Cazaly and Baker both won Best and Fairests in the No.10 jumper, as did Bill Mohr, Neil Roberts, Carl Ditterich and Peter Everitt.
But Keith Rosewarne outdid all those famous No.10s by winning the Best and Fairest in his first year at the Club. Rosewarne, who died last week at the age of 83, had a tremendous impact with the Saints in his debut season, and he made up for lost time as his footy had been put on hold while he served overseas during the war.
He had all the credentials for success as he had been a part of the Victorian schoolboys’ side in 1938 and was captain of St Kilda Thirds.
A friend of the family – St Kilda’s property manager Pop Reilly – took Rosewarne down to the Club and when he was told the young man would play in the early practice game rather than the main one, he was so incensed that he threatened to quit on the spot.
Obviously Pop held some sway in the club as the 21 year-old Rosewarne was rushed into the main game, and shone. The courageous Rosewarne made an impact with his relentless ability to bore in for the ball and pay scant regard to any danger.
He began the year wearing the Number 14 guernsey, but when the Number 10 Sam Loxton retired due to an ankle injury late in the year, Rosewarne promptly asked if he could take over the jumper.
In later years he explained: “Billy Mohr was my idol and I dreamed of wearing his Number 10 one day”. The young Rosewarne would race up to his idol at three quarter time in the 1930s and sometimes Mohr would hand him a piece of orange before officials shooed the kid off the ground.
In his second year, Rosewarne played three games for Victoria in the 1947 carnival which added to his impressive standing. At the end of 1951 Rosewarne accepted a coaching job with Port Fairy. He was newly married and was getting just three pounds a week as a Saints player. At 27 he was lost to VFL football when he had at least two good seasons left in him. Port Fairy was the beneficiary as he guided them from last place to a Grand Final in the space of three years.
He was a Saints man through and through and for a time in the 1980s helped out behind the scenes in the property department.
The Saints wore black armbands during in Sunday’s game against Melbourne at Telstra Dome, as a mark of respect to Rosewarne.
