Geoff Bryant

Geoff Bryant (born 22 July 1946 in Box Hill, Victoria) is a former Australian rules football player who played in the VFL between 1969 and 1971 for the North Melbourne Football Club.

Bryant commenced his junior football with VFA club Box Hill, playing in the club's 4ths (Under 17s) team in 1960, thereafter progressing quickly through the club's junior ranks and making his VFA senior debut in 1964 at the age of 17.

Bryant quickly established himself as one of the premier players in the VFA second division, initially as a half-forward but later as a centreman with outstanding foot skills and stamina. In 1968 he won Box Hill's best and fairest and finished runner-up in the J Field Medal, awarded to the best player in the VFA second division.

At the end of the 1968 season Bryant was one of the few non-VFL players selected in the second touring party for Australian Football World Tour organised by Harry Beitzel, more commonly known as "The Galahs". At the end of the tour he was signed by the North Melbourne Football Club, which paid to Box Hill the unprecedented transfer fee of $2,000 for a player transferring from the VFA to the VFL.

Bryant played between 1969 and 1971 for North Melbourne mainly as a wingman for a total of 45 games and 16 goals. He transferred back to Box Hill prior to the commencement of the 1972 season, supposedly due to a disagreement with North Melbourne's coach Brian Dixon.

Bryant played a further 5 seasons with Box Hill from 1972 to 1976 and during that period was regarded as one of the very best players in the VFA. He won the J Field Medal in both 1973 and 1975 and his 2nd and 3rd best and fairest awards for Box Hill in the same years. His feat in winning the J Field Medal in 1973 was regarding as an outstanding one; it was achieved for a team that failed to win a game for the entire season. At the end of the season he was described as "unquestionably the champion player in the VFA – first and second division". He was captain of Box Hill from 1974 to 1976 and was also coach in 1975.

Bryant's final tally for Box Hill was 147 senior games and 195 goals. Shortly before his retirement in 1976 he was widely acknowledged for passing the rare milestone of 150 senior games of VFA football. The discrepancy is due to the practice at the time of including matches played in the end-of-season VFA "Lightning Premiership" in a player's overall games tally, which are no longer recognised as official VFA matches.

Ironically for such a decorated player, Bryant generally was a member of teams that struggled and he never played in a finals match with either Box Hill or North Melbourne. In 2000 he was named as centreman of Box Hill's official "Greatest Ever Team".

References

• Box Hill Football Club 18th Annual Report 1968
• "Box Hill Football Club Souvenir History", Box Hill Football Club, Melbourne, 2000

External links

• Geoff Bryant's statistics from AFL Tables