Kevin Worthington
Kevin Worthington | |||
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Personal information | |||
Date of birth | 25 May 1953 | ||
Height / weight | 189 cm / 88 kg | ||
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Kevin Worthington (born 25 May 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood in the VFL during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Worthington arrived at Collingwood from Claremont where he had played since 1971. He was used by Collingwood coach Tom Hafey as a fullback or back pocket and participated in their losing 1977 and 1979 Grand Final teams. An injury prone knee caused him to head back west in 1980 and he spent the season with Claremont. After performing well he returned to Collingwood the following year to finish his VFL career.
His last Victorian season came in 1982 and he resumed in the WAFL at a new club Perth, spending 1983 and 1984 there to finish with 129 games in the league. He also played four interstate games for Western Australia over the course of his career, including the inaugural State of Origin encounter against Victoria.
After retiring as a player, Worthington had a long association with his Magpie teammate Stan Magro at country club Wagin and then in 1992 and 1993 as Magro's assistant at East Perth, who had fallen upon hard times since the middle 1980s as their suburban recruiting base was affected by demographic shifts. In his first season as Magro's assistant, Worthington unexpectedly took the Royals as far as a preliminary final, but the following season they fell to seventh in a competition so even that the Royals were only three and a half wins from the top. After two unsuccessful years under little-known former South Fremantle player Robert Solin, Worthington took the reins at East Perth and steered them as far as their first grand final in nineteen seasons. However, the following three years were progressively less successful and at the end of a 1999 season that saw the Royals ahead only of a winless Peel Thunder, he was unceremoniously sacked[1] to be replaced by Tony Micale.
He us the uncle of Australian basketball player Mark Worthington.[2]
References
- ^ Fight on East Perth
- ^ Butler, Steve Eagles eye off Boomer Worthington (18 August 2012)
External links
- Kevin Worthington's playing statistics from AFL Tables
- "Full Points Footy Biography: Kevin Worthington". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011.