Australian Football

One of the finest ruck shepherds of his or any era, Fred Fleiter's football career was inextricably interwoven with that of the man with arguably the most resonant name in the history of football, Roy Cazaly. A school friend of Cazaly's, Fleiter later formed a third of the renowned Cazaly-Fleiter-Tandy ruck combination at South Melbourne, during which time he famously coined the phrase "Up there, Cazaly!" as a signal that the way had been made clear for Cazaly to run through and leap for the ball.

Heavily built and extraordinarily powerful, Fleiter was ideally equipped to take on what, at the time, was widely acknowledged as the toughest role in football. He made his debut with South in 1919 and, after struggling initially to make his mark, really came into his own following the arrival of Cazaly from St Kilda in 1921. Over the final five seasons of his VFL career he gradually grew in both confidence and prowess, and was perfectly capable of holding down a key position when required. He played a total of 71 games for South in seven seasons, and later served as club coach for a brief time in 1929.

Author - John Devaney