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Key Facts

Full name
Neil Conlan

Known as
Neil Conlan

Born
1936

Died
22 July 1978 (aged 42‡)

Senior clubs
New Town; Devonport

Family links
Mick Conlan (Son)

‡ Approximate age

Neil Conlan


ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
New TownTANFL1953-1958
DevonportNWFU1959-1965
Wesley ValeNWFA1966
ManukaACTAFL1967-1968
Total1953-1968

Neil Conlan was a young prodigy as a footballer who joined New Town as a seventeen year old in 1953. Later that year he became the youngest player to represent Tasmania when he played at the Adelaide carnival. He went on to play a total of 25 games for his state, a Tasmanian record.

Resilient, courageous and highly skilled, Conlan was regarded by Tasmanian football historian Ken Pinchin as “probably the toughest and certainly the best centreline player Tasmania produced”.¹

Consistently noteworthy performances at interstate level saw mainland clubs begin to take a keen interest, and on a couple of occasions during the 1950s he was ‘signed’ by Richmond. Conlan, however, was happy to remain in Tasmania, winning a club record four successive best and fairest awards with New Town/Glenorchy from 1955-58, and playing in the 1953, 1955-56 and 1958 premiership sides.

In 1959, Conlan accepted the position of captain-coach of NWFU team Devonport. In 1962, he steered the Magpies to a Grand Final, but they lost to Burnie. He continued to perform well as a player, gaining regular Tasmanian selection, winning a major media award in 1960, and being chosen as the best NWFU player in intrastate games in 1963. Replaced as coach of Devonport in 1964 by Jervis Stokes, Conlan carried on as a player for another couple of seasons before spending a year with NWFA side Wesley Vale. In 1967, he embraced a new challenge by accepting the role of playing coach at Manuka, where he was to achieve outstanding success. In his first season he steered the Bullants to their first flag since 1955, repeating the success in 1968, and then again in 1969 (this time as non-playing coach). All told, he oversaw a total of five premierships at Manuka, making him one of the most successful ACTAFL coaches ever.

After a break from football in the mid-1970s he returned as Manuka’s chairman of selectors in 1977 and the following year was appointed non-playing coach of Belconnen. Tragically, in July that year he died in his sleep aged just forty-two. His son Michael later carried on the family’s football tradition by playing at senior level for Manuka, Fitzroy and Sandringham.

Neil Conlan’s contribution to Tasmanian football was amply recognised in 2004 with his inclusion in the state’s official ‘Team of the Century’.

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

1. A Century Of Tasmanian Football 1879-1979 by Ken Pinchin, page 163

Sources

Full Points Footy's Tasmanian Football Companion

Footnotes

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