From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the freeway, see Graham Farmer Freeway.

Graham "Polly" Farmer (born March 10, 1935) is a retired Indigenous Australian rules football player and coach, and is an official Legend of the game.

He began his top-level career with the East Perth Football Club in the WAFL in 1953. He was a prolific tap ruckman capable of dominating games. He was also a talented exponent of the handpass, seldom used in that era, and was capable of accurately delivering long handpasses to teammates.

Farmer played 176 games from 1953 to 1961 with the Royals. During this time he won the club's Fairest and Best award 7 times and was a member of their 1956, 1958 and 1959 Premiership teams. In 1959 he was awarded the Simpson Medal for being best on ground in the Grand Final.

He was awarded the WAFL's highest individual honour, the Sandover Medal, in 1956 and 1960. He also tied for the medal in 1957 with East Fremantle's Jack Clarke but lost on a countback; he was awarded that medal in 1997 when the WAFL decided to award retrospective medals for those who missed out on countbacks.

Bob Davis recruited Farmer to the Geelong Football Club in the VFL in 1962. Davis, when he had captained Victoria against Western Australia in 1958, had witnessed Farmer's performance first hand and was suitably impressed. During a lull in play Davis remarked to Farmer that one day he would coach Geelong and he wanted him in his side.

In the opening moments of his debut for Geelong in 1962 Farmer severely injured his knee which kept him out for the year. However in 1963 he played a brilliant season helping them along to a Premiership whilst he came runner-up in the Brownlow Medal to Bob Skilton.

In total Farmer played 101 games for Geelong from 1962 to 1968 and was their Fairest and Best in 1963 and 1964.

In 1968, he desired to return home to Western Australia and accepted the role of Captain/Coach with the West Perth Cardinals, rivals to his former club, East Perth. He led the Cardinals to Premierships in 1969 and 1971, both times defeating East Perth in the Grand Final. He retired as a player after 1971 after 76 games with West Perth.

Not involved in top level football in 1972, Farmer returned to the VFL as coach of the Geelong Football Club from 1973 to 1975. Following that, he again returned to the WAFL, coaching East Perth from 1976 to 1977 with some success and it came as quite a surprise to many when he was replaced by Barry Cable in 1978.

During his playing career he played a record 31 games for Western Australia, five games for Victoria, and was selected in the All-Australian team in 1956, 1958 and 1961. In 1956 he was awarded a Simpson Medal for his performance against South Australia in the Perth Carnival, and later he also awarded the Tassie Medal for being judged best in the Carnival overall. He was awarded another Simpson Medal in 1961 for his game against Victoria in the Melbourne Carnival, and in 1969 he received his fourth and final one during the AFC Championships in Adelaide. He was the coach of the first Western Australian state of origin team in 1977.

St Georges Terrace, Perth bronze tablet

He was inducted into the inaugural Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 as one of the twelve official "Legends," and then into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He has been nominated as the first ruckman in every Team of the Century for each of the two leagues and three clubs for which he participated, plus the Indigenous Team of the Century, in which he was the captain.

The Graham Farmer Freeway in Perth, Western Australia is named after him. It includes the Northbridge Tunnel linking East Perth to West Perth (as per Farmer's playing career) that is colloquially known as the Polly Pipe.

Set into the footpath along St Georges Terrace, Perth are 150 bronze tablets commemorating notable figures in Western Australia's history, completed as part of WAY 1979, Farmer was included in this list.

• Graham Farmer profile on the Official AFL Website of the Geelong Football Club
• Ruck legend Farmer reveals he was 'crook' on the Cats