The Brunswick Street Oval was in such poor condition that Fitzroy named a squad of 23 players for the match and would not name the final 20 players until just before the match, on the Saturday afternoon, when the actual condition of the ground and the weather could be far more accurately appraised (Beames, P., "Tigers Wait on Weather to Decide Team", The Age, Friday, (27 June 1952), p.16).
"League defenders who "interfere" with forwards by holding on to their guernseys while play is at another part of the ground will be penalised in future matches. The League permit and umpire committee has instructed umpires and the umpires' coach to pay attention to the practice of interfering with forwards in future games. Mr. W. Brew (Essendon) told delegates at the V.F.L. permit meeting on Wednesday night that in recent matches leading forwards had been "held down" by their guernseys by full backs without justification, and often when play was at the other end of the ground. Mr. H. Clover (Carlton), a former champion forward: "That's-not a new trick. It happened to me 25 years ago!" ": Forwards to be Protected, The Argus, (Friday, 12 May 1950), p.19
Jack Cannon's, The Argus, Wednesday, 5 September 1951 ([2])
The Argus newspaper spoke of him being "starved" by Chanter, and reported that "star Essendon forward John Coleman became a mere figurehead" (Dunn, J., "Tough Fitzroy Far Too Good", The Argus, (Monday, 30 June 1952), p.9)
