THE BIG men of football command a special lore in the history of the game. From the days of Farmer and Nicholls and their epic battles at state level through to the modern greats like Madden and Cox, a dominant ruckman will always be the centrepiece of a side, taking control in the middle from the very start of a game.

For those blessed with height and power beyond their playing peers, a ruckman's craft, his build, his leadership or his aggression and skill will provide both inspiration and intimidation in equal measure.

The induction of Tom Leahy into the Australian Football Hall of Fame recognises the man seen as the great ruckman of the early part of the 20th century – a dominant figure in the SANFL and a powerhouse at state level when that was the pinnacle of the game.

He is still adjudged by historians in SA as the best ruckman produced out of South Australia – long overdue acknowledgement from his era of shorter seasons and a full working life from Monday to Friday.

A schoolboy prodigy at Christian Brothers' College (CBC), he was just 16 years and eight months when chosen by West Adelaide to make his debut on May 27, 1905 against Port Adelaide.

In that first season, he fitted five league games around his commitments with the school first 18, but still rated a mention in The Register's end of season review as already one of the best followers in the competition.

In 1906, he would play all 12 club matches and win the Best and Fairest for the first time, as well making his state debut and begin an unrivalled career at that level.

In Leahy's era, he would play 31 of a possible 32 state games (missing only one for a family commitment), while guiding West Adelaide up the ladder. From a winless season in 1906, his influence would see them as both premiers by 1908, as well as Champions of Australia, defeating Carlton on the Adelaide Oval by 19 points the week after both club's took part in their respective Grand Finals.

Leahy was the SA team's star in the first Australian Football Carnival of 1908, which took place in Melbourne, recognised by the judges of the time as the key to the team despite the losses for the SA team.

Leahy would lead Westies to back-to-back premierships in 1909 before the pinnacle for SA state football in 1911 – the only national carnival ever won by the SA team in its history – a competition invariably dominated by Victoria despite being rotated every three to four seasons around the football map of Australia.

While South Australian teams in the 1980s and 1990s would be crowned as national champions in that era of Tuesday night state games, only the 1911 Croweater team managed to find ultimate success through the heavy workload of four or five games against all other competing states in a 10-12 day period.

Leahy featured high in the State's best players in all four of their wins and was singled out for special mention by state captain Bert Renfrey after the historic win over Victoria in the final for their only carnival success.

In 1913, after having finished runner-up three times in the Magarey Medal as best player in the SANFL, he finally claimed the competition's highest individual award for the first time, while leading North Adelaide into the Grand Final against eventual premiers Port Adelaide.

The First World War would see football cease for Leahy for three years, in the prime of his career, before a return to league ranks when the competition resumed in 1919, and he was immediately named captain of North Adelaide.

After a tight loss in that year's Grand Final, to Sturt, his lead from the ruck would see redemption the following year in 1920, with his performance again being one of the key reasons for the Roosters' success, and the third premiership of Leahy's career.

"T. Leahy was the hero of the match. He has seldom played better football. The more the need for good work the better he is. He captained his team well." (Express and Telegraph 23/9/20)

Now captain of South Australia, he led the state to a rare win on the MCG over Victoria in 1920, and was named captain of the carnival team for the trip to Perth in 1921 (his fourth selection in a carnival side despite the interruption of the Great War).

While big and strong, he was known as unfailingly fair, but some targeting off the ball in the 1921 carnival game against Victoria left him battered and bruised, knowing he was coming to the end of a stellar career.

Upon retirement from the game early in 1922, before the beginning of that season, he accepted the offer to coach Norwood, and immediately led his new club to back-to-back flags in 1922-23, before standing down only a year later at the end of 1924, due to health reasons.

From a teen making his debut in 1905, through to the end of 1923, Leahy would be the dominant state player of his time, winning a Magarey Medal for his brilliance, finishing second a further three times, while claiming three club best and fairests and being a central figure in three flags, before coaching another two.

He stood astride SA football pre and post the Great War as a colossus.

Post-football, his contribution to the game would be just as mighty through the next four decades. He would serve on the Tribunal, help form the Past Players and Officials Association and work at Football House for two decades.

At his death on May 7, 1964, Leahy had given the best part of nearly 60 years to the game of Australian football in South Australia.

More than a decade after his death in August 1976, "The Advertiser" football journalists Mike Coward and Geoff Kingston listed the best 40 footballers to play in South Australia to that point. Leahy was at No.5 with only the multiple Magarey Medallists Barrie Robran, Russell Ebert, Len Fitzgerald and Dan Moriarty ahead of him.

An inaugural inductee to the South Australian Football Hall of Fame when it was established in 2002, Tom is now deservedly a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Tom Leahy's record

169 SANFL games, comprising:
- West Adelaide (58 games, 1905-09)
- North Adelaide (111 games, 1910-15 and 1919-21)
31 games for SA (captain 1919-21, played every possible game bar one during his career)
Magarey Medal 1913 (runner-up 1908, 1909, 1911)
Premierships 1908, 1909, 1920
3x Best and Fairest 1911, 1914, 1919
Captain 1915, 1919-21
2x Premiership coach Norwood 1922, 1923