Despite the accolades, Graham Cornes regrets not being able to beat Sturt in a SANFL Final
As Glenelg gears up to take on Sturt in the SANFL Grand Final today, Graham Cornes reminisces about his greatest regret – failing to beat the Double Blues in a final.
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Regardless of what might have been achieved in a football journey there are always pangs of regret.
Even the greatest of football achievers have moments when they think they should have done it better, so what hope do we mere mortals have.
Today hits home, Glenelg are playing Sturt in the SANFL grand final.
The season reaches its climax the way we all hoped it would with two traditional SANFL teams facing off.
That pang? We, my Glenelg teammates and I, could never beat Sturt in a grand final.
We never beat Port either but strangely, never lost to them in a preliminary final.
In fact the emotion immediately after beating Port in the 1970 preliminary final, when the Magpies had finished the minor round on top of the ladder and Glenelg had just scraped into the final four by 0.83 of a per cent, rivalled that of a grand final victory.
We sent Port out in straight sets after they had been beaten by Sturt in the second semi-final. Sound familiar? I’d been home from Vietnam barely three weeks, scarcely able to believe I was playing for Glenelg on Adelaide Oval.
But preliminary final celebrations can be toxic and it takes just seven days to realise there is no second prize.
So it was in the 1970 grand final. It had rained all Friday night and Adelaide Oval was ankle deep in sodden turf and mud.
It was before drop-in pitches had been designed and the centre square was a quagmire.
You would think those conditions would favour the less skilful team but Jack Oatey’s unshakeable belief in his team’s superior skill was justified – the more skilful team will prevail regardless of the conditions.
Of course Paul Bagshaw, the most skilful of all, was best on ground, but in the most atrocious conditions Malcolm Greenslade kicked 6 goals. It was their fifth premiership in a row.
We had played off in the previous year’s grand final.
In 1969 Glenelg had been the dominant team of the season, winning 17 games and finishing two games clear on top of the ladder.
Sturt was second but on the same points as West Adelaide, who surprisingly, with West Torrens, made the final four.
The other surprise was that Port didn’t make the finals.
The 1969 finals series is renowned for West Adelaide and the Eagles playing out a draw in the first semi-final.
It was the era before extra time so the match was replayed the following week which set the finals schedule back a week.
Sturt upset Glenelg in the second semi-final, but Glenelg eliminated West in the prelim final to make a rare grand final appearance.
The most controversial issue in this game was Glenelg’s exploitation of the National Service Act which allowed soldiers who had been drafted to play in different states without needing a clearance.
Richmond’s Royce Hart, the best centre-half-forward in the country, had been drafted, was based at Woodside army barracks and had trained a few times at Glenelg while flying back to Melbourne every week to play for Richmond.
The previous Saturday, he had played in Richmond’s VFL premiership team, but agreed, for the massive sum of $2000 (perhaps $75,000 in today’s money) to play for Glenelg in the SANFL grand final seven days later.
It wasn’t cheating, but it felt like it and several players were uncomfortable with the move. But there is a football God.
Sturt kicked the first goal within minutes of the opening bounce and Hart was knocked unconscious early in the game, albeit accidentally when he fell into the knees of Surt defender Trevor Clarke.
The sight of the well-meaning but naive Glenelg trainers dragging Hart’s limp body to his feet with his head lolling, would horrify today’s sports medical teams and he collapsed once again when they let him go.
It was Neil Kerley’s last game as a playing coach and he roared at Hart, “get up you weak Victorian w****r”.
I don’t know how, but to Hart’s credit, he eventually did get back up and played well.
But it was a rout. Paul Bagshaw starred and it’s almost forgotten now that Malcolm Greenslade kicked nine goals in a masterful performance at full forward.
It’s amazing how some things stick in your memory.
The image of John Tilbrook – all muscles and power, bursting through half forward and launching massive screw punts – is indelible.
Then came the coup de grâce late in the game.
With absolute impertinence, Sturt captain, Bob Shearman broke from the centre and launched a left-foot drop kick which hit a teammate on the chest.
They were hard enough to kick with your natural foot.
It was an annihilation and a humiliating lesson in finals football.
We would meet again in 1974 in the first grand final played at the new Football Park at West Lakes.
They used to call it Pleurisy Park, such was the bitter weather that plagued the stadium in the early years, and on that day there was a howling wind from the north.
Winning the toss was vital.
Glenelg captain Peter Marker, a lawyer by profession, ignored coach Kerley’s instructions about how to contrive winning the toss, so Sturt subsequently won it.
They kicked six goals with the wind in the first quarter and held Glenelg goalless. Unfortunately after quarter time, the rain came and Glenelg could only manage four goals. Sturt would kick only six behinds with the wind in the third quarter and at three quarter time, coming home with the wind, Glenelg looked a real chance.
But the wind faded and Sturt outplayed us to win by 15 points.
Rick Davies starred and Michael Nunan’s last quarter was magnificent.
Every grand final has an unlikely hero and it was the cameo of Robbie Barton who came off the bench in the last quarter that was most memorable.
He only kicked the one goal but he enlivened the Sturt team and contributed immensely to the victory.
It was the right result.
Sturt had dominated the season, finishing on top of the ladder with 19 wins, whereas Glenelg had just snuck into the newly instituted final five with 11 wins.
There was an interesting sequel to that game, three months later.
Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin and claimed 71 lives.
The city was evacuated but hundreds remained to begin repairs and the two teams, Glenelg and Sturt, were asked to play an exhibition match as a form of entertainment to lift the spirits of those who had remained.
Seeing the devastation was a sobering experience, and when, during the third quarter, the sky blackened and the wind rose it looked like the cyclone was about to return.
As in that fateful final several months prior, kicking into the wind was extremely difficult. Neil Kerley made a cameo performance off the bench to entertain the fans, but I can’t remember who won – which means Sturt probably did!
So today, 49 years later, Sturt and Glenelg meet again in the season decider.
Glenelg will start favourite but Sturt coach Marty Mattner knows how to prepare his team for these finales.
Glenelg will have to navigate a defensive, pressure-intense morass to give its talented forward line enough winning opportunities.
First year coach Darren Reeves has done an amazing job and Glenelg has to start favourite, but we’ve been there before.
That’s what I’m nervous about.
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