Anthony David "Tony" Nesbit (26 April 1938 – 6 May 1996) 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 was highly successful in the

West Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WANFL) playing for the

Swan Districts Football Club The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

. Originally playing in the seconds for Swan Districts, his long career began at the club in 1954 along with

Keith Slater Keith Nichol Slater (born 12 March 1935) is a former Western Australian cricketer and West Australian Football League (WAFL) player. Cricket career In cricket, Slater was an all-rounder who played in only one Test match, against England in ...

. A lightly built player he started on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

but developed later into a ruck rover. In his debut season in the league competition, 1958, Nesbit won the "Rookie of the Year" award. After having been the chopping block of Western Australian football between 1946 and 1960, Swan Districts entered a period of unprecedented success during the early sixties, which Nesbit was a part of. Nesbit played in the

back pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

of all three premiership sides, and was co-captain of Swan Districts in 1965 and 1966. In 1968 Nesbitt was appointed as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of the side but Swan Districts’ 1968 season was so bad that the team won only one game after the siren against

East Fremantle East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

- the closest any senior WAFL team between 1918 and 1998 came to a winless season. As a result, Nesbit was replaced by

Bill Walker Bill Walker may refer to: Australian rules football * Bill A. Walker (1886–1934), Australian rules footballer for Essendon * Bill Walker (Australian footballer, born 1883) (1883–1971), Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy * Bill J. V. Wal ...

. Nesbit retired in 1970 after playing 235 games for the club; he was made a life member. He was selected as a ruck rover in the Swan Districts Team of the Century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbit, Tony Swan Districts Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Western Australia 1996 deaths 1938 births