A Humble Premiership Captain

By PETER CORNWALL – Full story in this week’s Football Budget

There’s nothing quite like a good premiership reunion.

The stories get taller, the kicks get longer, the grand final even grander. There will be a couple of epic flags celebrated all over again with a 1966 and 1976 reunion on Sunday at Unley for Sturt’s big clash against Port Adelaide – the club the Blues beat in those epic premiership deciders.

One person who has never been prone to exaggerating his footy career is John Halbert. He’s never needed to, of course, such is the respect – awe even – in which he’s held among footy circles and such were the heights he reached in his dazzling career. But the modest champion – a Magarey Medallist and triple runner-up and All-Australian among other honours – just doesn’t like to talk himself up.

When the Budget asked him to share his memories of Sturt’s drought-breaking 1966 premiership, his razor-sharp memory made for an excellent first-hand report of the Double Blues’ greatest game in 26 years. But there was little about Jack himself.

So we decided to ask a few pertinent questions – and we discovered captaining a Sturt premiership had always been his ambition, among other interesting revelations from one of our favourite SA footy treasures.

Here are the questions and answers:

How good was it to beat Port Adelaide after having come so close against them the year before (lost the 1965 grand final by three points)?

As we had been the leading club for all the minor round, we were confident we were ready to win the finals, after beating North Adelaide comfortably in the preliminary final (by 85 points).

How good was the scoreline everyone still remembers – 16.16 to 8.8 – to be able to double their score?

We had moved ahead at the end of the third quarter and then cut loose in the last quarter (the Blues booted seven goals in succession from the start of the quarter).

How did you feel to be Sturt’s first premiership captain in 26 years?

It was wonderful because it had always been an ambition of my football career to captain a Sturt premiership team.

Do you remember the lap of honour?

We didn’t do a lap of honour – not in those days. The cup was presented in front of the members’ grandstand.

What did you think of the front page of the Sunday Mail?

The photo on the front page of the Sunday Mail, holding the premiership cup, was probably one of my greatest football occasions. It was the crowning moment of my football career. It marked the ultimate achievement of my football career.

Was there any celebration after the win that’s worth commenting on?

The joy that evening at our premiership dinner was a career highlight.

A comment on your team-mates and the lifelong friends from your achievements together?

This year is a year to celebrate that wonderful achievement with a wonderful group of friends and remember those who are no longer with us.

What were you saying to the Port Adelaide players around you when you kicked a late goal?

I will always remember saying to them when I kicked a late final-quarter goal, “we’ve got you this time”.

In many ways the year 1966 was an important year in the history of Australia. We changed from using pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. Also it was an important year for football in South Australia.

The success of Sturt in their victory in the grand final was the signal and beginning of a new method and style of football – from the former successful method and style of football that had enabled Port Adelaide to dominate SA football since the Second World War.

That new method, led by Sturt, was started on that grand final day and was confirmed by their dominance for the next five years, and that it was quickly adopted by the other SANFL clubs.

In 1965 Sturt had lost the grand final to Port by three points in a pressure-packed final in front of 62,543 spectators – the greatest crowd at any sporting event ever at Adelaide Oval.

Then in the 1966 second semi-final Port defeated Sturt by one point and everyone thought “here we go again”.

As a result Sturt then had to play North Adelaide in the preliminary final, and they succeeded in thrashing them 22.14 to 9.7.

So to the Grand final.

On the day of the final Sturt won the toss and chose to kick to the southern end with just a light breeze blowing across the ground. Both teams took some time to settle down with Sturt finding it difficult to penetrate Port’s strong defence led by Trevor Obst. They were both on 3.2 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, Port were in trouble in defence where Ron Elleway was having difficulty with the speed of Emmy Jones at full forward and Port moved Bob Clayton to full back.

Malcolm Hill had begun to take control in the ruck for Sturt and the Blues had moved to a 17-point lead at half-time despite some excellent work by Jeff Potter in defence and John Cahill in the centre. The scores were Sturt 7.7 to Port 5.2.

In the third term, with some excellent tackling, great defence, particularly by Trevor Obst, and good drive from John Cahill, Port were able to reduce the margin at one stage to four points. However, Malcolm Hill continued to dominate in ruck and around the ground and Sturt were able to score several times and restore their lead at three-quarter-time to 17 points, Sturt 9.12 to Port 7.7.

In the final quarter, Sturt were dominant. They won the ball from centre bounces, were disciplined in defence, had Emmy Jones on fire at full forward and had winners on every line.

They cut loose and really moved the ball with speed and handball. They had finally broken Port’s renowned strong defensive action and dominated the quarter, kicking seven goals, four behinds to finish with their final score of 16.16 to Port’s 8.8.

Three players in particular were the best players and dominant in the final – Malcolm Hill in ruck, Emmy Jones for his eight goals and Trevor Obst for his great defence.

Sturt had finally won the premiership after a gap of 26 years from their last flag in 1940.

STURT  3.2  7.7  9.12  16.16 (112)

PORT  3.2  5.2  7.7  8.8 (56)

BEST – Sturt: Hill, Jones, Halbert, Adcock, Dunn, Shearman, Nelson, Jarrett, Short, Clarkson. Port: Obst, Cahill, Potter, Gill.

SCORERS – Sturt: Jones 8.4, Halbert 3.2, Clarkson 2.1, Rigney, Shearman 1.2, Dunn 1.0, Tilbrook 0.3, Miels 0.1, rushed 0.1. Port: Freeman 3.3, Potter 2.1, McKay 1.2, Cahill, Philp 1.0, Spencer 0.2.

REPLACEMENT – Sturt: Shearman (cramp), by Murphy in last quarter.

UMPIRE – Ken Cunningham.

CROWD – 59,417 at Adelaide Oval.