| Peter McKenna | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Born | (1946-08-27)27 August 1946 (age 79) Heidelberg West,Victoria, Australia | ||
| Original team | West Heidelberg YCW | ||
| Height | 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Weight | 87 kg (192 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1965–1975 | Collingwood | 180 (838) | |
| 1976 | Devonport Magpies | 17(79) | |
| 1977 | Carlton | 11(36) | |
| 1978 | Geelong West | 13(67) | |
| 1979 | Port Melbourne | 14(51) | |
| 1980 | Northcote | 15(75) | |
| Total | 235 (1146) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1977. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Peter McKenna (born 27 August 1946) is a formerAustralian rules footballer who representedCollingwood andCarlton in theVictorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. He also representedDevonport in theNorth West Football Union (NWFU), andNorthcote,Port Melbourne andGeelong West in theVictorian Football Association (VFA).
Regarded as one of the bestfull-forwards to ever play the game, McKenna holds the VFL/AFL record for the longest sequence of matches in which he scored at least one goal: 121 matches. Amoptop hairstyle, genial grin, and a gift for taking chest-high marks won McKenna adulation in the 1960s and 1970s as the game's first multimedia star. He continued his involvement in the game as a commentator with theSeven Network during the 1980s and 1990s.
McKenna was the second of five children to Winnie and Kevin McKenna.[1] He grew up supportingEssendon and played soccer until he was 13.[1]
Recruited from West Heidelberg YCW, McKenna credited Collingwood coachBob Rose for patiently helping to shape him into the champion footballer he was to become.[2] In the opening round of the1966 VFL season againstHawthorn atVictoria Park, McKenna gave a glimpse of what was to come when he kicked 12 goals in a match-winning effort, the first of thirteen occasions when he would kick ten or more goals in a game. However, McKenna's form dropped away; and, after being held goalless againstNorth Melbourne in round 6, he was dropped for the remainder of the season. He went on to be the VFL reserves leading goalkicker that season, with 46 goals.[3]
McKenna kicked 47 goals in 1967, leading Collingwood's goalkicking for the first time. He went on to win that award for eight consecutive seasons, including in 1969 and 1971 when he kicked 143 and 134 goals, respectively. From the start of the1968 VFL season to round 3,1974, McKenna kicked at least one goal in 121 consecutive games, still a VFL/AFL record as of 2024.[4]
McKenna was noted for his use of thedrop punt as his preferred kick for goalkicking. Although the drop punt had been in use since the 1930s, McKenna's accuracy and distance with the kick, at a time when most forwards still used the flat punt for shots longer than 30 metres, made him one of the first great exponents of the kicking style and helped to popularise it.[5]
Collingwood played in two grand finals during McKenna's career,1966 and1970, both of which Collingwood lost. McKenna did not play in the former match. In the latter game, he was concussed in a collision with teammateDes Tuddenham before half time which contributed to Collingwood giving up a 44-point half-time lead.
In 1972 and 1973, McKenna was theVFL leading goalkicker, kicking 130 in 1972 and 86 in 1973. In 1972, he was also namedAll-Australian for his performance in the1972 Perth Carnival forVictoria.[clarification needed]
At the end of round 10,1975, McKenna led Collingwood's goalkicking list with a modest total of 26 goals, but the following week he had a poor game in which he was held goalless in the round 11 Queen's Birthday match against Melbourne. This performance saw him and a number of teammates in round 12 dropped to the reserves againstSouth Melbourne Football Club atVFL Park in which he suffered a kidney injury – he did not play for Collingwood again after that.
In 1976, McKenna played with theDevonport Magpies in Tasmania'sNorth West Football Union (NWFU). He played a solitary season for Devonport and kicked 79 goals in 17 games.
McKenna returned to the VFL in 1977 to play for Collingwood's bitter rival,Carlton, kicking 36 goals in 11 games. He left Carlton after one season and then spent three years in theVictorian Football Association (VFA), playing one year with each ofGeelong West (67 goals) andPort Melbourne (51 goals), where he was captain/coach, andNorthcote (75 goals).[6]
Altogether, McKenna's VFL record of 874 goals from 191 games was enough to place him as the league's fourth-highest goalkicker at the time of his retirement, behind onlyGordon Coventry,Doug Wade andJack Titus; as of the end of the2023 AFL season, he sat tenth on the all-time league leaderboard. He has scored the most goals of any player to finish his career with fewer than 200 VFL/AFL games, and his goals-per-game average of 4.58 is the fifth-highest of all time.[7] His full senior and representative career yielded 1,213 goals.
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Led the league for the season only | |
| Led the league after finals only | |
| Led the league after season and finals |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | ||||
| 1965 | Collingwood | 15 | 12 | 21 | 12 | 110 | 15 | 125 | 47 | — | 1.8 | 1.0 | 9.2 | 1.3 | 10.4 | 3.9 | — |
| 1966 | Collingwood | 6 | 6 | 20 | 11 | 64 | 19 | 83 | 40 | — | 3.3 | 1.8 | 10.7 | 3.2 | 13.8 | 6.7 | — |
| 1967 | Collingwood | 6 | 16 | 47 | 33 | 186 | 21 | 207 | 96 | — | 2.9 | 2.1 | 11.6 | 1.3 | 12.9 | 6.0 | — |
| 1968 | Collingwood | 6 | 15 | 64 | 34 | 145 | 14 | 159 | 81 | — | 4.3 | 2.3 | 9.7 | 0.9 | 10.6 | 5.4 | — |
| 1969 | Collingwood | 6 | 19 | 98 | 55 | 241 | 24 | 265 | 125 | — | 5.2 | 2.9 | 12.7 | 1.3 | 13.9 | 6.6 | — |
| 1970 | Collingwood | 6 | 22 | 143 | 80 | 294 | 32 | 326 | 164 | — | 6.5 | 3.6 | 13.4 | 1.5 | 14.8 | 7.5 | — |
| 1971 | Collingwood | 6 | 22 | 134 | 79 | 282 | 32 | 314 | 159 | — | 6.1 | 3.6 | 12.8 | 1.5 | 14.3 | 7.2 | — |
| 1972 | Collingwood | 6 | 20 | 130 | 53 | 225 | 23 | 248 | 132 | — | 6.5 | 2.7 | 11.3 | 1.2 | 12.4 | 6.6 | — |
| 1973 | Collingwood | 6 | 20 | 86 | 42 | 179 | 17 | 196 | 113 | — | 4.3 | 2.1 | 9.0 | 0.9 | 9.8 | 5.7 | — |
| 1974 | Collingwood | 6 | 18 | 69 | 34 | 138 | 14 | 152 | 85 | — | 3.8 | 1.9 | 7.7 | 0.8 | 8.4 | 4.7 | — |
| 1975 | Collingwood | 6 | 10 | 26 | 14 | 59 | 11 | 70 | 31 | — | 2.6 | 1.6 | 6.6 | 1.2 | 7.8 | 3.4 | — |
| 1977 | Carlton | 27 | 11 | 36 | 23 | 89 | 10 | 99 | 41 | — | 3.3 | 2.1 | 8.1 | 0.9 | 9.0 | 3.7 | — |
| Career | 191 | 874 | 470 | 2012 | 232 | 2244 | 1114 | — | 4.6 | 2.5 | 10.6 | 1.2 | 11.8 | 5.9 | — | ||
During his football career, he recorded his first pop singleThings to Remember, written by Melbourne singer/songwriter Colin Buckley. This was followed by another singleSmile, written byJohnny Young.
In 1969, he was a teacher at Fairfield State Primary.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s he taught at Marcellin College Junior Boys School in Camberwell.
McKenna appeared regularly on television at this time, beingDaryl Somers' co-host ofHey Hey It's Saturday for the show's first eight weeks in late 1971, and continuing to appear afterOssie Ostrich had replaced him as co-host. There were also appearances on shows such asYoung Talent Time andHappening '72.
In 1973, he published a book describing his life and career to date, and his thoughts on the VFL and Australian football in general. The book was co-written with Phillip Burfurd and published in theJack PollardSportsmaster range of titles.My World Of Football was subtitled "The candid, provocative innermost thoughts and technical secrets of an Australian football hero".
After his football career had ended, McKenna commentated football with theSeven Network until Seven lost the rights to broadcast AFL matches after the2001 AFL season. He then worked in radio and as a part-time goalkicking coach at Collingwood until May 2004 when it was announced that McKenna would begin working as a ministerial transport officer (chauffeur) for theParliament of Victoria.[9][10]
In September 2007, in an attempt to boost public awareness and support forepilepsy sufferers and their families, McKenna opened up about the three deaths in his family that had impacted him deeply over the years; those of his older sister Marie, who died after suffering an epileptic seizure just days out from McKenna's 21st birthday, and father Kevin and brother Gerard(drowned in bath) fromdiabetes-related illnesses.[1]
McKenna is married with two daughters and two grandsons.