John Daniel

John Daniel was a nippy goalkicking rover and small forward who won seven best and fairest medals in playing 440 games for Riverton, Tarlee and Kapunda.

John began playing senior football for Riverton in 1950 at age 15. John was very keen to get a game as a young bloke and would ride his bike for five miles just to get a ride to Thursday night trainings. At age 16 John had a run with Norwood during the pre season but the travel to and from Adelaide by train made a career as a league footballer at that stage in his life impractical.

In 1953 John had his football interrupted by National Service training at Woodside and missed most of the season. The next year John’s home club of Tarlee was reformed after being in recession for some years. Tarlee were admitted to the Mid North AII competition and then proceeded to win four premierships in a row from 1954 to 1957. John was outstanding for Tarlee during this period and won four Mid North AII Nawsey Medals to match the four premierships Tarlee won. In winning his second best and fairest medal in 1955, John was awarded the Marlowe Trophy for the player who receives the most Mail Medal vote’s statewide. He was also the Mid North AII leading goalkicker in 1955 with 70 goals for the season.

Tarlee were promoted to the Division I section of Mid North football in 1958. As a team, they found it a lot tougher however John relished the new challenges presented to him. He won his fifth medal in that year and followed that up in 1959 with a third placing for the Mail Medal.

Some of the best players John has played with and against during his career were his brother Bill Daniel (Tarlee), Glen Hentschke (Blyth), Norm ‘Choc’ Davis and Angus Ellis (Riverton) and Tony Hodgens (Saddleworth). John was a prolific goalkicker during his career as a rover and forward, and estimates kicking nearly 1000 goals. The most John kicked in a single match was fifteen against Watervale in 1961 and he kicked around the seventy mark in a couple of seasons.

John played in nine premiership teams with three different clubs by the time he retired. His final match was fittingly as a member of the Riverton reserves premiership team in 1978.