BRIAN Walsh - a member of Carlton’s 1973 Grand Final team, and the Club’s leading goalkicker and Best Clubman in the same year - has passed away in Bendigo after a long health struggle. He was 72.

Joining Carlton from Sandhurst on the eve of the 1970 premiership season, Walsh was amongst the Club’s solid intake of Bendigo Football League recruits in the days of zoning. While he would never savour premiership glory, he was part of a solid core of Bendigonians central to Carlton’s on-going on-field successes – Sandhurst’s Trevor Keogh, Geoff Southby and Paul Hurst; Golden Square’s Ray Byrne and Greg Williams; Eaglehawk’s Greg Kennedy, Rod Ashman and Des English; and South Bendigo’s Peter Dean.

When he signed on at 18 in late 1969, Walsh had just earned the Bendigo League’s Best and Fairest award, so the Carlton recruiters knew what they were getting. By the opening round of 1970 Walsh was ready to go, and together with his old Sandhurst teammate Hurst, he completed his senior debut under coach Ron Barassi’s watch.

Named alongside Alex Jesaulenko in a forward pocket for the season opener, Walsh contributed two goals to Carlton’s winning scoreline of 21.19 (145) – and ‘Jezza’ booted a lazy nine.

As a canny forward, Walsh played his part in many a Carlton victory and he knew where the goals were. In Round 8, 1973, against South Melbourne at the Lakeside Oval, he put eight goals over the umpire’s hat, and in Round 16, 1974, against Collingwood at VFL Park, he booted another seven - five of them in the second quarter.

Trevor Keogh, Carlton’s two-time premiership player and dual best and fairest, knew Walsh from their secondary schooldays. 

“Brian was a couple of years younger than me, but we went to school together,” Keogh said.

“We were friends at Marist Brothers in Bendigo where we played school football and later at Sandhurst with others like Kevin Higgins, Kevin Sheehan and Geoff Southby. Our schoolboy teams were always pretty good, but not in the same class as Assumption.

“When we were playing juniors and seniors we’d go by bus to grounds at Echuca or Rochester. I reckon I played three years in the seniors and Brian played two. He won the Michelsen Medal for the Bendigo League in 1969, the same year he won the Sandhurst Best and Fairest. I was the B and F at Sandhurst in 1968 and Southby in ’70.”

Keogh remembered Walsh as “a very smart footballer” both in Bendigo and at Carlton.

“He wasn’t quick, but he was clever with his hands and feet, and he could kick either foot. He played close to the goals – he mainly played as a forward, with the occasional run in the centre,” Keogh said.

“He was a good bloke too.”

On the eve of the 1975 season, Walsh saw fit to change clubs. He made the short diversion to Windy Hill and tallied another 51 senior games through four seasons for Essendon.

Walsh ended his on-field career at Werribee, earning was crowned best and fairest in 1981 when he was also captain-coach.

On the strength of his friendship with former Carlton premiership player and coach Robert Walls, Walsh accepted a role as Walls’ assistant at Fitzroy, and coached the Lions’ reserve grade teams between 1982 and ’84.

He later gave something back to the Bendigo League, taking Golden Square to the premierships of 1988, ’89 and 2001 - and there would also be coaching stints with Wangaratta, Campbells Creek, White Hills and Kyneton.

In October 1997, Walsh was one of 19 Carlton players named in Bendigo’s 23-man VFL/AFL All Stars Team.