John Noel William "Sam" Newman (born 22 December 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). A talented and athletic player who served a football apprenticeship under the legendary Graham "Polly" Farmer, Newman became the Cats' main ruckman after Farmer departed at the end of 1967, overcoming a number of serious injuries throughout his career to become the first Geelong player to reach 300 senior VFL games. After retiring in 1980, Newman served as a specialist ruck coach at various AFL clubs and forged a notable career in the media, particularly with Melbourne-based radio station 3AW and the Nine Network as a panel member of The Footy Show, one of the network's most popular and often controversial programs Early life Newman attended Geelong Grammar School, where his father was a teacher. He made his debut for Geelong in 1964 when he was 18 years old. Early in his time at Geelong he acquired the nickname "Sam", by which he is now usually known. Football career After playing five reserves games for at the end of 1963, Newman was selected for his senior debut in Round 3 of the 1964 VFL season against at Brunswick Street Oval. During the first semi-final against Collingwood in 1967, Newman suffered a serious injury which forced surgeons to remove part of his kidney. He was also selected as an All-Australian player in 1969. He played for the Victorian state team eight times. 1980 was to be Newman's last season as a VFL footballer. In Round 4 against at Arden Street Oval, Newman kicked five goals playing as centre half-forward, four of the goals coming in the last quarter, in a 37-point win. Geelong coach Bill Goggin praised his former teammate after the match: "He is such an inspiration to the players. They have told me that just having him out there with them gives everyone a lift". Newman reached his 300th senior VFL game in Round 20 against Collingwood at Kardinia Park. Although he had a quiet game, the Cats managed to celebrate the occasion with an 18-point win. NOTE: Some time after the end of Newman's playing career, certain games were not recognised as official VFL/AFL matches and hence were removed from players' game tallies. In 2002, he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. In December 2005, Newman was