Joe Slater

Who was Joe Slater?

Joe Slater was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football League.

Slater usually played as a defender, with stints in the midfield and up forward but was named as a half back flanker in Geelong's official 'Team of the Century' wearing Guernsey numbers 19, 17, 30 and 10. Good overhead, Slater twice represented Victoria at interstate football. An all round sportsman Slater made 101 for Geelong 'B' against Kardinia in the First Eleven match in the G.C.A. season 1909/10. On the 15th June, 1912 Slater kicked a drop kick goal at Richmond's Punt Road Oval from the centre; measured Approx. 77.72 metres. Due to work commitments in Melbourne in 1913 Slater intended to play with University also in the V.F.L. However he played several matches with Hawthorn in the V.F.A. and in one game against Collingwood District he broke his collar bone and refused to leave the ground so his team wouldn't be one man short. Slater eventually returned to Geelong that year. Former League Champion of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries Peter Burns wrote of Slater in 1940.