Australian Football

Despite his hefty 183 cm, 91kg build, Rene Kink was as agile and aerodynamic as he was powerful. Indeed, he was a genuinely mercurial footballer, who at his best could be as exhilarating to watch as any player in the VFL. He was prone to lapses in concentration, however, which undermined his consistency, and overall he would have to be adjudged as falling some way short of true champion status.

Originally from Ararat, Kink was recruited by Collingwood and made his senior debut in the losing 1973 Preliminary Final against Carlton while still a couple of months shy of his seventeenth birthday. A booming kick and a strong, occasionally spectacular mark, he played his best football between 1977 and 1981 under the astute guidance of Tom Hafey.

Kink was at full forward in both the drawn 1977 Grand Final and the replay, which Collingwood lost, and played on a half forward flank in the losing Grand Finals of 1979, 1980 and 1981. In 1983, after playing a total of 154 games and kicking 240 goals for the 'Pies, he transferred to Essendon, and ended up playing in yet another losing Grand Final that same year. He played 20 VFL games and booted 35 goals for the Bombers before finishing his career with seven games and five goals for St Kilda in 1986.

Author - John Devaney