
East Perth: 204 WAFL games, 224 goals
Hans Verstegen was born in the Netherlands and arrived in Perth with his parents in the early 1950s.
Verstegen played for East Perth where he was a key midfield/rover from the late 1960s through to the mid-1970s. Verstegen won the Royals’ Best & Fairest in his debut year (1967) and was later named captain (1974).
The Royals were a powerful side throughout his career but lost several grand finals – Verstegen played in four losing Grand Final sides. He was a key member of the Royals break-through premiership of 1972.
He played in another loss in 1976 but was unable to take part in the next triumph in 1978, having given up his battle with the knee cartilage issues that had dogged him for years.
“Dutchie” Verstegen, as he was nicknamed due to his Dutch origins, was a dashing and highly effective onballer who was a dogged player around the packs, an opportunist around the goals, with reliability a trademark.