It is fair to say that Dave McNamara was the Wayne Carey of his time. His long arms and height gave him the advantage over opponents, but it was his kicking that was the stuff of legends.

He came closer than anybody to the magic distance of 100 yards, but admitted in later years that he considered that magic mark was humanly impossible. McNamara specialised in the long-forgotten place kick and his long leg and superb follow through feature in a famous picture that is a footballing icon.

The big left footer captained the Saints at the age of 21, but left the Club a couple of years later due to an internal dispute. He spent three of his prime years between the ages of 23 and 26 in the VFA competition, where he was a cut above the rest and logged up prodigious tallies of goals. He also lost two peak years from his career when St Kilda withdrew its team because of World War I.

Despite his disrupted career, McNamara had no trouble picking up the threads after lengthy absences and his biggest goal haul for St Kilda, 10 against Geelong, came when he was 35 years old.