Australian Football

An icon of Queensland football, he is the games record holder at a club known at various times as Windsor-Zillmere, North Brisbane, the Northern Eagles and the Zillmere Eagles, and widely regarded as the greatest Eagles player of all-time. And that despite playing four years and 65 AFL games with the Brisbane Bears/Lions at the peak of his career. 

Epitomizing all that is good about football at the local level, proving it’s not all about the AFL, he was a 1987 Queensland U17 representative and a 1988-89 Brisbane Bears Supplementary List player, playing 14 reserves games. But thereafter he steadfastly refused to contemplate AFL approaches - even when he was drafted by Fitzroy in the 1993 Mid-Season Draft. He’d played State of Origin for Queensland in their historic win over Victoria at the Gabba in 1991 and for Queensland/NT against Tasmania in Hobart in 1993 among eight State games, demonstrating beyond any doubt that he could play at the elite level. He was widely regarded as the best player in the country outside the AFL, but he was happy just playing with his mates at Zillmere. 

Everything changed in 1995 when, after 110 games with the Eagles, and having just captained them to the 1995 flag, Dickfos was left in limbo as the club was omitted from the State league for financial reasons. He then accepted a Queensland zone priority listing with the Brisbane Bears (soon to be Lions), and debuted in 1996, aged 25. He went on to carve out a very successful second playing career at the club, quickly establishing himself as one of the League’s most reliable no-frills defenders, and recording several top 10 finishes in the club best and fairest. Respected by his teammates as much for his fearless and uncompromising approach as his honesty and team-first approach, he enjoys a place in football history as a member of the last Bears side, the first Lions side, and the first Lions finals side. 

After two senior games in an injury-disrupted 1999 he decided he’d had enough, and returned to the Eagles where he quickly picked up where he left off. In 2000 he won the Grogan Medal, and continued to play outstanding football until his [first] retirement in 2003 after 262 games. In 2005 he was lured back by the return of coach and long-time mentor Wayne Brittain to the Eagles’ nest, and the following year went out a still dominant force as a marking forward. But a little more was left in the tank, and in 2008, going on 38 he finished third in the Duncanson/Todd Medal playing with Sandgate in the Pineapple Hotel Cup State League second division, having made a comeback just to help the club out.

Author - Murray Bird and Peter Blucher with Adam Cardosi