Molly Meldrum isn’t the person you would expect to be an on-field part of a footy team’s quest for a finals berth.
But in 1963, the man who became Australia’s iconic pop music guru jumped the fence and bolted onto the Junction Oval in the closing quarter of the last home and away game. The Saints were flying and Molly had just heard on his transistor radio that the percentage gap between Essendon and St Kilda was narrowing, but St Kilda had to pile on more goals. He just had to tell someone.
The Saints made the finals five times in the 1960s and in four of those years, they had to win the last home and away game to nail down a finals berth.
1963
The scenario: Going into the final round, Essendon sits in fourth place with 48 points and a percentage of 136.9. St Kilda is just outside the four with 48 points and a percentage of 133.3. St Kilda is due to play seventh side North Melbourne at Junction Oval, Essendon meets eighth side Collingwood.
The game: St Kilda starts the match badly as North rattles on 3.4 before the Saints manage to score. Nothing is going right and there is no better example than Darrel Baldock’s set shot from the boundary which only manages to hit the point post. St Kilda manages just one goal, through Bob Morton, in the opening term and trails by 16 points at the first change.
It is a scrappy, low quality match in the first half and the lethargic Saints also suffer a major setback when brilliant young centreman Ian Stewart first injures his arm then soon after is flattened and leaves the ground on a stretcher. St Kilda is starting to show more system and with North scoreless in the second quarter the home team edges ahead just before the interval.
The game opens up in the third quarter with St Kilda playing more cohesively and North struggling to get the ball into the forward half. On a rare sortie forward North’s John Dugdale boots a major, but it will be the only goal the Kangas kick in the second half. St Kilda is now playing far better football, but the three quarter time lead of 27 points is not big enough to overtake Essendon’s percentage.
Essendon is 13 points ahead of Collingwood at three quarter time, and in terms of the “live ladder”, at that moment Essendon’s percentage is 136.8 and St Kilda’s 134.8. If Essendon’s percentage remains the same in the final term the Saints need to score four goals to one to jump ahead.
Now St Kilda clicks up to a higher gear and the goals start to come thick and fast. By the time Ross smith boots their seventh for the quarter they have soared to a 67-point lead.
It is now that one Ian “Molly” Meldrum jumps the fence and races to the centre to tell the Saints players of the news on his transistor radio that the Saints need a couple more goals to overtake Essendon. At the same time in the Dons-Magpies game the runner is exhorting Essendon players to lift and hold on to their spot.
St Kilda puts the icing on the cake with two goals by Bob Morton in the dying moments. At both Junction Oval and Windy Hill, ears are glued to transistor radios as commentators calculate percentages. St Kilda with a percentage of 140.1 has pipped Essendon (137.5).
There are mutterings of sour grapes from the Bombers to the effect that North coach Alan Killigrew, an ex- St Kilda player and coach, has told his Kangaroos to lie down in the final term. But anyone who knows the ultra-competitive Killigrew is well aware that he wouldn’t even concede in a game of marbles.
Years later the long-forgotten TV footage of Meldrum running onto the ground is unearthed and shows him yelling to a bemused Saint ruckman Alan Morrow, generally rated as best afield on this day. There is also a blurry section of home movie footage by a fan which shows the scoreboard after St Kilda’s 15th goal and then has the straw-hatted Molly sprinting to the centre just as umpire Crouch is about to bounce the ball.
Obviously the fan with the movie camera realised that this was a completely unusual cameo.
1961
The scenario: Entering the last round St Kilda sits in fourth place on 40 points and a percentage of 117.6, half a game behind third placed Geelong on 42 points. In fifth place is Footscray equal on 40 points with the Saints, but with a lesser percentage (108.4).
With Geelong playing Footscray on the final day the winning team will be assured of the finals place. If Footscray wins and St Kilda loses to bottom placed North, Footscray will go into the finals and Geelong will retain its spot. If Geelong wins and St Kilda loses, the fourth place will come down to percentages between Footscray and St Kilda. If St Kilda wins, they will stay in the finals regardless of the Footscray-Geelong result.
The game: St Kilda comes into the match battered and bruised with a long injury list from a torrid game against Hawthorn the previous week. On top of that, champion full-back Verdun Howell is injured in a car crash on the day before the last home and away game. He has severe bruising at the back of his thigh, and while the club doctor says he will throw off the injury completely within a few days, Howell needs six painkilling injections and takes the field with the thigh heavily bandaged. And to save aggravating the injury he has back pocket Brian Walsh kick off for him.
It is a calculated risk, especially against a high leaping North full-forward John Dugdale. Howell still manages to take some courageous marks, but Dugdale kicks 6.3 and could easily have had 10 goals. A famous picture captures the essence of the battle as Dugdale soars high above the heavily bandaged Howell who barely gets off the ground.
St Kilda makes hard work of the task against the fleet-footed wooden spooners and goes to the final change 12 points down. Immediately in the final term Alan Morrow shows his intent with a perfect tap to Ian Rowland who goals then follows with another effort that sets up Rowland for a second goal. The lion-hearted Saint is in everything then paves the way for Lance Oswald to kick a brilliant goal.
North is not done yet and after Dugdale boots his sixth, St Kilda has to claw its way to a five point win. The Saints finish third and seal their first finals appearance after a 22 year drought.
1966
The scenario: St Kilda sits in second place with 52 points and percentage of 145.2, equal on wins with third placed Geelong (132.7 percentage) and fourth placed Essendon (118.9). Just outside the four is Richmond with 50 points (12 wins and a draw). If the Tigers beat bottom side Fitzroy they will go into the finals at the expense of St Kilda , Geelong or Essendon if any of those sides lose.
The game: St Kilda springs a huge pre-game surprise when it names captain Darrel Baldock on the bench. The champion centre half -forward injured a knee two weeks earlier, and coach Allan Jeans is reluctant about risking the dynamic forward. But club secretary Ian Drake convinces him that it is an all or nothing situation and Baldock takes a seat on the bench to the surprise of onlookers.
At half time St Kilda leads by 13 points and it seems that Baldock can be kept in cotton wool. But the young Hawks have nothing to lose , and despite being ninth on the ladder they mount an all-out charge in the third term. Their two quick goals ensure that St Kilda now has a real fight on their hands.
Hawthorn hits the front and has taken control of the game with another goal that puts them 11 points up. The St Kilda players are looking anxious and the home crowd at Moorabbin is becoming more nervous by the minute. A chant of “we want Baldock” breaks out as Brian Mynott’s goal briefly steadies the Saints. It is now time to sound the alarm and Baldock emerges from the reserve bench and begins to warm up on the boundary line.
He is greeted by thunderous cheers that have never been equalled before or since and the grandstand literally feels like it is shaking. The effect of his presence is instantaneous, and decades later David Parkin, one of the Hawks’ players that day, can still recall the impact on him and his teammates.
Baldock is in everything, and is instrumental in most St Kilda forward moves. He paves the way for Cowboy Neale to kick two goals just before three-quarter time as St Kilda goes to the break with a four point lead. News from the other games tells that Essendon, Geelong and Richmond are all leading comfortably, so now it is all on the line for St Kilda.
Hawthorn refuses to drop off the pace and the Saints still aren’t safe even when Baldock goals from an angle and Neale fires in his fourth. The St Kilda defence is holding firm and Baldock boots another angle goal. It isn’t sealed until Cowboy Neale scores his fifth.
Saints are home by 10 points and the ’66 finals series beckons.
1968
The scenario: After a hard-fought draw with top side Essendon the previous week St Kilda finds itself in fourth place and needs to beat second on the ladder Geelong in the last home and away game to stitch up a finals berth. As had happened two years earlier, Richmond looms just outside the four . The Tigers are half a win behind St Kilda and if the Saints lose and Tigers beat Melbourne they will seize St Kilda’s finals berth.
The game: St Kilda shows its intent from the opening bounce and looks hell-bent on winning this vital clash. Barry Breen races away from Geelong defender Geoff Rosenow and after taking a couple of bounces along the boundary line hooks back a stunning goal on the run to open their account
Carl Ditterich is a dominant figure in the ruck as he has been all year and constantly generates attacking moves. With star full-back Bob Murray sidelined through injury, Brian Sierakowski steps into the role on Geelong’s ace full-forward Doug Wade and keeps the famed goalkicker to just one major for the day. By late in the second term Wade is shifted to centre half forward in a desperate attempt to spark the Cats.
St Kilda is 23 points up by half time. Cowboy Neale, Barry Breen and John O’Donnell are unstoppable in attack for the Saints and Geelong can not close them down. By mid third quarter the lead balloons to 37 points and the Saints are playing magnificent football. Geelong tries to claw it back and while the gap is narrowed to 23 points at the last change, the visitors don’t look capable of winning.
St Kilda runs away in the final quarter scoring five goals to one, and comprehensively thrashes the visitors by 51 points. St Kilda will again meet Geelong in the first semi-final a week later.
