Australian Football

Fleet of foot, an excellent ball handler, and a penetrative left foot kick, Neville Fields was, for a brief time in the early 1970s, arguably the most damaging centreman in the VFL. He began with Essendon in 1969 after being recruited locally from Essendon High School, and after taking a couple of years to find his feet he began to come into his own during the second half of the 1971 season when a series of fine performances earned him the club's most improved player award. His improvement continued in 1972 when he landed both the Bombers' best and fairest award and the prestigious 'Inside Football' player of the year trophy, and was named in the centre in 'The Sun' all star team.

Fields made his VFL interstate debut in 1973, but over the next few years his form began to deteriorate, and at the end of the 1977 season he was cleared to South Melbourne. In three and a half years at the Lake Oval he played 60 VFL games and kicked 55 goals, but while he played some good football, and indeed achieved interstate selection again in 1980, overall he was too inconsistent to be rated a success. He finished his VFL career with a one and a half season stint back at Essendon, taking his final tally of games with the club to 140, and the number of goals kicked to 138. In 1983 he crossed to East Fremantle but, with his best football years well behind him, could manage only eight senior games for the year before retiring.

Author - John Devaney