Collingwood Forever

A half-back from amateur side Alphington who was involved in an infamous incident when Essendon’s Somerville was KO’d in the 1965 preliminary final. Collingwood dropped him from its list before 1966. In 2003 he broke his long silence on the incident, saying that a few minutes into the game Somerville had been shifted onto his flank and started niggling him by back-kicking him in the shins.

“I told him three times to stop but he didn’t. You can work out what happened next”, he told a reporter.

Wright was cut from the list by coach Bob Rose who told him later that he was sorry he had to sack him. Wright believed the decision was political because league heavyweights felt they had to quell the outcry.

Keen to remove himself from the Melbourne environment, he went to coach Acton in the Canberra competition.