Bob McClure:
Games: 90
Goals: 17
Height: 188cm
Guerney number: 31
Premierships: 1946, 1949 and 1950
As an affable type of bloke, Bob McClure needed all of his inner calm to withstand what was thrown at him on the football field. With his high level of talent and a comparatively light build, he was a target for opposing sides looking for ways to stop the all-powerful Essendon teams that he played with.
Those opponents knew that he was one of the keys to Essendon's success. He was capable of creating and driving a game from the manoeuvre for position even though he wasn't as strongly built as others. Athleticism and marking were the cornerstones of his game, and he built a precision understanding with his talented batch of rovers. He has the capacity to take over games with his high marking and superb hitting out, and, as one writer observed, ""he seemed to have the longest arms and stickiest hands in the game"".
McClure was particularly targeted during finals, where most opponents were only too aware of his record of rising to the big occasion. He could go all day while others flagged. Those long arms would still be outreaching opponents for marks and hit-outs deep into the last quarter. As one journalist wrote in 1949: ""Bob McClure (is) a power in the ruck and defence....a tower of strength in the ruck and unbeatable in the air. No doubt he is a champion in the air. He played with great life and spirit from the start of matches and never slackened. He has great reach in the ruck and is a dominating influence in the centre.""
Bob 'Bluey' McClure played schoolboy football with the great Bill Hutchison, but his VFL career started well after Hutchy's. McClure served in the Navy during World War 2 and therefore had little taste of football from age 18 to 21. Even though he was a long way from Melbourne, he hadn't been forgotten by League clubs back home. His mother received invitations for him from Footscray and Essendon, but put them aside until the end of the war.
]When he started at Essendon in 1946, it soon became clear that McClure was a natural in almost every aspect of his game. His kicking, however, sometimes let him down. But in high marking he has no superior in the competition, whether around the ground or dropping back into defence to block opposition attacks. A regular rival was Carlton's Jack 'Chooka' Howell, a similar style of player who was always prepared to back himself in the aerial contests. Whenever the pair met they turned on a crowd-pleasing duel, much as Paul Van Der Haar and Peter Knights did the 1980s.
By 1951, McClure was ranked among the game's top ruckmen. But in the second round of the year he fell awkwardly after flying for a mark with two Hawthorn players, injuring his knee. He carried on playing at full-forward in an injury-hit side, but a little later he went for another mark, his right leg collapsed, and the impetus of the sideways movement carried him into the fence. His VFL career ended on the spot. Although he made three comeback attempts in 1951, each one hit the rocks. After having two cartilages removed he again broke down in the 1952 practice matches, and he knew his career was really over.
Teammates reckoned 'Bluey' was always a great comrade on trips away and had a large repertoire of jokes. People who dealt with him during the 46 years he worked for the Claude Neon company also recall his love for a good yarn and the warmth of his personality. He was, everyone agrees, just a really good bloke. When Bob McClure expressed his thoughts on his football career years later, his words tell us much about a man who achieved a great deal, and could have achieved even more, but who always kept smiling anyway.
""In football I hope I haven't made an enemy. If I have I don't know him. And I have never met a man on the field who wanted to 'carry on' once he got off the field. It was a grand while it lasted - but too short.""
