Douglas Burkett GREEN

Player: 1970 – 81

Games: 201 – East Fremantle 180: south Melbourne 7; WA 14

Premierships:   East Fremantle 1974, 79

Honours:  State Captain 1976-77-78; East Fremantle Fairest and Best 1973; East Fremantle Captain 1975-78

When you talk about ‘team players’ the name Doug Green comes to mind.

He was a classical half-back with a mean defensive streak when it came to keeping the ball away from his opponent.  He was the type of player who sacrificed his own game for the benefit of the team.

As such, Green was a much-respected Captain, both at club and state level and while he never had the privilege of holding aloft the Premiership Cup as East Fremantle skipper – his reign as captain slotted in between his two premierships – he was a proud man when he led Western Australia to victory against South Australia and that was in Adelaide to spoil their centenary year.

A farmer from the Wheatbelt   town of Trayning, Green was a travelling footballer  for many of his years, working the farm and mixing it with football for many of his years, working the farm and mixing it with football duties.

However, after 10 outstanding seasons, Green retired as the demands of farming caught up with him.  With the 1979 premiership behind him, he opted to bow out at the top.  So, back to the farm…..but only for a few months.

While playing football in Melbourne had always been an ambition, farming commitments held him back…until midway through 1980 when South Melbourne (now the Sydney Swans) was finally rewarded for its perseverance as Green answered the SOS call to help bolster their big-man department.  He moved to Melbourne for the latter half of the season and, despite not having done any pre-season training or played since the previous grand final, he showed his capacity to play at the highest level by easily slipping into Victorian football.

With his VFL ambitions satisfied, Green returned home after the 1980 season…this time to stay.