ERN Henfry played 84 games for Carlton. The measure of the footballer he was, and the character he exuded, was such that he captained the Blues in all but two of them.
Henfry, who was posthumously inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame last night, was a dominant figure across two football states — his home state of Western Australia, where he was a teenage star and later a successful coach, and in Victoria, where he led the Blues through a successful period.
MERE NUMBERS DON'T DO KOUTA JUSTICE
VERSATILE JOHNSON FLAGLESS YET RELENTLESS
The outstanding centreman and premiership captain, who died in 2007, aged 85, was considered a "gentleman footballer", who played the game hard yet scrupulously fair, and whose loyalty was such that coaching offers at rival VFL clubs amounted to nothing because he never wanted to coach against Carlton.
"For him, loyalty was a very important thing," Henfry's son, Ken, said. "He loved the football clubs he played for.
"Even when he went back to Perth after leaving Carlton, he had three different coaching offers over the years (from Richmond, Footscray and South Melbourne).
"But they weren't from Carlton. He would not have anything to do with any other VFL team than Carlton."
Henfry captained Carlton in 82 of his 84 games. Source: News Limited
Henfry's playing career came in two cycles, divided by the Second World War.
Firstly, he was a football prodigy, considered one of the best young footballers in Western Australia in the lead-up to and the early stages of the war. He represented his state at 17 and was runner-up to the legendary Haydn Bunton Sr. in the 1941 Sandover Medal, in his third season with Perth.
In that year he joined the RAAF, and would fly long-range flying boats in the Pacific when the war against the Japanese brought the theatres closer to home.
It was while Henfry was briefly stationed in Melbourne in 1944 that he turned out for Carlton in two games. Such was his form that the Blues were hell bent on getting him to commit to the club.
And when the war concluded in late 1945, Henfry was able to secure a bank job transfer to Melbourne.
Yet the West Australian National Football League blocked his transfer and he was forced to sit out of football for a season.
"It was frustrating for him, but he went to every game (as a spectator) and analysed it as best as he could," his son said.
"He knew that the VFL was the highest level you could play at, and being a competitive person, he was keen to test himself at that level."
By the time his clearance was granted for the 1947 season, Carlton knew it had the right man to lead the team and surprised many in the football world by appointing the two-game player as captain.
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It would prove to be an inspired choice.
Henfry not only dominated from the moment he donned the Navy Blue, he also provided outstanding leadership, combining with coach Perc Bentley to help lift Carlton to the 1947 premiership.
"His style of leadership was to go out and do what he had to do," Ken Henfry said. "He would encourage others but never demand things."
That first full season of VFL football saw him finish joint winner of Carlton's best-and-fairest award with his great mate Bert Deacon.
The premiership skipper was listed as Carlton's best player in that 1947 Grand Final, a game in which forward Fred Stafford kicked the winning goal with less than a minute to go.
Henfry's leadership skills were such that Victorian selectors broke with tradition to make him captain of his adopted state against his old one, in 1949.
In that year he won the best-and-fairest outright, and also led the Blues into another Grand Final, against Essendon.
Henfry in 1952. Source: News Limited
Despite being listed as among his team's best players, he could not prevent an Essendon landslide, spearheaded by the great John Coleman.
"That game was a bit of a tragedy," Ken Henfry said.
"Ern lost his two front teeth and played on with concussion. He was going for the ball on the wing and two Essendon players gave him an old-fashioned sandwich.
"My mum had a dislike of Essendon after that. And it made Ern always concerned about players playing with concussion after that."
Henfry would play on until late in the 1952 season when a series of injuries brought an end to his career just after his 31st birthday.
He would return to Perth as captain-coach and coach, breaking a 48-year flag drought for the club, in 1955. He was also Barry Cable's first senior coach.
"I never saw him play football, but it really struck me when I went to a Carlton function a few years ago and John Nicholls told me he used to love going to the football to Ern play," Ken Henfry said.
"It made me think he might have been an even better player than I thought he was."
FACT FILE — ERN HENFRY
Perth Football Club from 1937-1941, 1953-1954 as well as the Carlton Football Club in 1944, 1947-1952.
Carlton premiership captain, 1947, Victorian captain, 1949
Won club best and fairest awards with Perth in 1941 and Carlton, 1947 and 1949.
Captain-Coach of Perth in 1953-1954, then two further periods as coach of the club from 1953-1959 and 1962-1964.
WAFL premiership coach in 1955.
Inaugural inductee into the WAFL Hall of Fame in 2004.
Inducted into the Carlton Football Club Hall of Fame in 1992.
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