Australian Football

Dynamic, tireless, direct and pacy, Tony McGuinness was without doubt one of the finest rovers of the past 25 years. If he had a weakness it was that he tended to be one-footed - the left - but what a foot it was, whether sending a daisy-cutter down a teammate's throat from a distance of 20 or 30 metres, or bisecting the uprights from near the boundary on 50.

McGuinness wasted no time in making his mark in top level football, winning a Magarey Medal with Glenelg in 1982 while still aged just 18. He won the Bays' best and fairest award the same year, and would later also reap the premier individual rewards at Footscray (1987) and Adelaide (1993). The last of Tony McGuinness' 113 SANFL games with Glenelg was the 1985 Grand Final in which North Adelaide was despatched to the tune of 57 points. McGuinness' two goals in that match brought his career tally with the Tigers to precisely 200.

Between 1986 and 1990 he played a total of 109 V/AFL games for Footscray, amassing 108 goals. With the Crows from 1991 to 1996 he added a further 113 AFL games and 79 goals. He won best and fairest awards with both clubs.

Tony McGuinness returned to Glenelg as non-playing coach from 1998 to 2000 but proved unable to resurrect the fortunes of the once proud club.

Author - John Devaney