Australian Football

North Melbourne’s Laurie Icke was a somewhat awesome on-field presence, “renowned for his mad stare and ruthless approach”,[1] and completely unafraid to ruffle feathers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was no stranger to the tribunal, but this disguised the fact that he was also an accomplished defender. From 1952 to 1955 he played 57 VFL games for North without scoring a goal.

During the 1955 season Icke, along with team mate Mick Grambeau, was at the centre of a controversy which saw the pair of them being sacked by the committee following a loss to struggling St Kilda. They were both ultimately reinstated, but Icke was understandably keen to leave the club at the end of the year. He ended up being cleared to Minyip in the Wimmera League, where he became playing coach.

Author - John Devaney