Vale Robert Farmer 1947-2026
Career 1964-69
Games 56 Goals 51
The Collingwood Football Club has been deeply saddened to learn of the death of former player Robert Farmer, at the age of 79.
Robert was a schoolboy prodigy who attracted huge headlines when he debuted for the Magpies as a precociously talented 16-year-old in 1964, while still at Heidelberg High School.
There had been a buzz about him even before that debut, with many good judges rating him the best young player in the State at the time, after a string of brilliant performances for a Victorian schoolboys side. In 1963 he’d won a local junior competition best-and-fairest award with 42 out of a possible 45 votes – and he only missed votes in the remaining game because he’d been reported!
Such was his pedigree that, despite his young age, he never played Under-19s for us. Instead he went straight into the reserves, and made his senior debut on a half-forward flank just six weeks later. It was a meteoric rise.
Robert was an exciting forward who loved flying for marks and kicking big bags of goals. He’d spent most of his junior days as a key forward, but at senior level found he wasn’t quite tall enough to hold down a key post. He also soon found himself competing for spots with other talls including Ian Graham, Doug Searl and Peter McKenna. Yet he didn’t quite have the speed and agility to make it as a flanker.
The end result was that he found it difficult to make the transition from being a junior star to a consistent senior player.
There were plenty of good moments along the way, including a career-high four goals against Essendon in 1965, and some terrific games that hinted at his great promise. But he struggled to put together long runs of high-level performances, even in his 52 reserves games.
He put together a career-best season in 1968, during which he also represented Australia with the Galahs against a touring Irish side, but he once again struggled for regular senior game time in 1969 and was released to West Adelaide at the end of that year. He later played with Coburg in the VFA.
The Board, management, staff, coaches and players of the Collingwood Football Club would like to recognise Robert’s contribution to our club. Our thoughts are with his family, and his friends from Collingwood and beyond.
Side by Side.
To read Robert’s full story and the stats from his career, check his bio on Forever:
