Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
Allan Leitch

Known as
Allan Leitch

Born
27 December 1902

Died
1 July 1976 (aged 73)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 22y 126d
Last game: 22y 259d

Height and weight
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 70 kg

Senior clubs
New Town; Carlton

Jumper numbers
Carlton: 2

Allan Leitch

ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
New TownTANFL1922-1931135
CarltonV/AFL19251700.0029%0
Total1922-193115200.00

AFL: 2,967th player to appear, 6,915th most games played, 10,808th most goals kickedCarlton: 404th player to appear, 602nd most games played, 1,060th most goals kicked

Allan Leitch was the son of William Leitch, in whose honour the TANFL re-named its annual best and fairest player award in 1930. Somewhat ironically, Allan Leitch won the league's best and fairest trophy the very year before the name change. Two years later he finished runner-up to former Collingwood champion Albert Collier. There is little doubt that he would have won a number of club best and fairest awards had they been regularly on offer during his career.

Leitch's senior career began in 1922 with New Town, which was in only its second season in the TFL. He went on to play 135 league games with the black and whites culminating in that runners-up spot in the 1931 Leitch Medal. In between, he embarked on a brief stint in the VFL: in 1925 he played 17 games with Carlton, primarily as a defender, and was also selected to represent the VFL on a couple of occasions.

Allan Leitch's main virtue was his consistency; he could be relied on seldom to put in a bad game, whilst simultaneously ensuring that his direct opponent did. As such, he was invariably one of the first players selected in both state and TANFL representative teams. He played a total of 13 interstate matches for Tasmania, including the 1924 Hobart and 1930 Adelaide carnivals; that tally would have been even greater had he been able to travel to the Melbourne carnival in 1927, for which he was also selected. He also represented the league on 24 occasions, including the noteworthy win over a South Australian combination in Adelaide in 1923.

In the year 2000 Allan Leitch gained a berth in the back pocket in the official Glenorchy (formerly known as New Town) 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Full Points Footy's Tasmanian Football Companion

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.