Australian Football

Capable of playing as a defender, centreman or on-baller David Palm was recruited by Norwood from Kensington Gardens in 1974 and made his way steadily up the ranks before making his senior debut midway through the 1976 season. He ended up playing 65 SANFL games and kicking 79 goals for the club with his biggest disappointment coming in 1978 when he failed to achieve selection for the Redlegs’ ultimately winning grand final clash with Sturt. Instead, he played for the reserves, who downed West Adelaide in their grand final.

The 1980 season saw Palm crossing the Nullarbor to join West Perth where he produced some excellent football over the course of a three season stint, attracting the notice of Richmond among others. He ended up joining the Tigers to whom he gave excellent service in 104 VFL games (kicking 38 goals) between 1983 and 1988. A rugged, straight ahead type of player who typically used the ball extremely well he was highly regarded at Punt Road and was a virtual ever present in the senior team.

In 1989 Palm was appointed as an assistant coach at Springvale in the VFA where he played 17 senior games and registered 15 goals. He was also selected to represent the victorious Association at the NFL division two carnival in Hobart.

David Palm finished his career with a two season stint back at West Perth, taking his final tally of games with the club to 91 and the number of goals kicked to 50. He won the Falcons’ fairest and best award in 1990 the same season that saw him represent the West Australian state league representative team. In his final season he served as club skipper.

Author - John Devaney