John Dominik "Bunny" Daly (1870 – 26 June 1913) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er prominent in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) during its developmental years between 1887 and 1903.

Norwood

Daly played his first match for Norwood as a 17-year-old in 1887, in a holiday exhibition match against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

. In front of 15,000 spectators the debutant displayed an exciting running, dodging type of game for which he would become famous. A creative rover, he was both deceptive (he loved to fake to kick, only to then recover and play on around the player) and an excellent user of the

drop-kick A drop kick is a type of Kick (football), kick in various codes of football. It involves a player intentionally dropping the ball onto the ground and then kick (football), kicking it either (different sports have different definitions) 'as it rise ...

to set the ball to his forwards. Daly played in four premierships with Norwood, including the

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

between 1887 and 1889. He topped the club's goalkicking in 1887 and was awarded the

best player ''Best Player'' is a 2011 comedy television film that aired on Nickelodeon on March 13, 2011. The movie stars Jerry Trainor and Jennette McCurdy, from the show ''iCarly''. Filming started on October 24, 2009, in Victoria, British Columbia, C ...

trophy in 1897. After playing twelve seasons for Norwood, Daly found himself forced to move to West Adelaide by a change of rules by the South Australian Football Association (as the SANFL was then named). The Association required players to play for the side representing the electoral district in which the player resided. This placed Daly with the lowly performing West Adelaide side.

West Adelaide

Daly was appointed captain-coach of West Adelaide, and although his brilliant style of play continued, he was unable to raise them to any extent up the premiership table. Daly retired in 1904, after a total of 175 SAFA games. He represented his State seven times.

Honours

He was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

in 1996 and into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002. He is the brother of Anthony "Bos" Daly, who was also inducted in the South Australian Football Hall of Fame.

References

External links

*
SANFL Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, John Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Norwood Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from South Australia South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees 1913 deaths 1870 births Date of birth missing