well against Geelong, really had a good chance of winning the Grand Final against Essendon. However, in an unexpectedly one-sided match, with a rain lashed third quarter, North Melbourne "went the knuckle", rather than playing football, and they specifically targeted the Essendon star players Dick Reynolds, Ron McEwin, Bill Snell, Bert Harper, Ted Leehane, and John Coleman. Essendon won the 1950 Grand Final 13.14 (92) to 7.12 (54) in front of a crowd of 87,601. Coaching Foote took up a captain-coach position with the Berrigan Football Club in New South Wales. He coached them for two years before returning to the VFL in 1954 as captain-coach St Kilda. In 1954, having returned to the highest, toughest, and fastest level of Australian Rules football, and at the (in those days) advanced age of 30, Foote won St Kilda's best and fairest in front of the 1958 Brownlow Medalist Neil Roberts, the 8 times Victorian representative Keith Drinan, and 4 times Victorian representative and 1958 All-Australian player Jim Ross (the three won seven bests and fairests between them). In 1976 he was non-playing coach of VFA Club Box Hill. Awards He won three best and fairest awards with North Melbourne (1945, 1949, and 1950). He won the St Kilda best and fairest award in 1954. Les Foote was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Footnotes References Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. Sheahan, M., "Foote a true North legend" (obituary), Herald Sun, (Melbourne), 13 April 2006. External links St Kilda Football Club coaches Trevor Barker Award winners 1924 births 2006 deaths St Kilda Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players Preston Football Club (VFA) players Syd Barker Medal winners Box Hill Football Club coaches Preston Football Club (VFA) coaches Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)