John Stephens (Australian footballer)
| John Stephens | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | John Raymond Stephens | ||
| Date of birth | 15 September 1950 | ||
| 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 career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1971–1973 | St Kilda | 43 (91) | |
|
1 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.[1] 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
[edit]- ^ "Victoria v Queensland 1970/71". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
External links
[edit]- John Stephens's playing statistics from AFL Tables
- John Stephens at ESPNcricinfo
- John Stephens at CricketArchive (subscription required)