Australian Football

Lew Roberts was an old school, stay at home centreman who lacked nothing in temperament or skill, and boasted a particularly strong defensive game. Almost invariably one of South Australia’s most conspicuous performers in interstate matches, he was content when playing for Port to allow the likes of Quinn and Reval to run the show while he concentrated on mopping up behind them.

Roberts, whose short passing - “a delicately lobbed missile”¹ according to Jeff Pash - was another particularly noteworthy feature of his play, played 143 league games for the Magpies between 1937 and 1941, and from 1945 to 1948. He also played 36 games for Port Adelaide-West Torrens during the SANFL’s wartime competition which ran from 1942 to 1944, and half a dozen interstate matches for South Australia. In 1946, Lew Roberts was the first ever winner of the prestigious Advertiser Trophy.

Author - John Devaney