Ken Ward, the cool-under-pressure Tiger back pocket, who played in the stunning 1957 upset of Norm Smith’s Melbourne, has died. He was 91.

Ward died October 18^th 2026 in Rosebud, Victoria, his niece’s husband Scott told Rhett Bartlett.

From 1956-59 he played 43 senior games, and it would have been plenty more if not for National Service and a persistent thigh injury that sidelined him for half of the 1958 season.

His best year was 1957 where he finished 4^th in the Best and Fairest, and starred in the Round 7 boilover of ladder leaders Melbourne.

Standing 5ft 8 and weighing 80kgs, Ward was known for his sound judgement in defence, turning back many attacks, and often guarded the opposition rover who, as was the style at the time, would rest in the pocket.

Going into the game Richmond languished in second-last position and hosted the mighty Demons, winners of the previous two flags. (They would go on to three-peat).

The Tigers had not beaten them outright for four years. At quarter-time and half-time the scores were level. Richmond led by 1 goal at the last break but Melbourne were expected to run over them.

“Ken Ward played a magnificent game for Richmond in the back pocket,” the Football Record wrote. “His pace, anticipation, judgment and clearing dashes often had the Demons nonplussed. It was a match-winning effort.”

The defeat was so surprising that it made the front page of the newspapers.
The match was also notable for a scoreboard discrepancy that awarded Melbourne the win by 1 point. The goal umpires’ scorecards said otherwise and Richmond triumphed by 2 points.

Born September 30 1935, Ward won a premiership at Ashburton FC in 1953 and had several clubs keeping an eye on his progress. He signed for Richmond on April 15^th 1955.

His debut was against Geelong down at Kardinia Park as 20^th man, and he came on to replace Allan Cooke.

Image: Ken Ward's debut

Ward also played 35 Reserve games between 1955-59, including the premiership over Footscray in his debut season, where he named in the best players.

At the end of the 1958 season, he attempted to overcome his injuries with an intense 13 weeks of summer training alongside Tom Hafey, Ron Branton, Tista de Lorenzo, and John Jenkins, but carried a knee injury during 1959 and was never fully fit for long periods.

At the season’s end Richmond cut him, and he tried out at South Melbourne before ending up at Oakleigh in the VFA.

In 1962 he joined St George Australian Football Club in NSW where he was appointed captain/coach, guided them to a premiership and won their Best and Fairest.