Whelan’s Ton of Pain for Panthers

By DION HAYMAN

What were the odds of seasoned defenders Brenton Adcock and Stuart Palmer kicking a goal on the same day?

Palmer scored only 28 in a club-record 337-game career spent primarily in defence while Adcock booted just six goals in 259 from his back pocket where he featured in six Sturt premiership teams.

Mathematically, the answer is one chance in 519 and that day arrived in the final minor round game of 1973 on a cold, wet and miserable afternoon at Unley Oval. The game, which pitted second-placed Sturt against second-bottom South, was curious for so many more reasons. Palmer’s goal was not just the opening score of the game after five minutes – but the only one his side mustered for the entire match.

South’s pitiful return of 1.4 was the lowest league score in 60 years since 1913. Only two sides have since been held to a lower return – Norwood’s 1.3 against Glenelg in 2008, while Sturt incredibly kept West to 0.6 in 2021.

Most of the 4178 fans who braved the elements in 1973 were hoping to see goals not from Palmer but the other No. 31 on the ground, young Sturt full forward Ken Whelan. And he didn’t let them down.

Whelan’s second goal, after marking unattended at the 22-minute-mark of the opening term, was his 100th of the season, making him Sturt’s first century goalkicker since Bo Morton in 1940.

“The ball came in generally pretty fast at Sturt so if you were on the lead, no-one was going to stop that,” Adcock recalled. “But he could take the big hanger as well. He was a really good full forward – we were lucky to have so many.”

Whelan finished with 107 goals that year, 108 in Sturt’s 1974 premiership season and 80 the following year before injuries saw his star fade. But while the second goal from Whelan, who died in 2013 aged just 60, was met with adulation and blue balloons launched skyward, Adcock’s drew an instant if not predictable response from some punters along the lines of: “It’s a pity you didn’t do that in 1965.”

Adcock laughed as he was again reminded of the moment in time he has never been allowed to forget. The All-Australian defender suffered the misfortune of being among several Sturt players who missed goals late in the 1965 grand final which Port won by three points.

“That’s my career summed up,” he said. “I had two kicks for goal in the last quarter as did Hicks and Halbert and a couple of others and we lost by three points and so they always remember. My memory of it was I was almost straight in front and I remember I should have kicked it. I think I even had two shots and I tried to kick a drop kick. You’d be ripped off the ground if you did it today and at a crucial time I did a droppy. But droppies were 75 per cent of your kicks in those days.”

Adcock has never let the taunts bother him – it’s not in his DNA. “Nothing has ever haunted me and the only reason I remember the ’65 one was because people keep reminding me, even to this day,” he said.

“‘You know, I remember back in 1965…’ they say and I say ‘well you must be old then’. I’ve never taken footy that seriously. I obviously played a fair bit and with a bit of success but it was never the be-all and end-all for me. You go out there and have a good game. Most of them you win and some you lose and you move on. I’m not what you call a diehard football player or supporter.”

The pain inflicted from losing that day was soon erased as Sturt won the next five premierships in a row – the first three against Port. “When we lost that grand final in ’65, I can remember clearly that night in the changerooms and upstairs back at Unley Oval. Everyone’s a bit despondent of course because we’d lost the game but Jack (Oatey) said, ‘No fellas, it was all part of the plan. We needed to lose that one’.” And everyone said, ‘yep, we have arrived’.”

It’s not difficult to understand why six flags have become far more memorable to Adcock than his six league goals. He can’t remember kicking his goal that fateful day at Unley. He doesn’t recall any of them. “I’ve seen everyone quote these six goals I kicked in my career,” he said. “You’d think as a backman you’d remember at least one of them wouldn’t you? I can remember doing dashes and all that sort of stuff but I cannot remember kicking a goal. Is it right? Were there six? I wouldn’t have a clue.”

Palmer cannot recall his vital contribution either – the one that saved South from going goalless. “I’m not surprised to hear we were beaten by Sturt because that was quite a regular occurrence for quite a few teams,” Palmer said. “But it’s not ringing too many bells, I honestly can’t remember that day.”

Palmer was still playing as a forward in the early ’70s before establishing himself as a dour key defender that earned him State selection in 1980 and induction into the SA Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

“I started at centre half-forward (in 1969) and then gradually moved to the backline,” he said. “I kicked a goal with my first kick in league footy. I’m pretty sure it was down at Alberton and it bounced through. I remember playing in the forward line in my first season because we played Centrals at Adelaide Oval and I think we kicked 13 goals in the second quarter and I was lucky enough to get a couple.”

But his solo shot at Unley in 1973 has perhaps understandably long since escaped his memory on what was a dreadfully forgettable afternoon for the navy and white. It was a grim reminder of how far the club had fallen in just nine seasons since its 1964 premiership, still its most recent to this day. Twelve Panthers failed to reach double-figure kicks in an era in which handballs were rarely utilised. Although Oatey, of course, was changing that.

STURT      5.4   9.10 12.14 14.24  (108)

SOUTH     1.1   1.2  1.2   1.4    (10)

BEST – Sturt: Davies, Bagshaw, Greenslade, Adcock, Howard, Barton, Whelan, Miels, Chessell. South: Coombe, Darcy, Bennett.

SCORERS – Sturt: Whelan 3.3, Bagshaw 3.3, Ottens 2.1, Miels 2.0, Greenslade 1.5, Chessell 1.3, Burgan 1.3, Adcock 1.0, Cramey 0.2, Casey 0.1, Barton 0.1, rushed 0.2. South: Palmer 1.1, Bennett 0.1, Young 0.1, rushed 0.1.

UMPIRE – Ric Charlesworth

CROWD – 4178 at Unley Oval.