AFL legend Barry Round passes away at the age of 72

AFL legend Barry Round has died at the age of 72.

Round’s VFL/AFL career spanned 328 games after he made his debut during the opening round of the 1969 season with Footscray.

He played 135 games with Footscray before joining Sydney where he played 193 games. His career finished at Williamstown where he played another 110 games.

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Round’s highest individual career honour came in 1981 when he finished atop the leaderboard of the Brownlow Medal on 22 votes alongside Fitzroy’s Bernie Quinlan.

His official cause of death, as reported by the Herald Sun, was from organ failure.

News of his death left the football community heartbroken as tributes came flooding in.

Journalist Mark Stevens wrote: “Bloody sad. Giant of a bloke.”

Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield wrote: “RIP Barry Round.”

Round was born in Warragul in 1950 and made a name for himself in the AFL as a dominating big man.

He was named to Australian Football’s Hall of Fame in 2001 and was named as a member of Sydney’s Team of the Century in 2003.

He was a two-time best and fairest winner at Sydney and captained the side between 1980 and 1984.

He was Williamstown’s premiership captain and coach in both 1986 and 1990 and was in 2014 inducted into the club’s inaugural Hall of Fame, then elevated to Legend status on the same night.

Williamstown CEO Ashley Baker said the club is in mourning over the loss of the giant of the Seagull’s.

“On behalf of the Williamstown Football Club I would like to pass on our deepest condolences to the Round family,” Baker said in a statement on the club’s website.

“The Seagull family is mourning the loss of a club legend and a gentleman who gave so much to our great game and our wonderful club.

“A dual premiership winning player, J.J Liston Trophy winner, Norm Goss Medal recipient, three-time Gerry Callahan Medal winner and WFC Team of the Century and Hall of Fame inductee says it all.

“Barry will be missed by so many and we have lost a true champion of the game”.