Australian Football

Audaciously talented and tremendously damaging, centreman Geoff Raines hailed from Swan Hill and, after joining Richmond in 1976, rapidly developed into one of the most outstanding footballers of his era. A triple best and fairest winner with the Tigers, Raines was a key player, and some people's choice as best afield, as they annihilated Collingwood in the 1980 VFL Grand Final. A regular 'Big V' representative, he was selected in the 1980 All Australian team.

At the close of the 1982 season, after 134 games and 55 goals for Richmond, Raines was traded to Collingwood, where he added 47 games and 24 goals over the next three and a half seasons, without ever consistently recapturing the form he had shown with the Tigers (he did, however, achieve selection in the 1985 All Australian team). It was a similar story with Essendon, for whom Raines played 14 games and kicked two goals in 1986, but with his last league club, Brisbane, where he played 59 games and booted 20 goals from 1987 to 1989, he again established himself as one of the most effective and eye-catching centremen in the game. When fit, and playing at peak form, there have been few better all round footballers in recent times than Geoff Raines, who was a worthy inclusion in Richmond's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

Author - John Devaney