Ken Piesse looks at his favourite footballers from the Sunraysia Region.

As a young Glenferrie Oval regular of the ‘60s, one game and one goal remains an over-powering memory: Harold ‘Hassa' Mann's freakish goal from the boundary late in a 1964 game against Hawthorn at Glenferrie Oval. It was an impossible goal from the dead pocket. It catapulted Melbourne into the finals. My Hawks fell from first to fifth.

This was the year Melbourne was to play-off and win the premiership after a late goal from back pocket Neil Crompton in one of the great Grand Finals, noted for Collingwood heavyweight Ray Gabelich's epic run and final quarter goal to the Punt Rd. end which momentarily gave the Magpies the lead.

‘ "Froggie" (Crompton) actually saved my skin that day,' said Mann, a proud son of Merbein. ‘I'd kicked a point just seconds before from about 30 yards. On the rebound Froggie grabbed it and kicked the winner.'

Mann was a Melbourne captain and a favorite son with a popularity akin to Ron Barassi's.

He was also to enjoy widespread coaching success in Western Australia at South Fremantle where as coach and sole selector he took the club from last to first to win the 1970 WAFL premiership.

Later he coached in the VFA at Caulfield and having said no to Melbourne's senior job (to be taken by Barassi), he coached the thirds for two years, his work at Mobil Oil precluding him working in football full-time.

His career had been kick-started in the Sunraysia. Like Adam Goodes years later, Mann played at under-age level at Merbein FC before being lured to the Big Smoke, playing his first VFL games as an 18-year-old in 1959.

He lived a mile and a half from the Merbein ground and said it was a home away from home for him and his mates. ‘Back then they had only Under 16s, so I played from the age of 12,' he said. ‘They picked me as a 16 year old for the seniors and the very night I played my first game, there was a knock on the door. It was Jim Cardwell (Melbourne's secretary) who was with Harold Ball's Dad, who lived just up the road from us.

"Jim had been looking at another player but chose me. Think I got a pair of Arena footy boots, which didn't fit anyway.

‘I was to have offers from mine clubs including one which promised me a car, but I thought if I was going to play League football, I wanted to play with the best and that was Melbourne.'

Mann come to the city via Rutherglen where he was working in a bank. He bunked with Clarrie Williams, Don Williams' Dad in Prahran, beginning the happiest of associations with the club of his choice.

A brilliant centreman Mann was to play in two premierships before his 21st birthday and was in a third in '64. His first in 1959, was against Essendon, the team he barracked for!

In all he played 183 games with the Dees, won three best and fairests and was runner-up five times. He also represented Victoria 10 times and was an All-Australian.

Despite sinking the Hawks that late-August day in '64, he remains my favourite player from the Sunraysia and is a delight to talk to, on any subject.

Another high profile ex-Sunraysia boy is Jason Akermanis who played with South Mildura juniors for a time before graduating to League ranks and winning a Brownlow Medal. He could well play in another Grand Final this year with the Western Bulldogs.

The three Bower brothers, Brendan, Nathan (pictured playing for Vic Country in 1988) and Darren also were stars in the Mildura junior competitions before playing League football at Richmond in the ‘90s. Brendan was the closest to achieving 100 games. He also played with Essendon and North Melbourne.

Another Sunraysia boy I used to follow in the ‘60s was ruckman Elkin Reilly, who came from the Wentworth club and at the time was one of the few Aboriginal boys playing in the Big League.

My 10 favorites from Sunraysia way, with apologies to the Bower's and big Elkin, are:

MICHAEL BOWDEN: Was years ahead of his time with his brilliant handball. Ruck-rover in Richmond's 1969 premiership team, Bowden returned to bush ranks early, winning the Sunraysia competition best and fairest in '78 with Red Cliffs. Later he coached Robinvale. Two of his sons also played League footy, Joel becoming one of Richmond's most outstanding players of the last decade.

GRAHAM ‘TOMMY' BLAND: Topped the Sunraysia's goalkicking charts in seven years out of nine in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. In 1975, a premiership year, he kicked 121. A quick lead, he was to amass 800-plus goals and win Merbein's best and fairest twice. He remains one of the very best from the Sunraysia not to play League football in Melbourne.

TONY HAENAN: Tall and tanned, a real man-mountain from Imperials, he played almost 200 games at VFL and VFA level at South and Port Melbourne. A fine mark and very athletic, he played both as a key defender and knock ruckman and was an excellent kick.

JOSH HUNT: The current Geelong hard-liner played in the Under 13s at Redcliffs and then onto Mildura Imperials before beginning his ascent to League footy via the Bendigo Pioneers. Few kick as well as Hunt, a natural left footer who always seems to have time and room to pick out players 40-50 metres ahead. Is part of one of the great teams which plays exhilarating, attacking football that we all love to see.

JOHNNY JAMES: A Ballarat boy who went and coached Robinvale at the end of his League career, James is most famous for winning a Brownlow Medal, but insists that Robinvale's Grand Final victory over Red Cliffs in 1965 remains the stellar moment of all for him. He still waxes poetic about the contributions of club legends like woodcutter John Lane who carried the rucks that day and the skill and tenacity of the Curran brothers and Peter O'Connor, too, who also played with Essendon reserves. Later, one of Johnny's sons Michael also played League footy at Carlton., where John was a member of the club's Team of the Century.

MATTHEW KNIGHTS: Essendon's coach and a legend at Tigerland where he played 263 games, including his first matches as a 17-year-old in 1988. I still recall his dynamic efforts in the '95 final series, particularly the second semi-final against Essendon where he played probably the finest hour of his career to keep Richmond within range before the Tigers achieved one of their great wins of the decade.

MARK LEE: Few could intimidate like ‘The General' who returned to the bush and works as a policeman in Mildura after a stellar 200-game career at Richmond. After interviewing him once for the old Sunday Observer, he said to me: ‘Make sure you get it right', staring straight at me from his 200 cm! Hopefully I did General!

HASSA MANN: Played almost 200 games with Melbourne and Victoria including premierships in his first two years in 1959 and 1960. One of the great centremen.

JAMIE SIDDONS: Won a competition best and fairest as a 19-year-old at Robinvale before playing League football the following year as a Sydney Swan. Best known as a cricketer, he represented Australia at one-day level and built an outstanding interstate record with Victoria and South Australia. Is now head cricket coach with Bangladesh.

DALE ‘FLEA' WEIGHTMAN: One of the great Richmond and Victorian rovers of the ‘80s, Flea was just 57 kg on his arrival at Punt Rd and was repeatedly told he was too small to play at the highest level, before beginning one of the great careers which included more than 20 Big V appearances. His older brother Ross is a South Mildura legend while Brian Weightman, their Dad, is an alltime sporting great of the area.

By Ken Piesse

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au 26 JUne, 2010

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