Australian Football

Swan Districts recruited Bob Beecroft from Williams as an eighteen year old in 1970. Beecroft had won Williams' senior fairest and best award the previous season and, playing mainly as a ruckman, he soon developed into a handy player for Swans. His best season in the black and white colours came in 1972 when he matched or beat the best ruckmen in Australia at the Perth carnival, earning All Australian selection in the process. He also won the Swan Districts club champion award that same year.

Over the next few seasons, Beecroft's form fell away somewhat, and it was something of a surprise when he was selected in West Australia's team for the 1975 knock-out carnival clash with the VFL in Melbourne. However, he performed with considerable credit in a well beaten side, and this may have helped persuade Fitzroy, where he ventured in 1976, that he was a worthwhile acquisition. Beecroft spent five seasons with the Lions, followed by five seasons in South Australia with Woodville, performing creditably with both clubs.

Tough, persistent and reliable, he was perhaps better suited to the hurly-burly world of VFL football than the more skill-orientated Western Australian or South Australian manifestations of game. At any rate, he probably played his best football during his time in Melbourne, although his performances with Swans (for whom he played 126 games and booted 164 goals) were still deemed sufficiently noteworthy for him to secure selection in the club's official "Team of the Twentieth Century"

Author - John Devaney