Reminded me so much of the Shaun Marsh decision when he was on 29 in Adelaide. Looked for all the world to be plumb yet somehow DRS conspired to say it was going over the top. Do they program the Perth pitch into DRS throughout the world.
This one tonight looked plumb to me too.

Most of you would be too young to have been to the Beachboys concert in early 1978 at Footy Park. It was the worst concert I have ever been to by many miles. Early in the concert, mid song, Brian Wilson just put down his guitar and walked off stage. Carl Wilson followed him off. We thought that he had gone to get Brian but next thing we saw was the two of them throwing an American football to each other behind the stage. At no time after that were there more than 3 beach boys on stage at any one time. Mike Love was the only beach boy who stayed on stage for the whole concert. And their actually playing was terrible as well.

Do you mean the trial game? When Gavin Wanganeen introduced himself to the AFL as a young star?
Sold out crowd. Wet day. About 89/90?
IIRC Port played Geelong in a trial match at Footy Park in early 1990.

Also, in 1993 Port played Collingwood at Footy Park in a trial match as well:

n2pX_zLuV_o

I went to the Port vs Collingwood match.

A couple of observations :

Firstly I disagree with David Wildy's opening comment about the guernsey's looking alike. I thought that they were clearly different. As a non Port supporter, I wish that they had stuck to their guns and insisted on keeping the prison bar black and white guernsey. It is too late now but why could the AFL have three blue and white sides, two of which are navy blue and white, but only one black and white side. I thought that in the days before "away" guernseys, Collingwood vs North Melbourne and Collingwood vs Geelong were more of a clash Guernsey wise than Collingwood vs Port Adelaide.

Mark Tylor had a great game, kicking five goals. I rember Leigh Matthews saying that Port's spine, I think that it was Mark Tylor, Darren Smith, Stephen Williams, Greg Phillips and Roger Delaney was AFL standard.

Corona Man wrote:Who the F is Tom Rogers?

If he was from WA he would be making his international debut in the next few weeks.

I know Wade’s a twat but why didn’t he open instead of Paine?
Short and Wade surely was the way to go with the openers.
For some reason they wanted a left and right handed combination. It didn't worry Adelaide having Weatherald and Head batting together.

Speaking of Wade, it was good to see Australia's two best keepers performing yesterday and Wade isn't one of them!

Khawaja still has a much better test record than Shaun Marsh. Marsh played very well against the poms (with an extraordinary amount of luck) but time and again when he plays against the top class teams he fails. Surely it is time to retire him and bring in some young blood.

Khawaja and Marsh are done and dusted.
Despite losing 3 players long term they should never play again for their country.
Easy to say that and while I tend to agree we simply do not have the batting depth to just give them the flick forever.

My question to everyone (not just you AF) that says certain blokes have to go is who do you replace them with? Khawaja and Marsh and head and shoulders above the next tier of Sheffield Shield batsman. Please do your research on who's next in the cue and come up with logical replacements before saying certain blokes shouldn't be selected to play for our country again.

Khawaja is head and shoulders above the next tier of Sheffield Shield batsmen but Shaun Marsh certainly isn't. I just checked NSW averages. Kurtis Patterson has a better first class average than Shaun Marsh as does Ed Cowan (sure he is now retired). Daniel Hughes first class average is just less than Marsh. George Bailey and Callum Ferguson's first class average are comparable to Marsh. Surely Patterson in particular is worth a go.

Marsh had a good series against England but 163 runs at 20.5 is just not good enough for a man of his experience in this current series.

You guys obviously know your stats great to relive the old days.
The record N.A. was reported in TV.

The same TV that said that Tropeano was runner up in the Sandover Medal. He is a Sandover Medallist.

And the same TV that said that Norwood since 2010 have won 6 out of the last 8 at Prospect. North won at Prospect in 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Maybe I am anal but if they are going to throw stats around willy nilly they might have a modicum of accuracy. Just not good enough.

You guys obviously know your stats great to relive the old days.
The record N.A. was reported in TV.

The same TV that said that Tropeano was runner up in the Sandover Medal. He is a Sandover Medallist.

And the same TV that said that Norwood since 2010 have won 6 out of the last 8 at Prospect. North won at Prospect in 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Maybe I am anal but if they are going to throw stats around willy nilly they might have a modicum of accuracy. Just not good enough.

Whilst I am having a whinge about Channel 7, instead of throwing out incorrect stats, they could have acknowledged the gentleman tossing the coin at the start of the match. Darcy Cox is a dual North premiership player (1949 and 1952) who also served in the Second World War. He looked remarkably spritely for a 93 year old. A hero in my eyes but obviously not in the eyes of Channel 7. The club had advised them before the game of Darcy tossing the coin but obviously World War 2 veterans who then came back to play in SANFL premierships aren't important in their eyes.
One sentence was all that they needed.

Is Shane McAdam any relation to Gilbert or Adrian?
Apparently cousins but I’m not sure how that fits in regarding age as it’s a fair gap.

Greg, Gilbert and Adrian's father, Charlie was originally from the Kimberleys in Western Australia and he moved to Alice Springs. Shane is from Halls Creek in the Kimberleys so you would think that they are related. If Charlie and Shane's father were brothers it would then mean Shane would be a first cousin once removed to Greg, Gilbert and Adrian.

I remember Ted Whitten used to get the Victorian boys singing their State Song after a win .
Surely there must be a South Australian victory song somewhere in the archives.
A bloke of Neil Kerley's vintage, or earlier, must have sung it if we have one.
C'mon 'brains trust', lets find it and start using it a.s.a.p.

Luv,
Sabre.
Isn't that song (Join in the chorus) the same as North Melbournes.

Correct. Different lyrics of course.

They initially were two different songs. The Victorian song was the initial part of the song"Out they cone, out they come" etc and the North Melbourne song was "Join in the chorus" etc. After a Victorian victory at the end of the song the North Melbourne reps started singing " Join in the chorus" and gradually over the years this became part of the Victorian song.
It has only been in the past 15 years that North Melbourne have began singing the Victorian start to the song. They always used to start with "join in the chorus"

As for the goal umpire at the Robran end in the last qtr...
17 minute mark Tropiano has a set shot which is clearly marked by the Glenelg defender a good metre in play yet somehow it’s given a goal.
Farcical.
I was standing in front of the grandstand but I couldn't tell for sure but after the match I was talking to a member of the grog squad who agreed entirely with you that it was marked a metre in play. I wasn't alluding to that decision when I said it would have been grand larceny if North had got up, but it certainly would have added to the case. Glenelg used the ball better, spread from defence better and deserved the win, no doubt.

Sweet geezus, have they got the commentators from Bedford Industries or something?
I can't handle listening to this shit.

I am sick and tired of commentators who try to be "colourful". Just call the action. Everyone who knows him tells me that P. Walsh is a great bloke but he has always been a very ordinary commentator.

He was a wonderful footballer.
As a 19 year old he played a couple of great games for Port against the roosters. At Prospect late in the season he kicked 7 goals in a dominant display as Port thrashed the reigning premiers. Then in the Grand Final he took 13 marks standing a great player, Bohdan Jaworksyj. Unfortunately for Port he didn't have his kicking boot on and North won the Grand Final by 56 points.
My next memories of him were as the dominant forward in the league in 1976. Sadly his father passed away during Grand Final week and it clearly affected Randall's performance in the Grand Final.
It was at that time he was diagnosed with the kidney ailment and announced his retirement.
He did play in 1977 and played a vital role in the premiership win, playing as a ruckman. He then retired.
He and Peter Carey commenced at the same time and it is not stretching the truth to say they were on a par as young SANFL stars

John Casey posted elsewhere that there were 130,000 tv viewers.
There is still the latent interest but getting those back through the gate is difficult.

Norwood 84’ was the only time mate, Port came from the Elim also in 98’ but finished minor round 4th

Not taking anything away from the great Norwood effort in 1984, but they were helped greatly by Alan Stringer and lack of discipline by our boys.
Stringer went the biff in the Qualifying Final between Glenelg and Central when Centrals led by 30 points. Our boys 'lost it' and we ended up having our whole halfback line rubbed out for the First Semi against Norwood (Jamie Thomas, Brett Hannam and STephen Nolan). We still only lost to Norwood by a few points, being less than a kick down in time-on of the last quarter.. Glenelg also lost Peter Carey for their Prelim Final against Norwood.
Cheers

Remembering back I think it was your boy's that we were worried about he most.

regards,

REB

Central led Norwood by 19 points at three quarter time in that first semi final before Norwood over ran Central late in the game to win by 13 points.

A quirky aside from Norwood's finals campaign is that in each of the last 3 finals Norwood's opponents had more scoring shots than Norwood.

!st Semi Norwood 16 goals 9 Behinds defeated Central 13-14
Prelim Norwood 16-11 Glenelg 11-23
Grand Final Norwood 15-10 Port 13-13

I guess that shows the value of straight kicking!

WAFL 25,000 VFL 12,000. SANFL 40,000

It is easy for me to say this and I am trying not to gloat but when you get a spectacle like yesterday with the crowd and atmosphere to go with it, the SANFl is simply the best suburban competition of any sport in the world. I can't think of any other sport that would get 40,000 people to any game at the level of the SANFL.

JK probably feels a bit like I did way back in 1973. Whilst I was disappointed with the result I was proud that my team was involved in such a spectacle and in awe of one player's contribution. I said after the game yesterday to a well known Norwood poster that although playing in completely different roles, Mitch Grigg's game was the best by a player in a loss since Bob Hammond's epic game in 1973.

Can some one post (or a link to) the quarter by quarter scores of the 1942 finals and the 1944 Preliminary Final.
TRa

1942 Finals :

West_Glenelg 6-7 6-9 10-16 13-23
Norwood-North 1-5 5-12 7-13 9-16

Port-Torrens 3-4 7-7 13-9 15-15
Sturt-South 6-2 7-3 10-3 10-6

West- Glenelg 4.5 10.11 15.16 19.20
Sturt South 4.1 10.2 14.6 16.11

Port-Torrens 7-2 10-6 12-12 18-12
West-Glenelg 2-7 9-9 15-9 16-13

I have always found it incredible that there were only 4 teams and yet they still had a final four!
I apologise for the formatting

Mr66 wrote:Can some one post (or a link to) the quarter by quarter scores of the 1942 finals and the 1944 Preliminary Final.
TRa

1944 Preliminary Final

Norwood-North . 3—4 ...5—7... 9—10... 13—15 93
Sturt-South . . . ....2—2... 7—5... 7—9..... 11—11 77

So will this be the 2nd poor rated Pitch for MCG???

Perhaps WA were right in throwing it out there, that they should have it??

They don't rock up, they don't deserve it.

Agreed. We should have a crack at it then

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

We actually have had at least 3 Boxing Day Tests in my lifetime. In 1967 we actually had a Xmas Day test at Adelaide Oval between Australia and India. Boxing Day was day three of the test. In 1972-73 Australia played Pakistan over Xmas at Adelaide Oval. Boxing Day was day 4. In 1976-77 we again played Pakistan at Adelaide and Boxing Day was day 2 of the test.

The traditional Boxing day test in Melbourne isn't quite as traditional as the media and Victorians lead us to believe.

End the Finch madness now!!!

And the Mitch Marsh one as well!
Both should never play again for Australia at Test level.

Correct.... but there is no one else. Nothing. Zilch. Zippo. And thats our perennial problem. As it is Head and Harris are playing ahead of their time. Only Ussie is a Test batsman of note. And he isnt in great nick.

At least Burns is in form and has a history of hitting long form runs as a opener

Burns has as good a first class record as Shaun Marsh let alone Mitch and a better test record than either. I bet if he had a W.A. connection he would be in the test team.
Kurtis Patterson too averages as much at first class level as Shaun Marsh and has started the Shield season well. Surely he too is worth a go.
I know that they can't do it but unless they score centuries in the final innings of this test I would bring in Burns, Patterson and Handscomb (for all his technical flaws he has a much better average than S Marsh at test level) for the Sydney Test.

Even Moises Henriques, who I have never thought was test standard has a better first class record than M Marsh.

What batsman currently playing shield cricket averages over 40 in his career
Pretty sure Kurt Patterson fits this description.

Others averaging over 40 at first class level are :
Chris Lynn averages 43.3
Glenn Maxwell 41.1
Joe Burns 40.6


Callum Ferguson and George Bailey have both dropped below 40 now after spending most of their career above that figure and surprisingly to me Jake Lehmann averages 38.6

Unfortunately for the above named batsmen none of them come from W.A.

50 to Patterson

Not in the test squad though 70 odd now. Good to see someone making runs.

97* at dinner

Kurtis Patterson averages 41 at First class level. He has a higher first class average than Handscomb, Burns, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Labuschagne, Renshaw and Finch. Why isn't he in the test squad?

50 to Patterson

Not in the test squad though 70 odd now. Good to see someone making runs.

97* at dinner

Kurtis Patterson averages 41 at First class level. He has a higher first class average than Handscomb, Burns, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Labuschagne, Renshaw and Finch. Why isn't he in the test squad?

Finally the selectors are listening to me. About time.

Now watch Patterson stuff up given that I have been his biggest supporter.

The two captains may make no difference whatsoever to neutrals, or even to the players and coaching staff, and may have no bearing or any result this year whatsoever.

But I love those sort of little traditions that clubs pass down, that make them different from other football clubs. The captain always wearing #1 is a Port 'thing', and it's sad to see another club tradition (as small as people may think it is) fade away in the modern era, even if it's not my clubs.

How many times do we have to repeat that the Captain wearing number 1 hasn't always been so at Port. I repeat ad nauseum that Geof Motley wore number 17 for the 8 years he captained Port and John Cahill initially wore number 14. It has been a tradition for about as long as the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Not very long in the history of the club.

Like Kallis?
Not many if ever better alrounders than him.
His record is second to no one.
Jesus, Carlton win a JLT match and now you're Amber Almighty? :lol: :lol:

Yes, Kallis is in a class of 2 with Gary Sobers

Imran Khan was pretty handy.

Statistically Kallis and Sobers streets in front of Imran and Kapil Dev.
But all 4 were sensational players although I didn’t see Sobers play.

i did see plenty of Sobers play and he was in a class of his own. The players most like him I would say are Lara as a batsman, Mitchell Johnson as a pace bowler, at least as good a left arm orthodox bowler as Vettori and the best left arm chinaman bowler I have seen. Plus he was the most brilliant fieldsman.

With Kallis, great though he was, I think of the old adage, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Kallis wasn't in the same league as Sobers and I would have had Imran in my team before Kallis.

Ian Chappell is adamant there have only been four true all rounders in the history of test cricket, Jack Gregory, Keith Miller, Sobers and Imran Khan.

In Chappell's view, to be a true all rounder you have to good enough at either discipline to be able to be chosen just as a bowler or a batsman. I guess that is where Imran makes Chappell's 4 because he in fact did play solely as a batsman when too injured to bowl. this occurred in the 1992 World Cup where Imran played a very heady innings when Pakistan looked to be in all sorts of strife.

I cant really answer those questions, but I do believe Neil Craig and Rick Davies were cousins (perhaps 2nd if not 1st cousins), so reading between the lines, it was probably Davies' influence that got him to Sturt.
I was once told that he wanted to play under Oatey.

Both answers are close to the truth. Davies and Craig are indeed second cousins and Craig came from near Maitland which is where Jack Oatey grew up.

There had always been a relationship between Craig and the Oatey family, hence Robert Oatey recruited him to Norwood when Craig was only 13 years of age.

Rumour had it that Craig clashed with Glen McMahon after the 1979 season and Craig thus found his way to Sturt to be amongst friends. Remember too that Norwood had recruited Bruce Winter and Rob Barton from Sturt after the 1978 Grand Final so Sturt were seeking some payback by recruiting Craig.

The forerunner of the SANFL, the SAFA was established in 1877 and Port and South are the only two surviving clubs from the initial year. Norwood joined the following year. Thus Port would clearly have played the most games in the SANFL and its predecessor competitions.

Furthermore Port was established in 1870, South in 1876, so prior to any official competition being formed Port would have played more games.

As stated, between 1942 and 1944 the 8 teams merged into 4. Port-Torrens, Norwood-North, Sturt-South and West-Glenelg.

Off topic but an interesting aside is that 1877 is arguably the most important year in modern sport, at least for Australia and maybe England.
The SAFA and VFA both commenced that year as dd the first ever tennis Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon and also the initial test match between Australia and England was played.

am Bays wrote:

goddy11 wrote:North struggling this year with only 18 on the ground.

I dunno, they did all right on 23/09/2018 with 18 on the field...

And under the Salary Cap too.

Thanks for your responses, RiG, Jim and GWW.

However, can anyone explain his absence from the 1983 GF?

I am getting close to solving the absence of Craig. He was named to play in both the QUalifying Final against Norwood and the First Semi Final against North so it appears that he either was injured in the First Semi Final, the Preliminary Final or at training in the fortnight before the Grand Final. I should have the answer by the weekend.

Ironically in 1989 he pinged a hamstring in the Preliminary Final and stupidly played in the Grand Final on one leg. The result was disastrous for both Craig and North.

Sorry to make it a saga but I have now found articles from the 1983 finals and Neil Craig jagged a hamstring in the First Semi final against North. He had 5 kicks and 4 handballs for the match which suggests that he was injured early in the game.

Whilst I didn't agree with everything Chig did as president, particularly early on, you cant fault the last three years where he has played a significant role in ensuring there is still a Glenelg Footy Club and we are now Premiers of the best* footy competition in Australia.

Back to the similarities with 1973.

Only thing missing from the top five in 2019 compared to the top five in 1973, is the word "North" ("big four" alive and well again ;) ) Port, Sturt, Norwood and Glenelg were in the top half of the table (acknowledging Norwood didn't actually play finals as it was the last year of the final four.

And the spooner was the same in 2019 as 1973, Westies.

* not best in terms of overall standard but best in terms of suburban tribalism, relative standard of footy and value, well to me anyway!

Norwood did play finals in 1973. It was the first year of the final five. Norwood beat Port at Norwood in the Elimination Final and then lost to North by 5 points in the First Semi Final, also played at Norwood Oval.

You mention Westies, in fact one of the things Doug Thomas got right is the fact that he always included North in the Big 5 rather than talk of a big 4 (see the 1985 Channel 7 production - That Grand Final Feeling for verification). How a team that has now won five premierships can be considered in any big 4 above a team that has won 14 premierships has always puzzled me.

The only thing I can think of is that the so called big 4 were the 4 monied clubs of the mid 70s to the early 80s. That was the only time when the big 4 was really mentioned and it was only for about 8 years.

We might set a record for the number of brothers in a team.

As far as I can ascertain the record for brothers in the one team, at least since the Second World War is as follows :

In 1974 West Torrens had 5 sets of brothers play league during the year but I don't know whether they all played in the one team. These 5 sets of brothers, were Fred and Brenton BIlls, Steve and Mark Pavlich, Murray and Alan Forbes, Greg and Scott White and Peter and Michael Cousins.
In 1970-71 North Adelaide had six sets of brothers on their list but no more than four sets played league together in the one seasons.
These sets of brothers were Barrie and Rodney Robran, Dennis and Neil Sachse, Maurie and Ken Francou, David and Michael Burns, Peter and Paul Schulz and Kevin and Jeff Barr.
As an aside their were a few handy sires amongst them with Josh Francou, Scott Burns, Jay Schulz and Matthew and Jonathan Robran all being quality AFL players after their respective fathers and uncles had played in a successful SANFL club of their time.

locky801 wrote:40 years since a South Australian scored a test hundred at the MCG until today of course

What about Andrew Hilditch in 1984-85. Was representing S.A. at the time and was born in North Adelaide.
That makes him a South Australian as far as I am concerned.

Port Natives definitely the same club as West Torrens.

1894 - Port Natives formed by players broken away from Port Adelaide, won premiership in Adelaide and Suburban Association
1895 - won 2nd premiership in Adelaide and Suburban Association which disbanded at end of that year
1896 - Renamed Natives and accepted in SAFA - finished 4th of 5 teams (Port Adelaide wooden spooners)
1897 - Renamed West Torrens with introduction of district football
1990 - Merged with Woodville to become Woodville-West Torrens Football Club

https://wwtfc.com.au/west-torrens-football-club-history/

Similarly; West Torrens District Cricket Club were renamed West Torrens due to introduction of district cricket in 1897 - but were previously Hindmarsh Cricket Club and have played uninterupted since 1865 (besides the war years I guess).

But what of the Natives side which finished bottom in 1895? Was that a different club which then folded and was replaced by another club with the same name? I am not trying to be smart but rather just trying to understand whether there was both Natives and Port Natives in 1895 albeit in different competitions.

North Adelaide have Beccy Cole, Robyn Archer and Radio National's Fran Kelly (spot the link) as keen supporters. Supporters from afar are former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, billionaire and philanthropist Basil Sellers and actor Paul Cronin. Local high profile businessmen include Rob Gerard and Theo Maras. One very prominent person who I didn't realise that he was a Rooster supporter until I read his obituary was international impresario, Robert Stigwood and by then it was too late to do anything about it.
Callum Ferguson and DJ Dom Rinaldo and former DJ Greg Clarke are Rooster men.
Paul Cronin won't be of much help, he died last year.
I said that he was a supporter from afar.

I guess he joins Robert Stigwood and John Bannon.

I will replace him with Sia.

And, all games at 2,20pm on Saturday,Away team wears white shorts.

That was never an SANFL thing, purely VFL. North, Torrens, Central, South, West and Woodville wore white shorts at home and Port, Sturt, Norwood and Glenelg wore dark shorts at home.
I never understood Westies having white shorts at home.
Whilst we are at it we should also revert to red behind posts. Much more sensible than the white behind posts. I am sure Malcolm Blight would agree. Those with long memories would remember him seemingly running into an open goal, mistaking a white behind post for a goal post and scoring a point.

I mentioned that he is universally considered the best player not to win a Magarey Medal, the main reason was that because of his absolute lack of fear, he missed too many games with injury.
When you consider that he was 180 cms tall and 75 kilograms he wasn't very robustly built.
He was a Champion.

Champion yep, Bagshaw? Davies? Never won Magareys.

As I said in the other thread name me a big man with the decision making ability and ability to hit blokes L&R foot over 40 m like Peter Carey.

His hands were already exceptional bit his foot skills "are stiffy material" as one coach I know would say.

Given your previous posts I doubt that you saw much of Cahill.

They of course were all different players but most people I know over 65 would rate him as overall a better player than either Davies or Bagshaw, but not much in front of Davies. Bagshaw could never have won a medal, I have mentioned before that against the lowly sides he would lean against the behind post and let Murphy or Chessell do the majority of the ruck roving. I don't remember him ever being in Magarey Medal contention. Cahill on the other hand would be putting his head over an opponents boot with 1 minute to go and Port 10 goals in front.

In the 1960s it was often quoted in the media that in the history of the SANFL the two best players never to win a Magarey Medal were John Cahill and Don Lindner. Lindner did get his albeit retrospectively.

Davies would have won in 1974 if not for his incessant back chatting of the umpires

He still did finish third in North Melbourne's best and fairest despite what I would call coaching blunders.

Wow, that's a very interesting tidbit I wouldn't have picked. Ebert's time at North was just a smidge before I started following footy closely as a kid, but while he was always acknowledged as a champion player here in SA, all I seem to recall hearing of his time at NM is that he failed.

North would have had some fantastic players back then, so I would have thought finishing 3rd in their BnF would have been a mighty fine achievement.

He played all 25 games for North Melbourne that year. He polled 9 Brownlow Medal votes which was the third most by a North Melbourne player that year behind Gary Dempsey and Ross Glendinning who incidentally both were Brownlow Medallists.
Gary Dempsey finished in the top 10 in the Brownlow an astonishing 13 times.
I think that Ebert may have been soundly beaten in one of the finals which gives rise to the myth that he failed in the VFL but given the circumstances in that he commuted every Thursday, was 30 years of age and wasn't played enough in the centre, he certainly was no failure.

The attached episode of the winners shows the standard of the player that North Melbourne had. This may have been the final in which Ebert performed poorly because he doesn't get a kick until the third quarter or perhaps it had been an earlier final and he was interchange in this one. I am certainly not criticising him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTq9ND0Laqs

You're probably right about 87', but we flew home in that 2nd Semi and when Payne kicked our 4th in a row in the last quarter to bring the margin back to single figures, we looked to have you on toast. Unfortunately the goal was disallowed after one of the men in white paid a free kick against Rowe for shepherding. That seemed to take the wind out of our sails (mental fragility again) and despite kicking into a gale, North locked the ball down for what seemed like 15-20 minutes of scrappy scoreless play, kicked a goal and it was game over. We had a massive opportunity but it's funny in a way because all most people seem to remember from that day was the VFL Prelim. Dont think I can recall a game where so many spectators had the tranny to the ear riding every play across the border hoping the Dees could keep the fairytale alive.
Great summary JK, pretty much as I recalled it. Still trying to find a copy of that second semi.

We didn't have a tranny* with us that day, and we were transfixed watching the game, and I recall hearing the VFL result from others as we walked out of the ground, incredulous that Melbourne lost after the siren.

North beat Norwood 4 times in 1987. Three times at Footy Park and once at Norwood. They didn't play at Prospect where Norwood won in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990. One of the strangest quirks is that North won at Norwood in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and twice in 1990. As well as the home ground advantage you would have thought that the bigger Prospect Oval would have suited North whereas the closer confines of Norwood would have seen McIntosh in particular come into his own, but it wasn't to be.
I remember being shocked when Norwood kicked 3 goals to get within 7 points of North early in the last quarter of the second semi, I hadn't contemplated North losing until that stage, they had always been in control, and conditions were such that there had only been one goal scored in the third quarter. For a few minutes I thought North were gone. You are right about North locking the ball in their forward zone before Darel Hart and Darren Jarman kicked a couple of late goals to steady the ship.
I, too, have been searching high and low to see that game. I did have it on video tape but that has long ago disappeared. It seems strange that it is about the only game from the 1980s finals that doesn't appear to be anywhere on the Internet. The only highlights I have seen in the last 20 years are from "1987 The Way It Was" when you see Darel Hart's late goal but not much more.

Glenelg's overall finals record at FP was still very good though. Several of those lost GF's were coming from the Elim Final so they still had a 3-1 finals record in those years. But that often highlighted that they were too good a team to only finish 4th or 5th at the end of the minor round and they probably should have won more flags if only they'd won the extra home and away games to give them the double chance.

Yes and no, mate.

Up until the end of September 1992 it was pretty good (58% finals winning average @FP (28/48)) on the back of making the GF five times from the Elimination (1974, 82, 87, 88 and 92)

However from October 1992 we then proceeded to go on a 12 game finals losing streak there until September 2011 :oops:

overall winning percentage for us in finals at Footy park is: 47%.

Adelaide Oval however...

Since the GF of 1969 our record in finals there is 8/12.

RIG your recollections of the 1970 last round and final series? Seems a strange season in some ways.

It appears we made the finals only on percentage due to Norwood drawing at Alberton and us beating Torrens at the Bay in the last round

We then proceed to beat North and Port to make the GF. In a wet one Sturt beat us by 21 pts.

it is interesting that both Sturt and Port finished five games clear of North (3rd position) at the end of the minor round.

Sturt and Port were absolutely dominant in the minor round, North were the third side but never really looked like beating either of the top teams. Conversely North had the measure of the fourth and fifth sides, Norwood and Glenelg in the minor round. Sturt actually won their first 17 matches before losing the last 3 minor round games to Port, Glenelg and West. I thought at the time, and still do that Jack Oatey was giving them a Bart Cummings preparation. Sturt often lost matches late in the Minor Round once the double chance was sewn up.

It was Port's centenary year and it appeared to me that they put too much pressure on themselves which is so different to Port's usual demeanour.
Glenelg were 5 minutes away from not making the finals. With 5 minutes or so to go at Alberton, Norwood led by 19 points. Norwood captain coach, Robert Oatey, took himself off the ball, and Port kicked 3 goals 1 behind to nothing to manage a draw. The drawing point was scored by Michael Dittmar with very little time left. The Norwood full back had dropped a diving chest mark which enabled Dittmar to pick the ball up and score the behind. Incredibly Norwood not only drew 2 games that year, they also finished with a percentage of exactly 50. Their points for and points against were 1872 each.

North would have been slight favourites to beat Glenelg but it was no real surprise when Glenelg won by 16 points. North were considered brittle in the late 1960s and never has a side relied on one man as much as North did in those times. An example of that was when Barrie Robran had to pull out of a match at Woodville Oval that year. Woodville defeated North for the first time in history, with the Peckers winning by 18 points. Noel Teasdale. the Woodville coach, wrote an article in the Adelaide News claiming that Robran wouldn't have made that much difference. Later on in the year, North beat Woodville by 80 points at Prospect and Teasdale apologised saying normally one man wouldn't mean the difference between victory and defeat but in this case Robran was the exception.

What I am alluding to is that Gleneg with their smattering of champs was able to defeat a Robran reliant North.

Then Sturt easily accounted for Port by 35 points in the Second Semi Final.

The absolute shock was when Glenelg defeated Port by 3 goals in the Preliminary Final. Peter Marker, and not for the last time, proved too explosive for Russell Ebert in the centre and Ray Button had one of his mercurial days taking hangers galore across half forward. Fred Phillis scored his 100th goal during the game and his brother Wayne kicked a vital goal late in the game which virtually made the game safe. Port may have blundered at the selection table when they dropped stalwart full back Ron Elleway from the team. I guess they considered he would have been to slow off the mark for Fred Phillis.

And so to the Grand Final. It rained. And it rained. And it rained. I have never known a day like it. Apparently it started raining at about 4 a.m. and there wasn't a break in the weather. Normally the rain stops at some stage. Glenelg actually led by 2 points at half time with John Sandland marking everything at Centre Half Forward despite the ball being like a cake of soap. After half time the great Rick Schoff tightened up on Sandland and with Malcolm Greenslade dominating at Full Forward, Sturt ended up winning by 21 points. Greenslade scored 6 goals and without being too unkind I thought his opponent was one of those Glenelg players who didn't handle the big occasion very well throughout his long career. As usual Glenelg's top end players were excellent despite the conditions but Sturt were just a class above. It was Sturt's last hurrah for four years though and a couple of good, honest players who had been at Sturt for many years finally got their reward of playing in a premiership, so I guess Sturt weren't quite as strong as in the early part of their 5 in a row.

My final comment is that a few years ago I checked to see how much rain fell that day and it was only 11 or 12 mls, so it must have been a drizzle all day,

I appreciate your comments. I have had a very fortunate life, footywise. I, of course, am a passionate North Adelaide supporter, but as much as I absolutely love North, I love footy and great footballers even more.
Until last year I had been at the ground for every SANFL Grand Final from 1960 onwards other than 1994 when I was in Europe.
Last year I was in Morocco but was travelling on a bus with WIFI powerful enough to watch the Glenelg vs Port Grand Final with the DIgital Pass much to my wife's chagrin who thought I should have been looking at the scenery.
As a kid we went to every North game or if North were playing on a holiday as seemed to happen a lot, we went to either the Torrens game (mum followed Torrens) or to the game of the day as well as every final, so I saw a lot of the champs such as Lindsay Head, John Cahill, Geof Motley, Ken Eustice, Neil Kerley, Robert Day, Peter Darley, Robert Oatey, Tank Kneebone, John Halbert and Baggy and then a little later on Peter Marker, Russell Ebert, Malcolm Blight, Peter Carey, Rick Davies, Greg Phillips, Graham Cornes, Peter Motley, John Platten, Mark Naley, Stephen Kernahan, Garry McIntosh, Michael Aish, Scott Hodges. Gavin Wanganeen and Ralphie Sewer. All champions in my eyes. So I have been spoilt. Of course too, on a weekly basis I would see North who always had a champ to watch from Don Lindner and Barrie Barbary, through to Barrie Robran, the Jarmans and dare I say it for one year in 2018 Connor Rozee.
May the SANFL continue to produce champs, even if we only see them in our competition for a short time.

The Jack Oatey medal was first presented in 1981, the inaugural winner being Russell Ebert

Ive got hold of some correspondence by historian and footy budget reporter Peter Argent, compiled in 2008
He has listed who may have been a Grand Final best player pre -1981
These are the players Peter Argent thinks would have been worthy Jack Oatey Medalists had an award existed

1945 MAX NICHOLLS [WT]
1946 IVAN HOLLIDAY[NW]
1947 BERNIE SMITH [WA]
1948 BOB HANK [WT]
1949 JEFF PASH [NA]
1950 JOHN MARRIOTT[NW]
1951 ALAN GREER [PA]
1952 ALLAN ALDENHOVEN[NA]
1953 MICK CLINGLY [WT]
1954 LLOYD ZUCKER [PA]
1955 FOS WILLIAMS [PA]
1956 TED WHELAN [PA]
1957 TED WHELAN [PA]
1958 NEVILLE HAYES [PA]
1959 GEOFF MOTLEY [PA]
1960 BARRY POTTS [NA]
1961 TREVOR RUE [WA]
1962 IAN HANNAFORD [PA]
1963 TREVOR OBST [PA]
1964 DAVID KANTILLA [SA]
1965 TONY CLARKSON [ST]
1966 mal HILL [ST]
1967 BRENTON ADCOCK [ST]
1968 PAUL BAGSHAW [ST]
1969 mal GREENSLADE [ST]
1970 PAUL BAGSHAW [ST]
1971 BARRIE ROBRAN [NA]
1972 BARRIE ROBRAN [NA]
1973 BOB HAMMOND [NA]
1974 RICK DAVIES [ST]
1975 NEIL BUTTON [NW]
1976 RICK DAVIES [ST]
1977 BRIAN CUNNINGHAM [PA]
1978 MICHAEL TAYLOR [NW]
1979 DARREL CAHILL [PA]
1980 GREG PHILLIPS [PA]


1948 BOB HANK
Of interest was the selection of WT superstar Bobby Hank in 1948
Many who saw Bobby Hank and Lindsay Head play are of the opinion that Bob was the better footballer
That is quite an accolade as I consider Lindsay Head to be one of the most skillful footballers I have seen

1948 GRAND FINAL
NW 5-4....5-6...9-14....15-16 [106]
WT 1-4....3-9....4-9.......6-13 [49]
NW avenged a second semi final loss by 3 points to WT
NW then beat WA by 4 points in the prelim
Bobby Hank must have played one helluva game in the grand final , as WT lost by 57 points

Bobby Hank was also a smart harness pacer who raced in SA at the turn of this century

Very interesting list. A lot of Magarey Medallists on that list.

I never saw Bob Hank play, but every old timer I ever talked to said that Hank was definitely a better player than Head and that is not to decry Head.

A few comments on some of the other early players who I have only heard about

Bernie Smith must have been a great player. He, of course, won a Brownlow, captained Geelong, played in dual premierships for Geelong, was an All Australian, made Geelong's Team of the Century and was named in the back pocket in the AFL Team of the Century. Bernie sadly died whilst only in his 50s

Jeff Pash had won his Magarey Medal 10 years earlier and he was best on the ground in his very last league game. Haydn Bunton senior had relegated Pash to the reserves the year before, but Ken Farmer took over as coach and restored Pash to his rightful position as a league player. He was also an Inspector of Schools and a brilliant writer on the game.

John Marriott was a champion ruckman. His career was truncated because he was a dentist but he still managed to win a Magarey Medal, play for South Australia an astonishing 23 times and he was named in Norwood's Team of the Century. Merv Agars named him in his greatest South Australian side of the first 100 years of SA football. He too died whilst still a relatively young man in his mid fifties, and it is not stretching the truth to say the state as a whole mourned his passing.

Allan Greer was a Port Adelaide stalwart who is probably best known as a proprietor of a sports store with Geof Motley called Motley and Greer. He was Port Adelaide vice captain under Fos Williams and played in the 1951, 1954 and 1955 premierships He was a successful Amateur League coach. wining 4 premierships with Adelaide Uni, before coaching West Torrens for a couple of years.

Allan Aldenhoven was a champion country ruckman who played very spasmodically for North Adelaide. He only played 55 games for North because of his country employment but he did win North's Best and Fairest in 1951 and represented the state twice. North used to bring him back from the country for finals. He won Mail Medals in three different competitions. A couple of measures to show how good he must have been were firstly that his best on the ground performance in 1952 was against Norwood's champion ruckman, John Marriott. Also when North named their Team of The Century, Doug Thomas stated that as much as he admired Mick Redden who was named as North's second ruckman behind Tom Leahy, he thought that Aldenhoven was an even better player than Mick Redden and should have been in the team. Aldenhoven played country football until he was 40.

Back to pen pix of the Peter Argent "winners". And feel free to add or correct anything I have written. Remember that I never saw any of the early winners play so I am relying on hearsay.
The 1945 "winner" was Max Nicholls. He had won the 1940 Reserves Magarey Medal, which is now recorded by his other given name, Eric, but he was universally known as Max. He played 99 games for Torrens, represented the state in 1946 and ended his career at Port Adelaide. He was chosen for the state as a wingman, but he played as an on baller changing in the forward pocket in the 1945 Grand Final. He scored 3 goals in the second quarter as Torrens fought back from a 6 goal deficit. Old timers told me that 1994 was the absolute inverse of 1945 and as far as they were concerned the same two teams were playing but with role reversal.
In 1946, Ivan Holliday was universally considered the best man on the ground. He was a brilliant Centre Half Back who had played in a Norwood-North flag in 1944. He had just turned 20 in 1946 when he played brilliantly in the Norwood premiership side. He had already represented the state on 4 (some say 5) occasions and a huge career beckoned. Sadly he missed all of 1947 with a knee injury and only managed one league game in his last year, 1948. He was awarded Norwood's best backman trophy in both 1945 and 1946. One can only ponder what might have been. His son, Michael, played a handful of games in the late 1970s before he, too, succumbed to a knee injury.
I have covered the 1947 until 1952 "winners"
Onto 1953. Michael Thomas Clingly. What a character. As already mentioned, he played interstate cricket and football. He was universally considered Torrens best player in their fourth and final premiership as a separate entity. Surprisingly he dominated in an unusual position for him, permanent back pocket checking the resting ruckmen. He normally played as a key forward. He led Torrens goalkicking 3 times and he is the last player to score a goal with a place kick, which he did when he scored his 12th goal against Glenelg in a 1956 match. He retired in 1960 but he played cricket for Woodville until the 1970s. Many of you will remember him as an around the grounds commentator and also an ABC TV panellist for many years. He had a legendary cheek about him. Legend has it when he first entered the West Torrens change rooms prior to his first ever training run, in front of the Hank brothers, Alf Roberts, Jim Coverlid, Don Prior and Frank Graham and various other top players, he didn't just quietly walk in, but rather announced himself with "I'm Mick Clingly. You'll be hearing a lot more about me!" If many people behaved that way, they would be considered a brash upstart, but Mick was such a loveable larrikin, no one was offended and furthermore he was right.
I will continue with the Port players from their six in a row tomorrow. I certainly saw a couple of them play so I can give my own personal reflections instead of relying on what I have heard.

I know this is a footy blog but I would like to add to the great Mal's post on cricket.

According to Hookes himself, he came out to bat as a 14 or 15 year old in his first district game. He took guard and asked for the sight screen to be moved as he was, of course, left handed. Mick Clingly said something along the lines of "Stop fussing about and let's get on with the game. What would your old man think of you wanting the sight screen changed". Mick then went wide of the crease, bowled a round arm delivery that Hookes lost completely in the background and was bowled.

Mal mentioned that Mick that a left arm spinner batted right handed. I have a strange mind but I have always pondered as to why did so many left arm orthodox spinners bat right handed. I immediately think of Derek Underwood, Bishen Bedi, Phil Edmonds, John Inverarity, Ray Bright and Murray Bennett. More recently Ashley Giles and Stephen O'Keefe too both bowl left handed and bat right handed. I have never understood why. Norman Gifford is about the only left arm orthodox spinner of any note that I can think of who batted left handed. Even before the Second World War, the great Hedley Verity, the man who dismissed Bradman the most times in test cricket, bowled left arm orthodox yet batted right handed.

Now back to Peter Argent's phantom Jack Oatey Medal winners.

For 1954 he suggests Lloyd Zucker. Lloyd led the Port rucks for all 6 premierships from 1954 through to 1959 inclusive. He had been Port's leading goal scorer in his first year after playing for Exeter in their 1948 A1 Amateur League Premiership side. He was always handy around goals and this was no more evident than in the 1954 Grand Final where he not only controlled the rucks but also scored 4 goals whilst resting. Port came from 33 points down at quarter time and 25 points down at half time to win the Grand Final by 3 points. This game was marred by a number of huge melees including some involving the crowd as the West Adelaide players made their way to the change rooms at half time. This game gave rise to the players race being introduced. After his best on the ground effort in the 1954 Grand Final, Zucker was chosen to represent the state in 1955 and 1956. He was named on the Interchange bench in the 1870-2000 Port Adelaide Greatest Team.

In 1955 Port Adelaide thrashed Norwood by 63 points in the Grand Final and Peter has suggested Port Captain Coach, Fos WIlliams as best man on the ground. We all know of Fos' achievements as a coach, both with Port and also the state team, but Fos was a champion rover in his own right. When those great journalists, Mike Coward and Geoff Kingston compiled their greatest 40 players of the first century of South Australian football, they ranked Fos at number 36. He played in seven premierships, one with West Adelaide and six with Port Adelaide as well as coaching Port to 9 premierships, 3 as non playing coach. He played a staggering 34 state games. And all this after not starting his league career until he was 24 years of age due to his Second World War Service with the Royal Australian Navy. Prior to the war he had only played footy at Quorn.
It is also little know today, but whilst Fos was working at the GPO and coaching for Port he also attended Adelaide University part time where he attained a Bachelor of Economics, Of course he was raising a family at that time as well. Where did he find the time?

Peter Argent has chosen Ted Whelan as best on the ground in both 1956 and 1957. Ted Whelan like Lloyd Zucker and Fos Williams was named in Port's Greatest Team 1870-2000. He played as a ruckman and a defender and was named in the back pocket in that team. He played in all Port's 7 premierships in the 1950s as well as playing 20 interstate games and also captaining South Australia once. The Port first ruck combination of Zucker, Whelan and Fos Williams ranked alongside the Port first ruck of the 1930s of Kellaway, Reval, Quinn as Port's greatest ever first rucks. Given the amount of games played in the SANFL by players in the 1970s, 80s and into the 90s it is astonishing to think that Ted Whelan was the first ever Port player to play 200 games for the club. He finished with 248 games. Port won the 1956 Grand Final against West by 16 point after trailing by 3 points at half time and in 1957 they trailed Norwood at every change before triumphing by 11 points.

And so to Peter's next couple of "winners".

It is hard to talk about Neville "Chicken" Hayes and Geof Motley individually without referring to the other. They were students together at that wonderful maker of men, Woodville High School (I am sure that you would agree with that statement, Mal), before coming through Port's junior ranks and playing in a Grand Final in their debut year, 1953. Unfortunately for the pair they suffered a loss, something that became a very rare experience for them in Grand Finals. They were named as the two half bank flankers in Port's greatest team 1870-2000.

"Chicken" Hayes was a dasher, but with what I would politely describe as having a bit of mongrel in him. Jeff Pash described him as a “player of all-round gifts who backs his judgement (to a hair-raising extent in this particular case) and plays his man at a distance." He did like a bit of a skirmish though, as legend has it that in his 217 games, 15 of his opponents were reported for striking him but "Chicken" was never reported. He represented the state with distinction on 21 occasions and he played in eight Port premierships. He missed an opportunity for a ninth flag when after being 20th man in the 1965 Second Semi Final he wasn't chosen for the Grand Final. He retired having also won two Port Best and Fairest awards. During his career, "Chicken" worked for a Sports Store and was probably the first player in the SANFL to wear low cut boots. People used to comment that he wore "soccer" boots. After footy, he went back to Teachers College and at 38 years of age he became a master at Prince Alfred College.

The 1958 Grand Final is famous for West Adelaide, who had won all three previous encounters against Port in the minor round, missing two opportunities to win the game in the last 90 seconds. Firstly "Melbourne" Jack Richardson, hit the post and then Ken McGregor, who was a magnificent kick, marked 45 yards out but on an angle. Rather than shoot for goal, he passed off to captain Colin Brown, who was injured and failed to make the distance from about 40 yards out and Port survived by two points. The game was Fos Williams last game, and Port had to do it the hard way, having come via the first semi final and preliminary final whereas West, who led by 10 points at three quarter time, had come straight from the Second Semi Final and should have been the fresher.

Port, too had to do it the hard way in 1959. West beat them in the first game of the season and then Port won every other game in the Minor Round, But in the Second Semi Final West beat Port comfortably by 25 points. Geof Motley in his first year as Captain-Coach led by example and Port led by 6 goals at half time. West came back but Port were never headed and went on to win by 10 points to win their sixth flag in a row.

Geof Motley was different to his friend Chicken Hayes in that he would never have been involved in anything untoward on the field. I once again quote Jeff Pash who described Motley thus : "He is fearless and resolute, but the resolution is jolly and good-humoured - no kicking in ruck. The shape of his flying play for the ball and of his recovery is brave and pleasing; he flies with abandon and bounces up smiling from some impossible rolls and spills.
Others certainly have more elegant techniques, and they, too, are admired in their place; but Motley is unique."
And John Devaney on Australianfootball.com writes about Motley : "Part of this uniqueness was a near universal popularity; it was difficult for even the most one-eyed of opposition supporters to dislike Motley, and when he won his aforementioned Magarey Medal in 1964, it was greeted with widespread and unadulterated acclaim."
That is my lasting memory of Motley. At the time I couldn't believe it when my father and his friends, men who all would have barracked for the Russians against Port Adelaide were overjoyed with Motley having won the Medal. He was that type of player.
As well as winning the Magarey Medal, Motley won four Port Best and Fairests, captained them to 4 flags, represented the state on 28 occasions and was high in South Australia's best players in that famous game on the MCG when SA beat Victoria by 7 points in 1963.

Geof Motley coached Port for 3 years and despite being Minor Premier each year they only won the one flag, 1959. Motley's finals coaching record with Port was an unflattering 2 wins and 5 losses. So Port changed from their tradition of Captain-Coach and appointed Fos WIlliams as non playing Coach. Other than Jack McCarthy in 1949 Port had always had a playing Coach, at least since World War II. Since he had retired as Playing Coach of Port, Williams had coached South Adelaide for one year but with little success.

Under Fos Port again were minor premiers, four games clear of second placed West Adelaide. They then won the Second Semi Final in a canter by 61 points and were unbackable for the flag. West, though put up a magnificent fight in the Grand Final, only to lose another close one, this time by 3 points. Peter Argent's best on the ground in that game was the imposing Port Adelaide Centre Half Forward and Ruckman, Ian Hannaford. Hannaford was recruited from Riverton as an 18 year old having already played in two premierships for his home town whilst also being a border at Prince Alfred College, where he won the Gosse Medal as Best and Fairest in the College competition. He played in Port's 1958 premiership as an 18 year old but missed the 1959 premiership after tangling with Neil Kerley in the Second Semi Final. Hannaford who was a very good mark and an athletic big man also played in Port's 1963 premiership before retiring at the end of 1964 at the tender age of 24.

Hannaford was a qualified architect and found that he didn't have time for footy, having already played 123 league games, been a player in three premierships and had already played in 17 interstate games including playing the difficult Centre Half Forward position in the famous 1963 MCG victory over Victoria. Given his record one can only wonder as to how he may have been recognised had he not retired so young.

Port Adelaide weren't nearly as dominant in 1963, finishing second at the end of the Minor Round but only one game ahead of fourth placed West Adelaide. In fact, Port had to win their last Minor Round game against ladder leader, West Torrens, who had been the dominant team for much of the minor round. Torrens, like North in 1958 were struck down late in the season with a number of serious injuries and lost their last two minor round games and both of their finals. Port had beaten Torrens in the Second Semi Final and then Torrens unluckily lost to North in the Preliminary Final. In the last minute with Torrens two points down, Geoff Kingston had a set shot from about 45 yards out to win the game, but he kicked poorly and Hank Lindner marked between the goal and behind posts. Lindner muffed his kick which was marked by Bob Shearman, 35 yards out, but the umpire deemed that Lindner hadn't kicked over his mark and made him take his kick again. The siren sounded as Lindner's retaken kick reached the pack.

Port Adelaide dominated much of the Grand Final. They jumped a very inexperienced North Adelaide to lead by 31 points at quarter time. North's Captain Coach, Don Lindner, played a magnificent Second Quarter which got North back into the game. In the third quarter North dominated for the first 20 minutes drawing level despite missing many opportunities to goal. But then Trevor Obst, who had roved well all day exploded, scoring a goal himself and setting up another one to give Port a two goal lead. Port then coasted home to a 33 point win with all media recognising Obst as best man on the ground. Many posters may be surprised to realise that Obst was a Rover in that game, he certainly is remembered more as a dashing barrel chested back pocket who cleared with magnificent drop kicks. Ironically he won the 1967 Magarey Medal tying with Don Lindner, clearly the opposition best player in the 1963 Grand Final.

In the end the 1963 Grand Final was a blow out, but many old timers, including a number of players of that era consider that 1963 was when the SANFL reached its peak. It was the last year of the 8 team competition and most weeks there were four good games. And of course South Australia, under the coaching of Fos Williams, defeated Victoria on the MCG, the ultimate in SA footy in those days.

"Chicken" Hayes was a dasher, but with what I would politely describe as having a bit of mongrel in him.

This is an interesting one for me, because I knew "Chicken" long after his playing days and he seemed a nice enough bloke. But my old man, born and bred Norwood High boy who grew up idolising (ie, one-eyed) Norwood put Chicken and Cornes in the same category - Both highly skillful, who'd get an opponent from a position of advantage maybe with a raised elbow, but shit themselves when confronted. Not saying either is right or wrong (wasn't there, wouldnt know), but interested in others thoughts to compare what I grew up with "as gospel" compared to perhaps a balanced view?

Without trying to be too controversial he always had at least half of the reputation that your father referred to. That is why I mentioned the number of players reported against him. Him not being reported and his opponents being reported so often was even raised with him one day on World Of Sport. It was just laughed off though. Also I don't know about him taking a backward step. It is not my image of him (or anyone else coached by Fos).
I always thought a little similar to your father, too, about Cornes, in that he was never reported either, but I don't think that he was in the same class as "Chicken" as an antagoniser. I never thought Cornes took a backward step either. Cornes would certainly have been done trial by video these days when he knocked Nunan at Footy Park in 1981, even though Cornes maintains to this day that it was an accident.
Having said all that I have about Chicken, a friend of mine stood him a few times and actually liked him as a man and as an opponent, so maybe all of these stories are apocryphal.

1964 was such a momentous year, I will give a bit of background first. It is hard to imagine now, but Adelaide was the fastest growing city in Australia at that time and much of the growth was around the satellite city of Elizabeth. It stood to reason that a league team should be introduced out there. In 1959 Central District was introduced into the Seconds Competition and to make it a 10 team comp. Woodville were also brought in, at least unofficially to weaken Port Adelaide. There were no guarantees about them becoming league clubs but it was the aim for Central at least to become a league club. The conundrum was should Central and Woodville become league clubs or should one of the existing clubs relocate to Elizabeth to keep an 8 team competition.

South Adelaide won flags in 1935 and 1938 and were runner up in 1940 but after that time they had experienced a dreadful time. Between 1945 and 1963 the highest position they had finished was sixth even though for much of that time they had a champion Centreman in Jimmy Deane playing for them. Thus by the early 1960s there were moves to either relocate South to Elizabeth or replace them with Central. It got to a vote of the League, 4 teams voted for Central to come in with Woodville to make a 10 team comp, 4 clubs voted for Central to replace South in some form. It got down to the casting vote of the League President who decided on a 10 team competition starting in 1964.

South had been wooden spooners in both 1962 and 1963, and although they had only won 2 games in 1963, their were definite signs of improvement. In the first six matches of 1963 their smallest losing margin was 14 points, but their biggest losing margin was only 19 points. They weren't far away. Later in the year they copped some hidings but they did lose to eventual Grand FInallist, North Adelaide by 3 points. They had one young champion in Peter Darley and other young stars in David Kantilla, Bob Schmidt, Alf Skuse and Lindsay Backman. Additionally their seconds made the Grand Final, so the seeds had been sewn.

In the meantime, West Adelaide, as always seemed to happen after a successful era, were imploding and they sacked their Premiership captain, Neil Kerley, which led to an exodus of players. South snapped up Kerley as coach, and huge piece that it was, that was the final piece in the jigsaw in turning "poor old South" as they had become universally known, into a premiership contender. South won 5 of their first 6 matches and then when they beat reigning Premier, Port, by 14 points in round 7 in front of 27,000 people, the football world started to really take notice. They continued with their excellent form and ended the minor round with a 17-3 win loss record to be second to Minor Premier, Port on percentage.

In the second semi final, Port came from 32 points down at 3/4 time to win by a point. South earned another shot at Port when they beat Sturt easily by 41 points and then onto the Grand Final where Port were red hot favourites because of the finals experience but South had the whole of the state other than Port supporters behind them. South didn't allow Port to score a goal until after half time and despite Port rallying to get within 16 points. South played with a grim determination to keep Port to a single goal in the last quarter whilst kicking 2 goals 5 themselves to win by 27 points. I was there as a 9 year old and I have four great memories of the game and occasion, firstly I can still picture David "Soapy" Kantilla marking seemingly every ball that came near him, I remember Ian Day, in his last league game before becoming the doyen of SANFL television commentators,kicking a goal in the last quarter to sew up the game, the chant of South, South, South echoing around the ground in the last quarter drowning out the Port supporters and old time South supporters crying out Yee-Oh at various times during the game.
I mentioned David Kantilla as marking everything. He was Peter's choice as best man on the ground and everyone who was at that ground would have been in agreement. He dominated in a way similar to Barrie Robran in 1971-1972 and Rick Davies in 1976.
David Kantilla had been recruited from the Tiwi Islands in 1961 and as far as can be ascertained to use the vernacular of the day was the first "full blood" indigenous player to play in the SANFL. By the time of 1964 Grand Final he had already won 2 Best and Fairest Awards at South as well as being their leading goalkicker in 1961. He represented South Australia on four occasions and played 113 league games for South.

He was chosen in the Indigenous Team of the Century, the AFL Northern Territory Team of the Century as vice captain and is a Legend in the AFLNT Hall of Fame. I quote from the AFL Northern Territry website :

"Kantilla stood at six feet five inches and was a fine mark but at just 79 kilos he played with the grace and mobility of a rover. At the end of his final season in 1967, he had played 113 games and was the first Indigenous player to reach the 100 game milestones in South Australia.

At the end of each SANFL season, he would return home to the Northern Territory where he continued to play for St Mary’s, winning four Premierships in the 50’s and 60’s."

Sadly, "Soapy", the nickname bestowed upon him in his early days at South when a newspaper photo was published of him washing his hair in the shower, was killed in a Car accident in 1979 at only 40 years of age.

If I could add a personal comment here. How is it possible that this man is not in the SANFL Hall of Fame?

So on to 1965. For most of the season, Port and South seemed a cut above the rest of the competition and they finished the Minor Round with the double chance. Coming to the last Minor Round game Sturt were out of the 4 and the two rivals for the four, Norwood and North were favourites in their respective games. Sturt were playing bottom side Woodville where as Norwood were playing Central at Adelaide and North had the hardest game, playing South at Prospect, but North were in good form having as so often has happened over the years, beaten Port at Alberton. Both Norwood and North lost and Sturt snuck into the four but weren't considered a threat.
Sturt did dispose of Norwood comfortably in the first semi and then Port beat South after the siren with a long goal from Peter Mead. South were red hot favourites to beat Sturt as they had the previous year in the Preliminary Final. But young Paul Bagshaw put on a clinic, John Halbert scored 6 goals and "Emmy" Jones scored 5 and Sturt prevailed by 7 points. The last 10 minutes of that game is on You Tube and at the start of the excerpt an incredibly dubious mark was paid to Sturt Full Back Bruce Jarrett rather than to Soapy Kantilla in the goal square that would have pur South in front.
Despite Sturt's win against South, no one gave them a chance against Port. And for over three quarters of the game, the pundits were right. Despite occasional flashes of brilliance Sturt were down by 35 points. But then, Tony Clarkson, the Sturt beanpole ruckman, absolutely took charge. He had won the rucks all day but he was now dominating Sturt got to within 3 points with about 5 minutes to play but missed golden opportunities to win the game when John Halbert, Darryl Hicks and Brenton Adcock, up from the back pocket all kicked out of bounds when within close range of goal. Sturt may have lost but it was clear to everyone there that we were witnessing the birth of a great side.
Tony "Doc" Clarkson, who was Peter Argent's nomination for best on ground, had played 2 league games for Sturt in 1959 but then concentrated on his medical studies and played amateur league football for University. He twice won the Hone Medal as Best and Fairest in the A1 Amateur League. He only returned to Sturt in 1964 to answer an SOS when their number one ruckmen was seriously injured when hit by a car on Peacock Road on the city parkland fringe. Doc dominated from the time he came back to Sturt.
A genuine "bean-pole" ruckman, it was said that the Sturt rovers weighed more than him, he won Sturt's Best and Fairest in 1965 and again in 1967. Quite a feat when you consider the champions Sturt had at the time. He also represented the State on 6 occasions. He achieved all this whilst completing medical studies which saw him eventually become a Professor of nephrology, or for us laymen all things kidney related.
He retired from football in 1968 and went to Edinburgh in Scotland for 3 1/2 years. When he returned to Adelaide he was the first director of the newly created Renal Unit at the RAH.
Obviously a brilliant man in all facets of life, he was a generous and amiable man with a great wit.
In later life he returned to Sturt as a medical officer for them and also a board member whilst still having a huge influence on Medicine and Nephrology in particular,.
He passed away in 2010 at age 70 and is missed to this day.