Teddy Best

Arriving at the Maroons via an unconventional pathway, Edward "Teddy" Best was a mature-age recruit plucked from the Fitzroy Lacrosse Club rather than the traditional junior football ranks. Debuting at 28 years of age, he brought the agility and superior handling skills of his lacrosse background to a dominant Fitzroy outfit, managing to crack the rotation of a side that was in the midst of a golden era. While he failed to trouble the scorers during his 14 senior appearances, he holds a unique place in history as part of the squad that travelled to Sydney in 1903 for a pioneering promotional match against Collingwood, where he was one of the first players to wear a numbered guernsey (number 4). His tenure at the top level was brief, but he established a significant family legacy; he was the nephew of Australian Senator Sir Robert Best and the father of Sir Ted Best, a Commonwealth Games sprinter who later served as the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.