Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
William Deans

Known as
Billy Deans

Born
2 December 1922

Died
7 August 2006 (aged 83)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 18y 264d
Last game: 27y 274d

Height and weight
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 76 kg

Senior clubs
South Melbourne; Melbourne

Jumper numbers
South Melbourne: 26
Melbourne: 26, 5

Recruited from
Dandenong (1941); South Melbourne (1942)

Billy Deans

Advanced stats
Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
South MelbourneV/AFL1941111.000%———0
MelbourneV/AFL1942-1950151200.1355%———7
V/AFL1941-1950152210.1455%———7
Total1941-1950152210.1455%———7

AFL: 4,986th player to appear, 1,308th most games played, 3,635th most goals kickedSouth Melbourne: 586th player to appear, 1,395th most games played, 932nd most goals kickedMelbourne: 612th player to appear, 66th most games played, 301st most goals kicked

Billy Deans joined South Melbourne from Dandenong, but he managed just a solitary game in 1941 and was off-loaded. Melbourne promptly gave him a seco d chance and he repaid them by developing into a solid and highly dependable defender, amassing 151 VFL games and booting 20 goals between 1942 and 1950. In the 1948 grand final defeat of  Essendon in 1948 he lined up in a back pocket and did well to keep both resting rovers quiet. He crossed to VFA club Northcote as playing coach in 1951.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers by Russell Holmesby & Jim Main; Wikipedia article

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Footnotes

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