Australian Football

Recruited from Kapunda, for whom he won the Barossa and Light Association’s best and fairest award, the Doering Medal, in 1930, wingman Jack Dermody was a key figure in the great Port Adelaide sides of the 1930s. Between 1932 and 1938 he played a total of 108 SANFL games, which included the winning grand finals of 1936 against Sturt and 1937 against South Adelaide, in both of which he appeared as the Magpies’ captain. Pacy and skilful, Dermody represented South Australia on 16 occasions, and was state captain for the 1937 Perth carnival, having also played in the Sydney carnival four years earlier. He won Port Adelaide’s best and fairest award in 1933 and 1935, and ran third in the voting for the 1933 Magarey Medal.

Darmody would have to be considered slightly unfortunate not to have been selected in Port Adelaide’s official ‘Greatest Team 1870-2000’, but the fact that he felt constrained to retire from league football early, aged just 27, may have counted against him. Throughout his Port career Dermody had to travel back and forth from Kapunda twice a week, once for training, and once for the game on Saturday. In return, all he received was his travelling expenses, plus an end of season bonus of two shillings and sixpence for every senior game played during the year. In 1939, Dermody resumed playing with Kapunda, and continued until he broke his collar bone in the second quarter of the 1950 Grand Final. He went on to serve in various off-field roles with the Barossa and Light Association, confirming himself as one of the greatest names in that competition’s history.

Author - John Devaney