The biggest certainty of a change in a club’s top-100 game-players list is at the Western Bulldogs, where Ian Salmon currently sits in the hot seat at No. 100.
Salmon, who retired from league football at 23 years old to pursue his career as an animal technologist in his home town of Leongatha, is facing a stampede of current Bulldogs who would all be expected to pass his total of 113 games during season 2019.
Three of the club’s current champions – South African born ex-East Fremantle speedster Jason Johannisen, who has played 106 games and won the 2016 Norm Smith Medal; left-footer Lachie Hunter on 105 games; and 2016 premiership player Marcus Bontempelli on 104 games – should all pass Salmon in the first half of the season assuming fitness and form.
On the other hand, Tory Dickson, who needs to play at least 17 games to make the cut, is much more circumspect considering he has played only that many games in total in the last two years!
Salmon started his career in 1970 while still 17 years old, debuting in Round 9 against Fitzroy wearing jumper No. 9 and earning nine kicks. A blond-haired, left-footer who could kick a long distance, he was a good-sized player in the 1970s at 192-centimetres tall and weighing 92 kilograms. He played five games in a row from Round 9 until Round 13 but was then out of the team for the remainder of the season.
In the following year he changed his jumper to No. 18 and remained with that number until the premature end to his career after the 1976 elimination final loss to Geelong, having earlier in his time at the Bulldogs played in the 1974 elimination final loss to Collingwood as well. These were the only two VFL/AFL finals that he got to play and, with the exception of the 1974-75 seasons in which he played 44 games out of a possible 45, he averaged fewer than 14 games for the five other seasons.
Not a noted goal kicker, in his first two seasons at the club he managed to score three goals in a game, twice against Richmond and once against Essendon. He never repeated this feat again and failed to score a goal for the entirety of 1972 and 1975. His final AFL/VFL goal tally was a meagre 36 goals, 11 of which came against Richmond.
He returned to his original club of Leongatha and to the farm, serving the club well over the remainder of his footballing days.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
Over the next few days, all discussion of Essendon's three-point win over Adelaide will likely centre on the decision, in the final seconds of…
Savagery from Sam Draper!
Taylor Walker was adamant Sam Draper should have been pinged for holding the ball - but the umpire disagreed!
Things getting spicy in Adelaide!
Tex had plenty to say to Sam Berry after kicking the Crows' second goal.
