The film's 'The Rover of Tobruk' title is a play on words with the title of the famous WWII movie 'The Rats of Tobruk' (See: The Rats of Tobruk (1944)) directed by Charles Chauvel and starring Chips Rafferty, Peter Finch, and Grant Taylor. 'The Rats of Tobruk' is also known as 'The Fighting Rats of Tobruk'.
The meaning and relevance of the word ''rover'' in the film's 'The Rover of Tobruk' title is that it refers to a field position in the Australian Rules football code.
During the Siege of Tobruk in 1941, Australian soldiers started calling themselves "The Rats of Tobruk" after the German Radio Berlin described them as "caught like rats in a trap". Moreover, William Joyce (aka "Lord Haw-Haw", a pro-Nazi Englishman broadcasting English-language Nazi propaganda on his "Germany Calling" program over Radio Berlin) similarly described them as the "poor desert rats of Tobruk."
The name "The Rats of Tobruk" refers to the troops, mostly Australian, who held out against German Gen. Erwin Rommel's legendary Afrika Korps at the Libyan port of Tobruk during 1941. This so-called Siege of Tobruk began on 10th of April 1941 and ended in November of that year. "The Rats of Tobruk" held out for a incredible 250 days before being were relieved by Allied British forces.
Bob Quinn's credentials at the Port Adelaide Football Club, according to its Hall of Fame, were: Number of Years Played: 12; Player Years: 1933-1940, 1944-1947 [separated by World War II]; Number of Games Played: 239; Number of Goals Kicked: 386; Number of Premierships Played: 3; Premiership Years: 1936, 1937,1939; Winner of the Club's Best and Fairest Award Years: 1937, 1938, 1945, 1947; Years Won the Magarey Medal: 1938, 1945; Club Leading Goal-kicker Years: 1937, 1945; Position in Hypothetical Greatest Team of the Club: Right Forward Pocket; Years as Captain-Coach: 1939, 1940, 1945, 1946, 1947.