Polly set the mark

BEFORE Goodes, before even Winmar, there was Polly.

A hulking giant of a man blessed with natural talent and exceptional skills, Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer was knocking down barriers both on and off the football field during an era when Aboriginal footballers and indigenous rights were sorely lacking.

As a footballer, he changed the face of the game with his athletic ruck skills and revolutionary use of the handball.

As an indigenous Australian, raised in an orphanage, and survivor of childhood polio which left him with one leg shorter than the other, he shouldered prejudice and disadvantage to lay a path for generations of indigenous footballers to follow.

He had the rare honour of both skippering and coaching the Cats, including helping them to a premiership — all before the age of 36.

In retirement, Farmer turned his attention to disadvantaged Aboriginal youth, establishing the Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation to boost educational opportunities across the country.

An inaugural Legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, the first Australian Rules footballer to be awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours, and named in an extraordinary six different Teams of the Century — including the AFL’s as the top ruckman — Farmer left an indelible mark on football on both sides of the country.

Yesterday social media and the airwaves were flooded with people paying tribute to a true footballing great, many describing him as a true gentleman.

He was brave, innovative and unapologetically Polly. And his loss will be felt across the entire football fraternity.

Vale Polly.