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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Max Oppy
- Thread starter johnson2richo2003
- Start date
JACK Dyer called him the "player who could not be hurt".
If Dyer, the legendary Captain Blood, was the toughest Richmond footballer of all -- as his reputation suggests -- then Max Oppy, who played with him during and just after World War II, was not far behind.
Oppy, 84, died on Tuesday after a short illness, having come through a quadruple heart bypass just over a year ago.
A tough back pocket and occasional ruck rover, he played 185 games between 1942 and 1954 and was among the best players in the Tigers' 1943 premiership win.
He also played for Victoria four times, coached the Tigers in 1956 and served on the board as a vice-president.
Former Tigers captain and president Neville Crowe said yesterday he grew up idolising Oppy.
"He was a straight-ahead player who hit them hard and then walked back over them," Crowe said.
"Lou Richards used to say that when he was first-rover for Collingwood, he would never come off the ball against Richmond because he knew Oppy would be waiting to pick him up in the forward pocket."
Oppy and teammate Des Rowe, also a former coach and state player, shared a remarkably close friendship for 65 years, which ended when Rowe died last year.
They were largely responsible for founding one of Melbourne's best-known sporting social institutions, the Vingt Cinq Club, which has been populated by many top footballers and other sporting stars for almost 50 years.
As Rowe's health deteriorated, Oppy made sure he always had company wherever he wanted to go and that he enjoyed the outing.
"Well, we were mates and that's what you do," Oppy said. "That says it all, really."
link http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24712969-19742,00.html
If Dyer, the legendary Captain Blood, was the toughest Richmond footballer of all -- as his reputation suggests -- then Max Oppy, who played with him during and just after World War II, was not far behind.
Oppy, 84, died on Tuesday after a short illness, having come through a quadruple heart bypass just over a year ago.
A tough back pocket and occasional ruck rover, he played 185 games between 1942 and 1954 and was among the best players in the Tigers' 1943 premiership win.
He also played for Victoria four times, coached the Tigers in 1956 and served on the board as a vice-president.
Former Tigers captain and president Neville Crowe said yesterday he grew up idolising Oppy.
"He was a straight-ahead player who hit them hard and then walked back over them," Crowe said.
"Lou Richards used to say that when he was first-rover for Collingwood, he would never come off the ball against Richmond because he knew Oppy would be waiting to pick him up in the forward pocket."
Oppy and teammate Des Rowe, also a former coach and state player, shared a remarkably close friendship for 65 years, which ended when Rowe died last year.
They were largely responsible for founding one of Melbourne's best-known sporting social institutions, the Vingt Cinq Club, which has been populated by many top footballers and other sporting stars for almost 50 years.
As Rowe's health deteriorated, Oppy made sure he always had company wherever he wanted to go and that he enjoyed the outing.
"Well, we were mates and that's what you do," Oppy said. "That says it all, really."
link http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24712969-19742,00.html
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