Australian Football

Tony Parentich made his debut for South Fremantle in 1952 and at the end of the season was one of the best players afield as South came from five goals down at half time to beat West Perth 12.19 (91) to 10.10 (70) in the WANFL Grand Final. 12 months later, against the same opponent, Parentich’s display was equally auspicious in a somewhat more convincing 59-point win. Earlier that same season, at the Adelaide carnival, he had made the first of an eventual half a dozen interstate appearances for Western Australia, the last two of which came at the Melbourne centenary carnival five years later.

Pacy, purposeful and abundantly skilled, Parentich was beyond question one of the finest centremen to play league football during the 1950s. Besides the aforementioned 1953 and 1954 premiership teams, he played in the 78-point Grand Final annihilation of arch rivals East Fremantle in 1955, and in the losing Grand Final of 1956 against East Perth when he was again one of South’s best. In addition to centre, Parentich was an equally fine wingman or half forward flanker. 

Winner of his club’s fairest and best trophy in 1957, he had played a total of 162 official senior games by the time he retired in 1959. He had also played a fair number of ‘unofficial’ senior games for South, mainly against teams from interstate. In one such game, against a South Australian number two state side on the Adelaide Oval in 1954, Parentich’s flawless display in the centre was the main difference between the teams, with South proving their status as arguably the finest club team in Australia at the time by winning by seven points.

Author - John Devaney