Ken Hands: HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY!
Career : 1945 – 1957
Debut : Round 5, 1945 v St Kilda, aged 18 years, 205 days
Carlton Player No. 606
Games : 211
Goals : 188
Last Game: Semi Final, 1957 v Hawthorn, aged 30 years, 309 days
Guernsey No. 1
Height : 185 cm (6 ft. 1 in.)
Weight : 85 kg (13 stone, 5 lbs)
DOB : 26 October, 1926
Premiership Player : 1945 & 1947
Best and Fairest : 1953
Captain : 1952-1957
Captain of Victoria : 1957
Carlton Coach : 1959 – 1964
Carlton Hall of Fame: 1988
Team of the Century
Another of the pivotal figures in the proud history of the Carlton Football Club, Ken Hands left an indelible mark on, and off the field at Princes Park. A two-time Premiership player, state representative, Best & Fairest winner and inspirational captain, Hands played 211 games and kicked 188 goals in twelve seasons beginning in the last months of World War II. Later, he became embroiled in a long and bitter wrangle with Jim Francis, while both were bidding to coach the Blues.
To the chagrin of Geelong Football Club, Carlton recruited Hands from right under their noses in 1944. As the conflict in Europe and the Pacific drew to a close, the 17 year-old key forward was playing impressive football for amateur side Geelong Scouts. The Cats had had Ken in their sights for months, but it was Carlton who pounced first with a firm offer – including the prestige of wearing guernsey number 1 for the Blues. In his senior debut in round 5 of the ‘45 season, against St Kilda – Carlton won a tough match by 11 points. Hands took some strong marks and kicked two goals at centre half-forward. When the siren sounded after that match, Carlton coach Percy Bentley knew that he had something special in the long-striding, 185 cm, 85 kg youngster.
Carlton lost the first three games of 1945, before a late-season revival brought ten wins in the last eleven matches. The Blues went into the finals in third place, but with some advantage, because the final series was to be played at Princes Park, while the MCG was being used as a transit camp for US forces bound for the war in the Pacific. Carlton struck top form at the right time, beating North Melbourne and Collingwood in successive weeks to earn a shot at South Melbourne in the Grand Final. Our Preliminary Final win over Collingwood was a hard, often spiteful clash, and a real portent of things to come. Bruised and battered, Carlton won on heart alone. For this reason, the fresher South Melbourne team went into the decider as warm favourites.
A ground record of almost 63,000 spectators packed into Princes Park on that Grand Final day. At just 18 years of age, and playing his eighteenth senior match, Hands faced the biggest challenge of his blossoming career at centre half-forward. As expected, the physical intimidation wasn’t long in coming. Carlton were in front by 11 points when the match erupted in the second quarter. “I had taken a mark about fifteen yards out and kicked a goal,” Hands explained later. “While the ball was being taken back to the centre, Jim Cleary knocked me out cold. He must have done a good job because I didn’t actually feel it. In those days you only had a nineteenth man and ours was already on, so I had to keep playing. But I don’t remember anything until about ten minutes before the end of the game, when Perce Bentley, who was in the coaches box just behind the goals, whistled me to drop back into the goal square and I suddenly realised it was raining. That game was quite an initiation, and I’m still paying the price for it – I lost a tooth.” In fact he lost two teeth – to go with his broken nose and split lip!
Seemingly oblivious to the battle raging around him, Ken ended the game with three goals in Carlton’s 28-point victory. Infamously remembered as the “Bloodbath” Grand Final, in all, ten players (including Hands) were reported after the match. Eight were found guilty, and suspended for a total of 68 weeks. Hands was one of the two acquitted.
That tempestuous debut season helped forge Hands into a tough, team-oriented performer. Always a well balanced ball-handler, he was a superb mark for his size and a long, accurate kick – particularly when drop-kicking on the run. He became a leader by example, and while no heavyweight, he was a willing protector of his smaller team-mates. In 1947 he won his second Premiership medal when Carlton beat Essendon after an epic Grand Final struggle. Essendon had nine more scoring shots than the Blues, but rover Fred Stafford snapped a glorious goal with just 44 seconds left on the clock to give Carlton victory by one point.
John Gill: HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY!
Career : 1962 – 1967
Debut : Round 1, 1962 vs Geelong, aged 20 years, 177 days
Carlton Player No. 745
Games : 88
Goals : 38
Last Game : Round 13, 1967 vs Hawthorn, aged 25 years, 268 days
Guernsey No. 12
Height : 180 cm (5 ft. 11 in.)
Weight : 80 kg (12 stone, 7 lbs.)
DOB : 26 October, 1941
Best First Year Player 1962
John Gill was a player with an impressive football pedigree. The nephew of Frank Gill (Carlton’s champion full-back of the 1930’s), he was also the older brother of 1968 and 1970 Carlton Premiership player Barry Gill. After completing an impressive debut season in 1962, John should have gone on to play 100 games or more for the Navy Blues – had injury not brought a premature end to his VFL career at the age of only 25.
Gill was recruited from Casterton in Western Victoria, and wore guernsey number 12 for the Navy Blues for the first time at senior level in a landmark clash against Geelong at Princes Park in round one, 1962. The Cats’ boom WA recruit, Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer, also made his long-awaited debut that afternoon, only to wreck a knee in the first few minutes of the game. However, Farmer stayed on the field, and limped to a forward pocket, where he kicked four goals and led his team to a big win over Carlton by 39 points.
Gill played out that match on a half-forward flank, where his determination and straight-ahead style stood out. From then on, he held his place in the side right through the year, as the Navy Blues battled through to fourth place on the ladder. Three desperately hard-fought finals ensued; a two-point Semi Final win over Melbourne, a famous draw with Geelong in the Preliminary Final, and a dramatic five-point victory over the Cats in a highly-controversial replay. Not surprisingly, those three epics took their toll, and on Grand Final day the valiant Navy Blues were never really in contention against Essendon, losing by six goals. Gill finished his maiden season with 19 matches and twelve goals to his credit, and was a popular winner of Carlton’s Best First Year Player award.
From the highs of 1962, the Navy Blues fell into a slump over the following three seasons, before the coaching coup of the century brought former Melbourne champion Ron Barassi to Princes Park in the summer of 1964-’65. Earlier that same year, John and Barry Gill were reunited on the football field when they played together for the first time as Blues, against Hawthorn at Glenferrie Oval in round 2.
Under Barassi, John Gill developed into a tenacious, hard-working half-back. He was encouraged to seize the initiative, and became adept at wrong-footing opponents by often playing on as soon as he took one of his strong marks. By 1967, Carlton was once again looming as a finals contender, and Johnny had become an asset in defence or attack. Then disaster struck in the opening game of the season, when he tore a knee cartilage in Carlton’s huge win over Fitzroy at Princes Park.
Sidelined for a month, John eventually returned to the side for a handful of games with his knee heavily strapped. But his customary zip was missing, and another knock on the same leg in round 13 against Hawthorn did further damage. Over the next six months, while Barassi’s Blues climbed back toward the top of the VFL ladder, Gill was under constant medical treatment. Sadly, it was all in vain, and on doctor’s advice he retired at the end of that year.
Thanks to the Blueseum for player pics and bios.