RICHMOND is mourning the loss of two-time premiership player Brian Roberts.
Roberts, whose 198cm and 120kg frame saw him nicknamed 'The Whale', passed away on Saturday at the age of 70.
The classy ruckman featured in 78 games for the Tigers between 1971 and 1974, winning consecutive premierships in 1973-74.
Before joining the Tigers, Roberts played for SANFL club South Adelaide, WAFL team East Fremantle, and represented South Australia and Western Australia in the state representative squads.
In May 1975, Roberts was one of three players controversially traded to South Melbourne – along with Graham Teasdale and Francis Jackson – in exchange for Swans star John Pitura.
While Pitura struggled to recapture the heights he displayed at the Swans, Roberts polled 17 Brownlow Medal votes in just 15 games in 1975 to finish three votes shy of the winner, Footscray great Gary Dempsey.
Roberts was renowned for his sense of humour and ability to lighten the mood at Punt Road and the Lakeside Oval.
He forged a successful career as a publican after hanging up the boots at the age of 30. Roberts first operated the Cricket Club Hotel in South Melbourne and then the Duke of Wellington Hotel in Flinders Street and both were tremendously popular in football and cricket circles as well as for sports journalists looking to break stories.
