The heat lamp was all the rage 60 years ago, as this old photograph in the Melbourne Olympic year of 1956 attests.
The image, kindly forwarded to the club by 65-year Member Bob Hopkins, features Carlton half-back Bob Crowe having his worrisome right knee attended to by head trainer Harry Crompton, in the company of fellow teammates, from left to right, Ross Ousley, Jack Ellis, Noel “Nobby” O’Brien and Vito (“Vic”) Garra.
By 1965, the on-field careers of Crowe, Ousley, Ellis, O’Brien and Garra were done and dusted.
But Harry Crompton carried on until the end of the ’75 season, proving that a football club, to steal a line from coach Brendon Bolton, is the sum of the parts.