The Jumbo Prince elevated to AFL Hall of Fame

From the AFL web site.

CHAMPION Western Bulldogs midfielder Scott West, former Melbourne captain Hassa Mann, West Australian great Brian Peake, ex-Sturt ruckman Rick Davies, long-serving umpire Bryan Sheehan and Essendon great Matthew Lloyd have been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame at a gala function at Parliament House in Canberra.

The Jumbo's Bio
RICK Davies was a champion for Sturt in the 1970s, an era when South Australia produced some of the great players of the time.

Davies was a powerhouse ruckman for the Double Blues, a dual premiership player and seven-time best and fairest winner who watched with envy over the years as playing compatriots such as Graham Cornes, Peter Carey and Russell Ebert were inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

"I suppose you see the other guys get in and you hope it can happen to you in your lifetime," he said. "Now that it has, I'm humbled and honoured."

There is no question that Davies deserves to be inducted. He made his debut in 1970 (Woodville's Ray Buckley, father of Collingwood coach Nathan, was his direct opponent). In 1973 he started his streak of seven Sturt best and fairest awards in the next eight years.

Davies was the premier ruckman in the SANFL. At 188cm, he wasn't necessarily the tallest, but he was nimble and athletic and he used the rules of the time to his best advantage.

"There were no lines across the centre, so you could manoeuvre your body to beat the useless taller blokes," he said.

"The line has taken away the art and technique of rucking, in my opinion."

Davies joined Sturt at the tail-end of a glorious streak when the Double Blues won five straight flags. He missed out in 1970, but made amends in 1974 and 1976 - and both were significant.

In 1974, Sturt won the first Grand Final to be held at Football Park (now AAMI Stadium), while two years later came the especially sweet triumph over Port Adelaide by 41 points in front of a crowd of 66,897. So large was the turnout that spectators were sitting two deep inside the playing arena.

"It was great to beat them because they were the favourites and I enjoyed rubbing it into them. But they've had the last laugh because they've won another 13 flags since then," he said.

Davies signed an agreement with the VFL binding him to Hawthorn. But his father wasn't in the best of health and, as he says, Sturt coach Jack Oatey had "wonderful powers of persuasion".

Davies didn’t cross to Glenferrie until 1981 when he was 29 and only spent one year with the Hawks, kicking 37 goals from 20 games while playing primarily out of a forward pocket.

"I left it too late," he admits.

"On my first night of pre-season they did a 15km run, and I came home and told the family not to unpack the trailer because we might be heading back soon. I never went that far on a holiday. But I loved every minute of it."

Back in the SANFL, Davies would play three more years for Sturt almost exclusively as a key forward and would finish there with 317 games and 635 goals. He then stepped in as playing coach of South Adelaide seven rounds into 1985 (after former Hawthorn teammate Don Scott was sacked) and would play 33 games and kick 146 goals for the Panthers.

While still a brilliant player, Davies did bulk up considerably towards the end of his career, which earned him the nickname, coined by Adelaide media sports personality KG Cunningham, of the ‘Jumbo Prince’.

After three years with the Panthers, Davies cut his formal ties to the SANFL. He moved to Western Australia for business reasons in 2000 where he revels in football anonymity, and he still follows Sturt and Hawthorn as avidly as he can from the other wide of the country.

Clubs: Sturt/South Adelaide/Hawthorn
Born: April 8, 1952
Recruited from: Port Victoria (SA)
Playing career: 1970-86 (Sturt 1970-80, 1982-85, S Adel 1985-86, Haw 1981)
Games: 390 (Sturt 317, Sth Adel 33, Haw 20)
Goals: 838 (Sturt 635, Sth Adel 146, Haw 37)
Player honours: 2nd Magarey Medal 1974; 3rd Magarey Medal 1977, 1978; Sturt best and fairest 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980; Sturt leading goalkicker 1982, 1983 (151 – SANFL record), 1984 (102); Ken Farmer Medal 1983; Sturt premierships1974, 1976; South Adelaide leading goalkicker 1985, 1986; All-Australian 1980 (captain); South Australia (20 games, 20 goals); SA Hall of Fame.
Coaching record: South Adelaide 1985-87 (60 games, 20 wins, 39 losses, 1 draw), Sturt 1989 (22 games, 4 wins, 18 losses).

Was and still is my boyhood idol. Well done Jumbo.

Congrats Jumbo, well deserved...

yep very well deserved & a funny man to boot, had the pleasure of meeting him a few times through Justin Brooks & speaking of Justin does anyone know the story of Justin & Rick in the car park of the Hyde Park Hotel ?





they had a bet of who was faster over 40 or 50 metres, they had a wager & JB thought it was going to be easy cash & it was easy cash, easy cash for Rick

Yes, congratulations, Rick was a great player, well deserved.

DAVIES INDUCTED TO AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL
HALL OF FAME

The SANFL extends its congratulations to Rick Davies on his induction to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

A dual SANFL premiership player, Rick played 317 games for Sturt, 33 for South Adelaide, 20 for South Australia and 20 for Hawthorn in the VFL.
An outstanding ruckman who reinvented himself at full forward in the twilight of his career, Rick won seven best-and-fairest awards with the Double Blues while also becoming the first player to kick 150 SANFL goals in a season (1983).

‘’On behalf of the SANFL, I would sincerely like to congratulate Rick on this honour,’’ SANFL Executive Commissioner Leigh Whicker AM said.
‘’Rick has served the game exceptionally well in South Australia as a player, coach, captain and media commentator.’’
Rick last night became the 34th South Australian to be inducted to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
In 2002, he was an inaugural inductee to the South Australian Football Hall of Fame.

RICK DAVIES’ RECORD
Sturt: 1970-80,1982-85. Played 317 games. Kicked 635 goals.
Captain: 1982-84.
Coach: 1989.
Premiership player: 1974, 76.
Best-and-fairest: 1973-76, 1978-80.
Leading goalkicker: 1982 (98), 1983 (SANFL record 151), 1984 (102).
Magarey Medal runner-up in 1974. Third in Magarey Medal 1977, 1978.

South Adelaide: 1985-86. Played 33 games. Kicked 146 goals.
Coach: 1985-87.
Leading goalkicker: 1985 (72), 1986 (72).

Hawthorn: 1981. Played 20 games. Kicked 37 goals.

South Australia: Played 20 games. Kicked 20 goals.
State captain: 1979-80.
All-Australian captain: 1980.

TOTAL: Played 390 games. Kicked 838 goals.
For more information on Rick Davies’ induction to the Australian Football Hall of Fame, click here.

Peter Winter rates him pretty highly too.

Reckon Peter Winter rates Neil Kerley pretty highly too!

Kerls was no friend to Winter that day.

also congratulations to a former Glenelg player who was inducted as a legend on Tuesday night

Only just got around to seeing his speech that I've heard everyone around me talking about...

Loved it

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/worth-the-wait-as-sanfl-legend-rick-davies-steals-the-show/story-fn83zgrc-1226658178426

Had the pleasure of working with Rick for a while- never a dull moment thats for sure!
Charisma is not a word that I use often but this fellow had it dripping off him. Larger than life, the life of the party, and just a really nice funny guy.
He mentioned briefly in his speech his time at South Adelaide where he said he had a lot of fun.-Im led to believe that on more than one occasion training was cancelled for whatever reason and the playing group had a bonding session at the licensed club.
A truly wonderful player in his time though and one of the SANFLS all time greats.