 Recruited from Yarra Valley, he played most of his 157 VFL games between 1951 and 1961 as a ruckman.In fact he was short for a ruckman; but he had remarkable spring, and newspapers often carried photos of him seeming to soar over opponents.In the 1958 VFL Grand Final, for instance, the highlights footage from Channel 7 shows him contesting ruck hit-outs and marks with opposing ruckmen who were 11 cm and 13 cm taller.