Michael Turner (6 December 1954 – 30 December 2024) 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 245 games for the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

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) from 1974 to 1988.

Biography

Turner grew up in

Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

, Victoria and completed his final years of high school at

Monivae College Monivae College is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school, high Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school of the Missionaries of the Sacre ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Leo Turner (1928–1997), in representing

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

and played as a

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is the pilot of a secondary aircraft providing support or protection to a primary aircraft in a potentially dangerous situation, traditionally flying in formation to the side and slightly behind the primary craft. The t ...

and half-forward. He was 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 ...

in 1979 and captained the club for three seasons between 1984 and 1986. In 1982, he was Geelong's leading goalkicker with 40 goals. In 1989, Turner signed on as

captain-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make change ...

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werrib ...

in the

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 ...

. In 1995, he was appointed by

AFL Victoria AFL Victoria (formerly Football Victoria) is the state-level sport governing body for Australian rules football in the state of Victoria, Australia. Responsibility AFL Victoria, as part of the sport's national governing body the Australian Fo ...

to be the regional manager for the

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition in Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warr ...

, responsible for the development of junior talent in the area. In 2014, he completed his 20th year in the job, having helped make the Falcons one of the highest-regarded junior development programs in Australia. Turner was named a wingman in Geelong's official '

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 y ...

'. In early 2023, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died on 30 December 2024, at the age of 70.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Michael 1954 births 2024 deaths Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club captains Werribee Football Club players Werribee Football Club coaches Warrnambool Football Club players Victorian State of Origin players All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian rules footballer from Warrnambool Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Australia