Gordon Coventry


Gordon Richard James Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League.
Afforded 'Legend' status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Coventry was the first player in VFL history to achieve several significant milestones, including playing 300 career games, kicking 100 goals in a season, winning the leading goalkicker award in five consecutive years, and kicking 1000 career goals. Coventry's league total of 1299 career goals served as a competition record for over 60 seasons.

Early life

The eighth of the ten children of Henry Coventry and Jane Henrietta Coventry, née Spencer, Gordon Richard James Coventry—known as "Nuts" to his family —was born on 25 September 1901 in Diamond Creek, Victoria.
Coventry and his siblings attended the Nillumbik State School at Diamond Creek. While still at school, he began working on his father's fruit orchard.

Football career

Diamond Creek (pre-1920)

Coventry played his early football for Diamond Creek Football Club in the new Heidelberg District Football League, a competition which began after World War I, and had quickly established himself as a champion centre half-forward. In 1920, he was invited to train at Collingwood. The three significant officials involved with that invitation, who were anticipating Collingwood's need to find a suitable replacement for the at-the-time injured Dick Lee, who was nearing the end of his career, were Ernest William Copeland, John James "Jack" Joyce, and John James "Jack" Peppard. Although Lee had played in Collingwood's first eight matches in the 1920 season, he had only scored 17 goals; and, also, due to an injury sustained in the round 9 match against South Melbourne, he missed the next seven matches, returning in the season's last home-and-away match in round 18—in the interim, Collingwood tried various permutations of forward lines to cover for the loss of Lee, centred on the selection of Ern Utting, Tom Wraith, and Tom Drummond at full-forward over that time.

Collingwood (1920–1937)

First season (1920)

Coventry played his first senior game for Collingwood at the age of 18 against St Kilda in round 15, 1920. He played on the half-forward flank, kicked one goal, and although "not particularly impressive … showed that he can kick well". As one of Collingwood's four inexperienced players given a run that day, Gordon played his second match—again on the half-forward flank—in what was also Lee's return match, the last home-and-away round of the season against South Melbourne.
Then, just 18, and in his third match, Gordon played at centre half-forward in the Collingwood team that beat Fitzroy 4.17 to 3.5, at a muddy, rain-sodden MCG, in the 1920 semi-final. And then, once more at centre half-forward, in the Collingwood team that beat Carlton 12.11 to 8.11 in the 1920 preliminary final on 25 September 1920, his nineteenth birthday. Coventry reprised his role at centre half-forward in the team that lost to Richmond 7.10 to 5.5 in the 1920 grand final, kicking 3 goals in the defeat.

A role at half-forward (1921–1922)

In 1921, his second VFL season, Coventry was selected in a representative VFL side to play against a combined Bendigo team on 6 August 1921, but did not play due to influenza.
He was unable to play in the last home-and-away rounds of the 1921 season due to his illness, although he was able to resume training.
Unexpectedly, he was selected as a last minute replacement for Mal Seddon, who had declared himself unfit to play on the morning of the match, as a consequence of the injury to his thigh that he had sustained at the preceding Tuesday's training session in a collision with Percy Rowe. Coventry played at centre half-forward in the team that lost to Carlton 9.11 to 7.10 in the 1921 semi-final.
Coventry played the entire 1922 season on one half-forward flank, scoring 42 goals, with his brother, Syd, playing on the other.

The switch to full-forward (1923–1935)

In 1923, with Lee having retired at the end of the 1922 season, Coventry moved to full-forward and was the club's leading goal-kicker that season with 36 goals. He soon became one of the league's most prolific and consistent goal-kickers. He was Collingwood's leading goal-kicker for 16 consecutive years, and the league's leading goal-kicker on six occasions. He kicked Collingwood's only two goals in the lowest-scores-ever grand final of 1927, with Collingwood, in atrocious conditions, defeating Richmond 2.13 to 1.7. He was the first player to kick 100 goals in a VFL season, kicked a total of 1299 goals in VFL football, and 100 goals in VFL representative teams. Coventry was made a life member of the Collingwood Football Club in 1932, and was also Collingwood's best and fairest player in 1933.

A shock suspension; retirement (1936–1937)

Coventry missed Collingwood's 1936 VFL grand final victory due to disqualification. It was the only time he had been reported in his entire VFL career. Coventry was found guilty of striking Richmond defender Joe Murdoch in the torrid match against Richmond in round 13, 1936. Coventry had a crop of painful boils on his neck, and when Murdoch repeatedly struck his neck, Coventry retaliated.
Coventry was suspended for eight matches, and Murdoch for four. An appeal by Coventry against the severity of the penalty was unsuccessful. At the time, Coventry announced that he was retiring from VFL football. He later relented, and, having served the eighth and last match of his suspension in the first week of the 1937 season, he played in 19 matches and kicked 72 goals in 1937, his final VFL season.

Playing style

Although a very reliable right-foot kick, Coventry was equally able to use his left foot accurately and effectively when needed – see, for example, his left-foot goal under pressure for Victoria at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the 7 August 1933 match against South Australia during the 1933 ANFC Carnival.
The "broad-backed and sticky-fingered" Coventry did not possess the phenomenal skills of his predecessor at Collingwood, Dick Lee, or the aerial prowess of his successor, Ron Todd, but relied on tremendous strength and a vice-like grip when marking the ball, a combination that made him almost unstoppable once he had front position.

Records

Coventry retired after the 1937 season, the first player to play 300 VFL/AFL games, winning his sixth league leading goal-kicker award, and his 16th consecutive club leading goal-kicker award, a club record and five clear of Australian Football Legend and Collingwood predecessor Dick Lee. Coventry also represented Victoria on 25 occasions for a total of 100 goals.
Coventry played in 31 finals matches in his 18-year career, including the drawn Semi-Final match against Melbourne on 15 September 1928, and 10 grand finals, five of which were won by Collingwood. In the 1928 VFL grand final he kicked a league record 9 goals, in a match in which Collingwood beat Richmond 13.18 to 9.9.
He was the first player to kick 100 goals in a VFL season, and he kicked a total of 1299 goals in VFL football: a record that stood for more than six decades until it was broken by Sydney Swans player Tony Lockett in the match against Coventry's former club, Collingwood, on 6 June 1999.
His tallies included:

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