Australian Football

Best remembered as a full forward, Hawthorn's John Peck was tried, with varying success, in several different positions - ruck, centre half back, centre half forward - before finding his true niche at the goal front. Powerful, intelligent, pacy and a thumping kick, Peck topped Hawthorn's goal-kicking list on every year between 1961 and 1966, and was the VFL's top goal kicker in 1963 with 75 goals, 1964 (68) and 1965 (56).

Nicknamed 'Gregory' (after the actor Gregory Peck), as much for his habit of staging exaggeratedly for frees as for the obvious play on words, Peck showed great courage in overcoming the handicap of asthma to play successfully at the top level. In all, he played 213 VFL games and kicked 475 goals for the Hawks, and was vice-captain of the historic 1961 premiership team, the club's first.

Peck also played interstate football for the VFL, and after one match against South Australia in Adelaide in 1963 he found himself at the centre of a controversy when his callous felling of Brian Sawley incurred only a two-week suspension at the hands of a sympathetic VFL Tribunal which presumably considered that Peck had reacted to extenuating circumstances.

In 1967 John Peck was cleared to Port Melbourne, where he played mainly as a ruckman. The last of his 19 games for the club was that year's losing VFA Grand Final against Dandenong.

Author - John Devaney