 Player Profiles
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Bernie Smith
A centreman during his career with West Adelaide as well as during the early part of his VFL stint with Geelong, Bernie Smith is remembered as one of the greatest back pockets in the history of the game. Moved to the back pocket by coach Reg Hickey in 1951 he went on to win both the club best and fairest award and the Brownlow Medal that same season, while for good measure he was among the Cats' best in their grand final defeat of Essendon.
Smith was ideally suited to a back pocket because he was pacy, had good ground skills, marked well, was always cool under pressure, and had superb judgement. Opposition coaches came to view him as Geelong's first line of attack, and in what was a virtually unprecedented move for the times he was often subjected to what would now be called tagging.
Bernie Smith played 55 games with West Adelaide winning a best and fairest award in that club's premiership year of 1947. He won 2 best and fairest trophies during 183 games with Geelong, played in 2 premiership sides, and was club captain for part of 1950 and the whole of 1954.
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Ron Benton
Fast, elusive and courageous, West Adelaide's Ron Benton was, in the words of Jeff Pash, "a heroic little figure" for whom "every game seems to be another survival." Over the course of his 178 game 172 goal league career between 1955 and 1959 and 1961 and 1965 he achieved virtually everything the game had to offer: a Magarey Medal and club best and fairest award in 1957, interstate football, a near best afield performance in the winning grand final of 1961 against Norwood, and West Adelaide's leading goal kicker award (with 29 goals) in 1963. He was, without doubt, one of the most illustrious players in the history of a club that, over the years, has been blessed with a disproportionately high number of top quality footballers.
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Doug Thomas
The name Doug Thomas is simply synonymous with the West Adelaide Football Club. Doug has served the club as a Player, Coach and General Manager.
A familiar figure at all West Adelaide games, Thomas was a talented player, totalling 218 games for the Bloods between 1951 and 1957 and again in 1961 to 1965 (coaching at Dimboola in the years between). While normally a fullback he was often played forward, kicking 110 goals. Thomas served as captain-coach in 1963-64 and captain in 1965.
Standing some of the great full-forwards of the day, Thomas' battles with players such as Port's Rex Johns are legendary.
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Donald Neil Kerley
Donald Neil Kerley spent the majority of his League career (149 out of 265 games) at West and it was there that he rapidly established a reputation as someone not to be trifled with on a football field. Within 3 years he was club captain, having already won the first of 4 West Adelaide best and fairest awards, and established himself as a key member of the South Australian interstate team. Kerley's only major disappointment - apart, perhaps, from South Australia's lamentable display at the 1958 Melbourne Carnival - was the Blood 'n Tars' failure to annex a premiership: 3 times in 4 seasons West Adelaide faced Port Adelaide in the grand final only to lose narrowly each time.
It was down to Kerley himself to redress matters when, after being appointed coach in 1961, he enjoyed a dream season, finishing 3rd in the Magarey Medal count, winning the Trabilsie Medal as West's best and fairest player, and - most satisfyingly of all - steering the club to its first premiership since 1947 with a best on ground grand final performance against Norwood. This gave 'King Kerley' the extraordinary record of 4 flags in each of his first 4 seasons as a senior coach.
Never far from controversy at any stage of his career Kerley's next major dalliance with the headlines came the following year when, after leading West to a heart-stopping 3 point grand final loss against Port Adelaide he was sensationally replaced as senior coach by Doug Thomas.
Gritting his teeth, Kerley continued with the Blood 'n Tars purely as a player in 1963. However, the 1964 season saw him taking up a fresh challenge as playing coach of 1963 wooden spooners South Adelaide. In arguably the greatest achievement of an illustrious career he transformed the perennial cellar dwellers into South Australia's premier team by the patented Kerley method of performing with relentless passion, vigour and determination in every game he played and expecting no less of every single one of his teammates.
After helping maintain South Adelaide's position as a League heavyweight for 2 further seasons - a status to which it has only fleetingly aspired since - Kerley moved to Glenelg for his last significant challenge as a player. The Bays had finished last in 1966 but once again the Kerley formula worked its magic as Glenelg reached the 1967 finals with 'the King' himself securing the club best and fairest award.
Kerley's playing career ended 2 seasons later but his achievements as a coach were far from over. Those achievements, however, are another story.
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Robert Day
After making his league debut with West Adelaide in 1962, Robert Day, younger brother of Ian, rapidly established himself as one of the finest centremen in South Australia. Speedy, strong, well balanced, and elegant, he was a driving force behind West's assault on the 1962 premiership. In the grand final that year he was widely considered to be the best player afield, despite playing in a losing side.
One of the most eye-catching features of Day's game was his kicking. According to Jeff Pash, his "long drop is a most handsome and powerful kick. He puts the ball well out, lies back on it, and gets it away with an elegant ease."
Between 1963 and 1966 it is doubtful if there was a more damaging centreman in the game, a status confirmed by his selection in that position in the 1966 All Australian team. Sadly, over the remainder of his career, Day was beset by frequent injuries, although a purple patch in 1970 enabled him to claim his third club best and fairest award. The following season he ventured to Hawthorn for a stint in the VFL, and the long overdue fulfillment of every footballer's primary ambition, participation in a premiership team. Day was on a half back flank as the Hawks overcame St Kilda by 7 points, but after putting in a solid first half performance he was forced from the fray with injury. After another season in the VFL he returned to West for one last season, with niggling injuries continuing to limit his effectiveness, as a total of just 175 league games in 12 seasons of football confirms.
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Jack Broadstock
Audaciously talented, and well ahead of his time in terms of tactical acumen and nouse, Jack Broadstock almost certainly failed to achieve anything like as much as he ought to have done in the game he loved. Part of this failure was attributable to the war, which coincided with the peak years of his career, but Broadstock's temperament also played a part. In 1947, for example, "West (Adelaide) was the first SA team to develop handball as an attacking weapon - and Broadstock was the king-pin", but a needless altercation with Port Adelaide ruckman Bob McLean in the preliminary final led to his missing the club's first grand final victory in twenty years.
Broadstock actually had three separate stints with West, playing a total of 65 games over seven seasons, the first of which was in 1938, and the last, as captain-coach, in 1950. From 1943 to 1946 he played for Richmond, and was centreman in the club's 1943 grand final defeat of Essendon. Although he only played 33 VFL games for the Tigers, he did enough to persuade Jack Dyer that he "was the most talented footballer I have ever seen."
Many others shared this vaunted opinion of Broadstock's prowess, including Jeff Pash, who during his first year as a football journalist, and Broadstock's last as a league player, wrote of him that:
Jack Broadstock can be taken as a very good example of a player who moves with perfect balance. He is so well poised that changes in his movements are effected with lightning rapidity. He can change direction, kick, or handball equally quickly. Knowing to the full the value of sudden immobility, he is the present expert in the art of throwing opponents off balance.
In 1948, Broadstock spent the early part of the season with West Torrens, before accepting the position of captain-coach of GNFL club Boulder City, whom he promptly steered to a premiership. The 1949 season saw him once more at West Torrens, and thence back to West Adelaide for one last season in the 'big time'.
The peripatetic nature of much of his career, coupled with the inimical impact of war in terms of the number of games he managed to play overall, have led to Jack Broadstock being accorded a somewhat less prominent place in football's unofficial 'hall of fame' than he perhaps deserves. He was one of those inordinately rare individuals who possessed the ability to turn a match on its head almost single-handedly - something Jack Dyer saw him do for South Australia against the Vics on one occasion, for example. He also played a significant, if largely uncredited role, in pushing South Australian football down an avenue later explored more thoroughly, and with greater ostensible success, by the likes of Jack Oatey; an avenue in which constant, fluent movement of the ball, by hand as much as by foot, was pivotal.
Perhaps future generations will accord him greater credence and approbation, but you would have to be very brave indeed to bet on it.
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Roger Luders
Who could ever forget the high marking, spectacular aerial marking of Roger Luders? In a period when the SANFL produced a number of great forward Luders was one of the most spectacular, with his high leaping and overhead marks. A deadly accurate kick, Luders' marks remain some of the most vivid memories of supporters of that generation, his mark to the immediate right is just one example of many.
Topping the goal kicking at West Adelaide six times, Luders regularly vied with Magpies' spearhead Tim Evans and Sturt's Rick Davies and has provided many a highlight photograph for sports' photographers and fans alike.
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Grantley Fielke
With a club record 364 games with West Adelaide, 16 with Collingwood, 24 with Adelaide and 9 State appearances, Grantley Fielke remains one of the most skillful exponents of our game. Notching up so many games in both the SANFL and AFL stands as testament to the skill of the man, a hard-running onballer with excellent disposal.
During a period that South Australia produced a generation of talented rovers, centremen, wingmen and onballers Fielke was selected to represent South Australia on nine occasions, performing among the best with the likes of Bradley, Naley and Platten.
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