Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
Barry Bourke

Known as
Barry Bourke

Born
14 September 1943 (age 81)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 19y 223d
Last game: 29y 352d

Height and weight
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 77 kg

Senior clubs
Melbourne

Jumper numbers
Melbourne: 14

Family links
Darren Bourke (Son)

Barry Bourke

Advanced stats
Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
MelbourneV/AFL1963-1966, 1968-19731751540.8844%13.261.542.9421
Total1963-1966, 1968-19731751540.8844%13.261.542.9421

Pre 1965 stats are for selected matches only

AFL: 7,452nd player to appear, 949th most games played, 639th most goals kickedMelbourne: 809th player to appear, 39th most games played, 44th most goals kicked

Back to his top after a bad run with a knee injury. A clever half forward, wingman or rover. Fast and good overhead.¹

Barry Bourke was an extraordinarily versatile but sometimes underrated player who commenced his VFL career in 1963, just as Melbourne's decade of dominance was coming to an end. He did manage to contribute to one premiership, however, lining up at full forward in the Demons' four-point grand final defeat of Collingwood in 1964. The previous season, Bourke had finished as Melbourne's leading goal-kicker with 48 goals. For much of the remainder of his 11-season, 175-game league career he played either as a defender or an on-baller, and indeed he only added a further seven goals to his debut season total. Characteristically efficient and reliable in everything he did, Bourke was a regular member of VFL representative sides, and went to both the 1966 Hobart and 1969 Adelaide carnivals.

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

1. Australian Football Carnival Adelaide 1969, page 28.

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications, Crème de la Crème

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Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.