St Kilda Football Club is deeply saddened at the passing of our only Premiership Captain, Darrel ‘Doc’ Baldock on Wednesday 2 February. Club historian Russell Holmesby shares some of his favourite memories of the St Kilda Legend.


For those of us lucky enough to watch all of Darrel Baldock’s games for St Kilda there are a couple of favorite memories that come to the fore.

Those images aren’t necessarily the instantly recognisable shot of The Doc waving the 1966 premiership cup with one hand and the St Kilda streamers in the other.

The two most significant imprints on the mind were both against Hawthorn.

In 1962 Baldock created his magic as a centre half-forward for the first time on a squelching black bog at Glenferrie. Not only did he captivate Saints fans, but he also had the Hawthorn members stand in such awe that they stood to applaud him at the end of the game. That was no mean feat.

The backdrop to that performance made it all the more notable. Baldock had arrived in Victoria with a reputation and fanfare as huge as any recruit had ever received. By a strange twist, he began at the same time as another interstate player of equal standing - Graham Polly Farmer - arrived at Geelong.

The hype surrounding the two men was enormous and by a fluke of the fixture they took centre stage in alternate parts of the Easter weekend opening round. Unfortunately the resultant matches did not meet the hype of expectation. Farmer hurt his knee early in the Saturday game and on Monday, Baldock was only serviceable at best. What the public didn’t know at first was that he had cracked a bone in the arch of his foot on the Thursday night before the game. It would force him on the sidelines for the next four weeks.

When he came back, Baldock continued to play on the half forward flank. His fame in Tasmania had been created as a centre half-forward, but the conventional wisdom in Victoria was that his height of five foot 10 inches was too short for a key position player.

It wasn’t until the Hawthorn game on Queen’s Birthday that St Kilda shifted him the centre half forward post - largely as a result of a crisis meeting involving the team’s most experienced players which lamented the fact that Baldock had been recruited as a centre half-forward but wasn’t being played there.

He produced two hours of wizardry in the Glenferrie mud and instantly made the key forward post his own for ever more. He slid, he swiveled, he baffled in the boggy confines of Hawthorn’s home ground.

Baldock’s other landmark game against Hawthorn came four years later. It wasn’t so much a “game” as one and a half quarters of pure inspiration.

He had injured a knee a couple of weeks earlier, but with St Kilda’s place in the 1966 finals dependant on winning the final home and away game he was included in the team as 19th man , just in case of an emergency. This was just 14 days after he had been told the knee should be encased in plaster for six weeks.

The “emergency” well and truly arrived in the third quarter when St Kilda was deep in trouble. The home crowd at Moorabbin began to chant “We want Baldock” and the grandstand literally rocked when the familiar chunky figure emerged form the reserve box.

He admitted in later years “I was sitting there hoping I wouldn’t have to go on. But within the first few minutes I kicked a goal”. From then on the Saint skipper was fine and left a demoralized Hawthorn side in his wake.

The story of the 1966 Grand Final is a familiar one. Baldock’s knee was still not right but courageously he never let on. He had re-injured it late in the Thursday night training session and coach Allan Jeans had wound up the session immediately to conceal it. Baldock only convinced himself he was OK when he had a 9 pm jog on Friday evening.
Come the game and Baldock had to put the knee to the test early.

“In the first few minutes of the grand final I took a mark a long way out, I remember Stewie (Ian Stewart) telling me to have a shot so I did. It felt like my knee went further than the ball!”

How do you describe Baldock the footballer to a modern day football observer? Well for starters his Tasmanian club Latrobe had an entire honor board devoted solely to his achievements. Baldock had ball control and handling skills which have never been surpassed. He had an amazing capacity to dodge tackles with a couple of steps. In that regard he was as slippery as Gary Ablett junior today.

Invariably he is always linked with the mighty centreman Ian Stewart and it was one of the great footballing partnerships. In 1995 when Stewart was rated No.1 of all Saints players, Stewart was unequivocal in his own assessment.

“It’s a great honour you have given me, but it is wrong. Darrel Baldock was the best of all. I could play in the centre, but could never have played centre half-forward. Doc could have played anywhere.”

Their coach Allan Jeans has often said: “When Baldock played well we never lost” and he recently remarked that people who wonder why St Kilda did not have sustained premiership success after that 1966 win should note that his two aces - Baldock and Stewart played for only two more years together after that momentous day.


DARREL BALDOCK
AFL Hall of Fame Legend
St Kilda Hall of Fame Legend
Years of Service: 26 Games Played 397 games (see below)
Games Coached: (13 seasons) Years Captain: 16
Games:
East Devonport 1955-58 71 games
Latrobe 1959-61,1969-74 158 games
St Kilda 1962-68 119 games
New Norfolk 1975 4 games
Represented Victoria 10 games
Represented NWFU 20 games
Represented Tasmania 15 games
1952 Represented Tasmanian schoolboys' team.
1953 Captain Tasmanian schoolboys' team.
1955 Debut with East Devonport seniors aged 16. Selected in NWFU rep
team after 3 games. East Devonport Best and Fairest.
1956 East Devonport Best and Fairest.
1957 East Devonport Best and fairest. Wander Medal (NWFU).
Represented Tasmania for first time at age of 18.
1958 Alstergren Trophy (best for NWFU).
1959 Captain-Coach Latrobe. Wander Medal (NWFU). Alstergren Trophy
-best NWFU. Advocate Medal.
1960 Captain-Coach Latrobe. Captain Tasmania age 21 (youngest ever).
1961 Captain Tasmania ANFC Carnival. All-Australian.
1962 St Kilda Best and Fairest.
1963 Captain St Kilda. Channel 9 Best Player. Channel 2 Best Player. St
Kilda Best and fairest.
1964 Captain St Kilda.
1965 Captain St Kilda. St Kilda Best and Fairest. Bunton Medal Sporting
Globe, Channel 9 Best Player.
1966 Captain St Kilda (Premiership). Channel 9 Best Player. Channel 2
Best Player. Bunton Medal Sporting Globe. Channel 7 Best Player.
Herald-Sun Best Player. Captain Victoria, Captain All-Australian team.
1967 Captain St Kilda. Captain Victoria.
1968 Captain St Kilda.
1969 Captain-Coach Latrobe (Premiership). Advocate Best Player,
Channel 9 Best Player, Wander medal (NWFU). Represented
Tasmania ANFC Camival. Lefroy Medal -best in premiership.
1970 Captain-Coach Latrobe (Premiership and state premiers). Captain
NWFU. Advocate Best Player
1971 Captain-Coach Latrobe (Premiership) Captain-Coach NWFU, Captain
Tasmania.
1972 Captain-Coach Latrobe (Premiership - third in succession). Captain-
Coach NWFU. Captain-Coach Tasmania.
1973 Captain-Coach Latrobe. Captain-Coach NWFU. Coach Tasmania
1974 Captain-Coach Latrobe. Coach Tasmania.
1975 Captain-Coach New Norfolk. Coach Tasmania.
1987 Coach St Kilda
1988 Coach St Kilda
1989 Coach St Kilda