Warren Ralph

[RussellEbertHandball]

I had a discussion with a mate about kicking a big bag of goals on debut. I said that I knew John Coleman kicked 12 on debut for Essendon in 1949 and that Warren Ralph transfered from Claremont, where he had kicked 123 goals in 1983, and kicked 9 goals on debut for Carlton in 1984 in rd 1. I looked up his record and it said he played 21 games between 1984 and 1986 for 72 goals. He had injuries which affected his form and he was 25 when he left WA.

I remember him coming to play for Glenelg in 1987 and playing a few games before he retired because he won a $1mil+ lottery. Have I got the story right or am I way off the mark?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Yeah, Warren Ralph had a win in lotto. Not sure if that's why he retired, I thought it was because he was struggling to get a kick.

 

[bakerboy]

I had a discussion with a mate about kicking a big bag of goals on debut. I said that I knew John Coleman kicked 12 on debut for Essendon in 1949 and that Warren Ralph transfered from Claremont, where he had kicked 123 goals in 1983, and kicked 9 goals on debut for Carlton in 1984 in rd 1. I looked up his record and it said he played 21 games between 1984 and 1986 for 72 goals. He had injuries which affected his form and he was 25 when he left WA.

I remember him coming to play for Glenelg in 1987 and playing a few games before he retired because he won a $1mil+ lottery. Have I got the story right or am I way off the mark?

Also the 9 goals he kicked against the Roos in 1984 on debut all came after half time.
Best kick for goal from outside 50 i have seen.

Also of note he kicked 8 goals against Hawthorn in a final which Carlton lost playing against Chris Mew.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Yeah, Warren Ralph had a win in lotto. Not sure if that's why he retired, I thought it was because he was struggling to get a kick.

Thanks for the confirmation AH. I am right that his career in the SANFL lasted a few games in1987 or was it longer.

 

[Leaping Lindner]

According to the Footy Times yearbook he played 14 games and kicked 30 goals for the Bays in 1988. He was also 29 years old at the start of the season.
Footy Times stats include pre-season games so I don't know how many of the 14 games were home-and-away games.

 

[Bomba Sheldon]

Also the 9 goals he kicked against the Roos in 1984 on debut all came after half time.
Best kick for goal from outside 50 i have seen.

Also of note he kicked 8 goals against Hawthorn in a final which Carlton lost playing against Chris Mew.

Came over from Claremont with massive raps and had a very good first year. If my memory serves me coorrectly I think he did his knee in Rd 1 1985 v the Bulldogs and was out for the rest of the season.

Came back in 1986 and didn't look the same plus we had picked up a few handy recruits in Kernahan, Bradley, Doritich, Motley, Evans. He may have seen that his opportunities were going to be limited in 1987 with the addition of Sartori, Dennis, Naley to the list and he departed from the Blues at the end of 1986.

As Baker Boy mentioned a great kick for goal outside of the 50.

 

[Ebert80]

From what i've heard another former Glenelg player has also recently won Division 1 x-lotto

 

[Ford Fairlane]

IIRC Ralph won the money just prior to the start of the season and not surprisingly seemed to lose a bit of desperation when the footy started. I don't think it was common knowledge at the time of the win and suspect The Hatchet in the Footy Times or one of the other rumour-mongers of the time dropped the story during the year to explain his sudden loss of form.

 

[Juddism]

I had a discussion with a mate about kicking a big bag of goals on debut. I said that I knew John Coleman kicked 12 on debut for Essendon in 1949 and that Warren Ralph transfered from Claremont, where he had kicked 123 goals in 1983, and kicked 9 goals on debut for Carlton in 1984 in rd 1. I looked up his record and it said he played 21 games between 1984 and 1986 for 72 goals. He had injuries which affected his form and he was 25 when he left WA.

I remember him coming to play for Glenelg in 1987 and playing a few games before he retired because he won a $1mil+ lottery. Have I got the story right or am I way off the mark?

geez the days of sitting on the banks at Claremont oval watching Ralphy were fantastic, we always used to yell 'show us your handbag Ralphy", not sure why but it was the hair iirc.

in 1987 he slotted 150 goals for Claremont, I remember that year fondly...he certainly was one of the best kicks outside 50...I also remember his team-mate Allan "shorty" Daniels had a massive kick on him too.

glory days at Claremont watching Ralph, Michael Mitchell, Daniels, Panizza, Blackwell et al...

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Since I started this thread I looked up a couple of old books.

Juddism according to a book I have, Footy Facts - All Australian guide to Aussie Rules 1987-88, Ralph kicked 75 goals for Claremont in 1987 taking his total to 531 goals, after returning to the club from 3 years in Victoria. It says he topped the WAFL goal kicking for 4 years before he went to Vic.

1980 - 82 tied with Simon Beasley
1981 -120
1982 - 105
1983 - 123

I found the Footy Times year book Leaping Linder posted about and saw the games and goal figure he posted. Funny how time plays with your memory. I was sure he come to Glenelg straight after he finished at Carlton, instead he went back to Claremont for a year.

 

[Juddism]

Russ,

take a look at this...

http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Warren+Ralph

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Warren+Ralph

Ralph returned to Claremont and quickly found form again for the Tigers. In his last two seasons back home in 1987 and ’88, he notched a total of 150 goals - 75 in each.

Interesting if that is correct as the Footy Times yearbook said he played 14 games for Glenelg in 1988 for 30 goals. That could have included up to 5 pre season games as the SANFL counted the Escort Cup / Foundation Cup games in a players total. So would be surprising if he went home and booted 75 goals in about 15 matches after winning the lottery.

If in doubt I usually go to Full Points Footy's biography section but there isn't one on Ralph.
http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/biographies.htm

Oh and the Claremont website is crap for history of the club. So many great players went thru this club with so much success and history that you would have thought that they would have recorded more of it on their website.

and the WAFL site doesn't have any records of him or even the annual top goal kickers.
http://www.wafootball.com.au/wafl

 

[Leaping Lindner]

According to "The Tigers' Tale" - the history of Claremont. Ralph topped the goalkicking in 1980 (102),1981 (128), 1982(117), 1983 (128), 1987 (75).
P.Melesso topped the list in 1988 with 60.
The book lists Ralph as playing with Claremont from 1980-89. These years are inclusive and obviously wrong (same book lists Jack Spry as playing 1970-76 and he played 1972 and 1973 with North Adelaide) but interesting that he is listed as still playing in 1989.