Firstly, Reynolds had struggled to convince the other selectors that Hutchison was ready for senior football. “I had heard about this kid in the seconds who was supposed to be ‘better than Reynolds’. But I had a battle to get him into the side. I am led to believe that if we had not played Bill that day he might have been lost to Essendon,” Reynolds later said.
Still, even having Dick Reynolds arguing his case wasn’t enough and Hutchison was initially only made an emergency for the game.
So the baby-faced Hutchison arrived at Western Oval and sat in the rooms watching the team prepare for the match. He looked even younger than his 19 years and, tipping the scales at just over 63kgs, he certainly didn’t look like a footballer. So when it came time to clear the room of everyone except players and officials, Hutchison was asked to leave. Surely this could only be a young Essendon fan looking for an autograph. Fortunately an Essendon official saw him being escorted out the door and ensured he was returned to the rooms.
That was lucky, because soon afterwards Les Griggs was a late withdrawal, and the sensational young rover had his chance. He didn’t look back and he went to play in the 1942 Premiership side.
It quickly became apparent that Hutchison was destined to be a star of the game. His attitude to training was that of a thorough professional and his fitness was something constantly noted by teammates and opponents alike. His approach ensured he was rarely injured. In fact, he was never sidelined for more than a week until he dislocated his shoulder in his final season and missed four weeks. At one stage during his career Hutchison strung together 97 consecutive games. Typically modest, Hutchison put it down to his ability to avoid hard knocks and good fortune. But no-one doubted it was a result of his fitness.
While Hutchison was supremely skilled, it was that magnificent fitness that often destroyed opposition sides. He would pour the acid on opponents from the first bounce – he could run all day and challenge them to stay with him. Usually they couldn’t, and his dominance of games would only heighten as matches wore on.
Given his running ability it is no surprise that Hutchison also made his mark in professional foot-running ranks. He competed at the famous Stawell Gift athletics meeting one Easter and comfortably took out the half-mile race. Only quality athletes win such an event. His great endurance ensured he could often rove unchanged – something very few rovers of the day were able to do.
Teammate Stan Booth said nobody wanted to warm up with Hutchison at training. “His first few warm-up laps were like a foot race,” he said. Even a super-fit Jack Clarke was awed by what he saw. “I was impressed how he could run all day and was constantly working on his game. He reminded me very much of what {golf champion} Gary Player once said. ‘The more I practice the luckier I get,’ Clarke said.
Hutchison’s training routine was deliberately designed to ensure he did his skill work when fatigued. And he reaped the benefits when he was starring late in the games, as other tiring bodies fumbled around him.
Ruckman Bob McClure said teammates initially thought he was mad. “He always looked like a young fella among men. He was small and thin as well. Bloody incredible really the way he used to run laps. The funny thing was that come Saturday he was still going strong at the end of the day,” McClure said.
And it wasn’t just on training nights that Hutchison was meticulous about his physical preparation. In Hutchison’s day the Essendon side would often catch the train into the MCG. The train would stop at Flinders Street station to pick up its final passengers before arriving at Richmond station and the home of football. But when the train stopped at Flinders Street, Hutchy would get off so he could run the final leg of the trip to the MCG as a warm-up.
Once at the ground his warm-up would continue. “Hutchy would pound out the laps before games – always 30 or so yards in from the boundary line just in case a hostile fan happened to chance his arm,” McClure said. Such was his fitness and commitment to being ready when the umpire bounced the ball for the first time.
And once the ball was bounced Hutchison would ignite the Bombers at ground level. He continually found the football and when he couldn’t run with the ball, he would feed it out with precision by hand or foot. Like all good on-ballers he worked hard at both end of the ground. He kicked seven goals on two occasions and six in two other games to underline just how much damage he could do on the scoreboard.
Peter Golgin wrote in the Argus in 1952: “Hutchison is fast, cool and heady. His non-stop, play-on football coupled with his deadly accuracy of passing make him the inspiration of his team. His judgement and anticipation – so vital in a good rover – are uncanny, allowing him to continually make brilliant openings for his teammates.”
Importantly, Hutchison dominated when it counted. He was outstanding in Essendon’s Grand Final victories in 1946 and 1949. In 1946 Hutchison dominated in the midfield but also pushed forward to kick three goals and play a significant part in the Bombers’ thumping 63-point win over Melbourne.
Three seasons later Hutchison was at it again. John Coleman kicked six goals and the side kicked 18 – many being set up by the inspirational Hutchison. The brilliant little rover kicked a couple himself as Essendon went on to thrash Carlton by 73-points.
Opposition sides did what they could to blanket Hutchison, but it had little or no effect on the brilliant rover. He was occasionally slowed but rarely was he stopped. His courage impressed Reynolds. “I have never seen a player with such guts and determination,” Reynolds said.
Former Collingwood champion Bob Rose admired both the fitness and courage of Hutchison. “There were times when we tried to slow him down,” Rose recalled. “Lou Richards and I would jog out to the centre and wait for the ball to bounce to start the game and Bill would be completing his second or third warm-up lap. I happened to run into him during the game and he wasn’t too well for a while but he was such a courageous type – he just kept on going.”
McClure echoed the thoughts of Rose. “They would try and run through him but he was that quick and elusive he could spin off a bloke trying to collect him. He would come out of a collision with more speed than he started with,” McClure said.
Hutchison battled with Collingwood’s Lou Richards throughout much of his career. And when Hutchison died at 59 years of age in 1982, Richards paid tribute to his friend and foe. “Billy Hutchison was the sort of man who made me proud of Australian Football. He was as much a champion off the field as on it. In the 40 years I knew him I didn’t hear anyone say a bad word about him and there aren’t many men I can say that about,” Richards said.
“Bill was one of the old breed of Dons who didn’t drink or smoke and always behaved impeccably. But he was still a man among men, a good mate and a good mixer. He also had a keen sense of humour and always enjoyed a joke.”
It was hardly surprising that Hutchison and Richards developed such a relationship. When the final siren sounded, Hutchison was a regular visitor to opposition rooms. Many of the players he chatted with post-match had done everything possible to shut him down – legally or otherwise. But the champion rover was a firm believer that what happened on the ground stayed on the ground. He was enormously popular with teammates and opponents alike.
Such was Hutchison’s general demeanor, journalists of the day took an immediate liking to him. Highly respected journalist Alf Brown admitted to being “almost as pleased as Hutchy” when he won the 1953 Brownlow at 30 years of age. Hutchison has been placed in the prestigious vote count on three occasions before he finally won the award. “A football writer rarely feels sympathy for a champion – he just envies them,” Brown wrote.
Of course for the first 10 seasons of his career, Hutchison formed a devastating roving/mid-field partnership with Reynolds. Reynolds was captain and coach of the Bombers in every match the pair played together. Holding such a position, Reynolds did not feel it was right to become too friendly with the players. However, he made an exception with Hutchison, and the pair became great friends – a friendship that became even stronger after their respective retirements from the game.
Reynolds had enormous respect for Hutchison, and his admiration is best summed up in this final tribute to the man who remains one of football’s true greats: “Bill was the best rover Essendon ever had,” Reynolds said. “He was a great team man, and he was the greatest footballer I met in my career. As far as I was concerned he was one in a million.”
The Bill Hutchison biography is taken from Champions of Essendon the book. Click here for more details about the Champions of Essendon book.
