I watched Barry Robran for several years as a passionate opposition supporter but in 60 years of footy the past 35 in Melbourne I have never seen a better player play our great game.
Huge respect for this bloke. He was obviously a great player, coach and mentor who led by example. As tough as nails and as honest as the day is long. A reminder of the glory days of Australian Rules football. Rest well, Kerls.
To young to remember Neil Kerley playing ,But I loved the mutual respect and banter between Ted Whitten and himself , I did remember Russell Ebert coming over and playing for North and thinking who is this Bloke ?? How good is this Bloke , Absolute Star 🌟 and he only played 1 season .Unbelievable Talent.
Would have love to see how Kerls would have gone coaching South Melbourne. While I don't think they would have been a flag favourite they would have played finals. His coaching record with West Adelaide, South Adelaide, Glenelg, West Torrens and Central Districts was impeccable. Turned bad teams into good teams and good teams into great teams. A great football legend.
I did a preseason when he first went to west Adelaide. He was accompanied with his famous fitness coach. I lived in a block of flats two stories up. My legs would be so sore after training I had to walk backwards up the stairs. But boy I was fit!
Have a look at the stats, Kerls, the most influential player at the Crows in the years around their premierships was Shaun Rehn, by a mile. When he played, their win/loss ratio soared. When he did his knee in 96 (I think) the Crows went from top of the ladder to 14th or thereabouts and it pretty much cost Robert Shaw his job.
Out cutting wood, driving back home, died at the wheel. Real tough guy but he got away with blue murder because of his status. I was in the crowd at Norwood Oval in the late 1960s, Norwood was close to bottom, Glenelg was top and Kerley was their captain/coach. Norwood was leading just before half time in no small part due to the dominance of Damian Nygard (?). He handballed over Kerley's head to another Norwood player who goaled but as Nygard passed him, Kerley swung out his arm, breaking Nygard's jaw and changing the game. Glenelg won easily, Nygard's career was never the same. Kerley would get 6-8 weeks today for that act of brutality but then he didn't even get reported. Mind you, in a small piece of just deserts, Kerley was trapped at Norwood Oval for hours because of the large crowd waiting to enact some sort of retribution.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel. Met him down in Hobart in 2015 at the Salamanca markets at a local cafe. Tried to cut the line in front of me. Total flog.
