender Pat Hickey as the best player of the season.

The football season ended on Saturday, as it began in May last, in rain. Taken as a whole the season has been full of interest, and never before have we had six teams so nearly equal as Fitzroy, South Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong, Essendon, and Melbourne.

In referring to the results it cannot fail to strike the most casual observer that the present system of deciding the premiership is not the most suitable. The strength of the argument was most forcibly brought before the public in the final game on Saturday. In the contest for the minor premiership, which was decided on the results of home and home matches between the eight teams, South Melbourne were sixth, having been beaten by every team in the league except St. Kilda, in all nine times in 14 games.

Notwithstanding this fact, South Melbourne were enabled, under the existing arrangement, to play off for the premiership. They were beaten, it is true, by one point by Fitzroy, but the peculiarity of the position will be seen from the subjoined tables, the third of which will show that, had the scoring been under the old system, South Melbourne, with eight wins out of 18 games, would have finished sixth on the list, and only ahead of Carlton and St.Kilda. That Fitzroy deserved their victory is apparent, but what a farce it would have been had the Maroons been beaten for the premiership of the season by South Melbourne. The table would then have shown: South Melbourne, 10 wins 9 losses vs. Fitzroy 14 wins 5 losses, and yet South Melbourne would have been premiers. The powers that be should look to this matter before next season. The scheme, from a gate-money point of view, may be all right, but, as a test of strength in a series of games it is of no value whatever. To reduce the matter to an absurdity, St. Kilda, after losing every game in the minor premiership, were still, with only four games to play,eligible for premiership honours.

The association clubs manage matters much better; each team plays the other three times during the season.There is no finessing for gate money, and the club which wins the greatest number of games takes the premiership. This gate-money question is one which is assuming undue proportions. In deciding on the ground for the final match the league authorities were guided solely by monetary considerations, and, in disregarding the claims of a central ground like East Melbourne in favour of a suburban reserve, the public convenience was undoubtedly sacrificed for the sake of a few pounds.

In dealing with the teams, Fitzroy must, of course, demand first attention, and deservedly so.The maroons have for the second time in succession carried off the honours, and they have earned them well. From the opening of the season, when Essendon were so decisively beaten, the maroons always were labelled dangerous. At one time,however, it looked as though misfortune would rob them of their position for Sloan (captain),McSpeerin (vice-captain), Potter, Descrimes, Robinson, Kiernan, W. Dalton, J. Dalton, and Noonan were all on the sick list at one time and another; no fewer than six of these men being away at one and the same time. The pluck of the team was thus put to the strongest test and the result has proved a triumph.

That Fitzroy had to fight hard for the honours was not strange in a season where so many teams were so strong, and it is no small feather in the caps of Sloan and his men to say that they have come out on top.Their two final games against Collingwood and South Melbourne were splendid tussles, in which every man had to play his best, and in which no shirker would have been tolerated.

In [Pat] Hickey,their half-back man, Fitzroy have, I think, the best man of the year, but I will deal with that later. McSpeerin, too, has shown wonderful Drohan, Clarke, Robinson, across the centre-line; Sharp and Kiernan forward; Mick Grace(though not up to his last season's form), Potter, Descrimes, and Noonan, in the ruck; McEwan, Deas, Sloan, Jenkins, and Moriarty, back; have been regular and earnest players. Kiernan, up to the time of his injury, had been revelling in the muddy grounds and had been going strong for the title of cleverest man of the year. Sloan has captained the team well, both on and off the field,and he has had great assistance from his right-hand men, Con Hickey, Tom Banks, and W. Banks (the hon. secretary).

South Melbourne are second on the list, but, as I have pointed out, their record for the season does not justify the position. However the team has been a good one. In the minor premiership, their only victories were against St. Kilda (two), Melbourne, Carlton, and Geelong, but, as I have said, every team but St. Kilda managed to beat them.The defeats were, however, none of them crushing, and in the match at Collingwood the Southerners' performance in the second half was one of the best of the year. Both games for the minor premiership against Essendon were good contests, but in the third match South Melbourne won so easily that people began to talk.

However, South Melbourne's performance was so good on Saturday that it is probable the talkers were influenced by market or other considerations. Whether their earlier performances justified their position on thelist or not does not concern us now. All we is that without Purdy and Henley, and with Pleass, Fraser, and Jenarrett out of sorts, South Melbourne ran Fitzroy to a point. Their best man has been Pleass whose following was the finest of the year. Howson, on the wing, has been as clever as ever, and Purdy, as rover, has surprised everyone by his return to form. Colgan, forward, has done a great deal of clever work, and has kicked a large number of goals. Lampe, an importation from Wagga, for a while did not come up to expectations, but latterly has shown himself a fine player. Davidson and Trimm have been great defenders, and Garbutt has done good ruckwork. Of the young players, Henley, Jenarrett, Coding and Brice have shone out, and Windley, though not as consistent, has been as brilliant as ever. Adamson captained the team, and also played well in defence or ruck work.

Geelong finished third with five defeats by South Melbourne (2), Melbourne, Fitzroy and Essendon, and they were, I think, the most brilliant team of the season, but want of consistency affected their position. They hold the record score for the season, 162 points to 1 against St. Kilda. Their best players have been Joseph and James McShane, McCallum, Palmer, Thompson, Buchan, Conway(captain), Rankin, James, Ted Lockwood, and the evergreen Peter Burns, and of these I fancy Thompson who played in every position on the field, was the most useful.

Collingwood were a splendid combination, and they are only behind Geelong on percentage. The team is a wonderfully even one, and after starting badly the pull up was an excellent performance. Their five defeats were inflicted by Fitzroy (2), Geelong (2), and Melbourne. In their last match against Fitzroy the loss of a player in the first five minutes was a great handicap, and but for that they might have won. Condon, who relieved Proudfoot of the captaincy during the season, was their best man, and one of the finest players of the year. In Fred Leach (centre), Pannam, and Sime (wings) the centre-line was wonderfully strong. Hailwood was their best ruck man.O'Brien, their defender in chief, and Smith, Monahan, Tulloch, Fell, Proudfoot, Arthur Leach, and Williams were always useful members of the team.

Essendon finished fifth, and their seven defeats came from Fitzroy (2) Geelong (2), Collingwood (2), and South Melbourne. Stuckey has captained the team and played well, and M. and T. Collins, Kinnear, O'Loghlen, Martin, Cleghorn, Groves, Wright, Jackson, Barry, Fitzpatrick and Larkin have been their most prominent men.

Melbourne, as usual, began strongly and were at one time the only unbeaten team, but when once they were defeated they seemed to go to pieces.McGinis, Moodie, Wardill, Woods, Herring, Vic Cumberland, Leith, Young, and Sowden were their best players but the team had a lot of misfortune in the shape of accidents, &c.

Carlton, after trying both Walton and H. McShane as captain, decided to give W. Stuckey the lead, and he seemed to get more out of the men than anyone else. Monagle, Collins, Stuckey, McShane, Hooper, Thompson, and Bird were the best men on the side.

St. Kilda, whose position in the league is whipper-in, never at any time showed any form, and though they had good men in Smith (2), Minahan, Spilker, Blake, Shaw, Dando, Mathews, McKay, and Stewart, the team was a very weak one, and very much below any of the others.

Best players of the season

In selecting the champion player, I think it best to tabulate the men according to their positions, placing them in order thus:—

All these players have done splendid work for their respective teams, but when everything is taken into consideration I think the question of champion player rests between three men—Hickey, Pleass, and Condon.

I do not anticipate that many people will disagree with me when I name, Pat Hickey as the champion for 1899. In all Fitzroy's games Hickey has played very well indeed, and where the fighting was hottest there was the Fitzroy half-back in the thick of it. He is resolute, fearless, and dashing, and plays a fine manly game.

Goalkickers

The goal-kicking has not been a strong feature of the season—there is no Thurgood playing nowadays. James of Geelong has done good work, but his kicking has often been astray, and Leith, though getting the distance has failed in direction. The leading kickers, with their scores, are:

James (Geelong), 34

Coglan (South Melbourne), 29

E. Lockwood (Geelong), 19

McSpeerin (Fitzroy), 18

Sharpe (Fitzroy), 17

Smith (Collingwood), 17

Cleghorn (Essendon), 16

Jas. McShane, 16