George Hannah

NSL Career: Melbourne Croatia, Morwell 237 (8) / 1984 - 1993/94

One of the best Scottish players to have played in the NSL, George Hannah was a formidable defender who operated equally well at left-back or in a sweeper role as he formed part of the talented Melbourne Croatia defence that played in back-to-back grand finals in the early 1990s.

Hannah moved to Australia in 1981 and joined St Kilda Hakoah in the Victorian State League. Following his first season at the club, Hakoah merged with South Melbourne's reserve side to become Hellas-Hakoah and Hannah remained a key player in the side as they again finished mid-table.

The Scottish defender joined Melbourne Croatia for the 1983 season and helped the side finish runners-up in the league to Green Gully as they became one of four VSL teams to join the NSL's Southern Conference in 1984. A Croatia regular during his first season in the NSL, Hannah helped the side reach the final of the NSL Cup, losing one-nil to Newcastle Rosebud before Croatia progressed to the Southern Conference Preliminary Final.

Croatia again qualified for the finals series the following season, losing the elimination final to Preston before a lack of goals over the next three seasons saw the club fail to put itself in finals contention as Hannah captained the club and was club champion for two seasons in a row. Experienced overseas coach Ivan Ražnjević replaced Domagoj Kapetanović for the 1989 season and turned things around for the club.

An injury-interrupted season for Hannah saw him miss Croatia's first finals series since the 1985 season as the side reached the minor semi-final. Back to his best in the 1989/90 season, Hannah helped the side finish third and progress to the preliminary final where they lost two-one to eventual champions Sydney Olympic.

Croatia continued to improve during the 1990/91 season under new coach Ken Worden and finished minor premiers for the first time before progressing to their first NSL Grand Final. Croatia faced South Melbourne in the grand final where they conceded a late equalising goal in regulation time before the match was settled in a penalty shoot-out, where Hannah stepped up to convert Croatia's first penalty before South won five-four.

Former Socceroo and club champion Ken Murphy took over as Croatia coach in the 1991/92 season and guided the side to consecutive grand finals. Croatia faced Adelaide City for the first time as they found themselves in another penalty shoot-out decider where Hannah again took the side's first penalty. Hannah failed to convert his penalty before City won the shoot-out four-two.

After being a finals contender in the past four seasons, Croatia slid down the ladder in the 1992/93 season as Hannah missed nine games before moving to Morwell for the 1993/94 season. Hannah missed large parts of the season again as he made just 13 appearances for Morwell before hanging up his boots at the age of 36 and returned to Scotland.