He landed mercurial Malcolm Blight from South Australia and another official legend Barry Cable for North,while also signing the captain of North’s first VFL premiership Barry Davis (from Essendon),goalkicking champion Doug Wade (Geelong) and champion half-back flanker John Rantall (South Melbourne) under the short-lived 10-year rule.
He lured champion centre-half-back Ross Glendinning from Western Australia and was at North when local stars Keith Greig,Wayne Schimmelbusch and David Dench walked into Arden St from their northern suburban zone.
Joseph also played an important role in the successful campaign to keep North Melbourne from moving to the Gold Coast,joining James Brayshaw’s board in 2007 and serving on it until 2010. Joseph,indeed,persuaded broadcaster Brayshaw to become involved at North.
He had another stint as chief administrator at North in 1988-89. It is little known or remembered that he spent several weeks working for St Kilda in his hiatus from North. According to Miller,it was during Joseph’s brief stint with the Saints that he persuaded Darrel Baldock,skipper of the club’s solitary premiership (also an official legend of the game) to return as coach.
“He walked out after Baldock,once he got his signature,” recalled Miller,who reckoned Joseph “loved North Melbourne so much and wanted North successful” that he couldn’t stick with another club. “When he went to other clubs,it never lasted.”
“Ron had a lateral view,” said Miller,remembering how he and Joseph signed teenage John Longmire in southern NSW at a golf course. “When we recruited someone - coach like John Kennedy or Barassi or a player like Cable and Longmire,he engaged the whole family. He made sure there was a depth in the relationship. That’s what he taught me.”
Joseph was also an influential player manager in between his club stints,managing a host of AFL stars including Glenn Archer,Anthony Stevens and Fraser Gehrig,whom he delivered to the Saints from West Coast when Blight was beginning his ill-fated stint as coach.
He was a life member of North Melbourne and the AFL,and an inaugural club Hall of Fame inductee.
A man of passion and strong opinions,Joseph was always willing to venture those views - to people at North,the AFL and even to journalists. He was not averse to conflict,either,as key North people and the Brayshaw board discovered.
North Melbourne president Dr Sonja Hood said Joseph’s name would be as ingrained in the club’s history as any player.
“Ron was the architect of our success in the 1970s,one of the great defenders of our club in 2007 and unflinching in his love for North,holding successive boards and administrations to account,from within or outside of the organisation,always with a view to make the club better.
“On a personal note,I was lucky to work with him in 2007,and grateful for the time and advice he has provided in the years since. He was one of a kind and will be sorely missed.”
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said Joseph devoted a lifetime to Australian rules.
“He was smart and canny,working the rules to his advantage every time,and was central in North Melbourne’s rise to power,” McLachlan said.
“But beneath the loud exterior was a man who cared deeply about his family and friends and the players whose career he guided,the clubs he worked for and the code. He was deeply loyal to all of them.
“Ron was central to the fabric of the game for five decades and we send our condolences to his family,many friends,and all at North Melbourne. Vale.”
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