1992 - A Premiership to remember!

The 1992 season started for a lot of us on presentation night in 1991. On this night the coach and former Geelong player Terry Bright announced that he was resigning to take up a position with the newly formed Geelong Falcons. It was a disappointing evening for all those involved as it was likely that his assistant Murray Whitcombe would join him and the elusive third musketeer Peter Johnson would retire. Terry and Murray had been responsible for developing the club over the previous five years and had taken it to successive grand final appearances in 1989 and 1990, which resulted in losses.

However, it created an opportunity for someone else to come in and stamp themselves on the current group of players. This was to be player and club legend Adam Rodgers along with Scott Hosking as his assistant.

This brought a fresh atmosphere throughout the club and renewed enthusiasm after an extremely disappointing 1991 when we failed to make the finals.

Preseason was a very solid one. All players were relishing it and had developed a very good level of fitness.

Our first game was against Lara at the ‘Snake Pit’. A very warm day and with the team not quite at full strength it wasn't a very pleasant afternoon, especially for Scott Hosking who injured his ankle and would miss the next 10 weeks, but it proved to be the catalyst for a stellar year for the Saints.

After this game we played and beat convincingly Bell Park and North Shore. This established a great deal of confidence and players like Michael Hosking, Brett Feldman and Darren Jones were a real driving force. Along with the strength in the backline of Bryan O'Brien, David Batson and the twin peaks Cameron Loftus and Peter Zychla.

Having gone through the season only losing one game and sitting on top of the ladder we traveled to Highton to play South Barwon in the last game of the year. Unable to lose top spot, the side dropped its guard and we were eventually beaten convincingly and along the way losing Ian Courtney with a dislocated shoulder.

It turned out to be a very miserable day. After the game comments by the coach of South Barwon and currentl Councillor,, Michael Crutchfield stated that ‘we weren't a genuine contender and would go out in straight sets’. This created quite a resolve in the players and was a wake up call to all and sundry within the club.

Our first final was the Second Semi-Final against Lara at Kardinia Park and after a few weeks off we started very slowly and found ourselves 35 points behind. Early in the second quarter. However, we managed to get our game up and running and worked our way to get back within seven points late in the game however playing catch up football took its toll and we fell four goals short.

Added to this was the loss of Ian Wilson with a broken jaw, courtesy of a stray elbow from one of the Lara's rugged half-back flankers. "Willo" had been one of our better players throughout the season and would be a huge loss. This just rubbed salt into the wounds and we had a lot of work to do in a week if we wanted to play in the Grand Final.

We played Bell Park in the Preliminary Final and started a lot better. Our play started to resemble the form we had displayed throughout the year. We controlled the game right from the outset and ended up winning comfortably. However we were to be struck down by injury again with our number one ruckman Darren Jones having his jaw broken as well. This was disappointing for Jonesy who would have to join Willo and Courtz on the sidelines to watch the Grand Final. These three players along with Adam Rodgers who also hadn't played due to injury offered strong support to everyone else involved.

Grand Final Day couldn't come quickly enough for us despite not being given a chance of defeating Lara who had put their name on the cup already.

We had other ideas. Throughout the year Buck, Scotty and the match committee had developed a very fit disciplined team who had become very focused on being successful and ridding ourselves of the disappointment of years gone by.

Due to injury our side had to be shuffled around with Cameron Loftus taking on the number one ruck position and providing the inspiration right from the outset. Bryan O’Brien was named first rover, tagging Lara's coach Damien Christensen and in hind sight Christensen should have been tagging "The Fly", after he streamed down the ground and kicked an early goal for the Saints.

Out of the disappointment of missing a grand final for the injured players was a happy story for Brad Headlam who was picked for just his third senior game. Something he will remember for his lifetime. The first quarter was the spark that set the game up when we established a five-goal lead at quarter time. It might have had something to do with Buck's version of the sausages story often told by Allan Jeans at our pre match meeting.

From quarter time the game was never in doubt and along the way we played some pretty good footy to eventually win by six goals.

There were many good players on the day but players like Lofty, Bryan and John Nihill were fantastic as they lead from the front in positions they hadn't played a lot during the year.

The end result, a premiership for St Mary's which was truly deserved after years of disappointment.

One factor that was prevalent through out the year was the commitment and closeness of all players who took themselves out of their comfort zone to achieve success not only for themselves but also for their teammates and for the guys who missed out. It was a fantastic year for all those involved and will be long remembered by all. 

And Yes, it was a great mark Billy!