DOB: 4 July 1935
From: East Fremantle
Games: 0
Goals: 0
Western Australian state centreman who transferred to Victoria and signed with the Demons in 1957. Also a talented spin bowler who played 13 first class matches for Western Australia, he travelled to Victoria to play district cricket but found four VFL teams pursuing him.
He had been signed by Footscray a year earlier, but an incomplete form was never lodged with the league. Despite meeting with St Kilda officials at the airport on arrival, and being driven away by Melbourne secretary Jim Cardwell he denied he was interested in playing for either side and declared himself retired from football.
The next month he began pre-season training with Melbourne and impressed in a practice match, but East Fremantle initially refused to clear him. His club finally agreed to let him go, but the Western Australian league blocked the move. He contained to train and play in practice matches, and was one of the best in a game between VFL recruits, but was unhappy with the job Melbourne had arranged for him and threatened to go home.
He risked disqualification by the WA league after playing for Glenhuntly in a Caulfield-Oakleigh League match during May. It meant he was unlikely to win a clearance on appeal from the Australian National Football Council, who had the power to free players who hadn't played for 12 months.
Preen submitted another application in June but was not successful. He was eventually disqualified from the Western Australian competition after appearing in a hotel competition that month. The disqualification was listed in late July when he returned to Perth.
St Kilda sought his services again at the end of the season but he never played in the VFL. The next year he played state football for Western Australia.
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