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Key Facts

Full name
George Bayliss

Known as
George Bayliss

Born
30 March 1895

Died
2 July 1935 (aged 40)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 19y 145d
Last game: 30y 103d

Height and weight
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 75 kg

Senior clubs
Richmond; Footscray

Jumper numbers
Richmond: 12, 2
Footscray: 12

Recruited from
Richmond (1924)

George Bayliss

Advanced stats
ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
RichmondV/AFL1914, 1916-1923892172.4461%———0
FootscrayVFA19241160.55—————
FootscrayV/AFL19259182.0022%———0
V/AFL1914, 1916-1923, 1925982352.4057%———0
VFA19241160.55—————
Total1914, 1916-19251092412.21—————

AFL: 2,138th player to appear, 2,487th most games played, 309th most goals kickedRichmond: 137th player to appear, 175th most games played, 17th most goals kickedFootscray: 1st player to appear, 676th most games played, 283rd most goals kicked

George Bayliss, former Richmond forward ..... will always be remembered as one of the most glorious kicks League football has known. Many place him second only to Dave McNamara in distance kicking, and they claim that he was more accurate than the tall record holder. Both were left-footers.¹

George Bayliss was a highly effective full forward who was not strong in the air but compensated for this with his lightning fast leads into space. He was also a prodigious kick, with one of his drop kicks allegedly covering a distance of 83 yards (75.9 metres). He joined Richmond in 1914 from Balmain Church of Christ, for whom he had kicked in the region of 100 goals in each of the previous three seasons. His Tigers career comprised 89 VFL games in which he scored 217 goals in 1914 and from 1916 to 1923. His career highlight came in 1921 when he contributed a couple of goals to Richmond’s 5.6 to 4.8 challenge final defeat of Carlton. The post-match champagne must have tasted all the sweeter given that he had missed the previous season’s premiership triumph with injury. He had also tasted grand final defeat at the hands of Collingwood in 1919.

In 1920 Bayliss’ tally of 61 goals was good enough to top the league list, making him the first Richmond player to achieve this honour. He also topped the Tigers’ goal kicking list in 1921 and 1922. He was a dual Victorian interstate representative.

After leaving Richmond Bayliss spent the 1924 and 1925 seasons with Footscray, adding 11 VFA games and 20 goals in the former year followed by 20 VFL appearances and 44 goals in the latter. After two years out of the game he played for Hume Weir in 1928 and two years later played a single game for VFA strugglers Camberwell before hanging up the boots for good.

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

1. “The Herald”, 4/7/35, page 3.

Sources

Crème de la Crème

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Footnotes

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