Doug Oliphant

A bona fide legend of West Australian football, Doug Oliphant arrived at Brunswick Street as a fully formed star rather than a hopeful recruit. Born in the Goldfields, Oliphant forged a decorated career with the Perth Football Club, where he proved exceptionally versatile; he topped the WAFL goalkicking table in 1931 as a spearhead forward before reinventing himself as a mobile, high-marking ruckman who finished runner-up in the 1936 Sandover Medal. His brief tenure with Fitzroy in 1942 was a direct result of military service during World War II, which saw him posted to Melbourne after he had already captain-coached Kalgoorlie City to a premiership the previous year. Although he was 31 years old and past his athletic prime when he debuted for the Lions, Oliphant displayed his class by booting 11 goals in just seven games, a fleeting VFL cameo in a career largely defined by his status as a Perth Team of the Century member and an inductee into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame.