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Bernard Francis Quinlan (born 21 July 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

One of a handful of players to have won a Brownlow Medal and Coleman Medal, Quinlan was an inaugural inductee in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Renowned for his prodigious long kicking, which earned him the nickname "Superboot", Quinlan played his best football late in his career, earning most of his individual accolades after he had turned 30. He holds the record for the most career games without playing in a Grand Final and is one of five VFL/AFL players (the others being Shaun Burgoyne, Heath Shaw, Lance Franklin and Patrick Dangerfield) to have played 150 or more games at two separate clubs.

Playing career

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Quinlan was recruited from Traralgon, which was in Footscray's zone, and arrived at Footscray halfway through the 1969 VFL season. Teammate Barry Round also made his debut in the same year, and coincidentally they would tie for the Brownlow Medal 12 years later in 1981, both by that time playing at different clubs.

Quinlan played 177 games for the club, playing mostly at centre half-forward (also occasionally playing as a centre half-back). The 1970s were a tough time financially for the Bulldogs, and many quality players were cleared to other clubs. Quinlan was cleared to Fitzroy in 1978 for 70,000 dollars. In October 1979, Quinlan was fined $500 for missing two training sessions with the Victorian squad the previous month. Quinlan had recently moved to Baxter and complained that he had not been notified in time by Fitzroy, but the VFL's administration manager Alan Schwab dismissed these as "inadequate excuses". In the end, he was left out of the squad going to Perth for the State of Origin Carnival. In December 1979, the Lions and the football public were shocked when it was announced by club president Frank Bibby that Quinlan had told the committee he wanted to devote more time to his farm. With a year remaining on his contract, Fitzroy were desperate to retain his services and made Quinlan a substantial financial offer to stay. Quinlan relented and returned for the 1980 VFL season.

Fitzroy had an ordinary season in 1980. When Robert Walls took over as senior coach for 1981, Quinlan and the Lions returned to form. He won the Brownlow Medal in 1981, tying with his former Bulldog teammate Barry Round (who had left the Bulldogs too by this stage). He also twice kicked more than 100 goals in a season: 1983 and 1984. Quinlan led a formidable forward line in the mid-1980s with the likes of Michael Conlan, Garry Wilson, David McMahon and Gary Sidebottom. Together with Paul Roos and Gary Pert in the back line, they propelled Fitzroy to their most successful years in the post-war era.

He was a prodigious kicker of the football which earned him the nickname "Superboot". He regularly featured in the World of Sport kicking competitions (a sports program which was popular in Melbourne for three decades).

Playing statistics

Life off the field

Quinlan was picked up in the January 1972 national service intake and posted to Puckapunyal with Footscray teammate Peter Welsh. He served in the Service Corp unit and rose to the rank of Lance Corporal. During his playing career, Quinlan worked as a clerk for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. He said in later years that he considered it a "dead-end job" and wished he had taken up a trade instead.
After retiring as a player, Quinlan first joined the ABC football commentary team when they had the broadcasting rights in 1987, and then switched to the Seven Network when they regained the rights in 1988. He worked as a commentator with the Seven Network until 1995.

Coaching career

Fitzroy Football Club senior coach

Quinlan returned to Fitzroy as senior coach for the 1995 AFL season, when he replaced Robert Shaw, who left at the end of the 1994 season. However, it soon became clear that he was out of his depth as a senior coach and was sacked after a 126-point loss to Sydney Swans in Round 19, 1995. It was later revealed that senior player John McCarthy was one of the key voices in having him removed. Quinlan was then replaced by Alan McConnell as caretaker senior coach of Fitzroy Football Club for the rest of the 1995 season.

The Brisbane Lions mascot Bernie "Gabba" Vegas is partially named as a tribute to Quinlan.

Other roles

In 2017, Quinlan joined former footballers Don Scott and Tony Jewell to form a landscaping and gardening crew, doing odd jobs around the Mornington Peninsula.

He has worked as a weights coach with VFL team Port Melbourne.

References

1. AFL Tables – Grand Finals
2. "AFL Tables – All Time Records – Most Career Games". afltables.com. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
3. Johnson, Lyall (19 September 2004). "THE TWO OF US – BARRY ROUND / BERNIE QUINLAN". The Sunday Age.
4. Carter, Ron (22 September 1981). "Quinlan, Round tie with 22". The Age.
5. Grant, Trevor (2 October 1979). "Quinlan AWOL – fined $500". The Age. p. 42.
6. "Quinlan quits". The Age. 13 December 1979.
7. YouTube video
8. Bernie Quinlan's player profile at AFL Tables
9. Cullen (2015), p. 519
10. ^ Jackson, Russell (17 May 2020). "Meet the gardening crew of Australian football legends turning heads in country Victoria". Australia: ABC News.
11. "1995: Bernie's Boys make Cocky Crows eat humble pie". 18 May 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
12. Jackson, Russell (28 April 2016). "The Joy of Six: AFL player-coach feuds". The Guardian.
13. "Alan McConnell gives reflections on Fitzroy's demise 24 years ago". Retrieved 25 March 2022.
14. Butler, Steve (15 June 2007). "Lloyd can finish with grand total: Quinlan". The Age.

Bibliography

• Cullen, Barbara (2015). Harder than Football. The Slattery Media Group. ISBN 9780992379148.

External links

• Bernie Quinlan's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Bernie Quinlan at AustralianFootball.com
• AFL Hall of Fame – Players
• Hall of Fame Inductee: Bernie Quinlan on YouTube

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
• Brownlow Medal winners
• Coleman Medal winners
• Western Bulldogs players
• Fitzroy Football Club players
• Fitzroy Football Club coaches
• Traralgon Football Club players
• Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)