Port Adelaide legend Geof Motley Dies, Aged 88

One of Geof Motley's old premiership teammates has praised his toughness and leadership, saying that he leaves behind an outstanding football legacy after his death.

If you ask anybody who knew Geof Motley about either his football skills or his character, you'll get the same response.

Bob Philp, a player of Mots's on the Port Adelaide champion squad, said to this masthead, "You had no doubts about Mots."

There was no gray area.

"You always knew where he stood, and he played football the same way even when the game was on the line."

Motley, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88 following a brief illness, was known as a tough natural leader and the ultimate winner throughout his time at Port Adelaide and throughout South Australia.

The Australian Football Hall of Famer has been retired for 57 years, but he still holds a record for the most premierships won by a player in the SANFL (9).

He played 250 games for the club and scored 156 goals, earning him the Magarey Medal in 1964, four best and fairest awards, and four championships as captain.

For South Australia, he made 28 appearances.

Philp attributed Motley's consistent success to the company's insistence on only accepting the best.

"He was not only mentally strong, but he was physically strong," Philp remarked.

If you crossed him, it was like getting poked in the chest with a piece of steel, therefore you didn't want to risk it.

He was one of the strongest and hardest football players around.

They say (Neil) Kerley was powerful, but Motley was even more so on the physical and mental fronts, in my opinion.

Motley was one of only six players to appear in each of the club's national record six straight flags from 1954–1959. The Central District combo of Chris and James Gowans also won as many.

Ex-teammate and Port Adelaide legend John Cahill praised him as a natural leader.

Cahill, who played with Motley from 1958 to 1966, gushed over his former teammate, telling this masthead, "He was just so talented and so rarely, if ever, got beaten."

As his peers said, "He was brilliant."

Motley was born and raised in the Magpies' Albert Park stronghold; his father, Arthur, was a reserve player for the team.

Motley made his professional debut in 1953 and started Port's streak of six consecutive seasons the following year.

He became a fixture on the other half-back flank to close friend and teammate Neville "Chicken" Hayes, who also attended Woodville High, but was praised for his adaptability.

Port swung Motley from centre to the forward line for the 1957 grand final, and he responded by kicking seven goals, including four in the final term, as Port defeated Norwood by 11 points.

"Mots played everywhere," Philp declared.

Put him in that position if you're in a jam.

He dismantled some out-of-state guys, they said.

Motley was ruthless but never gave any information.

His "wonderful sense of humor," as described by Philp, was not at odds with his no-nonsense approach.

"He'd set you up as quick as a flash," the former ruckman claimed.

"We were in the showers at Port Adelaide when I was around 19 or 20 and trying to get in." Motley asked me, "do you cleanse your body?" when I was a naive apprentice boilermaker with a much to learn. Detox?'

Like if you eat steak and it sits in your body, I went home and asked my mom if we had any Epsom salts so I could clear out my system.

The whole night I was out s****ing, and you know what happened.

Two days later, "Mots came up and stated, "how you'd proceed purifying the body?"

He laughed like a buggaree when I said "yes, thank you very much."

In 1959, after Fos Williams had led Port Adelaide to five consecutive championships as captain and coach, Williams stepped down and Motley took over.

Motley had initially declined the Magpies' offers of employment, but they persisted.

After leading the club to its sixth straight premiership as captain-coach in 1959, he was fired and replaced by Williams, who had previously coached the club, two years later.

"If you don't win premierships down there, they give you the bullet," Motley joked to this masthead in 2020.

Motley's familial history with Port prevented Glenelg from recruiting him as captain-coach for the 1962 season.

Motley explained, "I had lost my father a couple of years before that, and my mother said, 'your dad wouldn't be happy, and the family aren't that happy,' so I told Glenelg I wouldn't go."

"I'm glad that I did that, and it's important to me personally that I was a one-team player."

After Philp was fired as coach, Motley stayed with the Magpies until the end of his career.

"He was Port Adelaide," he remarked.

When you're out and about in the Port with Geof, random strangers will approach you to ask, "How are you doing, Mots?" This week's a big one'.

It was said of him, "People loved him and he was good around kids, doing a lot for the children's hospital."

As captain, Motley put an emphasis on sharing in the joy of team victories.

When the Magpies first won the SANFL's "big gold cup" in 1963, Motley called Philp at his boilermaking job in Semaphore to invite him to Alberton to celebrate with champagne in the new trophy.

"He got every player there that day," Philp said.

I'm very sure my tooth mark is still in that cup, and it can carry six bottles of champagne.

The next year, the squad returned the favor by celebrating Motley's Magarey Medal victory in his Woodville home.

Within 20 minutes of him earning the medal, "there would have been 20 of the 40 players in his house," Philp added.

The victory was the team's and not just his own.

To paraphrase, "It was ours, and it was a part of us."

When Motley retired in 1966 due to a knee injury, he held the Port record for most games played.

From 1967 to 1969, he coached North Adelaide, and he also served as the Magpies' and state team's selectors' chairman and as a member of Sturt's match committee, where his son Peter played.

With partner Allen Greer, he ran the Motley and Greer sports store and a manufacturing enterprise.

Later in his career, Motley began managing players including Craig Bradley, Nathan Buckley, and Warren Tredrea.

After Peter's career at Carlton was cut short by a car accident in Melbourne in 1987, Motley devoted himself off the field to helping him.

Bradley remembered and honored a wonderful human being and dear friend.

"Geof had such a presence in everything he did and will be missed," the former Port Adelaide and Carlton star said.

Currently, "it's a very sad time."

The legacy of Motley will continue at Port Adelaide.

In 2014, the club honored him by naming the annual player race at Adelaide Oval after him after he was selected to play halfback on the team's Greatest Team.

The Australian Football Hall of Fame inducted him in 2008.

Motley, according to Port CEO Matthew Richardson, is a club legend who accomplished the unthinkable by winning nine flags in 12 years.

"He always had that great sense of connection to our people and community," Richardson added.

And the one thing we could provide to the people of Port Adelaide was a premiership," is the phrase of Geof's that has stuck with me the most.

In honor of Port Adelaide's 150th anniversary in 2020, a panel from the Advertiser selected Motley as the club's No. 4 greatest player of all time.

Motley did not hesitate when asked back then what traits distinguished the best Port Adelaide footballers:

You must achieve success. At Port Adelaide, winning was the only thing that mattered.

"They need to be competent, but more importantly, they need to have a work ethic that goes above and beyond.

They are dedicated to the cause and are ready to endure discipline.

"Most people despise us because we're Port Adelaide and we keep winning, but we did it because our application and work ethic were superior to theirs.

You can never get me to abandon my Port Adelaide roots.

Wanita, Peter (also a SA football legend), and Brett Motley are his surviving offspring.