Bernie Naylor

Bernie Naylor
Bernie Naylor
Personal information
Full name	Bernard George Naylor
Date of birth	(1923-04-19)19 April 1923
Date of death	26 September 1993(1993-09-26) (aged 70)
Original team(s)	Fremantle C.B.C Old Boys
Debut	South Fremantle
Position(s)	Full-forward
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
(1941,1946–1954)	South Fremantle	194 (1034)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1954.
Career highlights
South Fremantle premiership side 1947–48, 1950, 1952–54 Leading goalkicker (WANFL) 1946–48, 1952–54 Most goals in a single WA(N)FL game: 23 (vs Subiaco, 1953) Most goals in a single WA(N)FL season: 167 (1953)

Bernard George "Bernie" Naylor (19 April 1923 – 26 September 1993) was an Australian rules footballer who was one of the most successful full-forwards in the history of the West Australian Football League. The WAFL now awards the leading goalscorer each year the Bernie Naylor Medal.

Naylor began his football career with Fremantle Christian Brothers College Old Boys of the WAAFL in 1940 and made his debut for South Fremantle in 1941. Naylor kicked sixty goals in his debut season, including nine in the first semi-final against Claremont, but the Second World War caused the WANFL to revert to an underage competition for three seasons. Owing to military service in Darwin Naylor did not wear the red and white again until 1946, when he scored 131 goals to head the WANFL goalkicking for the first of six occasions. The following season, Naylor played in the first of six South Fremantle premiership teams over an eight-year period that is generally regarded as the strongest team in WA(N)FL history, being one of three players present in all six Grand Final victories. Naylor naturally became the first choice full-forward for interstate games, but after having injury problems during the 1949 season was surprisingly played as a half-forward flanker for part of the next two seasons.

In 1952, however, Naylor asserted himself as one of the greatest goalkickers in the history of Australian Rules with a tally of 147 goals, which beat George Doig’s 1937 record of 144. Included in this was a haul of nineteen goals against East Fremantle that put the blue and whites out of the finals for the first time in thirty-seven seasons.The following season was even more brilliant as Naylor won South Fremantle’s best and fairest award, an achievement none of the WANFL’s previous great full forwards had ever managed, and broke his own record with 167 goals including eight in the Grand Final against West Perth. Against lowly Subiaco Naylor kicked a total of 48 goals in three games, including a still-standing WANFL record of 23 (including 12 in a quarter) in their third meeting, plus eighteen in their first despite leg problems. After the Grand Final South Fremantle played twice against the champion Footscray defence. The teams won one game each; with Naylor kicking a further 7 goals.