McLean was a month shy of his 68th birthday when he passed away on the Gold Coast after a short illness.
Originally recruited to Melbourne from Old Melburnians, Richard Peter McLean managed 28 senior appearances for the Redlegs between 1964 and ’65. He was named as 19th man in Melbourne’s 1964 Grand Final victory over Collingwood, but never got a run.
On the eve of the 1966 season, McLean was reunited at Princes Park with his former captain Ron Barassi, by then the Carlton-captain-coach. McLean completed his senior debut with his new team against Fitzroy, at the Brunswick Street Oval in the third round of ’66.
Barassi, who last saw McLean at the 40th anniversary reunion of the 1968 premiership team in Melbourne late last year, said that McLean “will be sadly missed because he was a very genuine guy”.
“He was a fantastic fellow. He was probably a better fellow than he was a footballer fortunately. He didn’t have natural skills for that level, but he made up for that with endeavour, and he was always very keen and enthusiastic,” Barassi said this week.
“It was very unusual that Peter didn’t get on in the ’64 Grand Final under Norm (Smith) because Norm liked to give his guys a run, but obviously it was a fairly close-run thing.”
“He (McLean) came across (to Carlton) a year after me, which would have been at my wishes, and he fitted into the Carlton set-up excellently - so much so that when he retired as a player he served on the committee for seven years.”
Barassi recalled putting McLean through a gruelling fitness test in the lead-up to the 1967 second semi-final against Richmond – “a not-so-pleasant experience,” according to the dual Carlton premiership coach.
“Training had finished and I decided to test him myself,” Barassi recalled, “so I kicked the ball to him, he bent down to pick up the ball and I found out that his knee wasn’t as good as it was supposed to be. And he did miss out, but he never bore a grudge.”
In any event, McLean would still have his moment in the sun. It came in the ’68 Grand Final against Essendon – his 48th and final game for Carlton. Named as 19th man alongside Neil Chandler, McLean replaced Kevin Hall after half-time, as the team toiled in windswept conditions to ultimately prevail by three points over Essendon, in what was the Blues’s first premiership in 21 years.
McLean wore the No.36 guernsey at Carlton, just as he did at Melbourne. He became the first Carlton premiership player to sport that number, with Mark Maclure following suit in 1979, ’81 and ’82.
Having uniquely been part of Grand Final victories in his first and final seasons, McLean retired as a Carlton player at the relatively tender age of 27 to pursue business interests.
But in March 1969, he served for what would be the first of seven years as a committeeman on Carlton’s board of management. The period took in the premiership years of 1970 and ’72.
McLean was then awarded Carlton life membership in 1973, and in ’74 he filled the vacancy created on match committee with the sudden death of Bert Deacon. The following year he assumed the role of chairman of selectors as a close confidant to the then coach John Nicholls.
McLean is survived by his wife Caroline, daughters Emma, Jo (a former Carlton Football Club marketing executive), Abbie, Liza and Lulu, son Jack, and four grandchildren.
The Carlton players wore black armbands as a mark of respect to McLean in last Saturday night’s match against Brisbane at Etihad Stadium - the venue managed by McLean’s 1968 Grand Final contemporary, Ian Collins.