Australian Football

After suffering a hamstring injury which sidelined him for most of his debut season of 1934 Essendon’s Kevin Hardiman showed flashes of brilliance the following year, which suggested the Dons had unearthed a gem. However, in 1936 he felt compelled to move to South Australia for family reasons, and it was South Adelaide rather than Essendon who were to be the beneficiaries of his talent, for the time being at any rate. The 1938 season brought the twin achievements of interstate selection for South Australia, and a formidable four goal performance in South’s 23.14 to 15.16 grand final defeat of Port Adelaide.

Powerful and extremely vigorous, Hardiman could hold down any key position with aplomb. In 1939 he returned for one final season with Essendon, ultimately finishing his VFL career with 18 games and 28 goals to his credit. The 1940 season saw him back in South Australia, this time as captain-coach of Norwood. In 1941 he relinquished his coaching duties but retained the captaincy, and at season’s end he had the pleasure of steering the Redlegs to a flag. A key reason for their 14.16 to 10.11 grand final defeat of Sturt was said to be their ruthlessly aggressive approach, a legacy at least in part of Hardiman’s quintessentially ‘Victorian’ training methods, and something that was at odds with the prevailing attitude to football in South Australia. The Norwood phase of his career saw him add 30 games and 106 goals to his respective career tallies.

Author - John Devaney