Photo: aflphotos.com.au
One of the greats of Western Australian footy, John Todd coached West Coast for two seasons in the club's early years.
Playing career[]
Hailing from Manjimup, Todd made his league debut for South Fremantle at the age of 16 and won the 1955 Sandover Medal as a 17-year-old before his playing career was curtailed by an ACL injury the following year. Todd played on but was severely hampered by the injury, although he did win the Bulldogs' best and fairest two more times before retiring in 1964.
Coaching career[]
Having spent one year (1959) as South Fremantle's playing coach, Todd took the reigns at Souths again in 1966, during which time he made a brief playing comeback. He coached the Bulldogs until 1968, and then coached East Fremantle from 1973 to 1976, leading the Sharks to a flag in 1974. In 1977 he switched to Swan Districts where he had an extremely successful decade, coaching the Swans to a hat-trick of flags between 1982 and 1984.
At the end of 1987 he signed on as West Coast's coach, replacing the inaugural leader Ron Alexander. Todd led the Eagles to a maiden finals appearance in his first season, but the side struggled in 1989 and he was let go in favour of Mick Malthouse.
Todd returned to the Swan Districts' helm, immediately leading the Black Ducks to another flag in 1990. He coached Swans until the end of the 1994 season, when he headed back to South Fremantle. Todd coached South Freo to a premiership in 1997, his sixth flag. He left Souths after the 1998 season and was out of the game for a year before returning to Swans for his third stint as their senior coach, spending three more years in the role before retiring at the end of the 2002 season.
Todd passed away in June 2024, at the age of 86.