SHOULD a miracle occur and John Gallus be allowed to go back in time, he'd reappear in Melbourne as a teenager and re-embark on his league football apprenticeship.

While happy to have played in the big-time, he said he could have trebled, maybe even quadrupled his game tally of 28 had he not been such a journeyman.

Now a few months short of his 65th birthday, Gallus, a big-marking ruckman-forward with a string of competition best-and-fairests to his CV, said he didn't appreciate at the time the enormity of his league football opportunity in the 1970s.

"Melbourne signed me at 17, but I stayed back at Drouin and didn't go down until I was 19," he said. "I was a bit young and a bit immature and lacked confidence in myself.

"I played the whole '65 season in the reserves, the year Norm Smith was sacked and I went out to Waverley and on to Maffra and so on.

"I didn't get back to Melbourne until I was 25 and a bit old really.

"Jim Cardwell (Melbourne's secretary) came up and said, 'why not have a go?'

"In '71 we won the first five games and were top of the ladder and had a young, emerging side.

"We were in the four until the last fortnight of the (home-and-away) season.

"Stan Alves, Greg Wells and Gary Hardemann were there. I was sharing the ruckwork with Crackers (Peter) Keenan.

"The wet weather hit us hard and we weren't physical enough to last, but I had a reasonable first year.

"I played almost all the games (20 out of 22) and kicked 30-odd goals.

"At the time I was teaching at Hampton Park and I could get into training pretty easily.

"But the following year (1972) I was living in and out of Drouin. I broke a finger and it all became much harder."

Gallus transferred to Sandy Bay with Rod Olsson and ended up playing for a Tasmanian combined side against Victoria in 1973, one of his proudest moments.

He said the old mark-and-kick game suited him.

"I was not overly endowed with ball skills," he said. "I didn't pick it up often from the ground."

Gallus was short for a No.1 ruckman but was a great aerialist and learnt to be in the right position at the right time.

He fondly remembers his battles with other former league players such as Ian Salmon and Ernie Hug.

"It was hard," Gallus said. "But they were great ball players and as soon as the siren sounded that was it. We'd all have a beer."

Premierships at Warragul and two grand finals at Drouin were among his laurels.

Later, he coached many fine youngsters, including teenagers Gary Ayres at Warragul and Gary Ablett at Drouin.

Both were to become outstanding players.

"Gary (Ayres) was just 17 and starting to play well (at senior level) and I said to he and his dad, Jim, 'Go. Get down there and get into the system'.

"I didn't (go early) and I wish I had. Gary ended up playing almost 300 games. He was one of the great players.

"Gary Ablett had six games under me (at Drouin).

"He kicked nine goals one day against Bunyip and took one spectacular mark I can still remember to this day.

"He took a while to really focus on what he wanted to do.

"Once he did, his career took off."