Australian Football

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Key Facts

Full name
John Richmond Scobie

Known as
Jack Scobie

Born
22 September 1891

Died
23 April 1974 (aged 82)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 17y 221d
Last game: 28y 5d

Height and weight
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 83 kg

Senior clubs
South Melbourne; East Fremantle; Carlton

Jumper numbers
South Melbourne: 19, 23
Carlton: 18

Recruited from
South Melbourne (1914); East Fremantle (1919)

Jack Scobie

Advanced stats
ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
South MelbourneV/AFL1909-19137540.0569%———0
East FremantleWAFL1914-191858130.22—————
CarltonV/AFL19191100.0045%———0
V/AFL1909-1913, 19198640.0566%———0
WAFL1914-191858130.22—————
Total1909-1919144170.12—————

AFL: 1,487th player to appear, 2,826th most games played, 6,502nd most goals kickedSouth Melbourne: 220th player to appear, 208th most games played, 649th most goals kickedCarlton: 339th player to appear, 737th most games played, 1,036th most goals kicked

A hard-running defender whose main shortcoming was a tendency to put on excess weight, Jack Scobie nevertheless enjoyed a fine VFL career with two clubs. Most of that career was spent with South Melbourne, where he played 75 games between 1909 and 1913 including the Grand Finals of 1909 (won against Carlton) and 1912 (lost to Essendon). At his peak, he was widely considered to be the finest full back in Victoria.

Scobie left South Melbourne at the end of the 1913 season, and joined East Fremantle. From 1914 to 1918 he played a total of 58 WAFL games, including winning Grand Finals in his first and last seasons. Dolph Heinrichs wrote of Scobie, 'Of all the splendid exponents in East Fremantle's colours during its (first) 50 years, I made Jack Scobie as absolutely its most fully equipped and fully accomplished player'.¹ Scobie reignited his VFL career briefly with Carlton in 1919 where he added a final 11 senior games.

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

1. Celebrating 100 Years Of Tradition by Jack Lee, page 79.

Sources

Full Points Footy's WA Football Companion

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Footnotes

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