As part of richmondfc.com.au’s special Jack Dyer tribute week, in the lead-up to the 100^th birthday of “Captain Blood” this Friday (November 15), here’s what 17 highly-respected football people have said over the years about the Tigers’ famous No. 17 . . .  

Kevin Bartlett (five-time Richmond premiership champion and Tiger ‘Immortal’) 
“He was a great man and, undoubtedly, he is the greatest name in the history of the Richmond Football Club. He was the man who embodied the spirit of the Richmond Football Club.  The whole history of the RFC is entwined around the legend of Jack Dyer . . . He played through an era of depression, the Second World War, and it was at a time when people were looking for heroes to lift their spirits.  Richmond itself was known as “Struggletown”.  It was working class, and there was this man who went to school in Richmond, started playing at 17, and led from the front playing brilliant football, he-man-style stuff as well, with catch cries of “Captain Blood” and “Eat ‘em Alive”.  It just built up an image of the Richmond Football Club that has been sustained to this very day.”

Tommy Hafey (four-time Richmond premiership coach and Tiger ‘Immortal’) 
“Jack Dyer was a special person and his fame kept on going even after he retired as a player.  He became a coach, then eventually went to television, and he was there for years and years.  To win six Best and Fairests and play 310 games back then is freakish, because there was only 18 games (in a home-and-away season) and two finals that you’d be playing in, so you’d take about five years to make your hundred.  Nowadays, there are 22 matches, plus about four finals, so it might take a really good player only four and a bit seasons.  His record is freakish – 310 games, six Best and Fairests, captain of the State team and captain of premiership teams . . . He was so big and strong and fearless and courageous, but he was very skilful as well.  A lot of people probably only think that he was a big, knock ‘em down man, but he really wasn't.  Jack was also a very quick and very talented player.  I’ve got no doubt he’d be a star today . . .

Francis Bourke (five-time Richmond premiership champion and Tiger ‘Immortal’) 
“Jack Dyer is the greatest and most loved Tiger of all.  His record speaks for itself.  But, for me, it was his personal qualities, like his personal warmth, his lack of conceit and, of course, his natural humor, that made him so special.  We all knew Jack, whether or not a personal meeting had occurred, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual.  He was a person who connected with everyone.  The tough and aggressive playing style that endeared him to his teammates, gave supporters like me an ideal and an image that still sustains in great times and, above all, when the going gets tough.”

Neville Crowe (former Richmond captain, president and Club Hall of Fame inductee)
“Webster’s dictionary defines ‘immortal’ thus:  ‘not mortal; having an external existence; undying; deathless; one exempt from death or decay; a divine being’.  Now Jack may well have baulked away from being labeled ‘divine’.  However, to all true Tigers, his deeds, his inimitable charisma, his innate sense of fun, his very being, will live on in our hearts and souls forever.  My personal good fortune, as a kid, was to watch Jack play at Punt Road Oval . . . to hear his fire and brimstone coaching speeches, to watch his unerring drop punts sail through the big sticks, and to smile at his dirty, old knee bandage.  In the late 50s, it was my privilege to first meet Jack, and to then speak with him regularly.  Jack’s stories were studded with ‘Dyerisms’ and the ensuing belly laughs for all who listened.  Jack, my love for you and the Richmond Football Club deepens constantly.  You will forever remain an inspiration and guiding light.”

Roger Dean (dual Richmond premiership player and Tigers’ Team of the Century member)
“I vaguely remember at age nine, going to Punt Road to see Jack’s last game, which was something special.  I was born in Richmond, so you supported Richmond and, like Jack, you hated Collingwood.  As a boy, if I fell over, dad would say you can’t cry – you have to be tough like Jack Dyer.  Jack came to ‘Struggletown’ (as Richmond was once known) in hard times, when people needed a champion – and Jack was the man who stood tall.  Jack would visit and give talks early in my career.  Afterwards, I felt I could run through that imaginary brick wall . . . The name Jack Dyer sits comfortably with the greatest of Australian sporting legends – Phar Lap and Bradman.  Early in my career, Jack put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘You’re doing great son’.  It meant a lot to me because dad had said to me you ‘gotta’ be tough like Jack Dyer.  So, hopefully, he was conveying this to me.”

Lou Richards (Collingwood legend and Jack’s long-time ‘sparring’ partner on Channel Seven)
“The name “Captain Blood” has been synonymous with football for as long as it has been going.  He put football on the map as far as making it a great game.  He was a great personality . . . There would have been few more terrifying sights in sport than that of Jack Dyer bearing down on you at full speed, hell-bent on destruction . . . For the best part of 20 years, Jack was the biggest and most fearsome name in Australian Football.  By the time I’d arrived on the scene, Jack was a godlike figure, the captain-coach of Richmond and football’s meanest big man.  At about 1.85 metres, he was no giant by today’s standards, but he was amazingly fast, a superb kick and a skilled protector down at the old Punt Road Oval.”

Bob Skilton (triple Brownlow Medallist)
“Jack was just a beautiful person. Never having seen him play football, it’s almost hard to imagine that the rough and tough guy that you hear about was the same guy, because there's no nicer person than Jack Dyer.  It was just a privilege to know him and it was great on the days of World of Sport and such.  Jack was just a fantastic person.”

Michael Green (four-time Richmond premiership star and Tigers’ Team of the Century member)
“You’d see him when you went to World of Sport on a Sunday.  Jack had the reputation of being “Captain Blood” and a very tough player.  Clearly, he’d been a very brave, courageous, tough player in a tough era of football.  When I was a player and Jack was a revered figure around the Club, I found him to be a lovely, gentle, kind man, who was encouraging to players like me.  When he would meet me, he was always with a word of encouragement.  I always walked away feeling better from having talked to Jack because he was so encouraging and so positive.  I had a little involvement with him not long before he died when, in my job as a lawyer, I came across him in the legal world.  I found him just the most delightful, gentle man.  At the time, his short-term memory wasn’t great, but his memory of things in the past was good and we had the most delightful discussion.  So, my most vivid memory of Jack was actually in a legal context towards the end of his life, when this lovely, kind and gentle man sat down, and we just chatted about the Tigers and footy.”

Tony Jewell (Richmond’s 1967 premiership player and 1980 premiership coach)
“It just seems to me that Richmond and Jack Dyer are the one.  It is hard to separate the two.  The whole culture of the Club seems to be built around Jack Dyer.

Vic Thorp (dual Richmond premiership star and member of the Club’s Team of the Century)
“Dyer is the type of player who mows down the opposition.  He offers protection to his teammates as well as protecting himself . . . Dyer sets himself and tears through a pack with his shoulders and hips fearlessly turning aside opposition.  There is no beg pardons about Dyer’s football, but he is fair.  I have seen more instances of a player trying to knock Dyer than the reverse . . . I think if you were looking for the greatest footballer today, you would finally select Dyer.”

Ron Reiffel (ex-Richmond player and former RFC museum curator)
“We used to haunt him at his milk bar.  Once you had been to see him play, you were easily converted to Richmond . . . Dyer was a one-off.  He was inspiring . . . As a child, I started selling lollies, Minties and Hoadley Crumble Bars, down at Richmond with my tray.  You’d walk around the inside of the oval and sell back over the fence to the people in the first few rows.  I can remember selling lollies there one day; we were playing Footscray and you could hear the players and the thunder of the feet.  I was around near the (old) Social Club building, where the race is, and Dyer was coming towards the Brunton Avenue end.  This Footscray player was coming the other way and they both went to pick up the ball.  As Dyer scooped it up with one hand, he tucked his shoulder in and hit this bloke. The fellow went up in the air as though he was hit by a bull.  I could see all this dust flying out.  The bloke was lying out flat on the ground and Dyer was running around bouncing the ball.  It happened within six metres of where I was standing.  I could hear the whack when they hit.  I can still see Number 17 running away from me.  It was really frightening hearing the crash.  He was something special, Dyer . . . He was inspirational.  He is Richmond.”

Max Oppy (Richmond premiership player and Tigers Hall of Fame inductee)
“Jack Dyer would lift the game on his own.  He could go in the ruck, next minute be centre half-forward and centre half-back.  Jack was a great player, there’s no doubt about that.  Above all, he was a leader . . .”

Wayne Campbell (four-time Jack Dyer Medallist and former Richmond captain)
“Hearing stories of Jack’s on-field prowess was matched only by the stories of him holding court at the bar.  It seemed that everyone loved him.  I was lucky enough to present him with a Richmond player tie just before he passed.  Even in his frail state, he still had an incredible aura and charisma about him.  To wear his No. 17 was one of the highlights of my career.”

Bob Davis (Geelong’s 1963 premiership coach and Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee)
“Without Jack Dyer, AFL football would have struggled.  I just don’t have words good enough for Jack.  He was just solid gold.  Dyer was a far better footballer than most modern fans realise.  Most fans, who did not see him play, have an image of a big, brawling ruckman, who was more rugged than skilled.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  ‘Captain Blood’ was a brilliant mark and clever on the ground.  He was strong, balanced and an excellent kick.  In ruck duels, he was superb in tapping the ball to his rover.  In fact, it almost has been forgotten that Dyer finished fourth in the 1939 Brownlow Medal and won the Tiger Best and Fairest six times.  Sure, he often dished it out on the football field, but that was part of the game in a truly tough era.  Off field, he always has been a gentleman, a fantastic bloke, who loves his football and is immensely loyal to his friends.  I love him.”

Alf Brown (long-time chief football writer of the Melbourne ‘Herald’)
“Dyer was one of the best and easily the most ‘vigorous’ player I have watched.  But Dyer was not just a football ruffian.  He was a brilliant big man, who could mark and kick.  He was a match-winner who could either beat or flatten the opposition’s stars and play superb football at the same time.”

Hec de Lacy (chief football writer of the ‘Sporting Globe’ during the Dyer era)
“Jack Dyer, Richmond’s giant, was the greatest big man in Australian Football.  He stands supreme, he’s the greatest of the great . . . Dyer had fire in his make-up to a greater degree than any other player I have ever seen.  He had the fire of destruction and the fire that makes and welds a side.  There are some who quake at this destructive force in Dyer . . . football is not a game for the faint-hearted.  I have watched him in action in many games and have never seen him do anything outside the privilege of a big, strong player.” 

Alan La Fontaine (former Melbourne captain and Australian Hall of Fame inductee)
“Dyer is a powerful, aggressive player . . . As an asset to a club, Dyer is the perfect player.  Not only does he play the game as well as any other man, but during the course of a game he contrives to eliminate pockets of resistance.  He is the only player I have known who can successfully combine calculated robustness with extraordinary football skill.  When he moves upfield, either to turn the tide from his own defence or to start something on behalf of the Tigers, then Jack plays with a purpose and a fire that has never been outdone in my experience.  He inspires his men – even those who have been playing badly.”