Percy Winkler

Percy Winkler began his football career playing in the Broken Hill suburban competition for West Rovers. In 1923, Percy joined West Broken Hill which made things interesting as his brother Jack played for Brokens (Central Broken Hill). While Jack was a ruckman, Percy played his early games for West in the backline.

West had an unusual practice of standing down two players each week so more players could get a game. Percy disagreed with this system and when it was his turn for a week off, he refused to play for the remainder of the 1924 season in protest. All appeared to be forgiven as Percy was back with Wests in 1925 where he would be a strong point at centre half forward for the next few seasons. He played in his first premiership when Wests won the 1927 flag, Percy starred in the forward line with two goals.

Percy moved to Adelaide, joined Glenelg in 1928 and made a big impression when he kicked bags of 11 goals and 5 goals (in half a game) in trial matches. Supporters were enthusiastic about him working in tandem with champion goal sneak Jack Owens. Percy missed the opening few matches when his clearance from West Broken Hill was held up. When he finally played his first game, Percy was praised for his good foot passing and it was said he would become a better player when he got used to playing on grass.

Percy played some great games for Glenelg but was very inconsistent spending long periods playing in the Glenelg B grade. He was given opportunities at centre in the A grade and played well but invariably found his way back in the B grade. After a full season of B grade in 1933, Percy was made captain of the Glenelg B grade team for 1934.

In a major surprise, Percy returned to the Glenelg senior team in June 1936 after spending the previous three seasons in the reserves team. Percy was not keen to return to the A grade but Glenelg spent plenty of time on convincing him what an asset he would be to the team. Percy made quite a comeback playing as a permanent forward pocket kicking one goal, two behinds from limited opportunities.

A few weeks later against West Torrens Percy was absolutely tireless and seemed to be on the end of every forward entry. His ten goal haul was a result of clever reading of the play and straight kicking. For his efforts, Percy was presented with the Centenary Cup. He also kicked ten goals in a match against the Tatiara association at Bordertown later in the season when Glenelg had a week off.

Although Glenelg languished near the bottom the premiership table, 1937 was probably Percy’s best year of football. Still playing out of a forward pocket and missing early games with a bruised heel, he led the Bays goalkicking with a return of 55 goals for the year.

Late in the 1938 season, Percy was reported for attempting to strike a Port Adelaide player. The commissioners took into consideration his perfectly unblemished record from a long career in Broken Hill and at Glenelg with no previous report and dismissed the charge. This left Percy free to play his final game for Glenelg where he kicked four goals as the Bays upset the more fancied Double Blues.

With a career spanning from 1928-1932 and then a return in 1936 Percy had played 92 league games when he retired in 1938 and kicked 149 goals. His association games with Glenelg from 1933 to 1935 are unrecorded but a conservative estimate would have Percy playing around 60 B grade games for the Bays.