Thorold Merrett (born 30 September 1933) is a former

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

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL).

Footballer

From the Victorian country town Cobden, Merrett was a small footballer who was a keen

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

fan who wanted to play league football for the Tigers. At 16 years of age, Merrett was rejected by Richmond legend

Jack Dyer John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM (15 November 1913 – 23 August 2003), nicknamed Captain Blood, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1931 and 1949. One of the ga ...

because of his light frame, but he was given another opportunity at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

, where he stood out in a set of practice games for Collingwood just before the 1950 season. It was initially thought by followers and players that he would be 'killed' because of his size (168 cm, 59 kg). He made his debut for Collingwood in 1950. At the age of 16 he was one of the youngest players in the VFL. Merrett played as a

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to th ...

and won respect for the accuracy and speed of his stab kick (which he had mastered on his farm as a kid by kicking stab passes through a suspended tyre). He became one of the best players in the competition despite his unusually small stature for a league footballer. In 1952, Merrett came equal sixth in the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

, and won a top three finish in the

Copeland Trophy The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged best and fairest for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Cope ...

. A year later he again finished in the top 10 in the

and celebrated the 1953 premiership with the

Magpies Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...

, when he was one of the best players in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. In years that followed, Merrett performed consistently and he continued to be regarded as one of the best kicks in the league, as well as one of the best wingmen. He played in two losing Grand Finals in 1955 and 1956 (he had also played in the 1952 losing side). In 1958, Merrett changed roles to become a rover, and it succeeded. He won the club

Best and Fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

and the

Pies A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), sweet ...

also won the 1958 flag, with Merrett named best on ground. In 1959, he again starred as a rover, winning a second consecutive Copeland Trophy, and finishing in the top 10 in the Brownlow Medal for a third time (he ended up with 77 career Brownlow votes).

Retirement

A second broken leg in 1960 saw Merrett miss most of the season and, due to doubts about the strength of his leg (the bone had not knitted perfectly), aged 26, he retired, feeling his best football was past. He played 180 games in 11 seasons and kicked 148 goals. He was also a dual Best and Fairest and premiership player, and Victorian representative on seven occasions. He was a regular panelist on the ABC's Football Round-up, which he and other panelists discussed the Saturday round of VFL football. In 1997 he was included in the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

Hall of Fame and Team of the Century, on the wing.

Business

Merrett formed a partnership with former Australian cricket captain

Lindsay Hassett Arthur Lindsay Hassett (28 August 1913 – 16 June 1993) was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and the Australian national team. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by ''Wisden'' as, "... a mas ...

. The Merrett-Hassett sports stores had branches throughout Victoria. With the death of Hassett, Merrett went on to expand the stores. He later worked for

Rebel Sport Rebel (formerly Rebel Sport) is an Australian sport equipment and related apparel chain. History Rebel Sport was established in 1985 with its first store in Bankstown. After being listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993, it was p ...

, a sporting goods store that later listed on the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

. In 2011 the business was taken over by the Super Retail Group.

Family

Current players

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and

Zach Merrett Zach Merrett (born 3 October 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A medium sized midfielder standing at 1.79 metres (5 ft 10 in) tall and weighing 83 ...

are Thorold's great nephews. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/draft-hopeful-jackson-merretts-worth-a-stab/story-e6frf9jf-1226178983930

Footnotes

References

* Hanlon, P.
"The Last Men Standing"
''The Age'', Wednesday, 20 March 2013

External links

* *
Boyle's Football Photos: Thorold Merrett
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrett, Thorold Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Collingwood Football Club players Collingwood Football Club Premiership players Cobden Football Club players Copeland Trophy winners Australian television personalities 1933 births Living people Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players