Born Fremantle, W.A.
25 May, 1913 – 26 November, 2007
George Doig, known as the “Bradman of full-forwards,” was the first of the great goal kickers in Western Australian football.
Playing for East Fremantle, he was the first player to kick 100 goals in a season in W.A. A member of W.A.’s most famous footballing family, Doig began his league career in 1933 by kicking 106 goals for the season and retired in 1945 with 1111 goals to his credit after helping East Fremantle to win the Grand Final.
Doig kicked a century or more of goals in nine consecutive seasons, including an Australian record total of 152 in the 1934 season, and headed the W.A. goalkicking list six times between 1933 and 1941.
In successive season he kicked goal tallies of 106, 152, 113, 108, 144, 100, 106, 108 and 146. If he had not missed three complete seasons of football due to World War II, he would have finished with about 1500 goals.
Standing only 1.75m (5ft 9in) tall and lightly built, Doig was comparatively short for a full-forward but was blessed with exceptional high-marking skills. Elusive and a courageous ground player, he was a powerful kick with either foot and deadly accurate when kicking for goal from set shots or on the run.
Doig drew attention to his enormous potential when he was playing in Fremantle Suburban Association as an 18-year-old in 1931. In a match against Palmyra, he kicked the whole of East Fremantle’s total score of 26.20.