CATS MOURN GREAT
Tributes for Geelong dual premiership hero Middlemiss:
TOUGH- AS- NAILS dual Geelong premiership player Russell Middlemiss has passed away.
Middlemiss, 90, pictured inset, was a half-back flanker in the club’s only back-to-back flags in 1951-52, and later became a key figure in its pastplayer community.
He played in 22 games of the club’s famed 23-match winning streak that crossed ossed the 1952 and 1953 seasons, s, and is still a VFL/AFL record.
However he was injured jured late in 1953 and missed the grand final, which the Cats ats lost to Collingwood by 12 2 points.
“He always reckoned if he’d played in ’ 53 it would’ve been the difference,” teammate John Hyde recalled with a smile last night.
A year earlier, Middleemiss, aged 23, helped curb urb Collingwood rover Lou Richichards in the grand final as Geelong scored a famous win in by restricting the Magpies to o just five goals.
In a show of respect, Richards offered to swap guernseys with Middlemiss after the game, but the Geelong defender, eager to keep his premiership jumper, declined.
Middlemiss and his late wife Margaret leave behind daughters Christine Farrow and Carolyn Fraser and sons Glenn and Craig.
Glenn followed in his father’s footsteps to play for the Cats from 1979-81, notching 34 VFL games before taking his tally to 50 with a stint at St Kilda.
Mrs Farrow said her father ha had lived independently in Be Belmont and was in good he health before having a stroke las last week. He passed away on M Monday.
“He was always active and very busy in the garden,” Mrs Farrow said.
“He was a generous man with his efforts to help others, and just a genuinely nice bloke.”
Hyde agreed, adding some reflections on his offsider’s playing style.
“He was a dour player. There was no finesse about him, but he was strong and could shut down his opponent … a real goer,” Hyde said.
“Later, he was excellent at calling on all the old players and their families. He was always looking out for others.”
Raised at Ballarat Orphanage, Middlemiss worked as a shearer and played for Rokewood before arriving at Geelong in 1949.
He played 74 games for the club, was made a life member, and worked in a variety of jobs, including stints at Ford and Shell.
While working as a painter one September he fell through a skylight at Geelong’s Denny Lascelles building and was badly injured, suffering cuts to his stomach.
Hyde said his former teammate needed many stitches, but kept the injuries secret from the club, and played in a final that weekend
The passing of Middlemiss follows the deaths of former Cats Kevin Higgins and John Scarlett last month and means there are now just six surviving members — Hyde, Terry Fulton, George Goninon, Bill McMaster, Les Reed and Geoff Williams — from Geelong’s 1951-52 premiership teams.