Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
Brian Leahy

Known as
Brian Leahy

Born
3 February 1943

Died
24 January 2004 (aged 60)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 17y 75d
Last game: 22y 192d

Height and weight
Height: 185 cm
Weight: 83 kg

Senior clubs
Melbourne

Jumper numbers
Melbourne: 21

Family links
John Leahy (Brother)Terry Leahy (Brother)

Brian Leahy

ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
MelbourneV/AFL1960-19657920.0370%8.671.002.173
Total1960-19657920.0370%8.671.002.173

Pre 1965 stats are for selected matches only

AFL: 7,123rd player to appear, 3,045th most games played, 8,035th most goals kickedMelbourne: 786th player to appear, 218th most games played, 779th most goals kicked

After winning North Albury’s 1958 best and fairest award as a fifteen year old Brian Leahy was snapped up by Melbourne the following year and added to the club’s supplementary list. The 1959 season saw him playing thirds and seconds football and demonstrating such consistently good form that he was handed his senior debut in the opening round of the 1960 season.

Nicknamed ‘Wrecker’, Leahy remained a fixture in the Demons seniors all year, culminating in being named on the bench for the grand final clash with Collingwood. Melbourne duly won, with Leahy playing a cameo role. At the age of seventeen years and 233 days he was the second youngest VFL premiership player in history.

Of fairly substantial build (185cm, 83kg) he boasted considerable pace and was generally deployed as a half back flanker. In 1964 he combined with Brian Roet and Tony Anderson to give the Dees arguably the best half back line in the competition. Sadly for Leahy, however, he missed that year’s winning grand final against Collingwood with a thigh injury.

More injury problems restricted him to just one senior appearance in 1965 and he retired the following season having played 79 VFL games and kicked two goals. He later made aborted attempts at reviving his playing career at VFA teams Yarraville and Northcote.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers by Russell Holmesby & Jim Main; Wikipedia article;http://demonwiki.org/Brian+Leahy

Footnotes

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