Michael Taylor (Australian footballer)

Michael 'Kingo' Taylor (born 30 December 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood in the VFL and also had a noted career with Norwood in the SANFL. He also played 13 interstate games for South Australia, which included State of Origin football.

Taylor came to Norwood as a 15 year old, from the South-East town of Kingston SE when he first played for the Norwood Colts, coached by Mal Smith. In two stints at Norwood, Taylor won six Best and fairest awards, a club record he shares with Walter Scott. Five of them were won before he came to Collingwood, where he was a member of a strong Norwood side which won premierships in 1975 and as captain 1978. The 1978 premiership was his first year as captain and he remained in that role until he joined Collingwood in 1981. He had played as both a defender and centreman while at Norwood and he spent most of his time with Collingwood in defence.

Despite playing just four seasons at Collingwood he managed 92 games, over 20 each year. This tally included the 1981 VFL Grand Final which they lost to Carlton. He returned to Norwood in 1985 before retiring two years later after 289 SANFL games.

As a coach Taylor has been in charge of Collingwood's reserves team as well as being an assistant at AFL club Adelaide. In 1996 he became coach of West Adelaide and spent five seasons with the club.

He was inducted, in 2002, into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame and is also a back pocket in Norwood's official 'Team of the Century'.

References

• Michael Taylor's statistics from AFL Tables
• Michael Taylor's profile from AustralianFootball.com