John Nicholls

John Nicholls, born in 1939, is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League. Widely regarded as one of the game's greatest players, he was the first Carlton player to play 300 games for the club and was declared its greatest player. He represented Victoria a record 31 times in interstate football and was inducted as one of the inaugural Legends of the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Nicholls played mostly as a ruckman and, at 189 centimetres, made up for modest height with intelligence and an imposing presence that earned him the nickname Big Nick; his rivalry with Graham Farmer raised the standard of ruck play in the 1960s.