The new coach kept only 16 players from the previous year’s list and added 29 new recruits in a massive cull the likes of which the club had never seen. His firebrand approach breathed new life into a club that had dropped to its lowest ebb. “Nobody will laugh at St Kilda”, he declared.
A recording of his half-time address in Ballarat had swung the committee’s vote to appoint him.
There was no example of Killigrew’s drastic list shake-up more stark than right before the club’s opening match of the season against North Melbourne.
Ray Barrett and Paul Dodd sat near each other on a tram heading to Arden Street for the Saints’ Round 1 bout. The pair could see that each other had a bag of footy gear and when they struck up a conversation they discovered that Barrett, a ruckman from Sale, and Dodd, a rover from Ballarat, would be partnering each other at the opening bounce.
He turned over players at a rapid rate, with only half a dozen playing in all of the initial six games. Among those was eventual Premiership coach, Allan Jeans.
Terrific late-season football transformed St Kilda into the VFL’s glamour team, and across the next two years the Saints consolidated as a middle-order side capable of knocking off anyone on their day.
The influx of youngsters added to emerging stars. In their early 20s, Brian Gleeson and Neil Roberts won successive Brownlows and then Verdun Howell tied for the following year.
Of all the recruits gained through scouring the countryside, the most prized of all was classic bush full-forward Bill Young.
Pundits thought his light frame was unsuited to a key position and the doubts seemed justified when he snagged just 11 goals in his first six games. An eight-goal haul in a thumping win over North soon silenced everyone.
Young took out the VFL Leading Goalkicker Award in his debut season with 56 majors, and was even credited with being the first player to use the banana kick when shooting for goal.
Graham Huggins and Ian Drake were a perfect pairing as St Kilda’s president and secretary and provided the stable administration that had never previously been seen at St Kilda.
Behind the scenes, the pair built a partnership that would become acknowledged as one of the most powerful administrative duets in the game; one vital in the Saints’ eventual success.
Between their shared tenure, the Huggins and Drake masterminded the move to Moorabbin, drew star players to the Saints, and plenty more crucial to the club’s longevity.
Under Killigrew, the Saints finished the season on a high by winning the ‘Night Premiership’, played between the eight teams that missed finals. Young kicked six goals in the final.
Just when the Saints were on the threshold of a real advance, internal ruckus brought everything undone. Killigrew accused two committeemen of having approached Melbourne’s Noel McMahen as a replacement coach.
Killigrew then sensationally nominated for the committee – unheard of for a coach.
In scenes reminiscent of the bitter internal contests in the 1930s, fist fights broke out in the crowd.
The poll did not solve anything with members of both factions being elected. Killigrew refused to continue as coach under the two commiteemen who had betrayed him and instead accepted the coaching job at South Australian club Norwood.
Marking time for the next two years, the Saints suddenly returned to finals for the first time in two decades under the coaching of Allan Jeans, footballing disciple of Killigrew.
Put simply, Allan Jeans is football royalty.
Jeans’ appointment as senior coach age of just 27 brought sweeping changes to St Kilda, instigating its most sacred era and putting an end to the longest Premiership drought in VFL/AFL history.
‘Yabby’ is widely regarded as one the most gifted orators ever to grace our game. His words still ring in the ears of noted football greats; from the spine-tingling three-quarter time Grand Final address with St Kilda, to the “pay the price” speech which delivered Hawthorn the famed 1989 flag.
Those who saw ‘Yabby’ as player described him as a sturdy battler with a sharp football brain that was often too fast for those around him. The same applied while in the coaching hotseat.
Famously, Jeans once declared the Saints “could have gone harder” after keeping Richmond goalless for an entire a game – a feat last achieved in 1921.
It was the uncompromising mentality and insatiable hunger to succeed that would put the Saints on the road to Premiership glory over the next few years.
Jeans admitted that the loss of three veterans – Neil Roberts, Eric Guy and Bud Annand – prompted fears St Kilda would slip in 1963, but instead his side was rejuvenated by the infusion of four sensational recruits.
Ian Stewart, Carl Ditterich and Bob Murray would all become Best & Fairest winners, and Jim Wallis may have scaled similar heights if not for a career-ending knee injury.
Add in the great Tasmanian legend Darrel Baldock to the mix, and the Saints had the makings of a superstar side.
Folklore tells us Carl Ditterich was disappointed when he didn’t hear his name listed for the reserves in the opening round of 1963. A few minutes later, he was told that he was chosen in the firsts.
When veteran teammate Alan Morrow picked up Ditterich to drive him to his first game, Carl’s mother pulled him aside and whispered, “Please take care of him, Alan”.
Any concerns from Morrow evaporated early in the game when Ditterich tore into a brawling group of players.
The bounding 17-year-old took on and beat the VFL’s highest profile player Ron Barassi to cap off his magical debut. By today’s standards his blond hair wasn’t long, but he was dubbed as the ‘footballing Beatle’ in recognition of the famous rock group.
The rockstar adulation was unprecendented. Ditterich would play inspiring and fearsome football for 17 years between St Kilda and Melbourne, eventually captaining both sides to become one of the most unique cult figures of his time.
It is fair to say that Moorabbin is known for just two things: its airport and its football ground.
That patch of earth in Linton Street has a rich and varied football history that stretches back to the days when it housed Moorabbin Football Club (VFA), but for the vast majority of footy fans, it is known as the spiritual home of the Saints.
From the start, it was a fierce and passionate crowd, with umpires always copping a huge serve despite the fact that St Kilda was virtually invincible on its new home turf.
Division was rife amongst the fan-base, but feathers were also ruffled in the VFA, who eventually sacked the Moorabbin Club for having been disloyal.
It was a move that had been brewing for several years due to the St Kilda Cricket Club’s control of Junction Oval, and despite the initial scepticism, it didn’t take long for the faithful to fall in love with Moorabbin.
How do you describe Moorabbin to a modern-day fan accustomed to covered, all- seat stadiums? It had character and characters, pure and simple.
Six months of direct involvement from the Saints’ stars in building their new footballing residency – right down to walking in lines to pick up stones from the newly-laid playing surface – was done in the hopes of ushering in an era of prosperity for the club.
They were building – both literally and figuratively – a new home and a new beginning, as the bayside club entered a new and unknown frontier in the south-eastern suburbs.
Spearheading the charge was one Mr Magic, Darrel Baldock.
Allan Jeans once said that when Darrel Baldock played well, St Kilda never lost.
It is a testament to his level of performance that his presence helped largely to create the Saints’ most successful era.
He was dubbed ‘Mr Magic’; an appropriate title for someone blessed with incredible ball control and evasive skills. To be under six foot tall and play at centre half-forward is proof of his greatness, but while most references to him concentrate on his unique ball-handling skills, his toughness should never be forgotten.
He entered VFL football in a blaze of publicity. At 23, he had already captain-coached Tasmania and skippered the state side in the 1961 Carnival before the Saints secured his services.
Baldock was appointed captain in just his second year and with fellow Tasmanian Ian Stewart, formed an irresistible combination.
His heroics would be enshrined not only in the 1966 Grand Final, but in the final home-and-away outing which got the Saints into September.
Moorabbin’s tin cantilever roof always seemed to amplify the crowd’s noise, and when St Kilda was firing, the rolling thunder of the grandstand definitely transmitted strength to the team, never more so than in the final round of 1966 when St Kilda had to win to reach the finals.
Captain Baldock had been included on the bench at the last minute despite recuperating from a knee injury and with Hawthorn seizing the initiative, the crowd broke into chants of “we want Baldock” early in the third quarter.
Of all the roars heard from the Moorabbin stand, nothing came near the decibel level that greeted the sight of the stocky figure emerging from the dugout and preparing to take the field.
It actually felt like the grandstand shook at that moment and the effect on both sides was instantaneous. Baldock was suddenly everywhere, kicking two goals himself and generating a couple more for those around him.
The Saints won the game, held the place in the finals and the rest of the 1966 story is, as they say, history.
But the lead-up to the game was also dramatic in the extreme.
A loss to Collingwood in the first semi-final had the Saints poised for another premature exit from September action, before rallying in the preliminary final to inflict sweet revenge on the Bombers in front of over 94,000 spectators.
Another opportunity to go down in history beckoned, but the Saints had their backs to the wall after Ditterich was ruled out of the Grand Final after being suspended the week prior.
The skipper re-injured it two days before the big dance, with Jeans promptly ending the training session to keep it concealed. As late as 9pm the night before the game, Baldock went for a jog around the streets of Cheltenham. It was only then that he felt comfortable.
When he booted an early goal, he felt like his knee went further than the ball. That goal was one of the side’s two in the opening minutes and was vital in psychological terms as Collingwood had jumped St Kilda in the previous two semis.
No more than four points separated the two warring sides at each change, with the dominance of Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale’s five goals and Ian Cooper’s best-on-ground display pushing the red, white and black closer and closer to the most incredible of triumphs.
The Saints leaned in as Jeans’ rousing three-quarter time address rallied the troops together for one last assault.
They had 25 minutes to make a name for themselves.
Hearts were in mouths as hysterical panic and excitement coursed around the ground in the deadlocked final minutes.
As the ball bobbled up in the Saints’ forward 50 and the crowd continued to scream their lungs out, an opportunistic Barry Breen found himself with just enough space to seize the Sherrin and fire towards goal.
Time seemed to stand still.
His tumbling kick sailed high for an agonising few seconds, dribbling through…
In a heart-stopping, final roll of the dice, Tuddenham burst clear and jetted away, but instead of bouncing and going on, launched a kick that was bravely marked by Saints full-back Bob Murray.
With the seconds ticking away, Murray could see Alan Morrow and Darrel Baldock making position. He was certain that his kick would be either marked by the veteran Morrow, or if it did hit the ground, Baldock would surely win it.
Morrow’s outstretched hands grasped the ball to the sound of the final siren.
Nothing can compare to the release of unbridled joy as men and women, young and old wept unashamedly and complete strangers embraced as they realised that those mighty, battling Saints had pulled off the ultimate prize.
There aren’t quite words to do justice in describing the sheer emotion that followed. But the tears that flowed in pure happiness, the unparalleled outpouring of joy and the historic celebrations that were 93 years in the making had finally blessed the red, white and black.
1966 will forever be remembered.
