Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

Key Facts

Full name
George Margitich

Known as
George Margitich

Born
18 November 1908

Died
17 January 1958 (aged 49)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 21y 166d
Last game: 25y 287d

Height and weight
Height: 184 cm
Weight: 81 kg

Senior clubs
South Adelaide; Melbourne

Jumper numbers
Melbourne: 3

Recruited from
South Adelaide (1930)

George Margitich

Advanced stats
ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
South AdelaideSANFL1927-1929————————
MelbourneV/AFL1930-1934752673.5641%14.00—5.258
Total1927-1934752673.56—————

Pre 1965 stats are for selected matches only

AFL: 3,649th player to appear, 3,116th most games played, 243rd most goals kickedMelbourne: 474th player to appear, 226th most games played, 13th most goals kicked

Full forward George Margitich was a rising star with South Adelaide - topping the goalkicking in 1929 with 76 goals in a side that had struggled to win three games that year - when in early 1930 he was transferred by his employer to Melbourne. The Melbourne football club quickly moved to nab the promising youngster and successfully won his services for the start of the 1930 season. Margitich only had a comparatively brief VFL career - 75 games between 1930 and 1934 - but his average of 3.6 goals per game over that period marks him out as a player of signal prowess. 

He topped Melbourne's goal kicking list in 1930, 1931, and 1932 with tallies of 73, 66 and 60 goals, respectively, the first of which stood as a club record until overhauled by Norm Smith (with 80) eight years later. Margitch was neither especially strong or quick, but used a combination of excellent anticipation, smooth ball-handling skills and superior football intelligence to obtain his goals.

Author - John Devaney with additional material from Adam Cardosi

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications

Footnotes

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