Australian Football

Known throughout Australia as ‘The Prince of Ruckmen’, Tom Leahy was arguably the most widely celebrated footballer produced in South Australia prior to the onset of the television age. The reasons for his high reputation were legion. In the first place, he possessed all the skills necessary to succeed as a ruckman in the ‘ruck shepherd era’, a time when the primary objective of the second player in a ruck combination (the player who would later metamorphose into the ruck-rover) was to impede and interfere with the opposition’s main ruckman in an effort to prevent him from contesting the knock. Leahy’s strength, intelligence and athleticism enabled him to counter these tactics better probably than anyone.

Secondly, despite being the object of unrestrained and often illegal vigour on the part of his opponents Tom Leahy always maintained a cheerful, unflustered demeanour, and never retaliated. This is not to suggest for a moment that his play lacked aggression; however, his aggression was always controlled, and seldom transcended standards of what was acceptable, both legally and morally.

Tom Leahy remained in the upper echelon of the nation’s footballers throughout his two decades in the game. One of his contemporaries, Vic Richardson of Sturt, when writing of Leahy half a century after his retirement as a player, paid him the ultimate accolade of suggesting that “had (he) played under the modern rules, which do not permit shepherding or interference at the bounce, no ruckman in Australia could have taken one knock from him. His tremendous power and wonderful judgement would have given him far too great an advantage”.¹

This assessment may have been magnified somewhat by the rose-tinted lenses of nostalgia, but evaluations of the abilities of footballers are always subjective and it is at least arguable that the opinions of a player’s contemporaries should count for rather more than the subsequent evaluations of so called ‘experts’ whose perceptions have, to all intents and purposes, been pre-packaged and delivered to them whole, albeit with scant regard for historical veracity.

Tom Leahy played a total of 196 senior games, comprising 58 with West Adelaide, 111 with North Adelaide, and 27 for South Australia.

In 1922 he was appointed non-playing coach of Norwood, and steered the club to two premierships and a third place in his three seasons at the helm.

Author - John Devaney