Australian rules footballer
| John Stephens | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | John Raymond Stephens | ||
| Date of birth | (1950-09-15) 15 September 1950 (age 74) | ||
| Place of birth | East Melbourne, Victoria | ||
| Original team(s) | Sandringham (VFA) | ||
| Debut | Round 1, 1971, St Kilda vs. Geelong, at Kardinia Park | ||
| Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1971–1973 | St Kilda | 43 (91) | |
| Playing statistics correct to the end of 1973. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
| Cricket information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Middle-order batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1970/71–1971/72 | Victoria | |||||||||||||||||||||
| First-class debut | 11 December 1970 v Queensland | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Last First-class | 10 December 1971 v Western Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Only List A | 5 December 1971 v Queensland | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: ESPNcricinfo, 26 December 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
John Raymond Stephens (born 15 September 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer and cricketer during the early 1970s who played for St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and also represented Victoria in first-class cricket.
Stephens was a goalkicking rover and, after managing eleven majors in a VFA game for Sandringham, was picked up by St Kilda.
He played the first six games of the 1971 VFL season before succumbing to a thigh injury which would keep him out of the side for the rest of the year. St Kilda made the Grand Final that year.
A consistent performer up forward, only four times in his league career did he fail to kick a goal in a game. Thanks to his solid finals performance in 1972, he managed to leapfrog Allan Davis, who was leading St Kilda's goal-kicking after the home-and-away season, with 53 goals for the year, including four in their Elimination Final win over Essendon; however, he again missed out on playing in the grand final when Carlton defeated the Saints in the preliminary final on the back of a seven-goal effort from football Legend Alex Jesaulenko.
As a cricketer, Stephens was a left-handed middle-order batsman and appeared in a total of four first-class matches in the 1970–71 and 1971–72 Sheffield Shield seasons. On his debut against Queensland at the MCG, he made his highest score of 48 in the second innings. Stephens finished his career with a disappointing 123 runs at an average of 15.37. He had played with fellow VFL footballers Peter Bedford, John Scholes and Max Walker.
References
- "Victoria v Queensland 1970/71". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
External links
- John Stephens's playing statistics from AFL Tables
- John Stephens at ESPNcricinfo
- John Stephens at CricketArchive (subscription required)
| St Kilda Football Club · leading goalkickers | |
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| AFL Women's | |