Ross Oakley
St Kilda
AFL career
62 games38 goals
- Debut
- R8 1962 v CAR9 June 1962
- Most recent
- SF 1966 v COL10 Sept 1966
Stats
1966 | STK | 12 | 16.7 | 2.9 | 19.6 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
1965 | STK | 15 | 11.9 | 1.7 | 13.6 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
1964 | STK | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.4 | - |
1963 | STK | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.0 | - |
1962 | STK | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.3 | - |
Bio
Recruited from Wesley College, Ross Oakley was a pacy winger and rover who looked destined for a long career before he was struck down by arguably the worst timing in St Kilda history. A skilled ball-winner with plenty of dash, Oakley became a regular in the Saints' engine room in the early 1960s but is best remembered for the "cruel double" of knee injuries that cost him two Grand Final appearances. He damaged his knee in the 1965 Second Semi-Final, missing the Saints' loss to Essendon, and then suffered the exact same fate in the 1966 Second Semi-Final, forcing him to watch from the stands as his teammates won the club’s only premiership. Forced to hang up the boots at just 24 due to chronic knee issues, he later returned to the game in the 1980s as the VFL/AFL Chairman and CEO, where his aggressive pursuit of a national competition transformed the sport into the modern powerhouse it is today.
Profile
- Born
- 30 Sept 1942 (age 84y 21d)
- Height
- 178 cm
- Weight
- 81 kg
Teams
Bio
1 revisionRecruited from Wesley College, Ross Oakley was a pacy winger and rover who looked destined for a long career before he was struck down by arguably the worst timing in St Kilda history. A skilled ball-winner with plenty of dash, Oakley became a regular in the Saints' engine room in the early 1960s but is best remembered for the "cruel double" of knee injuries that cost him two Grand Final appearances. He damaged his knee in the 1965 Second Semi-Final, missing the Saints' loss to Essendon, and then suffered the exact same fate in the 1966 Second Semi-Final, forcing him to watch from the stands as his teammates won the club’s only premiership. Forced to hang up the boots at just 24 due to chronic knee issues, he later returned to the game in the 1980s as the VFL/AFL Chairman and CEO, where his aggressive pursuit of a national competition transformed the sport into the modern powerhouse it is today.