Football careers vary wildly from player to player. Some catch the eye with their sheer brilliance, others are so dour and consistent you hardly notice them at all and then there are those that stand out just because they’re plain weird.
One that is hard to ignore is the story of Adrian McAdam, who in 1993 kicked 23 goals in his first three games for North Melbourne. Playing in a forward-line featuring legends Carey and Longmire McAdam finished with 68 goals from just 17 games. His form dropped off quickly after ’93 though and he was delisted two years later.
Billy James was picked straight out of the country leagues to make his debut for Richmond in 1920. His first game, the grand final. His contribution, the winning goal. Part of the legend was that he never played again after he literally shot himself in the foot while out hunting for rabbits, while this was true, it didn’t happen until 1925. That doesn’t change that the grand final was the first and last VFL game for Billy.
How about Keith Miller?
1940-42 Played for St Kilda in the VFL
1942-45 Served in the RAAF during WW2
1946 Returned to the Saints for a season
1946-56 Became an Australian test cricketer where he took 170 wickets and scored almost 3000 runs
Decent innings. That’s not even mentioning the alleged affair he had with the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret.
Finally, how many players were the leading goal kicker at three different clubs? Probably a handful. How many of them had a hit song on Rage? Just Mark “Jacko” Jackson.
