John Roberts’ Sweet 16

By DION HAYMAN

Only four players have kicked more goals in an SANFL game than John Roberts.

Still two months shy of his 21st birthday, Roberts announced himself to the football world with a breathtaking 16-goal haul at Football Park against Central in 1977. It’s an achievement even more astounding because just a few weeks earlier he had been playing at full back.

“I actually went to the coach John McInnes a couple of weeks before because we’d started the season all right but we’d had a few key injuries and we were getting flogged,” Roberts said. “I told him I wasn’t enjoying my footy at full back so he moved me to full forward. I’d started my career there briefly but ended up at full back, centre half-forward and all over the place.”

McInnes was renowned for his interest in psycho-cybernetics and may have been well ahead of his time in an area of the game now explored fervently by most AFL clubs.

“It was basically positive thinking. We’d do a session every week. Woodville always had something between the ears that they weren’t good enough. It didn’t do any harm, put it that way. It was mind training really. It was reinforcement and positive thinking.”

Switching Roberts forward produced something positive. He kicked three goals in a five-point home win against Norwood that ended a seven-game run of outs. But even better was to come. His former schoolmate and housemate sensed it.

“A mate of mine, old ‘Mutley’, predicted I was going to kick 16 that day. True story, he told everyone in the bar ‘he’s going to kick the number on his back today’.”

Roberts’ father Ernie weighed in with his own encouragement, promising $2 for every goal kicked. It would cost him $32 in 16 $2 notes.

“Everything fell into place. Early in the game, I remember Ralphy Sewer gave me a nice easy goal and that was it, I was away,” he said. “I kicked five in the first quarter. I think I got the ball every time it came down. It was weird, I stumbled over going for the ball one time but I still marked it. It was incredible. I thought, ‘I’m on fire today’.”

Roberts added another four in the second term and five in the third for 14 by three-quarter-time, terrorising the likes of John ‘Spog’ Wyley, Richard Cochrane and Peter Beythien. At his wits’ end, Bulldogs coach Gary Window turned to Bill Cochrane at three-quarter-time.

“Gary said, ‘right, you’re going to full back on Roberts. If he kicks a goal, you’re off!’” Cochrane remembered. “‘That’s a bit rugged’, I thought, what sort of comment’s that? And it wasn’t just said to me, it was in front of everyone. So after about six or seven minutes, someone gave a free away to him and he got another goal. I was probably out of line as a player. I looked to the bench, put my hand up and ran off. At least he couldn’t kick any more on me after I came off!”

Adulation was headed Roberts’ way, starting with his team-mates. 
“They tried to chair me off but I didn’t want that so it didn’t last very long,” he said. “But it was a bit lively back at the club that night. A supporter even tried to give me money which I refused. It was $100 or something. I’d never had that experience before. It was surreal I suppose. I’d been playing good footy but I hadn’t been setting the world on fire.”

Remarkably, his incredible feats did not immediately prompt phone calls from VFL scouts. “The next game I played was against Glenelg. I stood Fred Phillis and only kicked one goal so that probably cooled their jets a bit,” he recalled. He eventually left for South Melbourne in 1980 but Roberts revealed he was very much the reluctant recruit. “I never wanted to go. I’m a family man. My whole family’s in Adelaide but it all fell into place and I went. In the end Woodville didn’t seem to be wooing me that well. And South Melbourne did.”

He had never before been offered significant money. “I started on $30 a game as a 17-year old. I reckon I might’ve been on $50 a game (by 1977). I know I had to go to the club halfway through one year and ask for early access to my payments to buy a new set of tyres, that’s how grim things were.” But that was about to change. He won the Peckers’ best and fairest in 1979, the season they played finals for the first time.

“When I cracked my 100th game that year, I think I went up to $125 a game. I said, ‘give me $300 or $400 a game and I’ll be happy’ but I don’t think they were prepared to pay it. I knew there were other players getting more than me, for sure.”

No other SANFL club approached Roberts but Swan Districts did and flew him to Perth to meet club great and board member Bill Walker. South Melbourne came calling soon after. “The Swans flew me over for the Boxing Day Test. It was the good old days and we had a big esky and sandwiches. They said if you sign now, you can come on our pre-season trip to Bali and I thought that was too good to refuse.”

Roberts kicked the winning goal after the siren in his VFL debut at Geelong. Yet the one factor which convinced him to leave SA was an even bigger issue for the Swans. “I came back because every year South Melbourne had no money and they were late paying and there were stories they were going to fold or move.”

Roberts spoke to Glenelg but opted to return to Woodville in 1983, only to find himself one of four full forwards at the club, along with Bob Beecroft, Trevor Pierson and coach Malcolm Blight.

He joined West Torrens the following season, becoming the first and seemingly only player in SA to kick double-figures for two different clubs. The Bulldogs were on the receiving end again – this time a 10-goal haul at Elizabeth in 1985. He retired the following year before fielding a call from Michael Flynn and joining North Adelaide, ultimately pairing a premiership with the Ken Farmer Medal in 1987.

Roberts’ Woodville career included playing in a hat-trick of firsts – its maiden win against Port, the first win at Alberton and the Peckers’ debut final. Sadly, there were only 2721 people to see his Herculean feats against Central in 1977. “I think I’ve met them all,” he quipped. “I’ve never seen any footage from that day. It’s a pity, I would have liked to have been able to see that.”

WOODVILLE      7.4     12.9    18.14    24.16      (160)

CENTRAL            1.2       9.2    10.4      13.8        (86)

BEST – Woodville: Roberts, Ruth, Tyrrell, Brenton, Maylin, Deness, Crane, Sewer.

Central: Nalder, Skinner, Beythien, Boehm, Saywell.

SCORERS – Woodville: Roberts 16.3, Ruth 4.1, Hutton 2.1, Twelftree 1.4, Sewer 1.2, Nicholls, Jensen, Parker 0.1, rushed 0.2.

Central: Saywell 5.2, Jones 3.0, Beythien 2.2, Mobbs, Norsworthy 1.1, Wilson 1.0, Riley, Hughes 0.1.

UMPIRES – Robin Bennet, Terry Thomas.

CROWD – 2721 at Football Park.