CHAMPION full-forward and one of the game's greatest ever goalkickers Jason Dunstall was elevated to Legend status on Tuesday night as six new inductees were welcomed to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Dunstall became the 32nd Legend in the history of the game, having kicked 1254 goals to be the third greatest VFL/AFL goalkicker of all time and a four-time premiership hero with Hawthorn in a decorated 269-game career between 1985 and 1998.
He was celebrated on a night that saw players honoured for their careers across generations, covering both the current national competition as well as state leagues. The new inductees were Chris McDermott, Ralph Robertson, Kelvin Templeton, Dane Swan, Ray Schofield and Michael Graham.
Dunstall's elevation was announced two months ago but formalised on Tuesday night at the Hall of Fame ceremony in Melbourne, with the Legend status reserved for individuals who have had a particularly significant positive impact on the game of Australian Football.
Dunstall, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002 as soon as he became eligible, was deemed to have done that in a glittering career that saw him kick more than 100 goals in six separate seasons during a golden era for the Hawks.
>> READ MORE ABOUT THE 2024 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES BELOW
His most prolific season was 1992, kicking 145 goals from 23 games. Only fellow Legends Tony Lockett (1360) and Gordon Coventry (1299) have kicked more goals than the 59-year-old in VFL/AFL history.
A Brownlow medallist, triple Copeland trophy winner and five-time All-Australian, Swan was the most recent of the 2024 inductees to play at the highest level, retiring in 2016 as one of the stars of his generation, a key member of the Magpies' 2010 premiership team and a popular, knockabout figure in the game.
The powerful midfielder was a nightmare for opponents, charging up and down the ground to amass possessions, winning more than 30 disposals in 108 games from his 258-match career, while also marking well and kicking goals.
The elevation of champion goalkicker Templeton into the Australian Football Hall of Fame has been long anticipated, with the Footscray great having the rare distinction of winning a Brownlow Medal as a full forward.
Templeton enjoyed a magnificent career with Footscray and later Melbourne that saw him kick 593 goals across 177 games, winning the 1978 and 1979 Coleman Medals and the 1980 Brownlow Medal.
He excelled in a generation that boasted some of the game's great key defenders, including Kelvin Moore (Hawthorn), Geoff Southby (Carlton), David Dench (North Melbourne) and Harvey Merrigan (Fitzroy), kicking a career-best 118 goals in 1978.
The champion forward kicked 75 goals on his way to winning the Brownlow Medal in 1980, now joining fellow Coleman and Brownlow medallists Bernie Quinlan, Des Fothergill and Legends Malcolm Blight and Tony Lockett in the Hall of Fame.
McDermott played more than 400 games across a career in the SANFL and AFL with a reputation as a tough and durable ball-winner and a great leader.
A dual premiership player with Glenelg and the first captain of Adelaide when the Crows entered the competition, he won multiple best and fairest awards and was a three-time All-Australian after turning his back on cricket.
A member of the successful South Australian representative sides through the 1980s, he played alongside champion players like Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley, John Platten, Michael Aish and Peter Motley and was crucial to Glenelg’s back-to-back premierships in 1985 and 1986.
Still, the midfielder resisted offers to join VFL clubs, including Fitzroy, and became crucial to setting up the Crows under inaugural coach Graham Cornes.
Robertson joins the Hall of Fame as a key figure in the history of Australian Football in NSW, having starred in the local league in the early 1900s and representative football.
He played 14 games for St Kilda in 1899 and 1900 before moving to Sydney and making his name in 41 games for NSW between 1903 and 1914 against the powerful teams from around Australia that NSW competed with.
Robertson, who stood 171cm, was one of 100 inductees into the newly formed NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame in honour of his pioneering career.
He served in the Australian military during World War I and later joined the Royal Flying Corps and was killed in a training accident in 1917.
Schofield was a champion full-back for West Perth in the WAFL during the 1940s and 1950s, thrilling fans during his match-ups on South Fremantle great Bernie Naylor, who was inducted in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
His move from full-forward to full-back under coach Stan 'Pops' Heal prompted his decade of success, winning West Perth's best and fairest award five times and playing in the 1949 and 1951 premierships.
Selected at full-back in West Perth's Team of the Century, he represented WA in 22 interstate matches and retired after 259 career games.
Graham was the final inductee on Tuesday night before Dunstall's elevation, crowning a career that saw 'The Flash' play more than 500 senior games across a career with Sturt in the SANFL and St Mary's in the NTFL.
Blessed with extraordinary pace and goal sense, Graham played football 12 months of the year and already features in the Indigenous Team of the Century, the Sturt Team of the Century and the NT Team of the Century.
An influential figure in the 1974 and 1976 Sturt flags, he is seen as a trailblazer among Indigenous players who inspired stars like Michael O'Loughlin and Andrew McLeod moving between the wing and half-forward.
The 72-year-old's love of football has seen him play up to as recently as two years' ago at Masters Level, while also coaching.
2024 Hall of Fame inductees
JASON DUNSTALL Read more about football's 32nd Legend
DANE SWAN Read more about prolific Pie with a mountain of accolades
KELVIN TEMPLETON Read more about the Bulldogs goalkicking hero
RALPH ROBERTSON Read more about a NSW pioneer
CHRIS McDERMOTT Read more about an Adelaide Crows and SA great
RAY SCHOFIELD Read more about West Perth's five-time best and fairest
MICHAEL GRAHAM Read more about Sturt and St Mary's speedster
