Ian James Nankervis (born 3 January 1948) 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er for the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Nankervis played for Geelong for 17 seasons and was captain from 1978 to 1981, and again in 1983. Nankervis held the record of most senior level games for Geelong with 325 VFL games. Nankervis also represented Victoria at state level on 12 occasions.

VFL career

Nankervis was recruited from Barwon. Initially he played mainly as a forward pocket-rover, scoring a creditable 203 goals. He later developed into one of the finest

back 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 ...

s in the VFL after then coach

Rodney Olsson Rodney Stuart Olsson (born 23 April 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who played with Hawthorn in the VFL during the 1960s. Olsson was a ruck-rover for Hawthorn but when he started his career he played as a half forward ...

shifted him to that end of the ground Nankervis was awarded the 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

Carji Greeves Medal The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season. The voting system has changed a number of times. Fo ...

on three occasions in 1972, 1976 and 1977 and captained the team from 1978 until 1982 (110 games). Nankervis wore a guernsey with the number 40 during his tenure at the club. His brother

Bruce Nankervis Bruce Edward Nankervis (born 14 August 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League for Geelong Football Club. He wore the number 33 during his tenure at the club. Nankervis was awarded the Carji Greeves Medal ...

also played for Geelong. In 2001 he was named in the Geelong Football Club Team of the Century and in 2005 was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

Honours

Individual: * VFL: ** Victorian team representative honours: 12 matches (captain in 1979) ** All-Australian: 1980 ** Member of the

: 2005 induction * Geelong Football Club: **

: 1972, 1976, 1977 ** Geelong F.C. Leading Club Goalkicker Award: 1975 (equal with Larry Donohue) ** Geelong F.C. captain: 1978 – 1981, 1983 ** Member of the Geelong F.C. Team of the Century: 2001 induction * Records: ** Second most games played for Geelong F.C. (325 games) after Corey Enright broke the record in Round 19, 2016

Personal

Ian Nankervis, after retiring from football, taught physical education and science at a high school level, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Ian Nankervis taught at Corio Technical School in Geelong during the 1970s and 1980s

References

External links

*
Profile
at Geelongcats.com.au * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nankervis, Ian Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club captains Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees All-Australians (1953–1988) Victorian State of Origin players Carji Greeves Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Geelong Australian schoolteachers Barwon Football Club players 1948 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Bendigo