SA Footy

Apologies if this has come up before but there have always been players that have transfered between SANFL clubs over the years, ranging from the lesser lights to some quite bright stars. It was almost an incestial past time for Norwood and Sturt players in the '70s and '80s, but there are many others that come to mind.

Here's a sample from yesteryear but what I would like to get to the bottom of is the reason why these players switched clubs.

I'd like to start with:

1. The Williams brothers - Mark, Anthony and Stephen.
My recollection is that they moved to Port from West after '78 when Fos stopped coaching at Westies. I always assumed that although Fos had coached Westies for 5 years, his veins still had black and white blood passing through them and wanted his boys to move to Port. (tragic about the loss of Anthony later on by the way)

2. Wayne Phillis
I could never understand why Wayne moved from Glenelg to Norwood in '78 IIRC. He had immediate results with a premiership but what possessed him to swap clubs?


3. Peter Woite
Although past his prime, Woite transfer from Port to Glenelg, something unheard of at the time. Why would a magarey medalist do such a thing. (the only other notables to come to mind is Ian Bradmore PA to GL and later Phil McGuinness the other way)

4. Dexter Kennedy
Wins the major Oh F*** award for moving from West to Port in the year Westies win the flag in '83. I assume he went to chase success? Timing was a little off I think.


I know there are many others but can anyone assist with the ones I've highlighted at the moment?

dedja wrote:2. Wayne Phillis
I could never understand why Wayne moved from Glenelg to Norwood in '78 IIRC. He had immediate results with a premiership but what possessed him to swap clubs?

Two words - John Nicholls. The Pride of the Bay intimates the divisions within the club as some players having grown up with Kerley and now senior players 10 years plus found it hard to adapt to a different voice (Cornes tried to go to Torrens with Kerls) and different ideas (Fred Phillis at Full back). Butch jumped early, it all came to a head towards the end of the 78 season as we imploded from late July onwards....

I think the loss of Marker as a leader contributed to this as he could control the senior players better. Speculation but maybe as VC, Butch felt a bit miffed that he was overlooked for the senior captaincy in 78 when Cornes was appointed and tehn left.

AH you would know better, when did Phillis transfer to Norwood, the beginning or end of pre-season????

Re Woite.... the story i read in Fos Williams' book was that Woite asked for a payrise and Bob McLean said something like "come back when you've won a Magarey like Russell Ebert", and when he subsequently won one, no pay rise came, so off he went to the Bays (probably more in it than that but thats basically how i read it).

am Bays wrote:

dedja wrote:2. Wayne Phillis
I could never understand why Wayne moved from Glenelg to Norwood in '78 IIRC. He had immediate results with a premiership but what possessed him to swap clubs?

Two words - John Nicholls. The Pride of the Bay intimates the divisions within the club as some players having grown up with Kerley and now senior players 10 years plus found it hard to adapt to a different voice (Cornes tried to go to Torrens with Kerls) and different ideas (Fred Phillis at Full back). Butch jumped early, it all came to a head towards the end of the 78 season as we imploded from late July onwards....

I think the loss of Marker as a leader contributed to this as he could control the senior players better. Speculation but maybe as VC, Butch felt a bit miffed that he was overlooked for the senior captaincy in 78 when Cornes was appointed and tehn left.

AH you would know better, when did Phillis transfer to Norwood, the beginning or end of pre-season????

I thought Phillis played his first game around round 3-4, but happy to be corrected on that

My understanding is that Fos had an agreement with the club that when he finished coaching West his kids would be free to play at Port if they so wished.
Kerley was not a fan of Dexter. I don't know that Dexter was pushed but if he asked to leave Kerley wouldn't have stood in his way. A real shame because Dexter absolutely carried us during some very lean years.

rogernumber10 wrote:

am Bays wrote:

dedja wrote:2. Wayne Phillis
I could never understand why Wayne moved from Glenelg to Norwood in '78 IIRC. He had immediate results with a premiership but what possessed him to swap clubs?

Two words - John Nicholls. The Pride of the Bay intimates the divisions within the club as some players having grown up with Kerley and now senior players 10 years plus found it hard to adapt to a different voice (Cornes tried to go to Torrens with Kerls) and different ideas (Fred Phillis at Full back). Butch jumped early, it all came to a head towards the end of the 78 season as we imploded from late July onwards....

I think the loss of Marker as a leader contributed to this as he could control the senior players better. Speculation but maybe as VC, Butch felt a bit miffed that he was overlooked for the senior captaincy in 78 when Cornes was appointed and tehn left.

AH you would know better, when did Phillis transfer to Norwood, the beginning or end of pre-season????

I thought Phillis played his first game around round 3-4, but happy to be corrected on that

Yep, it states that Wayne retired after the disappointment of not getting the captaincy, but was later coaxed out of retirement by Norwood (also chased by Port and Woodville). He states that 'I could never see myself pulling a Port guernsey on'.

For some reason I thought there must have been more to it than that.

And what of the more recent one with Andrew Jarman to Norwood in 1990. Presumably it was purely a personality clash with Nunan.

Steven Trigg to North stands out as one for me.
Peter Bubner to Sturt.

Peter Krieg went and got a result, a premiership, which his old club would have to wait another decade for.
The others, I would be interested to hear their stories.

Also Eustice - he played at West, Glenelg and CD.

Anyone know the background behind him moving clubs? He coached CD i think so presumably that was the motivation behind moving to the Bulldogs. Did he move to Glenelg with Kerley?

GWW wrote:And what of the more recent one with Andrew Jarman to Norwood in 1990. Presumably it was purely a personality clash with Nunan.

Didn't he get sick of going to the cake shop or bakery with the Gnome?

rogernumber10 wrote:

am Bays wrote:

dedja wrote:2. Wayne Phillis
I could never understand why Wayne moved from Glenelg to Norwood in '78 IIRC. He had immediate results with a premiership but what possessed him to swap clubs?

Two words - John Nicholls. The Pride of the Bay intimates the divisions within the club as some players having grown up with Kerley and now senior players 10 years plus found it hard to adapt to a different voice (Cornes tried to go to Torrens with Kerls) and different ideas (Fred Phillis at Full back). Butch jumped early, it all came to a head towards the end of the 78 season as we imploded from late July onwards....

I think the loss of Marker as a leader contributed to this as he could control the senior players better. Speculation but maybe as VC, Butch felt a bit miffed that he was overlooked for the senior captaincy in 78 when Cornes was appointed and tehn left.

AH you would know better, when did Phillis transfer to Norwood, the beginning or end of pre-season????

I thought Phillis played his first game around round 3-4, but happy to be corrected on that

Wayne Phillis played his first game for Norwood v North Adelaide at Prospect Oval, round 7, 13th May 1978. He kicked 5 goals.

Bob Shearman is a famous one to transfer from Torrens to Sturt. Must have been a huge loss for the Eagles and a massive boost for the Double Blues.

Aerie wrote:Bob Shearman is a famous one to transfer from Torrens to Sturt. Must have been a huge loss for the Eagles and a massive boost for the Double Blues.

Stood out of football for a year to do so IIRC.

dedja wrote:...Ian Bradmore PA to GL

He actually went to Woodville (unless he was at the Bay in between) - played 3 games (all lost by over 20 goals) before being banished to the Reserves for the rest of a 1-win season in 1982. I always wondered how he got a game at Port.

I'm certain Bradmore was also at the Bays but I don't believe he got a league game. I only mentioned him as there have been very few transfers between Port and the Bays. We must have handed him to you after.

McAlmanac wrote:

Aerie wrote:Bob Shearman is a famous one to transfer from Torrens to Sturt. Must have been a huge loss for the Eagles and a massive boost for the Double Blues.

Stood out of football for a year to do so IIRC.

Yes, he missed a bit of footy did Bob Shearman. He played in the 1959 GF for Essendon, then stood out of footy for half of 1960 trying to get a clearance to West Torrens. He went back and played out the season for Essendon on the proviso they cleared him to Torrens in 1961.

Then in 1965 he stood out the whole season awaiting a clearance to Sturt. West Torrens tried to swap Shearman for Rick Schoff, but neither Schoff nor Sturt liked that idea.

I still think the Bruce Winter transfer from Sturt to Norwood was huge. He ended up playing 178 games for the Redlegs after playing 174 for Sturt. I believe he's the only player to register over 150 games for more than one club, maybe Spelly could confirm this.

How many games would Neil Craig have played for Norwood and Sturt? Presumably he played more for the Redlegs than D Blues..

How many games did Neil Craig play for Norwood and Sturt .. he'd go close maybe?

SNAP