Adelaide SANFL Coach Michael Godden says the Club is “honoured” to be taking part in the inaugural Neil Kerley Memorial Match against West Adelaide in Murray Bridge this Sunday.
Kerley had a profound impact on both Clubs, as he led the Bloods to premierships in 1961 (captain-coach) and 1983 (coach) and played a vital role in the Crows’ inception to the AFL as the inaugural Football Manager.
Speaking to AFC Media in the lead-up to the game, Godden said he was thrilled the Club was able to honour Kerley in this manner.
“The word honoured doesn’t fully encapsulate it,” Godden said.
“It is a wonderful thing for us to be involved with this, Neil Kerley was a huge figure at both our footy Club and footy in South Australia.
“It’s sad that he has now passed, but it is great that we can now honour him in the way we are going to and face Westies, a Club where Neil also had a profound impact.”
The occasion will be extra-special for the Crows coach, as he pays tribute to his first SANFL League coach.
Godden said the influence Kerley had on him as both a player and now a coach had been significant.
“He was wonderful, he’d obviously done a lot before I came along, but he was a great mentor for me,” Godden said.
“The number one thing he taught me was the ruthlessness of the game and how hard you have to play it.
“My lasting memories of him were that he was a big, powerful voice but was also gentle and very supportive, he was a great figure in our game and someone I’m privileged to have worked with.”
The venue for this clash serves as another tribute to Kerley, who’s love of the Murray River was well-documented.
For Godden, who lives in the Murray Bridge region, taking SANFL football to his local community was something he had long been looking forward to.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for the Club, we love supporting these regional games having also gone to Nurioopta this year,” Godden said.
“It’s pretty cool for me as well (playing at Murray Bridge), I live only half an hour away and spend a lot of my summers in Murray Bridge as my Dad lives there.
“So to be able to bring a game of league footy to the community and give our fans that live up there a close-up look at the Adelaide Footy Club, it is going to be great.”
The Crows come into this clash in sparkling form, having won their past four games before last week’s league-wide bye.
Godden said he was confident the squad could keep its momentum going against a much-improved Bloods outfit.
“It’s always a tricky one coming off the bye, it’s not a true bye being an AFL Club because we still had a game on the weekend which we prepared for, so the players haven’t had much of a break,” Godden said.
“We’ve been really happy with the past month of footy, we’ve tried a lot of new development players as well and had lots of guys going up to the AFL team.
“It’s important that this weekend we switch straight back onto the break and keep our good form rolling against a Westies team that has shown great improvement this season.”
Adelaide takes on West Adelaide in the Neil Kerley Memorial Match at Johnstone Park, Murray Bridge this Sunday at 2.10pm.
