Mike Poulter was arguably Waratahs' most highly-rated playing product. After a successful junior career in the early 1960s and some promising senior performances as a forward in 1966/67 and 1967/68 Poulter joined Norwood in 1968 where he went on to play 175 games, represent the state, win a best and fairest award in 1970, and appear in the club's premiership winning team of 1975.

Prior to joining Norwood, in 1967, Poulter had represented the NTFL in its 69 point loss to a VFL All Stars side containing such players as Royce Hart, Hassa Mann, Barry Davis, Bob Skilton, John Nicholls and Stuart Magee, and he was also a member of the victorious Territory side which travelled to Brisbane to take on Queensland in 1974. A useful kick with either foot, pacy, and a sound mark, Poulter afforded the Norwood selectors plenty of options, as well as providing numerous headaches for opposition coaches. Equally at home on the ball or holding down a key position, he continued to perform to good effect when he returned home, representing both Darwin (where he also served as coach) and Waratahs until compelled by injury to retire in 1982.

In 1990, when an independent panel of twenty judges was commissioned to select the twenty best NTFL footballers of the previous quarter of a century, Mike Poulter came in at number fifteen.

*Courtesy of John Devaney at www.fullpointsfooty.net

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