With the much-anticipated 30^th anniversary reunion of members of Carlton’s 1987 premiership team nearing, questions have been asked of the players absent from the official ’87 premiership team photo – and from the ’79, ’81 and ’82 photos for that matter.

In the 1987 pic taken in the shadows of the since-demolished George Harris Stand, 18 of the 20 players who represented Carlton on grand final day 1987 appear on Princes Park with senior coach Robert Walls and Bernie Evans – the latter cruelly robbed of his place in the team due to suspension. 

Missing is Paul Meldrum and Ken Hunter, both of whom were part of that famous 33-point victory over Hawthorn on that sweltering last Saturday in September.

Though Hunter is currently overseas and could not be contacted, Meldrum shed some light on why neither was photographed for posterity. 

“I was under the knife and I’m almost certain Ken was missing for the same reason. He and I later got a copy of the photo with insets . . . we were head shots in the corner,” Meldrum said.

“I had an abductor release which troubled me in the second half of the year. I’m guessing it happened late in the week after the grand final, which must have been when the photo was taken.” 

Carlton's 1987 premiership team photo. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Meldrum and Hunter are not alone in being conspicuous by their absence for a Carlton premiership team shoot. 

Jim Buckley, a member of Carlton’s premiership 20 of 1979, is the one player missing from the official ’79 team shoot. 

“I can’t remember what happened. I was only looking at the photo the other night and thinking to myself ‘Where the hell am I?’. You’d reckon I might have got a call,” Buckley said. 

“I know I was there in the ’81 pic and in ’82 I was photographed with a broken arm. As for ’79 I’m racking my brain but can’t for the life of me remember where I was. I couldn’t even tell you when the photo was taken.” 

Fast-forward to 1981, and Scott Howell and Mark Maclure are the two players missing from the premiership 20, again photographed in what was the players’ old warm-up area. 

Howell, who crucially negated Collingwood captain Peter Moore’s influence, provided an interesting explanation. 

“I don’t know when the team photo was taken, but it obviously must have been shortly after the grand final win,” he said.

“I had actually booked a holiday for a week (with my Mum) to Queensland. We left the day after the grand final. When the trip was booked I didn’t think that I would be playing in the grand final should the seniors make it. 

“However, I booked the trip to commence after the grand final as I hoped that Carlton would make it and I would go and watch. History shows that I was selected and played.” 

Maclure was rather more philosophical about it all.

“I have no idea where I was,” Maclure advised. “I could have been in bed. Does it really matter?”

Twelve months later, Maclure did front for the ’82 premiership team photograph. Regrettably, only one member of the coveted 20, Robbert Klomp, failed to make it. 

“I have no idea what happened and can’t actually recall why I wasn’t there for the photograph. For memory, premiership photographs were often taken after the event and I was travelling interstate and to regional areas quite a bit in the off-season,” Klomp said.

“I can remember walking back into the Club and seeing the photograph on the wall, and I wasn’t even down as an absentee let alone as an inset. I felt a bit insulted by it actually, because at the end of the season we’d go our own ways and some of us actually had to work.

“Of course I’d love to be in that photo.” 

All 18 members of each of Carlton’s 1906 and ’07 premiership teams are accounted for in their respective photographs. Jim Flynn, captain of both, somehow missed the 1908 shoot of the team that completed the Premiership hat-trick.

Those part of Carlton’s 18 for the back-to-back grand final triumphs of 1914 and ’15 are all featured in their respective premiership team images.

Though Paul Schmidt was unavailable for the 1938 premiership team photoshoot, the Carlton premiership players of 1945, ’47, ’68, ’70 and ’72 are all accounted for in their respective team photographs. 

Carlton's 1938 premiership team. Paul Schmidt was later added as an inset. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Significantly, the 20 to represent the old dark Navy Blues in the victorious ’47 grand final were pictured on the MCG before the first bounce – and so it is that all teams competing in the grand finals of the modern era are now photographed to bring welcome end to absenteeism. 

The Carlton Football Club’s 1987 Premiership Reunion Luncheon is scheduled for Friday, August 18 in the Victory Room, Etihad Stadium. Click here for bookings.