Australian Football

Ron Kingston was a consistently dependable defender who joined Collingwood from Preston Juniors and gave the Magpies solid service in 173 VFL games between 1950 and 1959. He boasted excellent anticipation skills, and his ball handling was smooth and assured. He was also very tactically astute, and although he never had any official leadership roles at Collingwood he was regarded as a de facto on field leader. Kingston played on a half back flank in the Magpies 1953 Grand Final defeat of Geelong, and he also appeared in the losing Grand Final teams of 1955 and 1956, both against Melbourne. When the 'Woods achieved a measure of revenge over the Demons in the 1958 Grand Final, however, he had the misfortune to miss the game through injury.

In 1960, Kingston crossed Bass Strait to assume the role of captain-coach at NWFU club Cooee, where he spent the last four seasons of his playing career. In 1961 he steered the Bulldogs to a five-point Grand Final win over Burnie. In 1967, a couple of seasons after his retirement as a player, he took the reins at Cooee again, this time in a non-playing capacity, but no further premierships were forthcoming.

Author - John Devaney