Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

Key Facts

Full name
Desmond Bethke

Known as
Des Bethke

Born
19 August 1943 (age 81)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 19y 244d
Last game: 24y 273d

Height and weight
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 83 kg

Senior clubs
South Melbourne

Jumper numbers
South Melbourne: 15

Des Bethke

Advanced stats
Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
South MelbourneV/AFL1963-196856430.7729%8.500.692.756
Total1963-196856430.7729%8.500.692.756

Pre 1965 stats are for selected matches only

AFL: 7,429th player to appear, 4,060th most games played, 2,326th most goals kickedSouth Melbourne: 869th player to appear, 305th most games played, 183rd most goals kicked

Des Bethke was a solid utility from Horsham who commenced his VFL career with South Melbourne promisingly but arguably failed to build on that promise. He played a lot of his football in the back pocket but was also no mean forward when required, as evidenced by his career tally of 43 goals in 58 games from 1963 to 1968.

Author - John Devaney

Sources

Full Points Publications

Footnotes

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