Troy Bond
Career: 1994-1995
Debut: Round 1, 1994 v Adelaide
992nd Carlton Player
Games: 36
Goals: 26
Last game: Preliminary Final, 1995 v North Melbourne
Guernsey No. 8
Height: 179cm
Weight: 76kg
DOB: 14 July, 1973
AFL Rising Star Nominee: Round 18, 1994
Troy Bond was drafted with Pick 88 of the 1992 National Draft from Port Adelaide, but didn’t come over from his native South Australia for a whole season. But with his arrival came much excitement and talk of his acceleration over the first 5-10 metres. At this time in footy history the football world was agog with Gavin Wanganeen, the little Bomber back pocket player who was creating a storm with his zip and courage. Bond was a very similar player (indeed his cousin), but started off his career in the forward line.
Bond’s debut game was against the Crows in Round 1, 1994, and he kicked 3 goals in a 16 possession game that had us all excited. A few weeks later in Round 6 Bond and James Cook kicked 11 goals between them at Optus v. the Swans – all in the Crowd thought that the Blues had uncovered new forward stars who would carry our forward line for the next 10 years. From that point on, Bond was shown a lot more respect, but he still finished with 25 goals from 21 games in a great first year.
Mark Maclure
Career: 1974 – 1986
Debut: Round 13, 1974 vs Geelong
Carlton Player No. 846
Games: 243
Goals: 327
Last game: Grand Final, 1986 vs Hawthorn
Guernsey No. 36
Height: 188cm
Weight: 83kg
DOB: 14 July, 1955
Premiership Player: 1979, 1981, 1982
Club Leading Goalkicker: 1977, 1985
Victorian Representative: 1977, 1980
Club Captain: 1986
Carlton Hall of Fame: 1995
In a long and successful career with the Blues between 1974 and 1986, “Sellers” Maclure wore his number 36 guernsey in 243 games, including solid contributions in each of the 1979, 1981, and 1982 Carlton Premierships. Originally groomed as a defender, he became one of the better centre half-forwards of his era; a strong marking, hard-tackling team player who brought those around him into the game. Although sometimes prone to inconsistency, his career average of 18 games per season is a good indicator of his value to the Blues.
Early in his career, when Maclure began confirming that Carlton had unearthed another promising key position prospect, the football press of the day made much of the story that the 188 cm, 89 kg blonde forward had been recruited from the East Sydney Australian Football Club in Sydney. Portrayed as one of the trail-blazers for our code in the heartland of rugby league, Maclure was later seen as one of the standard-bearers of the AFL push into Sydney.
That claim proved to be a very cheeky one. While Maclure was in fact signed to Carlton from the Sydney club, he had actually been born in WA, and took to the game in the southern states. This came about because Mark’s father was in the Australian Navy at the time, so Mark played football wherever his family was sent. At the height of the Vietnam conflict in the early 1970’s, that meant Sydney.
Maclure began his career at Princes Park with the Under 19 squad, but progressed quickly through the Reserves team and made his senior debut in round 13 of 1974, against Geelong at Princes Park. Although Carlton dominated the match and won by 73 points, Maclure had a torrid introduction to senior football at full back. It was a spiteful affair, and players from both sides ended up on report.
Two weeks later, ‘Sellers’ was given his first opportunity at centre half-forward when Carlton played Richmond in the Match of the Day at the MCG. This time, the Tigers’ notorious knuckleman, Mal Brown, tried working him over, and Maclure was reported for retaliating. He beat the charge at a tribunal hearing, but afterward was sent back into defence, where he spent the best part of two seasons.
Andrew McKay
Career : 1993 – 2003
Debut : Round 1, 1993 vs Fitzroy, aged 22 years, 256 days
Carlton Player No. 988
Games : 244
Goals : 28
Last Game : Round 22, 2003 vs North Melbourne, aged 33 years, 48 days
Guernsey No. 5
Height : 185 cm (6 ft. 1 in.)
Weight : 89 kg (14 stone)
DOB : 14 July, 1970
Premiership Player 1995
Best and Fairest 2003
All Australian 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001
Carlton Hall 0f Fame 2001
Like many other Carlton champions, Andy McKay just seemed to go on forever. A warrior at half-back for the Blues for 11 seasons, he was resolute, reliable and most of the time, utterly impassable. His career began with a Grand Final defeat in his debut year, then soared to redemption only two seasons later. From then on, through the near-misses of 1999 and 2000, and into the looming catastrophe of the first decade of this troubled century, Andrew Ian McKay stood – and still stands – as an all-time great of the Carlton Football Club.
Carlton’s match committee knew ‘Macka’ was something special well before he was recruited from SANFL heavyweights Glenelg at pick 13 in the 1992 National Draft. (His original club was Lucindale, which is just west of Naracoorte, SA). Although he had played only 40 senior matches for the Bays, he had finished runner-up to Nathan Buckley of Port Adelaide in the ’92 Margarey Medal. The Blues were thrilled to sign him – and it only took two games to see just why.
Wearing guernsey number 5, he played across the centre in his first outing for the Blues, in round 1 of 1993 against Fitzroy at Princes Park. Carlton’s centre line on that occasion featured McKay and Fraser Brown on the wings, with Greg Williams in the pivot. All three got plenty of the football on that cloudy Saturday afternoon, although Fitzroy proved too good and won by six points.
McKay was shifted to his preferred half-back flank for his second game – the match of the round between Carlton and Essendon at the MCG – and announced his arrival as an AFL footballer with a dominant display in one of the games of the season. While the two bitter rivals fought out a high-scoring (132 points apiece) draw, Andy dominated his flank, beat two opponents, and was awarded his first Brownlow Medal vote. From that day on he was never left out of Carlton’s senior team, except for those rare occasions when he was injured.
Thanks to the Blueseum for player pics and bios.