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Sport Nation
Find your Sport Nation frequencyRussell: Barrie Robran is up there with the greatest
Dwayne Russell • July 16th, 2025 2:52 pm
My grandfather and my father both played for North Adelaide, so I met Barrie Robran many a time.
He was a selector when I was playing state footy as well. I nearly went and played for North when Barrie was at the club.
He was a beautifully graceful player. If I could equate him to someone similar with the way he moved, he had Scott Pendlebury’s ability to slow time and creativeness. He could assess everything in slow motion.
My first footy jumper as a kid was a North Adelaide number 10. I got to see Barrie play many times at Prospect Oval.
I ended up meeting Barrie as a kid, as a 15-year-old I wanted to play for North, but I was in Port Adelaide’s area which I didn’t regret.
He was a softly spoken, humble, nice human being. He didn’t seem like your traditional 1970s footballer because he wasn’t. He was all skill, he mesmerised opponents, he was as pure ball-reading, athletic, spatial awareness genius.
His mind was a bit like a super computer, calculating everything before anyone else could actually calculate it. He’d move and cruise in slow motion.
He took huge marks every week, yet he was a bit like boxer - you couldn’t lay a glove on him. No one could get near him.
There is a statue of him outside the Adelaide Oval which I’m sure has plenty of flowers around it now. It’s a statue of him taking a mark which is the iconic image.
He’ll be sadly missed. A three-time Magarey Medallist but so much more than that. It was Robran, Russell Ebert and Gary Ablett Snr as the greatest players in my mind.
He’s up there with the greatest, Barrie Robran.
Image from North Adelaide FC.
