Kelvin Templeton                                                                             

Number

  31

Height

  191

Weight

  93.5

Birthday

  30 September 1956

Period on list

  1971 to 1982

Senior Games

  143

Goals

  494

Disposals

   

Recruited From

  Traralgon
Honours   Club leading goalkicker 1976 (82), 1977 (40), 1978 (118), 1979(91), 1980 (75). Leading VFL goalkicker Coleman Medal 1978 and 1979. Brownlow medal 1979. Best & Fairest 1979 and 1981. Captain 1982. Bulldogs team of the Century. State player 13 times.

    

 

  Started in the reserves in 1971 and kicked bags of goals. When his chance came in 1973 he immediately looked exciting and promising. One of his first touches of the ball, a slick handpass for a goal. We named him 'The Kid'. Kelvin was a drawcard. Fans would turn up just to watch him play. He was a fair player.

In 1979 he suffered a collapsed lung after a tour of Scotland and England, had to have major chest surgery and lost about 10 kilos.

     
  A great lead, great mark, accurate and long kick for goal and was fast and nimble on his feet. Also very quick thinking.

He kicked 15 goals 9 behinds and I think two out on the full against St Kilda when the Bulldogs registered their highest ever score of 33.15.213 He should have broken the VFL record that day. He took 16 marks and had 25 kicks.

Suffered injury to his knee, then to his other knee. He was slowing up. Melbourne Football Club showed up with a cheque for $450,000, a record transfer fee in those days. Got the Bulldogs out of financial trouble. Trouble is that he kicked 8 goals against us one day, shouldn't have done that.

A new phrase was coined by the Bulldog's fans and that is "The Templeton sacrifice." The body is ruined, football life is short, make a bid to get as much for yourself and your club, by trading to another club before the end. That other club will not be fully aware of just how bad things are.
  Some argue, with a lot of justification that but for injury, he would have been the greatest player of all time. Played his first game at 16, was the youngest player to win the league goal-kicking, became the first key forward to win the Brownlow Medal, first player to win both the goal-kicking and Brownlow, most shots at goal in a game-all by the time he was 22.
 
  He became Chief Executive Officer for the Sydney Swans, a post that he held for many years, but has revisited the Bulldogs from time to time with helpful advice.
     

 

 

 

                               Click to return to Home page