Wintle
Debutant
I was at Moorabbin when Carl played in his first game against Melbourne. He bobbed up everywhere and it was if he was marking his own kick at times. He was a sensation in the media for the rest of the week, where he first earned the nickname the "Blonde Bombshell".It must be so difficult for all of the players to contend with. Big Carl unfortunately missed 1966 as we know, and played in both the losing GF's, 1965 and 1971.
Here's a bit of trivia... In the early 1970s I was a young lad who wore number 10 proudly on the back of my knitted St Kilda jumper. Big Carl was then a teacher at the local Tech school at Box Hill. What a towering figure he seemed in those days!
What a player, what a journey it's been following Big Carl and the like!
Many happy memories as well.
There was another bloke who had his first game for St Kilda that day, of the name Ian Stewart. Stewart copped a heavy bump early in the match and in today's football he probably would have come off the field, but he played on. I remember watching the replay later that night (black and white television of course) and kept noticing this Ian Stewart getting plenty of the ball despite his earlier heavy knock.
I was also at the "G" in 1966 and not far away actually, from Barry Breen's wobbly point which everyone remembers for obvious reasons. Breen's point was not the only reason we won of course. Another was the fact that in the second semi final against Collingwood which they won, their captain Des Tuddenham kicked 7 goals from the half forward flank. In the grand final he only kicked 2 goals from memory, mainly due to a player of the name John Bingley who stuck to Tuddenham like glue all day. Bingley only played a few games for St Kilda but it could be argued that he played a big part in us winning the premiership in 1966, which incidentally was Bingley's last game for the club.