Brian Taylor (born 10 April 1962), is a former Australian rules footballer and now AFL commentator. He owns and lives on a 300-acre (1.2 km²) dairy farm in Monegeetta, Victoria. He played with both Richmond and Collingwood during the 1980's.

Taylor was only 16 when recruited from Mandurah, Western Australia to the Richmond Football Club. ^[1]

[edit] Playing career

The mustached Taylor, known as "Cool Breeze, "Barge", "Big Slewth", "Bristle", "BT" or "BLT" (due partly to his considerable weight), began his VFL career with Richmond in 1980, and had the misfortune of being a full-forward at the same club as the legendary Michael Roach. It was for this reason that he was left out of the 1980 Grand Final team, and he eventually left the Tigers at the end of the 1984 season, having played 43 games and kicking 156 goals.

After the 1985 season Taylor joined Collingwood and quickly became a favourite. He kicked 100 goals in 1986 to win the Coleman Medal, which remained his career highlight. Taylor retired at the end of the 1990 season at only 28 years of age, due to constant knee injuries. He had played 97 games for the Magpies, kicking 371 goals.

In 1991 Taylor became playing coach of Prahran in the VFA, taking the club to the finals. In 1992 after kicking 16 and 9 goals in the opening two rounds, Taylor's knee finally gave way and he retired from playing. Continuing as Coach, he again took the Two Blues to the finals. Barge retired as Coach after the 1993 season.

[edit] Post-playing career

Taylor forms part of the high rating Triple M commentary team acting as the lead caller. Taylor's good banter with his fellow commentators and enthusiasm adds to his popularity. He has been voted footballs number one commentator for 11 years in a row.

In recent seasons Taylor has developed the catch phrase "Wowee!" to describe big or spectacular moments in games. He also uses the catch phrase "Triple M roocks football" when saying the stations slogan.

Taylor can also be seen on television, he is a popular member of channel 9's 'The Sunday Footy Show', and is also the host of AFL Teams on the Fox Network.

BT has been added to the Fox Sports NBL (Basketball) coverage as commentator for the 2009-10 season. Alongside basketball legends Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal, Taylor has held his own with his professional commentary skills and his basketball knowledge is growing game by game.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Brian Taylor (Australian footballer)'s statistics from AFL Tables
• Brian Taylor in Midnight Meat Train movie