Craig Williams (born 14 August 1954) 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 who played a season with in the VFL. He also played for West Adelaide in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

for the entire 1980s.

Career

VFL

St Kilda recruited Williams from

Victorian Football Association 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 ...

(VFA) club

Prahran Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...

and he played eight games in the

1977 VFL season The 1977 VFL season was the 81st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 2 April until 1 October, and comprised a 22-g ...

. He left St Kilda at the end of the year and crossed to but failed to make the seniors again, spending two years with Fitzroy's reserves.

SANFL

Williams moved to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

in 1980 where he joined West Adelaide and would be a regular fixture in their side for the rest of the decade. Under legendary coach

Neil Kerley Donald Neil Kerley (20 February 1934 – 29 June 2022) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is best known for taking three clubs to four South Australian National Football League (SANFL) premierships over three decades as both a p ...

, Williams was a member of West's 1983 premiership side that defeated Sturt. He started the 1983 SANFL Grand Final in the

Forward pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

and had stints in the

ruck Ruck may refer to: * Ruck (rugby union), a contesting for the ball in Rugby Union from a grounded player * Ruck (Australian rules football), an aerial contest in Australian-rules football between rival rucks * Ruck (rugby league), the area surro ...

throughout the game. During the second quarter of the game at

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian N ...

Williams dislocated the

Ring finger The ring finger, third finger, fourth finger, leech finger, or annulary is the fourth digit of the human hand, located between the middle finger and the little finger. Sometimes the term ring finger only refers to the fourth digit of a left-ha ...

on his left hand which was said to be "at right angles to where it should be". Despite this, Williams returned to the game in the 2nd half and helped The Bloods win their first (and so far only) premiership since 1961. Williams is regarded as having his best game of club football in Round 21 of the 1982 season when West Adelaide defeated Sturt by 2 points at the

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

. Playing

Fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

on champion Sturt

Full-forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League seaso ...

/ruckman

Rick Davies Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band's best-known songs ...

, it was expected that Davies would take his usual number of marks and kick a few goals. By the end of the match Davies had failed to take a mark opposed to Williams who played from in front of the "Jumbo Prince" and didn't give an inch in body contests. For his efforts Williams was judged best on ground. Craig Williams retired following the 1989 SANFL season in which West Adelaide failed to make the finals. He played a total of 160 games for The Bloods and kicked 50 goals.

Interstate Football

Williams represented

in State of Origin and won the

Fos Williams Medal The Fos Williams Medal has been awarded since 1981 to the best Australian rules football player from South Australia during Inter-State or Inter-Competition matches. The medal is named in honour of legendary South Australian National Football Le ...

for his performance at fullback against

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco, Western Australia, Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood, ...

(

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

) in 1983. This performance also saw Williams selected as an

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

that year.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Craig 1954 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Prahran Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club players South Australian State of Origin players All-Australians (1953–1988)