Defacto
Brownlow Medallist
- Sep 21, 2008
- 22,930
- 17,129
- AFL Club
- St Kilda
Who's pick now?
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Some peanutWho's pick now?
I see what you meant about going out with a "bang".View attachment 100791
Pick 174 - Uncle Barrels' Barbarians: Bob FLEGG, Ormond (VAFA)/Sandringham (178cm 77kg): goalkicking machine
St Kilda Career: 18 games (47 goals)
Flegg was clearly a superb forward, who was tragically taken well before his time, and takes his rightful spot in the forward pocket, with Mynott moving to the bench.
An undeniable talent, in 1937 - at only 18 years old - Flegg kicked a mighty 130 goals from full forward for the fledgling Ormond Football Club in the VAFA, before transferring to Sandringham (then of the VFA) for seven games in 1940/41 where he kicked an incredible 26 goals.
Poached by the Saints for the 1941 season, the now 22 year old Flegg dutifully topped the goalkicking with 47 goals after the sudden retirement of legendary spearhead Bill Mohr, including kicking 7.6 in a two-point loss - in only his second game - against Geelong in round 2, in the first game at Kardinia Park. He kicked further bags of 5, 6 and 7 against Essendon, eventual premiers Melbourne and Carlton in the next three rounds, and a further bag of 5 - again against Geelong - in round 15. In a team that won only 3 of 18 games for the season, Flegg was clearly a standout.
Sadly, the war called and Flegg signed on with the RAAF. He was attached to the 70 Squadron RAF and served on transport and bombing missions in North Africa and over Europe. On 7 July 1944, the Vickers Wellington X bomber MF138 piloted by the now-WO Flegg was shot down over Feuersbrunn, Austria with the loss of all on board; he was not yet 26.
He is buried with his crew in Klagenfurt War Cemetery, Klagenfurt, Austria.
Though I can't specifically identify Flegg from the above photo of the 70th - it's the not the bloke marked 'me' - it's tempting to assume the lad in the second row with the Aussie-style slouch hat may be our fella.
A clear talent, taken way too young.
*with the greatest of thanks to Alan Storr, and the good people at 70squadron.roselake.co.uk, footystats.freeservers.com and afltables.com.
Sorry not allowed. He never played senior footy for St Kildawith my last pick i am going to take arguably australias greatest cricketer. we havent had much luck in the flag stakes but atleast my team will have someone who can carve up the poms
my last pick is Shane Warne
Didn't quite mean it that way...I see what you meant about going out with a "bang".
Deadly research, daddio.
A powerful story, nonetheless.Didn't quite mean it that way...
Lets say Ormond played 18 games in 1937, from the 43 games we know about that Flegg played, he managed to kick a whopping 203 goals. That's 4.72 per game!A powerful story, nonetheless.
Never heard of Warrant Officer Flegg before and somehow doubt I would have without your forensic attention to the early years.
Sounds like a cracker of a player, and a tragedy he died so young.
Do appreciate your attempts to put the sport into the bigger picture.
Character is so important these days to our club. I'm sure the current players would be inspired by the story of Bob Flegg.
Ill still love him! A little less though
Fitting that he wore the number 12, then.Lets say Ormond played 18 games in 1937, from the 43 games we know about that Flegg played, he managed to kick a whopping 203 goals. That's 4.72 per game!
To put it into some perspective, Tony Lockett's lifetime average was 4.84 goals per game.... John bloody Coleman's was only a half a goal per game better at 5.48 per game!
A fair number of those goals only came at local level, granted, but I reckon if he'd not gone to war, or at least not met his Maker there, we'd be talking about an all-time great of the club.
Edited the post... Have a gander...Ill still love him! A little less though