Australian Football

Todd Ridley was a talented forward, perhaps best known for kicking the Fremantle Football Club’s first ever goal in the AFL, against Richmond at the MCG in the opening round of the 1995 season. This was far from his only achievement, however, and he actually enjoyed a highly varied career with no fewer than five different clubs.

That career commenced in 1990 with Claremont where he did enough in 20 games, during which he booted a club list-topping tally of 60 goals, to persuade Essendon to draft him. He spent four seasons with the Bombers, playing 25 AFL games and kicking 21 goals, before crossing to Fremantle ahead of the 1995 season. Ridley enjoyed a promising debut season with the Dockers but in 1996 he fell out of favour and played for the majority of the year with Claremont. One positive side effect of this otherwise disappointing situation was that he got to help the Tigers to a nerve-racking two point win over East Perth in the ‘96 grand final. Not only that, he produced a superb individual performance which saw him register seven goals and earn the Simpson Medal as the best player afield.

The 1997 season brought a transfer to Hawthorn but in an injury-ruined year he managed just a couple of appearances. He returned to Western Australia in 1998, but to Subiaco rather than Claremont. His four season stint with the Lions saw him play 56 games and kick 132 goals and was noteworthy for his feat in booting a Bernie Naylor Medal-winning tally of 77 goals in 1998. That same season saw him score 4.1 for Western Australia in a loss to South Australia in Adelaide.

Author - John Devaney