Australian Football

Indisputably one of Essendon's greatest sons, Dimboola-born Tim Watson made his senior league debut in 1977 aged just 15 years and 305 days, making him the fourth youngest V/ AFL debutant in history. During the course of a 17-season, 307-game career he was perpetually at the forefront of the game, winning Bomber best and fairest awards in 1980, 1985, 1988 and 1989, and helping the club secure three premierships. He boasted tremendous pace and balance allied to finely tuned aggression and vigour, and his ball handling skills were second to none.

A regular Victorian state of origin representative, Watson's best ever season came in 1989 when he ran third in the Brownlow Medal voting and picked up numerous media awards. Two seasons later he temporarily retired, claiming his body had had enough, but he made a much vaunted comeback in 1993 when he was a steadying influence in a youthful Bomber combination which surprised many pundits by taking out that year's flag.

After finally retiring at the end of the 1994 season Tim Watson carved out an impressive media career for himself before returning to football briefly in 1999-2000 as senior coach of St Kilda. After overseeing 10th and 16th place finishes, however, the 2001 season saw him resuming his media activities.

Watson was chosen as a ruck-rover in Essendon's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

Author - John Devaney