A KEITH 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winner, a three-time club leading goalkicker and, most probably, the third most prolific Demon in front of the sticks.

Not bad for a boy from Burnie who first turned up on Almost Football Legends.

Russell Robertson, who parted ways with Melbourne on Thursday, was selected with the Dees' No.68 pick in the 1996 AFL Draft, then delisted and reinstated in the inaugural AFL Rookie Draft in the lead-up to the 1997 season.

He has played 226 matches (and is on course to finish with 228) and 422 goals. These are similar stats to Melbourne great Garry Lyon, who ended his career with 226 games and 426 goals.

In fact, with Robertson, 30, set to pass Lyon on Melbourne's all-time goalkicking tally, only games and goals record holder David Neitz and the legendary Norm Smith will be above him, with Lyon moving down a peg to fourth.

Three of the four – Neitz, Robertson and Lyon – were born in Tasmania.

And it was with the Apple Isle's under-18 side – Tassie Mariners – that Robertson first came to notice via Cameron Schwab, previously the club's football operations manager back in 1996 and now Melbourne's chief executive.

Schwab, a recruiter before his senior administrator days, saw a young Robertson take what later became one of his trademark hangers on the popular Almost Football Legends segment on The Footy Show.

"I'd come into the role as general manager of footy ops and [current AFLQ chief executive] Richard Griffiths, who had been doing the recruiting, was actually moved aside as part of me coming in. So we had no recruiting guys basically around the club," Schwab told melbournefc.com.au.

"It was the year Port Adelaide came into the system, so it was a lesser draft, and I remember just watching the show and he took these two incredible marks and I thought: 'If he can do it once, we can get him to do it again'.

"It was also at a time when we were taking a lot of chances on a lot of guys."

At his farewell media conference on Thursday, Robertson paid tribute to Schwab.

"If it wasn't for him, then no one would've looked at me," he said.

"Everything that I have, Schwabby knows that I'm deeply indebted to him.

"He came down to Tasmania to talk to me, only because of what he saw on The Footy Show."