Ken Rollason

Standing 193cm tall—a giant for the era—Ken Rollason was a versatile key position player who joined Melbourne from the VAFA's Old Melburnians. The son of former Geelong player Neville Rollason, he arrived with a reputation as a star amateur defender, having won the Grosvenor Medal at the 1948 Amateur Carnival. After breaking into the senior side as a backman in 1949, Rollason famously reinvented himself as a spearhead the following season; volunteering to fill a vacancy at full-forward during the pre-season, he made an immediate impact with bags of six and five goals in the opening rounds of 1950. Despite this promising start, his form faded, and his VFL career concluded abruptly when he travelled to England for business mid-year, eventually returning to the amateur ranks where he was later named at full-back in the Old Melburnians Team of the Century.