Australian Football

Recruited from Edithvale-Aspendale, Barry Goodingham was a solid and forceful ruckman who, like more than one of his contemporaries, gloried in the Addams Family-derived nickname 'Lurch'. North Melbourne handed him his VFL debut in 1967 and he went on to play 158 games and boot 47 goals for the Roos, culminating in an appearance on the bench in the club's historic 1975 premiership team. In 1976-7 he added a further 30 VFL games plus a dozen goals for South Melbourne.

The 1978 season saw Goodingham at Woodville where he played another 48 league games in three seasons. The second and third of those seasons saw him occupy the role of senior coach in which capacity he experienced both the 'highs' (the club's first finals qualification in 1979) and 'lows' (an almost inevitable wooden spoon the following year).

Tall, rangy and long-reaching, Goodingham almost always at least held his own in the ruck contests, but was somewhat less effective around the ground. His style may have been awkward, but he nevertheless put everything into his football, and it is hard to ask any player for more than that.

Author - John Devaney