St Kilda has had many stories of footballers whose careers were cruelled by injuries and dramatically shortened long before they should have.
Paul Dodd’s tale was one of the most graphic examples in a long line that included names such as John McIntosh, Barry Pascoe, Ross Oakley and more recently Paddy McCartin.
Paul Dodd who has passed away on September 8 a few days short of his 88th birthday, was a rover whose courage and determination was part of fierce will to win. As someone who always gave 101 per cent effort Dodd was never hesitant to give a verbal spray to those around him if they weren’t putting in maximum effort. As he said in the book Heroes with Haloes : “That’s just the way I was made. I believed if I gave 100 per cent my teammates should give the same.”
Dodd had been coached by Alan Killigrew in Ballarat and when Killigrew won the Saints coaching job for 1956 he quickly sought out Dodd for the role of first rover.
Dodd was first rover for the Saints in the opening Round against North Melbourne – one of 10 men wearing the colours for the first time in a new look side. The influx of new men was so huge that some players hadn’t even met each other. When Dodd and new ruckman Ray Barrett boarded the tram heading to North Melbourne’s Arden Street ground they saw each other carrying Gladstone bags and after a brief introduction established that they would be lining up together at the centre circle for the opening bounce.
The hurriedly arranged debut didn’t faze either man as Barrett was listed as St Kilda’s best just ahead of Dodd who bagged three goals. Coach Killigrew was a fine mentor for Dodd who also credited teammate Allan Jeans, then in his second year, with helping him navigate his way through the rigors of VFL football. Not that Dodd had any trouble adapting to the top level. He goaled with his first kick and reckoned he could have booted five for the day. By his second year he was an important cog in the St Kilda wheel and finished third in the best and fairest award behind that year’s Brownlow winner Brian Gleeson. Gleeson and Dodd had instantly become a superb ruck and rover combination that seemed likely to dominate for the next decade, but it was not to be. Gleeson injured a knee in a 1958 practice game and never played again, while Dodd suffered a serious back injury.
Dodd was chosen in the Victorian team for the 1958 centenary interstate carnival alongside some of the all-time greats of the game, but his back problem which had materialised a couple of weeks before the championships meant that he was in incredible pain as he lined up before the opening game. His teammate Neil Roberts helped him tape the aching back before the match, but even metres of strapping tape could not conceal how bad the injury was.
He limped off in agony after just one quarter and over the next one and a half years spent many months in plaster. To his eternal dismay he found out later that one of the Saints medicos had thought he was a malingerer and believed Dodd was suffering from torn stomach muscles and a groin strain.
In fact, it turned out that he had a fractured vertebra.
One of Australia’s leading bone specialists happened to live in Dodd’s home town of Ballarat – “he told me that my back was like a matchbox that had been crushed down to a wedge shape”. The specialist prescribed radiation treatment at the Peter McCallum clinic and after 15 visits the “mushy” vertebra hardened up.
St Kilda was desperate to get him back into action, but over the next three and a half seasons he played just three times. In 1960 he broke his foot on three occasions.
He did manage 12 games in 1962, and was amazed at the end of the year to hear club president announcing that Dodd had retired.
Back in Ballarat he continued receiving proper injury treatment and showed a return to form with East Ballarat. In 1964 his old mate Jeans invited him back to St Kilda, but at the time he was getting paid 20 pounds a game for the country club compared to the 12 pounds on offer at St Kilda. Thus the book closed on a mere 57 game VFL career.
In later years Paul spoke of his regret at not resuming with the Saints. He had played just 15 VFL games after his 21st birthday had only just turned 29 when St Kilda won the flag in 1966. He lamented that he would have loved to play as rover to Carl Ditterich - a man who had similar drive and intensity.
Vale, Saint Paul.
