Past Neil Gaghan (1987)

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Link

Each of the current VFL Clubs were instructed to provide 3 players of their list to the incoming Brisbane Bears for Season 1987, to assist the new team form a competitive list. These 3 players each had to have either played senior football during 1986, or had played in the 1986 Reserves Finals. Carlton, as Reigning VFL Reserves Premiers, would appear to have had a strong list to choose from.

Carlton would first offer to Brisbane the following 3 players:

• Michael Aitken, a Doctor who was by this stage working overseas;
• Bruce Reid, who had retired; and
• Peter Kenny.

Only Kenny would make it to Brisbane, and play a game, but in the ensuing discussions over Carlton's 'Three Bears' Neil Gaghan would also agree to go to Brisbane.

 

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Footyinfo

Full name: Neil Gaghan
Born: March 24, 1963
Teams: Carlton 1985-86, Brisbane Bears 1987
Height: 183cm
Weight: 79kg
Debut: Carlton vs Fitzroy Round 9, Waverley Park, 25 May 1985

Wikipedia

Neil Gaghan (born 24 March 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton and the Brisbane Bears in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Gaghan, who had 23 disposals against Collingwood on his league debut, was formerly a Carlton Under-19s player. With Carlton playing finals football in 1985 and 1986, Gaghan was unable to establish himself in the seniors. He spent the entire 1986 season with the Carlton reserves and participated in their premiership team.

Released by Carlton, Gaghan was signed up by Brisbane for their first VFL season in 1987. After managing just three appearances for the Bears, Gaghan was delisted but would remain in Queensland with Kedron Grange.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gaghan#cite_note-AFLTables-1

Statistics:

afl tables
footywire

 

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Blueseum

One of Carlton's nominations was Neil Gaghan, a 23 year-old utility who had managed just three senior games for the Blues before taking a prominent role in Carlton's 1986 Reserves Premiership. Neil agreed to the move, and travelled north to play another three senior games for the Bears in 1987, but was then delisted. Having taken a liking to life in the Sunshine State, Gaghan settled in Brisbane, where he joined the Kedron-Grange Football Club and gave them good service for a number of seasons.

In 1993, Gaghan took over the role of coaching Kedron-Grange, where he was ably assisted by two very high-profile ex-Blues in Jim Buckley as part-time football manager, and Wayne Johnston as the club's star new recruit. Then, only three weeks into the season, Gaghan stepped down from his role because of work commitments - thus allowing Johnston to become captain-coach of the club.

Neil's younger brother was an absolutely outstanding prospect as a junior, and would have been eligible to go to Carlton from one of the Blues' prime recruiting zones. Sadly, he was killed in his mid-teens in a car accident on the Hume Highway.