Robert Flower

DOB: 5 August, 1955
Debut: Round 10, 1973 against Geelong at MCG
Last Game: Preliminary Final 1987 against Hawthorn at Waverley

Games: 272
Goals: 315
Career Statistics (external link)

Wins	Draws	Losses	Winning %
88	0	184	32.35

From: Murrumbeena Districts

Number: 2 1973-1987

Honours
Captain: 1981 - 1987
Best and Fairest - 1977
Leading Goalkicker - 1979, 1983, 1987
All Australian - 1980, 1983
Life Member
150 Heroes selection
Team of the Century - Winger
Victorian state player - 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 1983 - 15 games
Victorian captain - 1982 vs Western Australia, 1983 vs Western Australia
AFL Life Member
Australian Football Hall of Fame member
Best First Year Player - 1973
Australian International Rules representative - 1984

Statistical categories led:
Most Brownlow votes : 150

Recruited to the Demons from the South-Eastern suburb of Murrumbeena, Flower fit nobody's vision of what a superstar footballer should look like. He was frail and shortsighted, but when he stepped onto the field Flower was in all senses of the word a Demon. Without persistence he might never have been picked up, rejected numerous times by the club he had supported his whole life before finally being accepted for a tryout with the Fourths in 1971. A clearance wrangle with Murrumbeena kept him out of the fourths for a year before making his debut in 1972. By midway through the next year he was in the seniors.

Not only was Flower supremely skilled, often in poor teams, but was courageous to a fault and suffered many injuries as the result of not knowing when to quit. In an era when others like Stan Alves and Greg Wells moved to other clubs and won premierships, Flower was supremely loyal to the Demons.

In 1980, the year after he had finished third in the Brownlow, Flower played the season under an injury cloud with a dislocated shoulder but still managed every game for the year and racked up 14 Brownlow votes.

In 1982 he was named Victorian captain, the first Demon to receive the honour since Ron Barassi in 1961.

In 1984 Flower played 21 of 22 games despite having to have treatment to relieve the pressure on a nerve in his back which was affecting his legs and restricting acceleration. The injury forced him out of a state match against Western Australia where he would have captained Victoria.

In Round 4, 1985 he suffered a broken collarbone when driven into the Waverley turf by Footscray's Neil Cordy. The injury kept him out for the rest of the year.

Midway through 1986 Flower made the decision to retire at the end of the year but was convinced to stay on for one more year by John Northey. He was given a special training regime to get him to round 1 and given the chance to get his body right before his last chance at a finals series. The club used his image in a campaign to raise money for a "player acquisition fund".

"Please give Robbie Flower one last chance to play in a final" said the advertisements. The recruiting drive delivered players like Earl Spalding, Warren Dean and Todd Viney and Flower's decision to stay on proved a good idea as the Demons rode a late season wave to win their last five games and sneak into the final five for the first time since 1964. They then won two finals before being knocked out in heartbreaking circumstances by Hawthorn.

Already acknowledged as legend who would have missed out on ever playing a final had it not been for the amazing sequence of events on the final day of the home and away season in 1987. After having waited so long to play finals, and missing the chance to captain the side in the that year's night flag? after suffering a broken finger Flower saw his side demolish North Melbourne and Sydney en route to a Preliminary Final showdown with Hawthorn. Even if Hawthorn hadn't goalled after the siren to win the game Flower might not have been able to play the Grand Final - he had been collected by Robert DiPierdomenico earlier in the match and suffered an injured shoulder. He returned in the last quarter out of necessity having undergone painkilling injections but whether or not he'd have been able to recover for a Grand Final is anyone's guess.

In the Encyclopedia of AFL Players Brent Crosswell is quoted as saying "...beat Flower and you could just about retire from League Football because anything else smacked of anti-climax." It was reported in newspapers that the Demons had tried to coax him in to playing in 1988 with a huge contract offer but he turned them down, citing the years of wear and tear his body had suffered.

In 1999 Flower was voted on a wing in the AFLPA best team of the previous 25 years, he was also named as the wingman in the Demons Team of the Century.

Flower held the club games record until overtaken by David Neitz in 2006. Over his career he played in just 88 wins, and 184 losses.

Flower was elected to the board for 2002 as part of Gabriel Szondy's "Team Vision" ticket. Recieved the most votes of any candidate with 10,529. That year his son Brad played with Sandringham, making his debut in the VFL finals series, with an eye to a father/son selection but the Demons opted not to draft him.

In 2004 he was forced to resign from the board as he struggled with heart disease. In 2006 he was still battling the disease and fans were urged to show support for Robbie, and the Heart Foundation, but wearing red to the round 5 game against Geelong.

Flower's brother Tom played 26 games between 1977 and 1979. His autobiography "Robbie" was released after the 1987 season. In 2002 Flower's son Bradley played with Sandringham with a view to being picked up by the Demons with a father/son selection but it never eventuated.

After getting a start in the field from then club President Wayne Reid who owned the Melbourne Sports Depot, Flower eventually became the founder and co-owner of the Sportsco chain of stores.

Year	Games	Goals	Brownlow
1973	13	4	3
1974	18	22	2
1975	20	14	11
1976	19	17	17
1977	20	23	22
1978	22	18	14
1979	21	33	19
1980	22	21	14
1981	16	5	3
1982	21	25	13
1983	20	40	7
1984	21	28	19
1985	3	3	0
1986	16	15	0
1987	20	47	6