Thorold Merrett

This plaque is located at 45 Parrott Street. (Back of Recreation Reserve scoreboard)

• Victorian under 17 table tennis champion at age 15.
• Spotted at Melbourne country week cricket at age 15 and touted as a future Australian cricketer.
• Played in Cobden Football Club’s senior premiership team in 1949.
• Two-time Collingwood Football Club premiership player.
• Dual Copeland Trophy winner. 
• Victorian representative seven times.
• Hall of Fame inductee, Team of the Century member and member of Collingwood committee (1977-82).
• In Jack Dyer’s opinion, “could stab kick a footy right up a chook’s arse from 50 yards” (Hanlon, 2013).

From an early age, it was obvious that Thorold Merrett was going to be a star – it was just a matter of which sport.

Thorold was obsessed with cricket and football. His father, Jock, tired of being asked to play football with him, suspended a tyre from a tree fork so that Thorold could spend hours practising his kicking accuracy. Little did Jock know that his son would go on to be one of the best and most accurate stab kicks in the VFL.

A keen Richmond fan, Thorold dreamed of playing with his Tigers. He and his father went to a Richmond supporters’ day in Camperdown to meet the team. He was rejected by Jack Dyer because of his light frame but, six months later, he was playing against them.

Thorold, 16, caught Wedges’ bus to Camperdown, the train to Spencer Street in Melbourne and another train to Princes Park on his own. He had never left home before. Alf King remembers, “in walks this little fellow, 9 stone wringing wet, with a suitcase as big as him.”

Making his debut for Collingwood in 1950, at 16, he was one of the youngest players in the VFL. Thorold played on a wing and won respect for the accuracy and speed of his stab kick. He became one of the best players in the competition despite his unusually small stature.

In 1952, he finished equal sixth in the Brownlow Medal, and third in the Copeland Trophy. He also played in Collingwood’s losing grand final team. A year later, Thorold again finished in the top 10 in the Brownlow, and celebrated the 1953 premiership with the Magpies – he was one of the best players in the grand final.

In years that followed, Thorold performed consistently and continued to be regarded as one of the best kicks in the league, as well as one of the best wingmen. He played in two more losing grand finals in 1955 and 1956. He changed roles to become a rover in 1958, and succeeded. He won the club best and fairest and the Magpies also won the flag, with Thorold named best on ground. In 1959, he again starred as a rover, winning a second consecutive Copeland Trophy, and finishing in the top 10 in the Brownlow for a third time – he ended up with 77 career Brownlow votes.

A second broken leg in 1960 saw Thorold miss most of the season and, due to doubts about the strength of his leg – the bone had not knitted perfectly – aged 26, he retired, feeling his best football had passed. He played 180 games in 11 seasons and kicked 148 goals. What mere statistics do not reveal, however, is the verve, aggression, courage, determination and, above all, consummate skill with which those achievements were laced. (John Devaney)

Acknowledgments:
Peter Hanlon, The Age, March 20th 2013.
John Devaney, Australianfootball.com