Kevin Neale (18 July 1945 – 16 September 2023) was an
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
er who played for
St Kilda in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...
(VFL). Later in his career, he was a
player-coach
A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...
or captain-coach for a number of teams in the Australian Capital Territory, before eventually becoming a full-time coach.
St Kilda
Kevin Neale was born on 18 July 1945.
He was recruited from
Hampden Football League (HFL) club
South Warrnambool,
where he played in seven grand finals in a row. He was nicknamed "Cowboy". The origin of the nickname is uncertain; it was possibly for his bow-legs and his rolling gait, but coach
Alan Jeans once said he played like a cowboy.
Recruited by St Kilda as a nineteen-year-old, , ruckman, Neale played his first match for
St Kilda against North Melbourne on 22 May 1965 (round 6), as a back-pocket/ruckman.
He initially played in the backline (as the first change, resting in the back-pocket ruckman), but was moved to full-forward in 1966.
He was selected as the back-pocket ruckman in St Kilda's "Team of the Century" in May 2001. He kicked five goals in St Kilda's
1966 Grand Final win over Collingwood,
and held the club record of 16 finals games, until it was beaten by
Robert Harvey. Neale was known for a brutal bump on
Peter Hudson
Peter John Hudson Order of Australia, AM (born 19 February 1946) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the New ...
in the
1971 VFL grand final. A concussed Hudson kicked into the man on the mark, losing his chance to beat
Bob Pratt
Harold Robert "Bob" Pratt (31 August 1912 – 6 January 2001) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans, South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL) and ...
's record of 150 goals in a single season. The Saints went on to lose the match.
Nonetheless, Neale won the
club best and fairest award in 1973.
Neale played for
Victoria in the interstate match against
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
in Hobart, on Saturday, 16 June 1967. He was selected at full-forward, and kicked four goals in the match (he was moved from full-forward in the second half because Victoria's centre half-forward
Peter McKenna had not kicked a goal in the first half of the match).
At the end of the 1976 season, it was thought that Neale would retire from playing with St Kilda; however, the team prevailed upon him to play yet another season, and he played in 20 of St Kilda's 22 matches that season, playing his last match as the back-pocket ruckman, in a losing St Kilda side, 17.10 (112), against Richmond 25.21 (171) at the MCG on 27 August 1977 (round 22).
In his VFL career at St Kilda, he had played in 256 games, and scored 301 goals.
Australian Capital Territory
Towards the end of his career at St Kilda, numerous offers were made to Neale to leave St Kilda and take up a coaching position. At the start of 1975, he was offered the position of
player-coach
A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...
at
Turvey Park in the
South-West League for three years at $25,000 () per annum. St Kilda talked him out of accepting the lucrative offer; however, towards the end of the 1975 season, the
Albury Football Club in the
Ovens & Murray Football League
The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...
offered him a three-year contract totalling $35,000 () as captain-coach, which worked out to be about $11,667 () per annum, about one-third of the original Turvey Park offer.
In 1978, he moved to Canberra, and was appointed the captain-coach of the
Ainslie Football Club
The Ainslie Football Club is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory.
The club was formed in 1927 and won its first premiership in 1929.
Ex- St Kilda star Kevin Neale was captai ...
. In that year, he was also the captain-coach of a combined
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
(ACT) team in the
Escort Cup competition. He was still very effective at full-forward, setting a goal-kicking record in 1980. With Neale as its captain-coach, Ainslie won the premiership in 1979, 1980, 1982 and 1983.
Neale was the captain-coach of the combined ACT side that beat the Victorian team by 13 points, 13.17 (95) to 11.16 (82), on 6 July 1980 at
Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating ...
in front of a crowd of 10,600. He scored three goals.
Coached by
Bill Stephen
William Stephen (1 April 1928 – 23 August 2020) was an Australian rules footballer with Fitzroy Football Club. He also coached Fitzroy and Essendon. Stephen is second all time for most VFL/AFL games coached without a grand final appearance, ...
, the Victorians were a very strong team including club captains and Brownlow medallists:
Francis Bourke
Francis William Bourke (born 2 April 1947) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who represented Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1967 and 1981, and coached the club in 1982 and 1983.
A key figure in a succ ...
of Richmond, captain,
Trevor Barker of St Kilda,
Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Jack Blight AM (born 16 February 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and coached the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Woodville Football Club in the South Australian Na ...
of North Melbourne,
Terry Bright of Geelong,
Jim Buckley of Carlton,
Robert DiPierdomenico of Hawthorn,
Jim Edmond of Footscray,
Robert Elliott of Melbourne,
Neville Fields of South Melbourne,
Laurie Fowler of Richmond,
Steven Icke of North Melbourne,
Rene Kink of Collingwood,
Mark Lee of Richmond,
Mark Maclure of Carlton,
Alex Marcou of Carlton,
Merv Neagle of Essendon,
Jeff Sarau of St Kilda,
Laurie Serafini of Fitzroy, and
Michael Turner of Geelong.
For a number of reasons, Ainslie had experienced a dismal 1981 season; but, under the coaching of Neale and, particularly, due to his superb on-field leadership and strength at full-forward, Ainslie won the 1982 premiership. At the end of 1982, he was interviewed by St Kilda, with a view to him replacing
Alex Jesaulenko
Oleksandr Vasiliovych "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; , ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also served as a ...
. Neale demanded $50,000 as his salary (St Kilda eventually appointed the ex-Richmond coach
Tony Jewell).
In 1983, he began the 1983 season as the captain-coach of the Ainslie Football Club, and was playing as well as he had ever been, despite his advanced age and increased weight.
With Neale in the team, Ainslie won the 1983 premiership; the fourth in his six years as captain-coach. In the 1980 season, he kicked 149 goals; in the 1981 season, he kicked 139 goals; and in the 1982 season, he kicked 125 goals.
South Australia
Because he was no longer able to take the field as a player, Neale was reluctantly released by the Ainslie Football Club, since their club and team structure at the time demanded a playing coach (the club eventually appointed ex-Richmond/ex-Collingwood player
Rod Oborne as the captain-coach for the 1984 season).
Cleared by Ainslie, Neale moved to coach the
Central District Football Club in the
SANFL
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport.
...
. He was non-playing coach from 1984 to 1987.
Tuggeranong
Neale coached the
Tuggeranong Football Club for three seasons (1993–1995).
He coached Ainslie again in 1998.
Death
Kevin Neale died from complications of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
on 16 September 2023, at age 78.
Footnotes
References
*
St Kilda Hall of Fame ProfileSaints honour roll
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neale, Kevin
1945 births
2023 deaths
St Kilda Football Club players
St Kilda Football Club premiership players
Trevor Barker Award winners
Ainslie Football Club players
Ainslie Football Club coaches
Central District Football Club coaches
South Warrnambool Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
VFL/AFL premiership players
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease