“Triplett picked the ball up one day right out on the centre wing at Subiaco and laid into a dropkick.  I was at full forward and it sailed high over my head and cleared the goal line by ten metres. And there was no wind either.  It would have been at least 80 yards in the old language.”  These were the words of Subiaco legend Kevin Merifield when asked about the highlights of his career. And that was by no means a flash in the pan. Triplett was a prodigious kick for a five foot nine wingman. Country football stalwart Jock Beattie was watching a country grand final when Triplett took a mark on the wing. As he went back to kick it long, a bystander alongside Jock remarked in disbelief: “What the $%^## is this bloke doing? He'll never kick that!” The ball sailed through the big sticks. A few minutes later, the wingman marked again in an identical spot and put another one through. The bloke on the boundary could only shake his head as he headed for the bar and ordered a whiskey straight. Ron Triplett was another case of a brilliant country footballer who we never saw the best of in the WANFL, because of the pressures of farm life, which affected his football while playing league and restricted it to just two years.  In his formative years, Triplett lived about two Homer Schofield dropkicks from Leederville Oval, and the family were avid West Perth supporters, centreman Johnny Loughridge being their idol. In 1949, Ron's father was alotted a farm near Kondinin as part of the Soldier's War Settlement Scheme, and the young Triplett attended Narrogin Agricultural College.   Making his debut in senior football at the age of fourteen with Karlgarin, kicking two goals, Triplett played the following two seasons with Kondinin, where he received a good grounding in the game from coach Doug McGregor, as well as valuable mentoring from Bill Young. Along with another Kondinin player, Brian Simpson, Ron went to Subiaco in 1958, where he went straight into the league side. “My first game was against South Fremantle, playing on Pat Daly,” he recalled.  Not only a devastating kicker of the ball, but a speedy customer over the first ten metres and a strong mark, Triplett slotted into the Subiaco side, forming a strong centreline with Tommy Robbins on the other wing and Peter Amaranti in the middle. “Charlie Tyson was a wonderful player and coach,” he said.  Although playing in Perth, Triplett was still running a farm, and there is no doubt the double duties affected his game. “I had to go back for seeding every year, and training took a back seat. Whenever I played during that period I was definitely below my best,” he said.   Subiaco made a belated appearance in a grand final in 1959, winning their last ten games, including a 129 point win over Perth in the first semi final and a 34 point victory against East Fremantle in the preliminary final, before fronting East Perth on the big day. “We kicked ourselves out of the game in the first quarter, booting one goal ten, and lost by twenty three points.,” he said, ruefully.  It was to be his last game for the Maroons. Ron enjoyed his time at Subiaco, and remembers one of the highlights, a trip to New South Wales. “We went over by train, and there were plenty of happenings on that trip I can't mention, but what stuck in my mind was the attitudes of the Victorians that I met,” he recalled. “We lobbed in Melbourne, and in the lift at the hotel I was asked by a local who we were. On my reply that I was a footballer with the Subiaco Football club, and that we were only training in Melbourne, on route to New South Wales, I got told in no uncertain terms: “That'd be your limit. Go back home, you're wasting you're time here.” Nothing's changed with the Vics, Ron!   Farm pressures became too much, and, after just thirty eight games of league football, Triplett returned to Kondinin, where he captain coached for seven years, winning seven premierships, with the side at one stage winning sixty six consecutive games. Ron is credited in local football circles with being the architect of the club's success in those years, but, ever the humble man, he downplays his part, saying: “ We had a bloody good side in those years.” Kondinin went on to record an amazing eleven premierships in a row.  Ron Triplett won Sunday Times medals for fairest and best in the Corrigin Football Association in 1956,57,60, 61, and 62 , as well as a  Styleleader Medal for fairest and best at the 1960 Country Carnival, and was Kondinin fairest and best in 1957, 60, 61, and 62.  He was clearly a star of country football in Western Australia in the  period before and after his league stint,  and played over two hundred games with Kondinin in a fine career which was ended prematurely by the loss of most of the sight in one eye due to a lawn mowing accident.  He retired in 1970 at the age of thirty one, but seriously contemplated a comeback two years later with South Suburban club, Kelmscott. “I had left the farm, and was managing the Kelmscott pool, as well as doing some junior football coaching, and organised a clearance with the objective of lining up with the local side,” he said. “ However, another work accident put paid to that idea. Digging in the garden, I hit a rock and did a cartilege.” Ron nominated East Perth's Brian Ray and Northam Railways star Ken Lally, who later played for East Fremantle, as the hardest to beat during his career, with Laurie Kettlewell, Merifield, Robbins, and Tyson the best he'd played with.  These days, Ron is living the quiet life with wife Barbara on the seaside, with three sons and a few grandchildren keeping them occupied. One of his boys, Mark, a small onballer, inherited some of the Triplett ability, making the All Australian under eighteen side, and played for WAFL club, Perth, also Kenwick and Brookton, before a knee injury forced him out of the game. After moving to Mandurah, he went on to coach junior football, and drafted a Code of Conduct for the players. Ron  has high hopes for two grandsons showing promise, Bradley Triplett, a member of Peel Thunder's league side, and  Luke.Another grandson, Brendon, gained selection in the 2003 State Schoolboys side.  In a brief sojourn at Subiaco, Ron Triplett showed he was a top class player, who was unable because of farming commitments to achieve the heights he was capable of, but his outstanding country form in later years suggest  that Subiaco and the WANFL were robbed of a star, and he is still held in high regard at Subiaco.