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Full name
Ronald Evans
Known as
Ron Evans
Born
7 July 1939
Died
9 March 2007 (aged 67)
Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 18y 307d
Last game: 23y 28d
Height and weight
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 78 kg
Senior clubs
Essendon; West Perth
Jumper numbers
Essendon: 8
Family links
Neil Evans (Brother)
Club | League | Career span | Games | Goals | Avg | Win % | AKI | AHB | AMK | BV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Essendon | V/AFL | 1958-1962 | 64 | 210 | 3.28 | 63% | 3.75 | — | 2.75 | 10 |
West Perth | WANFL | 1963-1965 | 60 | 271 | 4.52 | — | — | — | — | — |
Total | 1958-1965 | 124 | 481 | 3.88 | — | — | — | — | — |
Pre 1965 stats are for selected matches only
AFL: 6,928th player to appear, 3,630th most games played, 375th most goals kickedEssendon: 698th player to appear, 295th most games played, 24th most goals kicked
Ron Evans only had a comparatively brief senior league career, but he achieved a fair amount of notoriety during it. He began with Essendon in 1958 when still a few months short of his 19th birthday having captured attention by breaking the Essendon District League goal kicking record the previous year with Essendon Baptists. Hardly surprisingly, the Dons elected to use him at full forward, where after taking a while to find his feet he developed, for a brief time, into arguably the best player in that position in the league. Certainly, the VFL state selectors appeared to think so, because Evans was a regular in the Big V jumper in both 1959 and 1960, the same two seasons which saw him head the league's goal kicking list with 78 and 67 goals respectively.
Quite tall at 188cm, but wiry at only 78kg, Evans relied for his success on fine judgement, excellent marking - made easier by his uncannily long arms - and accurate kicking. In 1961, however, he appeared to lose his way somewhat, and the following year he was replaced at full forward by Charlie Payne. The 1963 season found him at West Perth, where he quickly succeeded in resurrecting his career, booting 97 goals in his debut season to top the WANFL list, and following that with tallies of 84 and 90 goals in 1964 and 1965 respectively, both of which were good enough to head the Cardinals' list.
Ron Evans departed the league football scene at the end of the 1965 season having played 64 VFL games and booted 209 goals with Essendon, and 60 WANFL games for 271 goals with West Perth. He later enjoyed a successful career as a football administrator.
Author - John Devaney