Russell Ebert

[23] It was during the 1969 SANFL season that members of Port Adelaide's golden era were retiring from football en masse, resulting in Fos Williams providing league debuts to 15 first-year players.

[26] On 26 June 1971 the publication Inside Football reported that Carlton had approached Port Adelaide with the intention of freeing Ebert from his contract to play for them in the VFL.

[15] At the conclusion of the 1973 SANFL season, Alan Schwab from Richmond and Ron Joseph from North Melbourne both made approaches to Ebert offering him contracts to play for their respective clubs in the VFL.

[34] For the 1974 SANFL season, John Cahill took over as Port Adelaide coach from Fos Williams, and one of his first actions was to appoint Ebert as club captain.

[37] Port Adelaide lost the 1974 SANFL Preliminary Final to Glenelg by 49 points with Ebert's summation published in the Sunday Mail being "Disappointed...what else can I say?".

[45] In Ebert's fourth attempt at winning an SANFL Grand Final, he and his club were unsuccessful, with Sturt defeating Port Adelaide by 41 points.

[47] Ebert won his first premiership as a player as Port Adelaide broke its 12-year drought, defeating Glenelg at Football Park in the 1977 SANFL Grand Final.

'Following the success of Port Adelaide's 1977 premiership, the club, led by Ebert, finished fourth during the minor round of the 1978 SANFL season, qualifying for finals.

[54] Glenelg were in control of the game for the first three quarters but a "gutsy" effort by Ebert in the midfield helped Port Adelaide win the match and qualify for the Preliminary Final against Norwood.

[54] On 22 January 1979 Ebert spoke to Bob McLean, Port Adelaide's general manager, informing him of his intention to play with North Melbourne for the 1979 VFL season.

[56] In response to Ebert moving from the SANFL to the VFL, the former league's president Max Basheer lamented that "[f]rom a state and club viewpoint we cannot afford to lose players of this calibre".

'According to Malcolm Blight, when North Melbourne suffered a series of injuries during 1979, Ron Barassi utilised Ebert in a range of different positions.

[16] Despite this, when Ebert was asked if he was glad he played for North Melbourne he unequivocally answered affirmatively saying "Absolutely...It was one of the most demanding, one of the most exciting and one of the most satisfying years that I can remember.

[68] Norwood provided a strong challenge, leading the match at three quarter time, but Port Adelaide, who lost Tim Evans with an injury during the game, mounted a comeback, winning the premiership decider by 18 points.

On 12 June 1982, an interstate match was held at Football Park between Western Australia and a South Australian side featuring eight Port Adelaide players including Ebert.

[76] Port Adelaide reached the 1982 SANFL Preliminary Final but its quest for a fourth consecutive premiership was ended in a fiery match against Glenelg, who won the game by 1 point.

[77] Trevor Gill, in writing his match report for The News, observed that Norwood, Glenelg's opponent in the 1982 SANFL Grand Final, would be beneficiaries of the gruelling encounter against Port Adelaide.

[89] However, Ebert began his first season as a non-playing coach without his star wingman and reigning club best and fairest, Craig Bradley, who had been acquired by Carlton.

[89] During a training session Port Adelaide's full forward Tim Evans suffered a cracked tibia after stepping on a sprinkler, leading the club's greatest goal-kicker to retire.

[94] Despite overtures from Essendon, Port Adelaide and Ebert managed to hold reigning Magarey Medallist Greg Anderson to the final year of contract for the 1987 SANFL season.

[96] Although the three seasons preceding Ebert's dismissal as coach were ultimately unsuccessful, he is credited with blooding a large number of champions that helped propel the club into the Australian Football League.

[18] Ebert, having recently lost his position as Port Adelaide coach to John Cahill, accepted to fill the equivalent role at Woodville.

[18] In his first season as coach of Woodville, the club won the 1988 Escort Cup Final defeating Port Adelaide by 45 points in front of 31,210 at Football Park.

With a high skill level, errors were rare, and his ability to hit teammates with accurate, spearing passes made him very effective in attacking roles.

[107] Ebert was a member of the FIVEaa commentary team, along with Ken Cunningham and Chris Dittmar, that called Port Adelaide's win in the 2004 AFL Grand Final.

[113] The event is a convoy of boats that travels along the River Murray to raise money for Novita in order to assist people living with disability in South Australia.

[129] On 9 November 2021, the Ebert family, along with the indented host, the Port Adelaide Football Club, accepted the offer for a state funeral to be held at Alberton Oval.

"[8] At the Glenelg Football Club Centenary Gala, held a few days after Ebert had passed away, the audience paused to celebrate his career, and the band played the INXS song "Never Tear Us Apart" in his honour.

[138] Ebert was the second and currently only one of four Australian rules footballers to have a statue at Adelaide Oval, with the other players being Barrie Robran, Malcolm Blight, and Ken Farmer.

[139] An online poll of Port Adelaide supporters in 2015 saw Ebert, three decades after he had played his last football game, garner 60% of the vote, ahead of next best Gavin Wanganeen, who received 23%.

Ebert was born in Berri, South Australia , a town on the River Murray .
Fos Williams (pictured) was Ebert's first league coach. Williams said that Ebert "was the most skilful of the Port Adelaide players who came under my control". [ 15 ]
Ebert joined fellow South Australian Malcolm Blight at North Melbourne for the 1979 VFL season .
Ebert was involved with the 'Outback Odyssey' for three decades. It was a fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). [ 109 ] Pictured is a sign on the Eyre Highway indicating a RFDS emergency airstrip is ahead.
One of Ebert's sons, Brett , also played for Port Adelaide .