Known as "Tulip", he was a wingman for most of his career[1] and was characterised by his ability to create space for himself and kick and handpass the ball with extraordinary accuracy.
[citation needed] Towards the end of the 1986 season, as Flower completed his 14th season without playing in a final, the Melbourne Football Club placed newspaper advertisements requesting donations from the public to enable the club to recruit a high-profile player under the headline "Please give Robbie one last chance to play in a final".
[5] Flower recalls in his autobiography Robbie that he started to run from the ground and paused to see the ball go through the goal and then went to the dressing rooms where he threw a can of drink against the wall in anger.
[6] After retiring as a player, Flower was inducted in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named on the wing in Melbourne's Team of the Century.
Robert's son, Brad, was considered a possible father–son selection in 2003 after playing for Sandringham Football Club,[10] but he was overlooked and was never recruited to an AFL team.