Baggy Bags Magic 10

By DION HAYMAN

Sturt only lost two league games in 1978, yet had only one opportunity to avenge those defeats. The Double Blues famously fell to Norwood by a point in the premiership decider.

Their only other reverse came at Richmond Oval in the sixth round when eighth-placed West Adelaide produced a level of skill and desperation that resulted in a shock 22-point win, its first in 11 games against Sturt at home.

Bagshaw was a late withdrawal from that match after hurting his back working on his property at McLaren Flat where he still lives today. But he returned a week later as the Double Blues unleashed a torrent of retribution on the Magpies, delighting the blue half of more than 17,000 sardined fans at Unley.

The Bee Gees were top of the charts with Stayin’ Alive but Port Adelaide was dead and buried by half-time after Bagshaw’s six-goal second quarter.

It came after he quite incredibly failed to register a possession in the first as the visitors appeared on comfortable terms with the hosts.

The Magpies even led narrowly 5.3 to 4.6 seven minutes into the second term. That’s when Rick Davies took matters into his own hands, soaring across a pack to mark a kick-out before promptly launching a 60-metre bomb back from whence it came. It was the first of a withering burst of 11 goals in 22 minutes while Port was rendered scoreless.

Bagshaw, now 79, still plays golf twice a week at Thaxted Park off a handicap of eight – well that would make a nice touch but it’s actually nine.

“I nearly didn’t play that day against Port,” he recalled.

“I had a rotten migraine headache the night before and even that morning I wasn’t that good and tossed up whether I should play or not but, being young and stupid, I did. I used to get them every so often. This was a really bad one but fortunately I don’t get them like that any more.”

In every story of a hero, there is a villain or fall guy and Port’s was Chris Natt. Best remembered as a skilful, mobile ruckman, in hindsight, Natt seems an odd choice of minder for a silky-smooth midfielder pushed to the goalsquare in his twilight years.

Bagshaw’s career shift was the brainchild of master coach Jack Oatey.

“He came to me at the start of that year and said, ‘I think I’m going to play you at full forward’ and I said, ‘that sounds good’,” Bagshaw remembered.

“I was getting a little bit slower and we needed a full forward, so he thought he’d give me a go and maybe keep my interest up as well. It was good fun and I enjoyed the challenge. Full forward was a totally different ball game for me because I’d never kicked goals in my life. I’d played most of the positions on the field by then.”

Natt too had undergone a position change. He had been swung back by John Cahill in 1978, eventually inheriting the key post on the last line of defence.

It was a position not entirely new to him. In just his second league game, Natt held North’s Dennis Sachse goalless on Anzac Day in 1972.

“The next week he got dropped, I went on to Richmond and stood Glynn Hewitt and he kicked nine,” Natt laughed.

Standing Mr Magic (Bagshaw has no idea who gave him that nickname) was an even greater contract and the hapless Natt found himself sliced and diced like a magician’s assistant.

After that quiet opening stanza, he conjured up six goals in the second, consistently materialising in areas of Unley Oval without any sign of an opponent.

His previous best return in any game until then had been five. By the time the half-time siren blew, Sturt was 11 goals in the clear and out of sight.

Bagshaw kicked another three goals in the third quarter and needed just one in the last for double digits. Unsurprisingly, it was Davies who surged through half-forward before lowering his eyes and finding his skipper metres in the clear in the right forward-pocket. The angle was minimal but he forced the goal umpire into quite a gallop before inking his first and only bag of 10.

“I only just snuck it in, that’s for sure, I do remember that. But I did miss two easy ones in the second quarter. I should have kicked eight in the second quarter.”

Understandably, Bagshaw’s victim has few memories of the afternoon.

“I was pretty dejected as I was coming off,” Natt said. “I do remember him walking off afterwards giving me a lecture on how I should have played. I think he said, ‘perhaps you shouldn’t have been in the back pocket standing me’.”

STURT  4.5  15.9  21.14   28.21 (189)

PORT 4.3  5.3  12.6   14.8 (92)

BEST – Sturt: Davies, Bagshaw, Klomp, Burgan, Winter, Casey, Wiseman, Leonard. Port: Ebert, Warren, Cunningham, Granger, Clifford, Phillips.

SCORERS – Sturt: Bagshaw 10.3, Barton 3.1, Sims, Klomp 3.0, Winter 2.5, Burgan 2.2, Davies 2.1, Leonard 1.3, Graham, Derrington 1.2, Weatherald, rushed 0.1. Port: Marrett, Evans 3.0, Belton 2.1, Granger 1.3, Sorrell 1.2, Curtis, Cunningham 1.1, Light, Kinnear 1.0.

UMPIRES – Laurie Argent, Brian O’Connor.

CROWD – 17,064 at Unley Oval.