Peter Keenan

Peter 'Crackers' Keenan (born 7 April 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne, Essendon and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League during the 1970s.

Keenan played as a 197 cm ruckman and was a solid marker of the ball as well as having a good drop punt. He was recruited from Assumption College by Melbourne for whom he made his VFL debut in 1970.

After playing 101 games for Melbourne in six seasons he signed for North Melbourne, a club who had just won the premiership. Apart from having the chance to play regular finals football he had also been tempted to the club by the coach, Ron Barassi. He was North Melbourne's first ruckman in their 1977 premiership team but was unable to play in another grand final the following season as he had been suspended; he is depicted being reported by an umpire in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.

The 1979 and 1980 seasons where spent with Essendon before he returned to his original team, Melbourne, who had also acquired his premiership coach, Ron Barassi. After retiring as a player he became an Australian rules media commentator. Currently he is a regular every Friday with Red Symons on 774 ABC Melbourne providing footy and racing tips

Famous quotes containing the word peter:

    Most vegetarians I ever see looked enough like their food to be classed as cannibals.
    —Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936)