A breeze for the Double Blues
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Unley Oval, Saturday 27 July 1968
The emotions of South Adelaide supporters, typically among the most turbulent and capricious anywhere, underwent even greater trauma than usual during the 1960s. When Neil Kerley was appointed as coach in 1964 the club was at rock bottom, having just procured its second wooden spoon in succession, and its seventeenth - easily a league record - of the twentieth century¹. Under Kerley’s astutely fervent leadership the Panthers enjoyed a seismic reversal of fortune, winning 17 out of 20 minor round games (as compared to just two from 20 the previous year) to finish second on percentage to Port Adelaide heading into the finals.
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A narrow 2nd Semi Final loss to the Magpies proved to be merely a momentary hiccup as South, over the course of the ensuing fortnight, went on to procure its first flag since 1938 with emphatic wins over Sturt in the Preliminary Final (by 41 points) and Port in the Grand Final (by 27 points). The key to South’s win was its ability to blend skill and aggression, unbridled power and flair, and to do so at a speed and with a precision that often left other teams grasping at shadows. As far as Kerley was concerned:
Emulating the F.N. Williams-Killigrew doctrine of getting the ball from A to B with as much brute force as possible, in as little time as possible and by the first method available is not good enough ....... He (Kerley) has gone one further. He likes this power football, but he likes it done with a style and finesse. In most of South’s triumphs ...... the ball players, men like Backman, Skuse, Day and Ross, were vital².
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Neil Kerley remained at the helm at South Adelaide for another couple of seasons, during which the Panthers continued to play the same sort of vibrant, high adrenalin, intermittently exhilarating football, finishing third and fourth. Once Kerley departed, however, the decline was immediate and, if not quite as precipitous as the original rise had been seismic, it nevertheless heralded a perplexing and alarming time for South’s supporters, who could all too readily perceive that the only major ingredient missing from the 1968 mix as compared to the previous year’s was Kerley himself. At the end of the 1968 season, analysts pointed to a lack of dedication among the players and a decline in club spirit as the principal reasons for the Panthers’ decline³, but to all intents and purposes such an assessment merely represented another way of highlighting the absence of ‘the Kerley Factor’.
At no stage during the season was that absence more starkly demonstrated than on Saturday 27 July at Unley Oval.
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Back in 1964, Sturt’s supporters had found themselves in a similar position to their South Adelaide counterparts: the team they followed had recently appointed a highly respected coach with a proven track record under whose tutelage a long overdue emergence from the doldrums seemed to be occurring. Indeed, the similarities went still further, for under Jack Oatey, Sturt was rapidly developing a style of football which bore ready comparison with the Kerley formula of a quick, cohesive, flair-based game augmented by carefully controlled and precisely focused aggression. Over and above this formula, however, the Oatey approach centered heavily on - and, indeed, in the minds of many, was quintessentially characterised by - a pronounced reliance on handball as an offensive tool, to the extent that the first thing any Sturt player who gained possession normally did was to look for a potential handball recipient. The more this process became habitual and automatic over time, the better Sturt became, although it would also be fair to concede that, as other teams assimilated aspects of the Double Blues’ style into their own game plans, the gap in standard narrowed. Nevertheless, for much of the 1968 season, Sturt appeared to be playing at a level or two above most of the other SANFL teams. By the time of the round 15 meeting with South Adelaide the Blues had suffered only one reversal, a 19-point loss to Port Adelaide on ANZAC Day. If they won against the Panthers they would establish a new club record of 12 successive victories.
South Adelaide went into the match in seventh position on the ladder with a 7-7 record. Under new coach Peter Darley (shown at left), an immeasurably less intense character than Kerley, the Panthers had blown hot and cold, although ‘the Jumbo Prince’, as he was dubbed, had shown himself to possess an excellent football brain. His twin moves of centreman Lindsay Backman to centre half forward and wingman Mark Coombe to the pivot for the previous week’s game against Central District had proved that, with Backman booting 5.7 and Coombe effectively ‘running the show’ as the side put in arguably its strongest performance for the year to win by 50 points. As a result, there was certainly no lack of confidence in the Panthers camp as they readied themselves to face the toughest task in SANFL football at the time, a trip to Unley Oval to take on reigning premiers and ladder leaders, Sturt.
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Saturday 27 July was overcast but dry and mild, with a formidable, near gale force northerly breeze blowing. Indeed, so substantial was the strength of that wind that, of the aggregate total of 104.133 kicked in the day’s five SANFL matches, only 14.14 was scored into it, with Glenelg and North Adelaide (both of which won) failing to register as much as a single behind against the breeze. Significantly, it was at Unley Oval, where both teams were heavily reliant on handball, that far and away the greatest amount of success was achieved by teams kicking into the wind.
Panthers fail to take advantage .......
Ruckman Tony Clarkson, playing in his 100th League game, was given the honour of tossing the coin, but the honours went to South’s captain-coach Peter Darley, who not surprisingly opted for first use of the formidable breeze. Despite this, it was the Double Blues who dominated the early proceedings, moving the ball around skilfully and cleverly by both hand and foot, and forcing the Panthers to Alf Skuse from his half forward flank to a loose defensive role.
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Peter Endersbee notched the game’s first goal after marking Keith Chessell’s pass deep in a forward pocket before making light of both the angle and the breeze to split the centre in typically nonchalant fashion. The move of Skuse began to pay dividends for South as he repeatedly proved a foil to Sturt’s aspirations, before launching the ball back towards the Panther half forward line, where Lindsay backman and Brian Norman were beginning to get on top of Phil Nelson and Terry Short. Moreover, despite the fact that Tony Clarkson was winning most of the hit-outs, it was the South Adelaide ‘crumbers’ in White and Thredgold who were picking up the spills.
With the Panthers, of necessity, trying to play a more direct game, centreman Mark Coombe was frequently in the thick of the action, and he appeared to have too much pace for his opponent, Bob Shearman. By contrast, when Sturt attacked, it was often down the wings, where Hicks and Clarke were well on top of Hendrie and Foster.
After Sturt’s early dominance the remainder of the term saw South enjoy most of the possession, but a combination of resolute defence and clever counter-attacking enabled the Double Blues to remain well in touch on the scoreboard.
QUARTER TIME: South Adelaide 4.4 (28); Sturt 3.4 (22)
....... As do the Blues
Other than the most one-eyed of Panther supporters, no one seriously gave South much hope of holding out against the Double Blues, whose class had clearly been evidenced by their feat of being the only team in that afternoon’s league competition to manage more than a single goal playing into the breeze in the opening term. Within moments of the re-start, however, the Panthers gave notice that they were not prepared - with due apologies for the atrocious pun - to be blown away, as Brian Norman snapped a goal to put them 12 points clear.
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The Blues’ response was predictably spirited as goals from Chessell and Halbert brought them level, and then Paul Bagshaw snapped truly to put them in front for the first time since early in the opening term. Almost everyone in the crowd now expected to see Sturt pulling away to secure a comfortable half time lead, but the South players had other ideas. Tackling ferociously and attacking the ball with great desperation they stemmed the tide of Sturt attacks and began to re-gain the ascendancy. Emulating the short game which the Blues had used with some degree of success during the first quarter, South visibly improved the longer the term progressed, and by the long break had recaptured the lead after having registered an incredible 6.1 into the hurricane.
HALF TIME: South Adelaide 10.5 (65); Sturt 9.7 (61)
South well on top
With ruckman Darley and rover White now combining to telling effect, South assumed almost complete control in this quarter. Lindsay Backman at centre half forward was also prominent; proving much too mobile for ‘Sandy’ Nelson, he booted four goals straight for the term.
Ten minutes into the quarter Sturt’s problems were compounded when Paul Bagshaw, who had been a solid contributor all day, was forced to leave the fray after receiving a solid bump. He was replaced by Greg Weir.
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In contrast to their cohesive, penetrative first quarter display, the Double Blues looked disjointed and ramshackle. On the few occasions that they did manage to get the ball into their forward lines, the South defenders, notably centre half back Craig Cock and half back flanker Bob Schmidt, repelled the invasion with ease. The Panthers were on top both in the air, through Darley, Ball, Norman and Backman, and at ground level, where White, Thredgold and Skuse appeared to possess an extra gear compared to their Sturt opponents. By three quarter time South Adelaide, having added 6.3 to 0.1 for the term, had extended the margin to 42 points, and looked to be well on the way to victory.
THREE QUARTER TIME: South Adelaide 16.8 (104); Sturt 9.8 (62)
Brilliant Blues absail home
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Right from the opening bounce of the final term it was clear that Sturt was a team on a mission. Whatever coach Jack Oatey had said to his troops over the lemon time break clearly worked as players who had hitherto scarcely been sighted suddenly found an extra yard in pace or simply began to attack both ball and man with greater desperation.
Within 10 minutes of the resumption, goals to Halbert, Shearman and Schoff, coupled with a flurry of behinds, had reduced the deficit to less than four goals and suddenly the Unley faithful began to find their voices. Showing their inexperience perhaps, the Panthers reacted by going on the defensive, with virtually every player crowding into their defensive zone leaving them with no attacking outlets. Moreover, when endeavouring to clear the ball they repeatedly erred by heading straight down the middle of the ground rather than endeavouring to bottle play up on the ‘dead’, western wing.
Suddenly, the Blues were enjoying a surfeit of possession, with players like Darryl Hicks and Bob Shearman coming into their element; time and again the Sturt centre line players and on ballers found themselves in possession of the ball, in the clear, and with plenty of time to measure their options before unleashing another bullet like pass onto the chest of a team mate. When, as time on approached, two such passes found John Tilbrook within easy reach of goal the result, each time, was inevitable, and suddenly the scoreboard read South Adelaide 16.8 (104); Sturt 14.14 (98) - one straight kick in it.
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That ‘straight kick’ was not long in coming as, with just three minutes left, Malcolm Greenslade got on the end of a pinpoint pass from Brenton Adcock and registered his first full pointer of the afternoon. From the ensuing centre bounce, the Panthers somehow managed to force the ball forward for just about the first time in the quarter, eliciting enormous - and voluble - excitement from their cheer squad behind the goals.
After a series of short kicks the ball reached the South goal square only for indecision to set in as the only two Panther players in the area simultaneously left the ball to one another. Sturt was able to clear, and two kicks and scarcely that many seconds later the ball nestled in the arms of Double Blues skipper, John Halbert, whose prodigious goal-bound kick from centre half forward scudded off hands and through for a minor score. A minute or so later the siren sounded, with no addition to the score; quite incredibly, the Blues had scored their third one-point victory in just over a month⁴, and neither their nor the Panthers’ fans could scarcely believe it.
FINAL SCORE: Sturt 15.15 (105); South Adelaide 16.8 (104)
Match summary
1st | 2nd | 3rd | FULL TIME | |
Sturt | 3.4 | 9.7 | 9.8 | 15.15.105 |
South Adelaide | 4.4 | 10.5 | 16.8 | 16.8.104 |
BEST
Sturt: Chessell, Hicks, Clarkson, Halbert, Adcock, Murphy, Schoff, Tilbrook
South Adelaide: Backman, Thredgold, Darley, Norman, Skuse, Coombe, Ball, White
SCORERS
Sturt: Halbert 4.1; Shearman, Tilbrook 2.2; Chessell, Endersbee, Greenslade, Rigney, Schoff 1.1; Bagshaw, Murphy 1.0; Clarkson 0.2; Adcock, Weir 0.1; rushed 0.1
South Adelaide: Backman 6.0; Thredgold 3.3; Norman 3.1; Coombe, White 1.1; Hendrie, Jones 1.0; Ball 0.1; rushed 0.1
ATTENDANCE - 8,538 at Unley Oval (the average attendance per game at Unley in 1968 was 11,004)
The two clubs’ contrasting post-match fortunes
Sturt went on to extend its record-breaking winning sequence to 13 games before lowering its colours to Port Adelaide in round 17 at Alberton; two years later it set a new, and as yet unsurpassed landmark, when it won a total of 16 consecutive games. In 1968, the round 17 loss to Port was the Double Blues’ last for the season.
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South Adelaide’s capricious run continued, with comfortable wins over Glenelg and Woodville being counterbalanced by inept displays against West Torrens and North Adelaide. The Panthers finally finished the season in sixth place, which was at once their worst showing since 1963, and would prove to be their best for a decade. Peter Darley’s reign as coach came to an end after successive wooden spoons in 1969 and 1970, and it was not until the arrival of the ‘little master’, Haydn Bunton Junior, in 1975 that the club began to turn things around, albeit that a losing grand final against Port Adelaide in 1979 was the closest it came to claiming a premiership.
The two teams
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Footnotes
- At this particular point in time, Glenelg with 13 twentieth century wooden spoons, had the second most ignominious record; West Adelaide had finished bottom 10 times; Sturt nine; Norwood four; West Torrens twice; North Adelaide once; and Port Adelaide either once or never, depending on whether you regard 1900 as falling in the nineteenth century (as was the case at the time), or the twentieth.
- South Australian Football Record Yearbook 1965, page 15.
- See, for instance, South Australian Football Record Yearbook 1969, page 39, and 'SANFL Football Budget', 28/9/68, page 28.
- The previous one-point wins, both of which had been secured in highly controversial circumstances, had been against Port Adelaide and Glenelg.
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