Australian Football

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.