JOHNSTON, David

David Johnston was a nuggety defender who came from local club, Doutta Stars, to the Under 19s in 1985. He represented Victoria in the Teal Cup that year and won the trophy for Best Victorian Player of the Carnival.

He showed plenty of promise in his 11 games in 1987, but struggled to break into the strong teams of that time and could only manage another 30 games in the next five seasons. He was a member of the team that played the last game at Windy Hill against the Brisbane Bears in Round 19, 1991.

In an interesting piece of trivia, there were two games in 1988 when five ex-St Bernard's boys played together: Johnston, Paul Hamilton, Simon Madden, Garry Foulds and Gavin Keane. The games were Round 9 v Brisbane Bears, and Round 10 v Sydney, for a win and a loss respectively.

Johnston spent three years at Fitzroy after leaving Essendon, playing 25 games there.

His brother, Andrew, won Essendon's Under 19s Best and Fairest Player award in 1988, and later also played a few games for Fitzroy.