David Dench (born 23 August 1951) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er in the (then)

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

. He played his whole career with

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

during one of its most successful periods.

VFL career

Dench played full-back, and was considered one of the finest full-backs in VFL/AFL history. He was recruited from the West Coburg. Dench won the North Melbourne club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award, the Syd Barker Medal, on four occasions - 1971, 1976, 1977, 1981. In 1972 David Dench at the age of 21 he became one of the youngest captains appointed in the Kangaroos' history. He also captained the 1977 premiership team, due to Keith Greig's absence because of an injury. In the 1977 VFL Grand Final, Ron Barassi moved him to the forward line, where he sparked

's revival by contributing to the forward line and kicking goals, to draw with

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

. A graphic and comical photograph of Dench smothering of a kick by South Melbourne's John Roberts was made in 1981 by Michael Rayner of ''The Age'' which won the Nikon Awards Best Sports Photograph of the Year. In 1984 Dench was told by his coach Barry Cable that his playing days were numbered and was going to play out the season in the reserves. Dench was not happy with this so he grabbed his gear and went home and retired. His relationship with Cable has been fractured ever since, with Dench refusing to speak to Cable again. When John (Kanga) Kennedy was appointed coach he tried to convince Dench to play again but the condition of his knees was poor and he stayed as an assistant coach.

Post AFL career and personal life

In 2000 Dench was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. His daughter, Michelle is a distinguished Australian sportswoman. She played high level basketball before taking up Australian football playing over 100 games for her club Melbourne University. She also represented Victoria and Australia as well as captaining her club to a premiership. In 2008, Dench served four months in jail for his minor role in a scheme to defraud Victoria University out of millions of dollars.

References

External links

AFL Hall of Fame
North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club premiership players Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Syd Barker Medal winners Australian white-collar criminals 1951 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Victorian State of Origin players VFL/AFL premiership players Australian sportspeople convicted of crimes 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1950s-stub