Past Ross Thornton (1980-1990)

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Footyinfo

Full name: Ross Thornton
Born: October 23, 1956
Teams: Fitzroy 1980-89
Height: 179cm
Weight: 81kg
Debut: Fitzroy vs North Melbourne Round 3, Junction Oval, 12 April 1980

Wikipedia

Ross Thornton (born 23 October 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the VFL during the 1980s. Thornton originally arrived at Fitzroy in 1975 but was unable to make the seniors so joined VFA club Prahran. He returned to Fitzroy in 1980 and became a regular fixture in their defence for the rest of the decade, usually occupying a back pocket from where he liked to run the ball up the ground. A personal highlight came in 1984 when he won Fitzroy's Best and fairest award.

Statistics:

afl tables
footywire
allthestats

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Fitzroy team of the century nominees

Ross Thornton had come from Camperdown and tried out at Fitzroy in the mid-1970s but was turned away so he played for VFA club Prahran. He had another try with Fitzroy and played 146 games for them between 1980 and 1989. He found his niche in the back pocket and played in six finals games for the Lions. He played so well in 1984 that he won the Fitzroy best and fairest award. His last game for Fitzroy was the 1989 reserves Grand Final so he went out as a winner. He later coached Prahran and was an assistant coach at Fitzroy.

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

For the love of the jumper

'They initially told me to go to Prahran and basically the bottom line was they had a number of other smaller guys that were all looking at probably only three or four positions. I certainly didn't have the pace of most of those other guys. At that stage early on I was seen primarily as an on-baller and had never played any football in defence at all so that wasn't given any consideration at that time,' said Thornton.

'I spent four years at Prahran after player under-19s at Fitzroy. For the first couple of years, it was pretty much as a ruck rover but then Mick Erwin slotted me in across half back or back pocket as a free running backman. That's where the opportunities arose and I won the 1978 best and fairest playing off the half back flank,' he said.

'I gave them a ring and said that I thought the time was right because if it was not going to happen then it would never happen and if the weren't prepared to give me an opportunity of a game I might like to give it a go somewhere else. They basically put a stop to that straight away,' said Thornton.

Ross Thornton as Fitzroy assistant coach in 1994

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Club Champions

1980 - Garry Wilson
1981 - Ron Alexander
1982 - Matt Rendell
1983 - Matt Rendell
1984 - Ross Thornton
1985 - Paul Roos
1986 - Paul Roos
1987 - Scott McIvor
1988 - Darren Kappler
1989 - Gary Pert

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

1984 All Australian Team

Gary Ablett             Geelong
David Ackerly           Sydney
Rod Ashman              Carlton
Leon Baker              Essendon
Denis Banks             Collingwood
Greg Burns              St Kilda
Terry Daniher (C)       Essendon
Robert DiPierdomenico   Hawthorn
Bruce Doull             Carlton
Bernie Evans            Sydney
Robert Flower (VC)      Melbourne
Ross Glendinning        North Melbourne
Russell Greene          Hawthorn
Doug Hawkins            Western Bulldogs
Gerard Healy            Melbourne
Kym Hodgeman            North Melbourne
Mark Lee                Richmond
Simon Madden            Essendon
Chris Mew               Hawthorn
Peter Moore             Melbourne
Andrew Purser           Western Bulldogs
Bernie Quinlan          Fitzroy
Tony Shaw               Collingwood
[U]Ross Thornton[/U]           Fitzroy

Coach:
Kevin Sheedy            Essendon

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Fitzroy's Last Hurrah

David Bolton, Ross Thornton, Paul Hawke and Dean Turner battle for possession during a typically frenetic phase of the 1986 VFL 1st semi final.

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

1989 VFL Reserves grand final side

B:       Tony Woods        Mark Trewella     [U]Ross Thornton[/U]
HB:      Jason Baldwin     David Strooper    Andrew Brockhurst
C:       Michael Conlan    Carl Dilena       Leon Harris
HF:      Graham Osborne    Mark Scott        Bradley Edwards
F:       Stuart Cameron    Darren Wheildon   Chris Waterson
Foll:    John Ironmonger   Robert Bolzon     Dean Lupson
INT:     Michael Tout      Stephen Walker        
Coach:   Robert Shaw

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Number 4 guernsey

Craig McRAE (Bears/Lions) - 195
Ross THORNTON (Fitzroy) - 131
John GASTEV (Bears) - 94
Jack GERVASONI (Fitzroy) - 89
Horrie JENKIN (Fitzroy) - 89
Stephen PAXMAN (Fitzroy) - 86
Denis RYAN (Fitzroy) - 70
Geoff RAINES (Bears) - 59
Doug SEARL (Fitzroy) - 59
Travis JOHNSTONE (Lions) - 49
Graham GOTCH (Fitzroy) - 39
Barry McKENZIE (Fitzroy) - 38
Lindsay DYRING (Fitzroy) - 28
Tom HEANEY (Fitzroy) - 28
Ben FIXTER (Lions) - 27
Mick HUGHSON (Fitzroy) - 20
Jim MARTIN (Fitzroy) - 18
Norm W. SMITH (Fitzroy) - 17
Norm COCKRAM (Fitzroy) - 15
Greg PARKE (Fitzroy) - 15
Ian POWELL (Fitzroy) - 15
Ken VEEVERS (Fitzroy) - 15
Terry O'MARA (Fitzroy) - 15
George L. CHAPMAN (Fitzroy) - 13
Norm STOTT (Fitzroy) - 12
Jim W. BROWN (Fitzroy) - 9
Reg CARR (Fitzroy) - 9
Kevin FOX (Fitzroy) - 6
George WATSON (Fitzroy) - 4
Dennis HALL (Fitzroy) - 4
Jared POLEC (Lions) - 3*
Norm BARKER (Fitzroy) - 3
Dave CRONE (Fitzroy) - 3
Jim STEIGENBERGER (Fitzroy) - 3
Arthur WILLIAMS (Fitzroy) - 3
Tom LOGAN (Lions) - 3
Graham BUX (Fitzroy) - 2
Harry COLLINS (Fitzroy) - 2
Kevin W. PARKER (Fitzroy) - 2
Craig EVANS (Bears) - 2
Jim PORTER (Fitzroy) - 2
Roger DELANEY (Fitzroy) - 1
Frank O'KEEFE (Fitzroy) - 1

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Roys link almost sent Gehrig north
By Stephen Rielly
August 24 2003

Imagine the Brisbane Lions striving for a third consecutive premiership with Fraser Gehrig in the line-up. Scary? But for a quirk of fate, this would almost certainly have come to pass.

In 1993, Gehrig's uncle, former Fitzroy player Ross Thornton, was reserves coach to senior man Robert Shaw at Fitzroy. Thornton was keenly aware of his nephew's progress with the Murray Bushrangers and hopeful of him becoming a Lion, a hope he says was shared by the club's recruiting staff.

On draft day, the club was to hold picks six, seven and nine.
According to Thornton, though, Shaw was adamant that it wasn't tall players the team needed but mid-fielders, and lest he be accused of nepotism, Thornton did not argue the point.

 

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Re: Ross Thornton (1980 - 1989)

Port Melbourne
May 09, 2010 2:23PM

Port gave a debut to Callan Thornton, the son of former Fitzroy back pocket Ross Thornton.

 

[Roylion]

Vale Ross Thornton.

https://www.fitzroyfc.com.au/latest-news/vale-champion-roy-ross-thornton