Australian Football

Extremely solidly built at 193cm and 103.5kg Graeme Jenkin played as a support ruckman, first to Ray Gabelich and later to Len Thompson, for most of his time with his first club, Collingwood. In the end, albeit after 127 VFL games in 1964 and from 1966 to 1973, he had had enough and crossed to Essendon as a straight exchange for John Williams. In three seasons with the Bombers he added a final 22 games to his career tally. His time at Windy Hill saw him repeatedly hindered by injury and, just as at Collingwood, he tended to play second fiddle to ostensibly more talented ruckmen in the shape of Graham Moss and Simon Madden. Notwithstanding this, Jenkin was a highly capable ruckman who was hard to get around and who leapt and marked well. His kicking, however, could most kindly be described as inconsistent.

Those who played with Jenkin tend to remember him more for his larger than life character than his football ability. As Len Thompson recalled,  Jenkin was “the funniest guy in the world. He’s the only bloke I know who could walk into a room not knowing anyone and within 15 minutes could be friends with everyone.” Almost inevitably he was also something of a cult favourite among Collingwood's supporters. And the affection was two way, which not even his three seasons away at Essendon could do anything to curtail.

Author - John Devaney