Roger Dean (Australian Rules Footballer) - Dogged Skipper

Dogged Skipper

Dean's excellent finals performances helped win him the position of club captain the following year, following the retirement of Freddy Swift. A plumber for all of his working life, Dean epitomised the blue collar, tough-as-teak image that the Richmond club liked to project. For the remainder of Dean's career, he was used in a variety of positions - he handed the back pocket position to another plumber with a similar reputation, Kevin Sheedy.

The Tigers disappointed by missing the finals in his first year at the helm but made amends in 1969 when, aged 28, Dean achieved his greatest individual honour by captaining the premiership side. In front of a record 119,165 people, Richmond achieved a rare victory after coming from fourth place (before the finals) to defeat old rival Carlton in a tense Grand Final, Dean playing well on a forward flank. During the presentation ceremony, the diminutive Dean received the cup with his opposition captain John Nicholls next to him on the dais. Dean held the trophy aloft and then ruffled his hand through the hair of the 189 cm Nicholls. This rare act of impudence toward the game's most feared big man summed up the indomitable spirit of Dean and his team.

Dean led Richmond into the finals for a second time in 1971, a season when he became the seventh player to pass two hundred games in yellow and black. After the year ended in a defeat to St Kilda in the preliminary final, Dean handed the club captaincy to the brilliant young Tasmanian, Royce Hart.