THE Port Adelaide Football Club pays its respects to John Abley - the Full Back in Port Adelaide’s official Greatest Team - who has passed away, aged 81.

A member of seven Magpies Premiership sides including every one the six-in-a-row teams from 1954-59, John is among the Club’s finest ever players.

The dominant defender of his era, he also played Full Back in 23 games for South Australia, earning All Australian nominations in each of the three Carnivals he played.

John was named a Life Member of Port Adelaide in 1959 and was inducted into the SANFL Hall of Fame in 1998.

But he could easily never have been at Port Adelaide.

Along with his family, John came to Adelaide from Victoria where he had played for Melbourne District and Reserves for Hawthorn. After initially planning to live in the Glenelg area, he moved to Port Adelaide following the intervention of “Big Bob” McLean.

“There are very few people that contributed more to the Magpies,” Motley said.

“He stands tall in relation to his contribution in the golden era of the Port Adelaide Football Club. He will never be forgotten and nor should he be.

"Of all of his achievements and contributions, by far his greatest was being among the six players who won an Australian record six premierships in a row between 1954 and 1959."

Motley says John was a miserly defender who played against some of the greatest forwards in the history of the game, including Essendon legend John Coleman.

“He was as tough and mean a player as you would expect to find. He would get offended if a bloke got a kick against him let alone a goal,” Motley recalled.

“He was unbelievably well respected, but he was unbelievably quiet. John’s loyalty to Port Adelaide never waned throughout his life.”

John is fondly remembered for his extraordinary talent on the field and for being a true gentleman, always displaying a warm nature away from the ground. As well as his football exploits, he will be remembered for rising from a wheel chair to accept his Greatest Team selection at a function at the Adelaide Convention Centre in 2001.

John Abley passed away on Friday 19 August after a short illness.

The Port Adelaide Football Club extends its condolences to John’s wife Elizabeth, his daughters Michelle and Annie, his extended family and friends.

In acknowledgement of John’s contribution to Port Adelaide, Magpies players will wear black arm bands in Friday night’s clash with Sturt at Adelaide Oval. The Power team will do the same in Sunday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs at AAMI Stadium.

John William Abley

1/10/30 - 19/8/11

212 Games (1950-61)

Premierships: 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959

23 State Games

All Australian: 1956, 1958, 1961

Life Member (1959)

SANFL Hall Of Fame (Inducted 1998)

Full Back - “The Greatest Team of the Greatest Club 1870-2000”