Peter John Hudson AM (born 19 February 1946) 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 for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

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) and for the New Norfolk Football Club and Glenorchy Football Club in the Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL). A legend in the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

, Hudson is considered one of the greatest

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 ...

s in the game's history. He holds the highest career goal-per-game average (5.64) in VFL/AFL history, and he is only one of two VFL/AFL footballers (the other being 's John Coleman) to average more than 5 goals per game. He was the first VFL/AFL player to kick 100 or more goals in a season five times, equalled

Bob Pratt Harold Robert "Bob" Pratt (31 August 1912 – 6 January 2001) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans, South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL) and ...

's VFL/AFL record of 150 goals in a season in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and, after the AFL decided to retrospectively recognise the leading VFL goalkickers during the home-and-away season back to 1955, won the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

four times. Hudson was a superb reader of the play and knew how to use his body well in one-on-one contests. He had a safe pair of hands and although he was known for using the flat punt when kicking for goal, he was usually very accurate. Over his career, he kicked 1,721 goals in 288 premiership games between 1963 and 1979, and 1981. His final match was in the 1981 TANFL Preliminary Final for Glenorchy, where Hudson, who had made a brief comeback with two rounds remaining due to Glenorchy having a string of injuries, kicked 30 goals in three matches, including six in his team's Preliminary Final loss to New Norfolk. Hudson was kept goalless just four times during his career in premiership matches by Richmond's Barry Richardson in Round 7 of 1969, Collingwood's Ian Cooper in Round 2 of 1974, Carlton's Rod Austin in Round 14 of 1977 and in the TANFL, Bruce Greenhill of Sandy Bay in 1978. Some sources list Hudson as playing 107 games and kicking 769 goals for Glenorchy for a TANFL total of 185 games and 1,147 goals, and a career total of 314 games and 1,875 goals. These discrepancies arise from the TANFL including goals scored in intrastate matches representing the TANFL in TANFL player's career statistics at that time, a ruling that was later rescinded. If the Tasmanian competitions, representative and night series games are considered, Hudson played an overall total of 372 matches and kicked 2,191 goals – an average of 5.89 goals a game over his entire career – making him the highest goalkicker in elite Australian rules football history. Hudson also experienced success as a coach during and after his playing days, leading Glenorchy to a TANFL premiership as playing coach and later coaching

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

to successive finals appearances. He also became a respected club administrator, serving as CEO at and during the 1990s.

VFL career

Hudson's arrival in the VFL came at a period when full-forwards were beginning to experience a resurgence, most notable being

Doug Wade Douglas Graeme Wade (born 16 October 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). He was the League ...

of and Peter McKenna of . After sitting out the first game of

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, as he didn't meet the league's residential requirements, Hudson's first game was against . Lining up against rugged full-back Wes Lofts, he managed to kick four goals. In 1971, he equalled

's record of 150 goals in a season after kicking three goals in Hawthorn's winning

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

side. Hudson kicked into the man-on-the-mark Barry Lawrence ( St Kilda) in one of his attempts to break the record during the grand final. In the first round of 1972, he seriously injured his knee just before half time. He had already kicked 8 goals and had just taken a mark within distance when he fell awkwardly. It was thought that his career had finished. On 25 August 1973 he returned from

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

to kick eight goals against Collingwood at

VFL Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) is an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. The first venue to be designed and built specifically for Australian Rules football, for most of its history, its pur ...

. After playing Rounds 1 and 2 in 1974, he again injured his knee and returned to Tasmania. Later that year, after hurting his knee playing netball, he decided to have knee surgery in the summer. He did not play another VFL game until lured back for the 1977 season, during which he kicked 110 goals for the season.

Post-playing career

Hudson supported the planned merger between and in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

VFL statistics

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1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, , , , , 26 , 19 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 125^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 62^† , , 274 , , 31 , , 305 , , 113 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.6^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 3.3^† , , 14.4 , , 1.6 , , 16.1 , , 5.9 , , 16 , - ,

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

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1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, , , , 26 , 22 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 146^† , , 44 , , 282 , , 19 , , 301 , , 140 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.6^† , , 2.0 , , 12.8 , , 0.9 , , 13.7 , , 6.4 , , 14 , - , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

^# , , , , 26 , 24 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 150^† , , 72 , , 346 , , 41 , , 387 , , 180 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 6.3^† , , 3.0 , , 14.4 , , 1.7 , , 16.1 , , 7.5 , , 18 , - ,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, , , , 26 , 1 , , 8 , , 1 , , 12 , , 1 , , 13 , , 9 , , 8.0 , , 1.0 , , 12.0 , , 1.0 , , 13.0 , , 9.0 , , 1 , - ,

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, , , , 26 , 1 , , 8 , , 3 , , 15 , , 0 , , 15 , , 10 , , 8.0 , , 3.0 , , 15.0 , , 0.0 , , 15.0 , , 10.0 , , 2 , - ,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, , , , 26 , 2 , , 3 , , 3 , , 10 , , 7 , , 17 , , 6 , , 1.5 , , 1.5 , , 5.0 , , 3.5 , , 8.5 , , 3.0 , , 0 , - ,

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, , , , 1 , 24 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 110^† , , 50 , , 243 , , 32 , , 275 , , 123 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 4.6^† , , 2.3 , , 10.1 , , 1.3 , , 11.5 , , 5.1 , , 16 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3 , Career ! 129 !! 727 !! 330 !! 1578 !! 176 !! 1754 !! 782 !! 5.6 !! 2.6 !! 12.2 !! 1.4 !! 13.6 !! 6.1 !! 78

Honours and achievements

Team * VFL Premiership player ():

Minor premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

():

* TANFL Premiership player ( Glenorchy):

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Individual * 4×

* 2× J.J. Dennis Memorial Trophy:

* 6× Hawthorn leading goalkicker:

* 2×

All-Australian team 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 ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

* 2× William Leitch Medal:

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

New Norfolk New Norfolk ( ; Aboriginal Tasmanians#Big River, Leenowwenne/palawa kani: ''Wulawali'') is a river bank, riverside town located on the Derwent River (Tasmania), River Derwent in southeastern Tasmania, Australia. Established in 1807, it is Tasm ...

best and fairest: 1965 * 3× Glenorchy best and fairest: 1976, 1978, 1979 * 8× TFL leading goalkicker: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 * 4×

leading goalkicker: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 * 4× Glenorchy leading goalkicker: 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 *

– Legend status * Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame Icon * Hawthorn Hall of Fame – Legend status * Hawthorn Team of the Century * Tasmanian Team of the Century * Hawthorn life member

Post-VFL career

Hudson coached and played for Glenorchy Football Club in the TFL in 1975 and 1976, taking them to a premiership in his first year. Following his second return from the VFL, in 1978 he once again played for Glenorchy, kicking 153 goals and winning the highest individual honour in the TFL, the William Leitch Medal. In the next season he again topped the goalkicking with 179 goals, winning his second William Leitch medal. He retired as a player at the end of the season. He coached

in the TFL in 1986–1987 for consecutive unsuccessful finals campaigns. In 1979, he was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in the Australia Day Honours, for services to Australian football. He was inducted into the

in 1996 and elevated to "Legend" status in 1999. His citation reads: "''A freakish full-forward who just kept accumulating goals. Made brilliant use of the body, was deadly accurate and had an amazing ability to read the play. Holds the best goals per game average (5.59) in VFL/AFL history and in 1971 matched Bob Pratt's record for most goals in a season with 150.''" Hudson is well respected for his business acumen. Since retirement he has had a stint as the Chief Executive Officer at Hawthorn and St Kilda. Currently he is a senior executive of insurance giant Bupa. Hudson was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

in 2001. Hudson is depicted in a Tasmanian state guernsey taking a mark against South Australia in Jamie Cooper's painting ''The Game That Made Australia'', commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport. In 2010, Hudson became the eleventh player to feature in a Toyota Memorable Moments advertisement with

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...

and

Dave Lawson David Alexander Webster Lawson (born 25 September 1978) is an Australian actor and TV personality. Early life Lawson grew up in the Bayside area of Melbourne and completed his secondary education at Haileybury College. He performed in the ...

, comically re-enacting his unsuccessful attempt to break

's season goalkicking record in the 1971 VFL Grand Final.Kelly Ryan
Herald Sun
"Flying Hawk hero Peter Hudson relives his glory days in Toyota ad", 14 August 2010, Retrieved 4 September 2010.

Family

His son

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

also played for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

and

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

, and nephew Simon Minton-Connell also played AFL football for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

and

References

External links

* *
AFL Hall of Fame - Legends section

AFL official statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Peter 1946 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club premiership players Hawthorn Football Club administrators Peter Crimmins Medal winners Coleman Medal winners All-Australians (1953–1988) Tasmanian State of Origin players Glenorchy Football Club players New Norfolk Football Club players Hobart Football Club coaches Glenorchy Football Club coaches William Leitch Medal winners Members of the Order of Australia Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees VFL/AFL premiership players People from New Norfolk