Graham John Willey (19 July 1933 – 10 February 2021) was an

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 who played with

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in the

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 ...

(VFL). Willey, who was a student at Scotch College, made his debut for Essendon in 1955, while on a permit from

Redan Redan (a French language, French word for "projection", "salient") is a feature of fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped Salients, re-entrants and pockets, salient angle towards an expected attack. It can be made from earthworks or other ...

. That year he won the

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 Henderson Medal in the

Ballarat Football League The Ballarat Football League (BFL) is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria (state), Victoria. The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat F ...

. He joined the club full-time in 1956 and kicked 33 goals from 16 games, to top Essendon's goal-kicking. His work as a metallurgist brought him to Broken Hill in 1957 and he played with the North Broken Hill Football Club until 1960. He coached South Broken Hill to a premiership in 1962.

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* * 1933 births 2021 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Essendon Football Club players Redan Football Club players North Broken Hill Football Club players People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub