Carlton great Peter Bosustow, one of the game’s great showmen whose VFL career was as exciting and successful as it was brief, has died in Perth after a long illness. He was 67.
Bosustow died in Perth early on Monday morning after a long illness, leaving behind his wife Shelley, son Brent and daughter Brooke.
“The Buzz” arrived at Carlton in 1981 and in the first of only three seasons in the VFL he won mark of the year, goal of the year and a premiership with the Blues. He electrified Carlton and the competition with an ability that matched his swagger, embodying the Blues of the early ’80s.
Peter Bosustow Credit: Fairfax
Incredibly, Bosustow only played 65 games for the Blues. But it was the manner he played them that marked the forward, the son of Carlton 20-game ruck-rover from the mid-1950s Bob Bosustow, a giant of the club.
He was joined at Princes Park for that 1981 season by fellow WA player Ken Hunter, from Claremont, and they instantly transformed the Blues. Both played in the back-to-back flags in 1981 and ’82.
Hunter, who won the best and fairest in that ’81 season, paid tribute to the Buzz.
“I think of what a character Buzz was and how much he took to the big stage,” Hunter said.
Peter Bosustow, premiership cup in hand and Carlton scarf flowing, leads the triumphant Blues on a victory lap of the MCG after the 1982 grand final.Credit: The Age Archives
“I look back on him in his first year, winning mark of the year, goal of the year and a grand final – him being a half-forward, me being a half-back.
“He used to joke that I was the extrovert and him the introvert, when it was obviously the other way around. He was a unique character and a rare football talent in equal measure. That talent was obvious in Perth but it went to another level when he came to Melbourne.
“The Carlton people loved Buzz and he loved Carlton.”
Bosustow’s dad became ill and he returned home to WA in 1984 when he was 24 and in his prime. He came back to Victoria at the end of 1985 amid an astonishing Blues recruiting coup that brought in Craig Bradley, Peter Motley, Stephen Kernahan and John Dorotich and while he did much of the pre-season he had returned home by the time the 1986 season started.
“Peter was an exceptional talent. I’ve coached some outstandingly talented players, but on his day Peter could do things on a footy field few could emulate – a case in point that smother, gather and goal,” his Carlton coach David Parkin said.
“Peter had remarkable capacities in the air and on the ground, and was probably as exciting a player to watch as we ever had.
“As a player he tested me like nobody else, but he was always quick to apologise to me and the players and it was just a bit sad that he decided to go home. But he was a gem of a bloke.”
In the WAFL he won the Perth Demons’ goalkicking three times and was named in their team of the century. He played state of origin for WA.
