Flag or Bust

By STEVE BARRETT

Coming second wasn’t an option. Not for Glenelg. Not in 1985. Since 1973, the Tigers had endured too much grand final anguish to accept anything less.

“There was no alternative,” recalled Graham Cornes, Glenelg’s new coach in ’85 after two years as South Adelaide’s player-coach. “I’d played in eight grand finals and only won one. There was just no alternative but to win.”

Bays captain Peter Carey felt the weight of expectations. “We won the first grand final I played in (1973), then I lost the next five,” he said. “I was definitely feeling the pressure in ’85.”

The Tigers beat Norwood by 30 points in the qualifying final, then defeated minor premier North Adelaide by 14 in the second semi-final.

But when they faced the Mike Nunan-coached Roosters again in the decider, in front of 50,289 fans at Football Park, familiar nerves began to fray. “I remember being so frustrated,” Cornes said. “There was no reason for our slow start. There was some ill-discipline and they were ignoring instructions.”

Superstar centre half-forward Stephen Kernahan was curtailed early by North defender David Wildy. “We were a bit nervous, with that early-80s history of not quite getting it done,” Kernahan recalled. “In the back of our minds we thought, ‘it’s happening again’.”

Cornes acted. He swung Wayne Henwood from ruck to full back, where he shut down big Mike Parsons after two early goals. Carey, who started in a forward pocket, replaced Henwood in ruck. “I wasn’t happy Cornesy started me forward,” Carey laughed. “But I did get onto the ball fairly quickly.”

That switch renewed Carey’s centre-square acquaintances with his good mate, Roosters ruckman Mick Redden.

“We had some great battles over the years,” Redden said. “I don’t think he and I ever had a dust-up. There were a few of his teammates that I didn’t mind giving a good touch-up – Scott Salisbury, Robin Kidney, Adam Garton, ‘Moose’ Henwood – but not ‘Super’. We still catch up regularly.”

Still, North’s 11-point quarter-time lead swelled to 29 midway through the second term.

Successive Garton majors gave the Bays a faint pulse but they were still on the ropes with Roosters speedster David Robertson steaming towards goal to deliver what looked like the knockout blow.

Then came the moment. At full tilt, Robertson took a bounce, then another – which ballooned over his head and ricocheted near teammate Peter Bennett. He flicked it back to Robertson, who fumbled under hot pursuit from Alan and Wayne Stringer.

“It was a massive turning point,” Wildy said. “You could do that same bounce 1000 times and it wouldn’t go back over your head – it must have hit a sprinkler. Robbo was best man in my wedding and I still see a lot of him. He still beats himself up over it to this day.”

From there, the tide turned spectacularly Glenelg’s way. Five unanswered majors in six furious minutes – part of a stunning seven-goal burst – flipped the contest approaching half-time.

“If the ball hadn’t bounced back over Robbo’s head, it would have been hard coming back from there,” Cornes admitted. “Instead, the floodgates opened. Bang, away we went.”

Kernahan roared to life with back-to-back majors during that avalanche, sparked by two of the greatest-ever grand final marks – a goalsquare grab in a seven-man pack, then a soaring leap from behind over Wildy, John Riley, Paul Arnold and teammate Garton.

“Stephen was a wonderful player,” Wildy said. “I always say Malcolm Blight and Stephen Kernahan were the two best players I ever stood.”

Kernahan’s double-strike was followed by two Stephen Copping goals. Suddenly, the Tigers led by 12 points. The Roosters were demoralised.

“The spirit in the rooms at half-time was so deflating,” Wildy said. “Looking back on it, the margin was only two goals – nothing really. But it felt like a morgue in there.”

Any hope North had of recapturing the momentum with the breeze vanished when Carey’s huge thump at the opening bounce of the third set up Tony McGuinness’s six-pointer inside 20 seconds.

The Roosters became increasingly ragged and spotfires broke out everywhere. But the Tigers didn’t back down, not with the Stringer brothers flying the flag.

“They brought a bit of aggression we’d been accused of lacking before,” Carey said. “Scotty Salisbury and Robin Kidney also came in then (1983). We certainly added some aggression with those four.”

Kernahan, who Carey called “the best player I played with”, snapped his third, then added a fourth from a 15m penalty against Wildy for what the Roosters backman described as “just a slap around the ear, nothing serious”.

What followed was serious. Kernahan’s square-up accidentally drove a knuckle through Wildy’s left eye. “I missed with the first three (spoils) and finally caught up with him,” Wildy said. “But when the ball came down the next time, he was in the right position and I was in the wrong one.”

Wildy was rushed to Burnside Hospital with a detached retina and an optic nerve nearly severed. “The ball was right there – I tried to spoil it,” Kernahan said. “I don’t know what Wilds was doing with his. Those moments stay on the field and we move on. Wilds and I are still good mates.”

In fact, Wildy even hosted Glenelg’s 30-year premiership reunion in 2015 – after picking Kernahan up from the airport and driving him to the function. “David’s a good friend of ours, so we laugh about it now,” Cornes said. “But he asked for it.”

While Wildy’s afternoon ended painfully, Kernahan kept ripping North to shreds. He slotted his fifth after another screamer over Steven Hay and John Brealey, guiding the Bays to a 30-point cushion at three-quarter-time.

‘Sticks’ added two more in a lopsided fourth term, which was capped by brilliant back pocket Ross Gibbs’ drop-kick in the closing stages, bringing a smile to Cornes’ face. Kernahan finished with seven goals, 20 disposals and 11 marks – an incredible nine of them contested.

“It was an amazing comeback,” said Kernahan, who won the Jack Oatey Medal before crossing the border to star with Carlton for the next 12 years.

“Once we got going, we just couldn’t be stopped.” Kernahan credited Cornes for adding steel and purpose to a talented but wayward bunch.

“Graham was able to harness a bit of a mad group – we trained and played our arses off, then on Saturday nights and Sundays we ran amok. Cornesy pulled us back in to the point where in ’85, in the last 8-9 weeks there was no alcohol. We all bought in. He’s a great man and a great mentor to everybody who played in that era.”

Cornes described his post-siren emotion as “not much joy or happiness, just relief”. For Kernahan, who had signed a Form Four with Carlton years earlier, it was goodbye. “I told Carlton I’d only come after I win a (SANFL) flag,” he said.

“I finally won one, so I ran out of excuses.” Kernahan left with a premiership medal around his neck before becoming a VFL/AFL champion with the Blues. But four decades on, he still calls himself a Glenelg man.

“Mum and dad aren’t alive any more, so I don’t get back as much as I used to but when I do go back, it’s like it was 40 years ago – you don’t miss a beat,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”