St Kilda mourns death of Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale

Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale played footy with a reckless abandon, endearing him to Saints fans. Glenn McFarlane remembers the St Kilda premiership star’s football journey.

Kevin Neale has passed away.

St Kilda premiership hero Kevin Neale was universally known as ‘Cowboy’ and given the crash-or-crash-through way he played the game, it was almost the perfect nickname for him.

Neale, who has died, aged 78, after a long illness, was one of the club’s greatest and most loved players across 13 seasons, 256 games and 301 goals.

The origins of the ‘Cowboy’ nickname were unclear. But the kid from South Warrnambool who first came to the big smoke had an unusual gait that wouldn’t have been out of place in the wild west.

But his coach Allan Jeans – who would become a father figure to him – also once accused him of playing recklessly ‘like a Cowboy’ in a game.

The nickname stuck; to those who loved him his Christian name became almost superfluous. He was simply ‘Cowboy’.

His tough, uncompromising, almost gun-slinging reputation as a physical force made him one of the most feared opponents in the game, but also endeared him forever to Saints teammates and fans.

But this larger-than-life character was far more than just the enforcer that St Kilda needed him to be.

Saints legend Kevin Neale has passed away. [Sun 9/8/1971]

‘Cowboy’ turned out to be an exceptional player who excelled at full forward or full back, whether Jeans needed him, with one of his greatest individual moments coming in only his second season at the club when was a member of the Saints’ fabled 1966 premiership side.

Neale’s sizeable part in St Kilda’s one and only flag – achieved with a one-point win over Collingwood – is the stuff of legends, even if history and circumstance meant much of the attention went to his good friend Barry Breen, who kicked the winning point in the dying moments.

Neale, then 21, and playing only in his 35th game, kicked 5.4 – half of St Kilda’s game tally of 10 – in a performance that helped to end what was then footy’s longest premiership drought.

He never cared that much of the focus over the years had gone to Breen’s behind more than his handful of goals. The thing that annoyed him most was that more premierships didn’t follow.

As Neale told this reporter years ago: “I look back on it now as something that was great when it happened. I came down in 1965 … I’d played in seven grand finals in a row where I came from (South Warrnambool), and played in one in my first year (we got beaten) and then we won in my second year. I thought you played in a Grand Final every year.”

The Saints came close to a second flag in 1971 when it made the grand final against Hawthorn, and Neale made his mark in that game in a different way to his five goals in 1966.

Neale was a larger than life figure at St Kilda. August 1974

He was back playing in defence at the time and ‘Cowboy’ became the villain of the game when he whacked goalkicking great Peter Hudson behind the ear, concussing the Hawk star.

Hudson, who equalled Bob Pratt’s 150-goal-season record in that game, played on in some distress, but kicked into the man on the mark when shooting for the outright record.

The Saints ended up losing the game in what was a brutal encounter.

Neale, whose career spanned 1965 to 1977, won the Saints best and fairest in 1973, was the club’s leading goalkicker on four occasions and once held St Kilda’s record for the most games and most finals when he retired, which have both since been passed.

He later returned to the Saints and worked in the marketing department and was also president of the Past Players Association.

He organised countless reunions for past players including the 1966 premiership side, but always dreamt of hanging over the flag mantle.

As he said in 2009, “We (the 1966 team) would like to be remembered for being the first premiership and not the only one. It’s well past time they won another one.”

Peter McKenna (left) and Kevin Neale with the premiership cup at the 2010 Grand Final.

Sadly, that hasn’t happened in the years since.

But the bonds formed with his teammates endured and when Neale was diagnosed with dementia five years ago, they never ceased to keep in touch and visit him in Albury, including a pilgrimage of flag heroes earlier this year.

As the Saints said in a statement: “Truly a larger than life character in every way, Cowboy was always able to engage with people across various generations.”

“His health struggles in recent times were well-publicised, and his teammates regularly visited him in Albury as a group.

“Through the difficult times, his wife Georgina was a constant pillar of strength and the club extends its deepest sympathies to her and the Neale family.”

Originally published as St Kilda mourns death of Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale