Les Minotti

STATISTICS

DOB:
Career: 1963 - 1968
Senior Games: 100
Reserves Games:
3rds Games:

Nobody saw it - everybody heard it - CRACK - it sounded like a bolt of lightning from a clear, blue sky. Carrum strongman Eric Guy was on the ground out cold and the only one near him was Chelsea’s diminutive rover Les Minotti.
“He tried to kill me!” claimed Les a little later. Apparently Les, whilst bringing the ball down the ground, had handballed over the head of an oncoming Eric Guy. The big bloke kept coming with elbow raised. Les was able to jerk his head to one side narrowly avoiding impact and as Guy slid past swung a right fist, instinctively, catching his opponent in the ‘sweet spot’ as they say. It was game over for Eric who was assisted from the ground with concussion.
Recruited to Chelsea in 1963, Les Minotti seemed to be, on first appearances, too lightly built to withstand the physical clashes that he was likely to endure in MPFL senior ranks. Well, history proved that the little rover from Dandenong at 5’7” and about 10 stone was every bit up to the task as he scarcely missed a match through injury during his six year stay at Chelsea. His recruitment was vindicated as early as the 1963 Grand Final, when he played an absolute blinder to kick five goals and help lead Chelsea to a premiership over Frankston by the narrowest of margins.
Les continued to show out in ‘big games’ in particular. Whilst he never won a best and fairest at Chelsea, he certainly proved his worth and durability in a career that also included M.P.F.L. selection over three years. Les  extended his game tally beyond one 100 first eighteen games which included four premierships.