Australian Football

Wingman Brian Gray was a Swan Districts stalwart for the better part of thirteen seasons. He commenced with the club in 1951, and played the last of his 205 WANFL games in the victorious 1963 Grand Final against East Fremantle. During his career he booted 89 goals. Somewhat surprisingly, despite being one of the most highly rated wingmen in the state for much of his career, Gray was never selected to represent Western Australia. The closest he came was in 1959 when he was initially included in a state touring party to South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, but then was forced to withdraw owing to injury.

During Gray's first ten seasons in the game his club never once qualified for the finals, and indeed finished last no fewer than half a dozen times. The arrival of Haydn Bunton Junior as coach in 1961, however, saw Swans transformed almost overnight from easybeats to world-beaters, and simultaneously ensured that Gray's career ended in a blaze of glory, with participation in the premiership teams of 1961-2-3. Brian Gray sadly died in 2003.

Author - John Devaney