GORDON RICHARD COVENTRY

Gordon Richard Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Accorded “Legend” status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Coventry was the first player to kick 100 goals in a season and over 1000 goals overall, with his career total of 1299 goals serving as a league record for over 60 seasons.

Originally from Diamond Creek, Victoria, Coventry played his early football for the Diamond Creek Football Club in the Heidelberg District Football League (HDFL). He debuted for Collingwood in 1920, and was joined by his brother, Syd Coventry, at the club two years later. Playing almost exclusively at full-forward, Coventry first led Collingwood’s goalkicking in 1922, and would go on to lead the club’s goalkicking for 16 consecutive seasons, until his retirement in 1937. He also led the VFL’s goalkicking on six occasions: each year from 1926 to 1930, and then again in his final season. In 1929, Coventry kicked 124 goals for the season, becoming the first player in the league to kick over 100 goals in a season, a feat which he would replicate in 1930, 1933, and 1934. Considered the leading forward in the competition in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Coventry played a key part in Collingwood’s four consecutive premierships from 1927 to 1930, each captained by his brother. He also went on to win the Copeland Trophy as Collingwood’s best and fairest player in 1933. At his retirement at the end of the 1937 season, Coventry held the records for the most career games played and the most career goals kicked, finishing with 1299 goals from 306 games, and thus also becoming the first player to play 300 games. An inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and a member of Collingwood’s Team of the Century, his career goalkicking record was not broken until 1999, when it was surpassed by Tony Lockett. (Source: Wikipedia)