Billy Brownless

Anthony William "Billy" Brownless (born 28 January 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s.

Brownless was born and raised in Jerilderie, a rural town in New South Wales.

Brownless first played football for his local team, the Jerilderie Football Club, when it was part of the Murray Football League. He boarded for three years in Kilmore, Victoria, at Assumption College, one of Australia's most renowned "football nurseries", a school which has a strong tradition of producing footballers who have gone on to play in the AFL. In 1984, his final year at the school, Brownless kicked 155 goals for the school team.

Geelong asked Brownless to come and train, but instead he chose to return home to Jerilderie to be with family and friends and play a season of senior football before going to Geelong. During the 1985 season, he kicked 148 goals for the Jerilderie senior team while working as a farmhand. Jerilderie made it to the grand final but lost. Brownless kicked six of the team's nine goals despite having injured an ankle in the semi-final.

Brownless moved to Geelong in time for the 1986 VFL season and began working as a groundsman at Kardinia Park. He said that playing for Geelong was a natural progression for him because of the town's rural atmosphere:

It's really like a big country town and the club's a lot like a country club. You're all behind one another and you're all pretty close. It's a good feeling.

Brownless made his senior VFL debut in Round 1, 1986 and quickly made a name for himself as a strong full-forward, winning the Cats' best first year player award that year. He went on to play 198 games and kick 441 goals, putting him fourth in Geelong's all-time goalkicking list, behind Gary Ablett (1021), Doug Wade (834) and Steve Johnson (443).