Number 14
There are many Saints players who have worn the number 14 jumper during their career who are champions. Below, I have selected a Saints team purely of players who have worn the number 14 at any point of their career. I have also provided my personal assessment of the top three players who have carried the number14 for the Red, White and Black.
“The Jumper Number 14” Saints Team over the Decades
Backs: Kristian Bardsley / Bruce Phillips / Glen Middlemiss
Half Backs: Jimmy O’Dea / Des Baird / Alf Copsey
Centres: Rex DeGaris / Luke Ball / John Coffey
Half Forwards: Alan Jeans / Frank Hodgkin / Percy Jory
Forwards: Les Boyd / Tony Lockett / Jarryn Geary
Rucks: Ron Fisher / Roy Cazaly
Rover: Danny Craven
Interchange: Bob Morton, Jack O’Rourke, Sean Charles, Tony Francis.
Other players who have worn the number 14 include: Jack Holden, Irving Davidson, Ron Banfield, Reg Drew, Arch Knott, Chris Lamborn, George Lomer, Jack Mohr, Alf Proudfoot, Tony Richardson, Jim Yewers, Clem Morden, Danny Murnane, Stan Tormey.
The Team of the Decades Number 14 - Assessment
This team has the great Tony Lockett as its star forward. Any team with Lockett up front has to be taken seriously. At the other end Bruce Phillips was a fantastic full back and Jimmy O’Dea on the half back line was as very good defender. Des Baird was a fine defender but a little short of experience and height for the key position but he was still a very good player and would give his all.
The Centreline of DeGaris , Ball and Coffey is a very good group of on ballers. It combines strength and pace. It would hold up well in the modern game.
In the forward line the much underated Frank Hodgkin would do well at centre half forward, and Alan Jeans and the very good Percy Jory would add bite to the Lockett led forward line. The followers Ron Fisher, Roy Cazaly and Danny Craven would be a very solid and productive unit and add the flexible Jarryn Geary to the mix and you have a very good side representing the number 14.
The best three Saints players to have worn the Number 14 jumper.
1) Tony Lockett, 183 games. 1983-94.
Tony Lockett is arguably the greatest Full Forward ever. In 1987 he scored 117 goals and was the first Full Forward to win a Brownlow Medal. Injury and suspension prevented further centuries until 1991 when he kicked 127 goals followed by 132 in 1992. He did not add to his tally of centuries until he transferred to Sydney where he posted tons in1996 and 1998. Tony Lockett won the Saints Best and Fairest in 1987 and 1991. Tony Lockett is a standout as the best player to wear the number 14 jumper. “A superstar and super hero” as described by Danny Frawley in the latest edition of “The Saint”!.
2) Bruce Phillips, 115 Games 1947-1955
I just loved Bruce Phillips. I turned 5 in the year he retired but I can still remember him clearly some 55 years on. Having said that I remember him wearing the 17 jumper not the 14 but the AFL and other websites assert he wore the 14. I am therefore naming him in the number 14 team but I will also name him in the 17 team in a later article. I have always trusted my memory and it has been spot on in most cases re Saint’s history. I will look forward to any comments to confirm this one way or another. Bruce Phillips was recruited from Camden like so many Saints of the 1950s. He failed as a forward, but found greatness as a full-back. He only played a dozen games in his first three years, but in the last round of 1949 was tried at full- back with immediate success. He won the Saints' best and fairest the next year, won the Herald Best Player award, played in the state side and ran equal third in the Brownlow. Phillips had uncanny anticipation and liked to charge out in front of opposition full-forwards and send a long kick downfield. Phillips represented Victoria in 1953 and injured his knee in a 1956 practice match. He had not even turned 27, but his career was over. This is sadly a story that can be told about many Saints of the 50s and 60s. Bruce Phillips was one of my childhood heroes. He fully deserves recognition as a Saint’s great.
3) Roy Cazaly . St Kilda 99 Games 1911-1920. South Melbourne 99 Games 1921-1927.
I have named Roy Cazaly in the 13 team and now the 14. References are conclusive he wore both. "Up there Cazaly" became an Australian idiom during World War II and was later immortalised in a chart-topping song. The saying was first used by fellow South Melbourne ruckman Fred "Skeeter" Fleiter when he wanted Cazaly to go for a mark or a hit-out. He stood only five feet 11 inches and weighed 12 and a half stone.
He did not want to play for South, or St.Kilda for that matter, and only had eyes for Carlton. After a few reserves games he became disenchanted when Carlton did not look after a shoulder injury. In 1913 he played in the Saints' losing grand final side. Cazaly was a fine player for the Saints and was voted the team's best player in 1918. He was captain in 1920, but the club's constant in-fighting became too much and he asked for a clearance to Carlton, but instead was swapped to South.
More detailed information about Roy Cazaly can be found in the article “Number 13”
Roll of Honour
Many VFL players put their careers on hold to volunteer to fight in WW1. Percy Jory deserves special mention as one of those.
Percy J Jory 60 Games 1912-1915 and 1920
I have selected Percy on the half forward flank, the position he was selected in the Saints 1913 Grand Final team. He had been in the best players in the victorious preliminary final side the week before. He was recruited from Tasmania in 1912 but in 1915 copped a hefty 12-week suspension effectively ending his career but he returned to the Saints in 1920 for a season. Percy played in the famous wartime match in London while on active duty. A brief description of that match found in the Australian War memorial journal follows:
“Undoubtedly the high point of Australian football overseas was a match held at the Queen's Club, London, before a crowd of 3,000 and in the presence of the Prince of Wales, on the last Saturday of October, 1916. This match was played between sides representing the 3rd Division and the Combined Training Units and was notable for the numerous top players on both sides. Some of the players were: Dan Minogue (Collingwood); Hughie James (Richmond); Jack Brake, Carl Willis, Leo Little, Stanley Martin (University); Billy Stewart, Clyde Donaldson (Essendon); Charlie Lilley (Melbourne); Harold Moyes, Percy Jory (St Kilda); Ted Alley (Williamstown); Billy Orchard, Lou Armstrong (Geelong); Jim Foy (Perth); Jack Cooper, Percy Trotter (Fitzroy); George Bower (South Melbourne). Padre C.J. Perry, vice-captain of Norwood (South Australia), led the Combined Training Units team, and Bruce Sloss, the former South Melbourne star and 1911 Champion of the Colony (Equivalent to the Brownlow Medal pre 1924), captained the 3rd Division team. It was one of the last games of football Sloss played. He was killed in Flanders a little over two months later, during a German raid upon his Battalion's trenches.”
References
"The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers" - Russell Holmesby and Jim Main, Crown Content. Excerpts about the players are sometimes directly transcribed from this great resource. It is available on saints.com.
"Every Game Ever Played" - compiled by Stephen Rodgers, Viking O’Neill
Saints.com.au
"The Courage Book of VFL Finals" - compiled by Graham Atkinson, Wren
"Fallen the Ultimate Heroes- Footballers who never returned from war" - Jim Main and David Allen, Crown Content.
www.awm.gov.au
If you would like to contact Allan please send him an email to takeitforgranted@hotmail.com
