AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Club | League | Career span | Games | Goals | Avg | Win % | AKI | AHB | AMK | BV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eastern Suburbs | SFL | 1943-1965 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Total | 1943-1965 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
In 1943, Perth-born Roy Hayes, aged 20, was stationed in Sydney on military service, and fronted up on Saturday afternoons for Eastern Suburbs. 22 years later he played the last of over 300 senior games having acquired legendary status for himself at the club which, under Hayes' coaching, dominated Sydney football throughout the 1950s.
Universally acknowledged as one of the finest players in Sydney for much of his career, he would in all likelihood have collected several Phelan Medals had he played elsewhere, but the Bulldogs had such a powerful all round team that the votes tended to get shared around much more widely than at other clubs. With Roy Hayes at the helm, Eastern Suburbs won seven consecutive flags between 1953 and 1959, having earlier played in losing Grand Finals in 1947, 1949 and 1951. The sort of player who was always in the thick of the action, he played 22 times for New South Wales, and in 2003 was selected as an inaugural member of the Sydney AFL Hall of Fame.
Author - John Devaney