If Dustin Martin takes home ‘Charlie’ again tonight, he’ll become just Richmond’s second dual Brownlow Medallist, alongside Roy Wright. Tony Greenberg takes a look back at the wonderful playing career of the Tigers’ champion ruckman.
Roy Wright was a shining example of how hard work and perseverance can, ultimately, pay big dividends at the game’s highest level.
Of course, it also helps when you have an abundance of natural ability, as the player that went on to win two Brownlow Medals, during an outstanding career at Richmond, certainly possessed.
As a boy, however, Wright was severely affected by weakness in both knees.
Then, at age 11, he contracted rheumatic fever and a minor heart murmur, which prompted his doctor to instruct him not to play football until he was 15.
It wasn’t until 1945 – the year before he was recruited by Richmond – that Wright first played competitive football, lining up for suburban club North Kew.
Wright played six senior games in his 1946 debut season for the Tigers, and just a further 20 over the course of the next two years, as he competed for a ruck berth with the likes of Jack Dyer, Bill Morris and Les Jones.
Frustrated at his lack of senior opportunity at Tigerland early on, Wright applied for a clearance to rival league club Hawthorn several times.
Richmond, however, had earmarked Wright as a future ruck star, given his strong build (188cm and 102.5kg), big leap, 25cm handspan, and excellent technique of palming the ball.
When 1948 Brownlow Medallist Bill Morris moved to VFA club Box Hill, Wright took over the Tigers’ No. 1 ruck mantle, and he immediately rose to the challenge . . .
In 1951, Wright tied for Richmond’s Best and Fairest with Des Rowe.
The following year, the ‘Gentle Giant’ as he had been dubbed, won the Best and Fairest outright, and took out the game’s highest individual award – the Brownlow Medal – in dramatic circumstances.
Wright tied with the Brownlow favorite that year, Essendon’s Bill Hutchison, (21 votes apiece) forcing a countback, under the system at the time, to determine the ultimate winner.
Both players had polled the same number of three votes for being best afield – five – but the fact Wright had received three two votes, compared to Hutchison’s two, tipped the Brownlow scales in his favor.
Years later, Wright revealed his shock at discovering he’d won the medal.
“I went cold all over. It was a strange feeling . . . I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“I didn’t hear the final count over the radio. I got up, walked out of the room and went down into the kitchen at home. Mum ran down to tell me.
“It was completely unbelievable.
“I gave myself no chance of winning, simply because I’d been battling for a place in the side up until the year before.
“It takes a lot of adjusting. You don’t believe that you’ve been lucky enough to win one.”
The following year, Wright again encountered a strong of injury problems, but in 1954, he produced his best season of league football, scooping the pool in all the media awards, claiming a third Club Best and Fairest, and winning his second Brownlow Medal.
Wright entered the ’54 Brownlow count as hot favorite following a brilliant season of ruckwork, and he duly romped in, polling 29 votes, which was 10 ahead of his nearest rival, Collingwood’s Neil Mann.
The champion Tiger ruckman was awarded three votes by the field umpires seven times, and two votes on four occasions.
Leading football writer of the day, Hugh Buggy, summarised Wright’s second Brownlow triumph in the following way . . .
“That second medal was a monument to Roy Wright’s tenacity, determination and power of concentration. At all times the ball was his object and if he had to flatten opponents to win it, he would have been thrown completely out of his stride.”
Years later, Wright explained his scrupulously fair style of play . . .
“I was classed as a ball player and some people thought I should have used my weight more. I felt, however, that if I could not beat an opponent by trying to match with his skill, I did not want to beat him any other way.
“If you have to hammer a man into the ground to beat him, it’s an admission of your own lack of ability.
“You can sacrifice a lot of your own worth by using excess vigour.”
Wright’s worth to a struggling Richmond side throughout the 1950s was immense . . .
Although he frequently went into matches with his legs aching, he displayed a tremendous capacity to push through the pain barrier and produce his best for the Tigers on a consistent basis.
And, Wright’s best was something special. Not only did he give his smaller teammates an armchair ride at the centre bounces and around-the-ground stoppages, due to his superb ruckwork, he also was a powerful mark, a thumping kick and a handy goalkicker when resting up forward.
In his third last season of league football, in 1957, Wright went close to claiming a third Brownlow Medal, finishing runner-up to St Kilda’s Brian Gleeson.
Wright then rounded out his illustrious career at Richmond by captaining the Club in his final two years – 1958-59.
When Richmond’s Team of the Century was announced in August 1999, it was no surprise that Wright was named as No. 1 ruckman.
He was a mighty ‘peaceful warrior’ . . .
Roy Wright profile
Born: 23/2/1929
Height: 188cm
Weight: 102.5kg
Recruited to Richmond from: North Kew
Guernsey number: No. 2
Games (1946-59): 195
Goals: 127
Honors: Dual Brownlow Medallist 1952 & 1954, four-time Club Best and Fairest winner, member of Richmond’s Team of the Century, Richmond Hall of Fame inductee, Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee, Richmond Life Member, 18-time Victorian State representative, All-Australian representative in 1956
