Russell Frank Ebert (22 June 1949 – 5 November 2021) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Australian rules football in South Australia. Ebert is the only player to have won four Magarey Medals, which are awarded to the best and fairest player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). He is one of four Australian rules footballers to have a statue at Adelaide Oval, the others being Ken Farmer, Malcolm Blight and Barrie Robran. Football historian John Devaney described Ebert as coming "as close as any player in history to exhibiting complete mastery over all the essential skills of the game," and he is widely regarded as the Port Adelaide Football Club's greatest ever player. Aside from his 392 games at Port Adelaide, Ebert played 25 games for in the 1979 VFL season and collected over 500 possessions as a midfielder for the club, which reached the preliminary final. Ebert was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, and was posthumously elevated to Legend status in June 2022, the highest honour that can be bestowed onto an Australian footballer. Early life The fourth of six children of Doreen and Albert Ebert, Russell was born in the South Australian river town of Berri. Russell's father Albert was a footballer with the Alawoona Football Club and captain coached the team to a premiership in 1953. At eight years old Ebert was in the crowd when Port Adelaide defeated Norwood in the 1957 SANFL Grand Final. Russell's family moved to Loxton during his high school years and the town was home to his junior football club, the Loxton Football Club, where he played with his brothers. As a teenager Ebert gained employment with the Bank of Loxton. He was subsequently transferred to the Savings Bank at Waikerie. Ebert joined the Waikerie Football Club and played alongside Bruce Light, who eventually played for Port Adelaide with him. Football career Before Ebert agreed to join Port Adelaide, six other SANFL clubs (North Adelaide, Central District, Woodville, Norwood, Glenelg and South Adelaide) approached Ebert about joining their clubs. In an interview with John Wood about this period in time, Ebert said he was set on joining North Adelaide but their representative "never came back". Port Adelaide (1968–1978) In 1968 Eric Freeman, Port Adelaide's full-forward, was selected to