Barry Cable

Barry Thomas Cable MBE (born 22 September 1943) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach.^[2][3] Considered one of the greatest rovers in the sport's history, he played in 379 premiership games in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) and the Victorian Football League (VFL), and later coached in both competitions. However, his reputation was left in tatters after allegations of historical sex crimes, including a code-first revocation of his Australian Football Hall of Fame status as well as his removal from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2023.^[4][5]

Born in Narrogin, Western Australia, Cable made his debut with the Perth Football Club in the WANFL in 1962, and won the Sandover Medal as the fairest and best player in the competition in 1964. Cable was awarded the Tassie Medal as the best player at the 1966 Australian National Football Carnival, as well as selection in the All-Australian team. The same year, he played in the first of three consecutive premierships with Perth, winning the Simpson Medal as the best player in the Grand Final in each year, as well as a further Sandover Medal in 1968.

Cable left Perth at the end of the 1969 season to play for the North Melbourne Football Club in the VFL, and won the club's best and fairest award, the Syd Barker Medal, before returning to Western Australia at the end of the season. Following another three years at Perth, in which he captain-coached the club in 1972 and 1973 and won his third Sandover Medal in the latter year, Cable returned to North Melbourne for the 1974 season. In another four years at the club, he played in two premierships, in 1975 and 1977, before again returning to Perth after accepting an offer to captain-coach ‹See Tfd›East Perth. Cable retired from playing at the end of the 1979 season, having injured himself in a farming accident.

Cable returned to Victoria in 1981 to become the senior coach of North Melbourne, a role which he held until 1984, and later worked as an assistant at the West Coast Eagles during their first years in the VFL. Having represented Western Australia in a total of 20 matches during his playing career, Cable also coached the team at the 1979 State of Origin Carnival, later being named coach of the All-Australian team.

His tally of seven best and fairest awards at Perth is a club record, while his career total of 379 premiership matches is a record for any elite Australian rules football player born in Western Australia as of 2022, and was also an elite Australian rules football record until broken by Kevin Bartlett in Round 20 of the 1982 VFL season.

Cable also played three pre-season/night series matches for East Perth and 21 interstate football matches (20 for Western Australia and one for Victoria), along with one pre-season/night series match for North Melbourne (these are recognised as senior by the WAFL but not the VFL/AFL). If these are included, then Cable played a total of 404 senior career games, which is also the most (equal with Brian Peake) of any elite Australian rules football player born in Western Australia.

The VFL/AFL list Cable and Peake's total as 403, excluding their VFL/AFL pre-season/night series match (Cable for North Melbourne and Peake for Geelong).