Bio & Information
John Nicholls (1939-)
John is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Nicholls is widely regarded as one of Australian football’s greatest players. He was the first Carlton footballer to play 300 games and was declared the club’s greatest player. He represented Victoria a record 31 times in interstate football and was named as one of the inaugural Legends when the Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996. Nicholls played most of his football as a ruckman, and although at 189 centimetres he was not especially tall, he compensated his lack of height with his intelligence and imposing physical presence, which earned him the nickname ‘Big Nick’. His rivalry with fellow Australian football legend Graham Farmer raised the standard of ruck play during the 1960s.
The Carlton Football Club recruited Nicholls from the Maryborough Football Club in 1957 after recruiting his elder brother, Don, the previous year their father ensured that both brothers would play together at one club. Don played 77 senior games as a centreman for Carlton from 1956, when he was Carlton’s best first-year player, to 1961. Nicholls enjoyed an outstanding season in 1966, winning his second consecutive Robert Reynolds Trophy, and finishing second in the Brownlow Medal count, four votes behind St Kilda champion Ian Stewart.
Premiership captain in 1968 & 1970 and again in 1972 as a first time captain-coach, Nicholls led the Blues to the minor premiership with 18 wins and a draw in 1972, Richmond finished the home & away series in that year 2nd, Richmond then beat Carlton in the semi and meet them again in the Grand Final, Carlton went on to win that Grand Final clash against Richmond booting a record score, which today, nearly 50 years after the event remains the AFL/VFL Grand Final game’s record score. Nicholls finished his VFL career with a then-record 331 games. Following his retirement, he served as non-playing coach at Carlton in 1975, but then resigned three days before the start of the 1976 VFL season, citing mental and physical exhaustion. Nicholls then went to South Australia, where he coached Glenelg Football Club, from 1977–1978, and then returned to Melbourne to coach Coburg Football Club in 1981.
Nicholls won the Robert Reynolds Trophy for Carlton’s best and fairest player on five occasions: 1959, only his third season, and then in 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1967. In the eleven seasons from 1959 to 1969, Nicholls never placed outside the top three for the award. The trophy was renamed in Nicholls’ honour in 2004. He was also named in Carlton’s Team of the Century in the first ruck. Besides being named as one of the twelve inaugural “Legends of the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, Nicholls was also named in the AFL Team of the Century, as the resting ruckman in the back pocket, with Graham Farmer taking the first ruck position. He is depicted contesting a boundary throw-in against Farmer in Jamie Cooper’s painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.
Teammate and fellow Legend Alex Jesaulenko rated Nicholls the best he had seen or played with, “because he could have two marks and four kicks and still win a game.”
Former Collingwood captain Des Tuddenham said that Nicholls had the best football brain of anyone he had met.
Carlton rover Rod Ashman recounted the impact Nicholls had during his early years at the club:
Playing alongside “Big Nick” was an absolute godsend. I got him at the end of his career, but I will never forget one day at Carlton at a boundary throw-in, right in front of the social club in the forward pocket. He looked at me and motioned towards a spot; it was clear he wanted me to get there. Sure enough, he palms it straight to me and I kick a goal. He was that good. Opposition ruckmen just could not get around him. I could not believe the size of his legs; they were enormous. He could manoeuvre around blokes like Polly Farmer, even though he stood only six feet two. that is shorter than Chris Judd. He was just a sensational player.
Carlton premiership captain 1968, 1970. Carlton premiership captain-coach 1972. Australian Football Hall of Fame, inaugural legend 1996. AFL Team of the Century. Carlton Team of the Century, ruck. Carlton Best First Year Player, 1957. Robert Reynolds Trophy 1959, 1963, 1965–1967. Renamed “John Nicholls Medal” in 2004. Carlton captain 1963, 1968–1974. Simpson Medal 1968 (Best player, VIC v WA in Perth)
Kevin Joseph “Bulldog” Murray MBE (1938-)
Kevin is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League in 333 games over 18 seasons. Murray’s father Dan also played for Fitzroy, including in their 1944 VFL Grand Final victory. Kevin played for Fitzroy from 1955 to 1964, and from 1967 to 1974, winning nine best and fairest awards for the club. He was playing coach of Fitzroy in 1963, a job he also filled in 1964, along with representing and captaining his home state of Victoria. Although only 5’10” (178 cm) tall, he had a very long reach: In his own words, he felt his arm span was more like that of a player 6’6″ tall (198 cm). In 1965 Murray moved to Western Australia to captain/coach East Perth Football Club. Over two seasons he played 44 West Australian National Football League (WANFL) games. In 1965 he won the Simpson Medal for best player in the WA v VFA interstate match and also won East Perth’s best and fairest award. In 1966 he captained WA at the 1966 Hobart Carnival and led East Perth to the WANFL Grand Final which they lost to Perth (captain/coached by former East Perth player Mal Atwell who had switched to Perth because he did not agree with Murray’s methods).
His return to Fitzroy in 1967 was triumphant. He won the club’s best and fairest award in his first two years back, and in 1969 he was awarded the Brownlow Medal. Amongst Murray’s other honours, he was named an All-Australian player in 1958 and 1966. His 333 games for Fitzroy was a then VFL record, but 208 of these games resulted in losses, the most ever suffered by a single player in the VFL/AFL and played 44 games for East Perth. His total of 377 games was an elite football record until 1979, when it was broken by Barry Cable. He also played 24 matches for Victoria and six for Western Australia in interstate football. From 1975 until 1976, Murray served as captain-coach of the Sandringham Football Club in the Victorian Football Association.
At the end of the 1996 season, Fitzroy merged with the Brisbane Bears to form the Brisbane Lions. Murray was a great supporter of the new entity, and the Lions’ club championship award, the Merrett–Murray Medal, is part-named in Murray’s honour. Murray has been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and was elevated to legend status in 2010. Kevin was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from the Queen and introducing Prince Phillip to the Fitzroy side in 1970.
Kevin represented Victoria on 24 occasions. He was included in All-Australian side in years 1958 and 1966. Kevin also represented Western Australia on 6 occasions. He won the Brownlow Medal in 1969. He won the Best and Fairest award of East Perth in 1965. Kevin won the Best and Fairest award of Fitzroy in years 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1968 and 1969. He also won the Best Player and Simpson Medal in 1965 in a match between WA and VFA. He was a member of the AFL Team of the Century. Kevin was also inducted into Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2010, making him a legend of VFL/AFL.
