- Greg Sewell
Infobox afl player | firstname = Greg
lastname = Sewell
birthdate = 30 June 1933
birthplace =
originalteam = Monash Rovers
heightweight = 179cm / 75kg
dead =
deathdate =
deathplace =
debutdate = 19 July, 1952
debutteam = Essendon
debutopponent = Footscray
debutstadium = Windy Hill
playingteams = Essendon (1952-1961)171 games, 34 goals
coach =
coachingteams =
* Captain-CoachKyneton Football Club : 1962-1964
* Assistant Coach Essendon Seniors: 1965-1968
* Coach Essendon Reserves: 1965-1968
statsend = 1968
careerhighlights =
*Victorian Interstate Team: 1957.
*Essendon Football Club: Assistant Senior Coach 1965-1968
*Essendon Football Club: Life Member 1961
* Assistant Coach Essendon Seniors: 1965-1968
* Assistant Coach Senior Premiership Team: 1965
* Assistant Coach Senior Premiership Runners-up: 1968
* Coach Essendon Reserves: 1965-1968
* Coach Reserves Premiership Team: 1968
*Essendon Football Club: Committeeman 1958-1961, 1969-1975
*Essendon Football Club: Vice-President 1976
*Essendon Football Club: President 1981-1987
*AFL Life Membership (for service to Australian Rules Football): 2001.Gregory G. "Greg" Sewell (born 30 June 1933) was an
Australian rules football er and assistant coach for Essendon in theVictorian Football League (now the AFL). He was educated at University High School, where he was a schoolmate ofAlan Aylett .Recruit
Sewell had been recruited from the local side, the Monash Rovers. He was fast, marked well, and could break away from opponents. He played mainly as a wingman or as a half forward flanker; however, he finished his career as a back pocket player.
He played in the Thirds (under-19s) and the Seconds (Reserves) until he played his first senior match for Essendon on 19 July 1952, round 13 of the home-and-away season, against Footscray, at Essendon's home ground, Windy Hill. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_VFL_season#Round_13]
He played on the half-forward flank in the highly talented 1952 Essendon Seconds Premiership team that beat Collingwood Seconds 7.14 (56) to 4.5 (29). All but one [A. Taylor never played a single game for Essendon Firsts.] of the premiership team's 20 players had either already played for the Essendon Firsts or would go on to do so in the future; the team was:Excluding the senior games that some had already played (or would go on to play) with other VFL clubs, the members of the Essendon 1952 Seconds Premiership Team played an aggregate total of 1072 senior games for Essendon Firsts.
Career at Essendon
His senior record with Essendon is impressive:
* 1952: 7 games.
* 1953: 19 games (including losing First Semi-Final team). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_VFL_season#First_Semi-Final]
* 1954: 17 games, 1 goal.
* 1955: 19 games, 12 goals (including losing First Semi-Final team). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_VFL_season#First_Semi-Final]
* 1956: 18 games, 2 goals.
* 1957: 18 games, 12 goals (including losing Grand-Final team); [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_VFL_season#Grand_Final_Teams] :* 1957: one game for the Victorian Interstate Team.
* 1958: 18 games, 8 goals.
* 1959: 18 games (including losing Grand-Final team [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_VFL_season#Grand_Final_Teams] ), 10 goals.
* 1960: 19 games (including losing First Semi-Final team). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_VFL_season#First_Semi-Final]
* 1961: 18 games.After Essendon
He left Essendon at the end of 1961, — he was made a Life Member of the Essendon Football Club in 1961 — and went to play as captain-coach for the
Kyneton Football Club in theBendigo Football League from 1962 to 1964.Further life at Essendon
Sewell returned to Essendon in 1965 and, replacing Bill Hutchison, worked as both the Reserve Grade coach and the assistant Senior coach (to his mate John Coleman). He held those positions from 1965 to 1968.
The Essendon senior side, with Sewell as assistant coach, won the 1965 Premiership: Essendon 14.21 (105) to St Kilda 9.16 (70). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_VFL_season#Grand_Final_Teams]
Whilst the Essendon senior side, again with Sewell as assistant coach, lost the 1968 Grand Final — Essendon 8.5 (53) to Carlton 7.14 (56) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_VFL_season#Grand_Final_Teams] — Sewell finished his coaching career with a triumph. The Essendon Reserves won the Reserves Grand Final, beating Richmond 15.7 (97) to 13.14 (92), and won the first Reserve Grade Premiership for Essendon in sixteen years (i.e., since the 1952 Essendon Reserve Premiership team in which Sewell had played on the half-forward flank).
Sewell also served on the Committee of the Essendon Football Club from 1958 to 1961, and from 1969 to 1975, as well as serving as its Vice-President in 1976, and its President from 1981 to 1987.
After football
For many years in control of Greg Sewell Forgings Pty Ltd, [His family have been involved in the foundry business for three generations. [http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/hwtports/0/0/4/doc/hp004142.shtml Photograph of Greg and his father speaking with Collingwood's John Henderson] ] Greg has also been deeply involved with the Rotary Club of
Brunswick, Victoria . He was a good mate of John Coleman and was the last person at Essendon to see John Coleman alive. [According to Miller, Petraitis & Jeremiah, (1997, p.130) Coleman, who was also connected with the Rotary Club of Brunswick, and Sewell had spent time together at a Rotary function inAlbury, New South Wales on the Sunday preceding Coleman's death.]In 2001, the
Australian Football League bestowed a Life Membership on Sewell for his services to Australian Rules Football.See also
* List of Presidents of the Essendon Football Club
Footnotes
References
* Maplestone, M., "Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872-1996", Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-959-17402-8
* Miller, W., Petraitis, V. & Jeremiah, V., "The Great John Coleman", Nivar Press, (Cheltenham), 1997. ISBN 0-646-31616-8External links
* [http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/sa-sm.htm#Gregory%20Sewell%20(Essendon) Full Points Footy Biography: Gregory Sewell]
* [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/G/Greg_Sewell.html AFL Statistics: Greg Sewell]
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