Leo Frederick Merrett (5 April 1920 – 18 October 1976) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played in the VFL in between 1940 and 1949 for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

Family

The son of Frederick Merrett, and Ellen Clarice Merrett, née Buckley, Leo Frederick Merrett was born at

Nhill Nhill is a town in the Wimmera, in western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Nhill is located on the Western Highway, Victoria, Western Highway, halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne. At the , Nhill had a population of 1,749. "Nhill" i ...

, Victoria, on 5 April 1920. He married Sheila Nora Etheridge on 22 April 1944. His brother-in-law was the Richmond footballer Dave Baxter. He is the great grandfather of Western Bulldogs player

Bailey Smith Bailey Smith (born 7 December 2000) is a professional Australian rules football player. Smith was recruited by the Western Bulldogs with the 7th draft pick in the 2018 AFL draft, making his debut in the 2019 AFL season. He received a nomination ...

Football

Merrett was a member of Richmond's 1943 VFL Grand Final victory against Essendon. In November 1946, Merrett was appointed as the captain / coach of the

Border United Football Club Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

. In January, 1947, it was announced that

refused Merrett a clearance to coach the

Footnotes

References

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996.
Richmond football player Leo Merrett holding a football
collection of the

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

External links

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Leo Merrett
at ''Boyles Football Photos''. Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Jack Dyer Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Nhill Football Club players 1976 deaths 1920 births One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players {{AFL-bio-1920s-stub