{xtypo_quote_left}Kelly’s third quarter, in which he took almost personal charge of the big game, will go down in history as a premiership epic….or one of the most inspiring, individual efforts WA football has seen.{/xtypo_quote_left}

{xtypo_dropcap}T{/xtypo_dropcap}his was part of a newspaper report of the 1952 WANFL grand final, in which South Fremantle defeated West Perth by twenty one points.

Five goals down at half time, twenty two year old Des Kelly took the game apart in the third quarter to inspire his team mates, South Fremantle adding 9.13 to 2.4 in the second half.  

Kelly’s Simpson Medal-winning performance caused the same writer to suggest that the 1952 grand final would always be known as Kelly’s Premiership.

Having previously been part of the 1950 flag, Kelly went on to play in South Fremantle’s 1953 and 54 premiership sides.

Des Kelly had never seen a league game when he was recruited by South Fremantle from New Norcia boarding college. “I was playing with the school in the Victoria Plains Association when one of the umpires, who was a South Fremantle supporter, recommended me to the club,” he recalled. “I got a letter from secretary Frank Harrison inviting me to one of the 1948 finals.”

Des was also a promising cricketer, representing Wyalkatchem and awarded best player at Country Week.    

Kelly went from playing at centre half back with New Norcia in 1948 to centre half back for South Fremantle in 1949.  The first semi final that year South Fremantle played East Fremantle in the first Derby final since 1927. The game generated tremendous interest, especially among the wharfies, where football rivalry was at it’s most intense.  In a clash that South won 15.16 to 12.13, the young Kelly made a big impression on the critics.

“Kelly was like a frisky colt,” one writer commented. “He made mistakes due largely to inexperience and over-enthusiasm, yet he gave South Fremantle ruck pace, without which it must have failed.”  

At six feet and half an inch, Kelly was a springheeled jack, with plenty of pace and athleticism, and a good mark. He was the perfect foil for Don Wares, Dave Ingraham, and Norm Smith, throw in the talents of Steve Marsh, Harry Carbon and Barry White, and it was a powerful on ball battery.   

The ruckman missed most of the 1950 season due to a broken leg sustained in the second round of the season against East Perth, which saw him immersed in plaster for fourteen weeks, but he was able to recover in time to share in his first premiership in September of that year.

Kelly was selected in a State number two team that played against North Melbourne twice in 1953 before making his debut for Western Australia against Victoria the following year at Subiaco Oval. With Claremont’s Ken Caporn and Tim Barker from Swans he was part of an impressive last line of defence, having the occasional run on the ball to assist Merv McIntosh, Jack Clarke and John O’Connell.

The season of 1954 was one of his best, producing another premiership and two State games, but it was also his last.

After a hundred and two games, the twenty four year old turned his back on football to return to the farm. He then coached at Korrelocking for a period before being approached to take on the role at Wyalkatchem, in the newly formed Central Wheatbelt Football Association.

Kununoppin is a long way from Subiaco, but it was there that the Des Kelly-coached Wyalkatchem won the premiership  in 1972 after being five goals down at three quarter time of the grand final.   “Kelly’s Grand Final Replayed” was the local newspaper’s headlineafter the win almost twenty years to the day after the former star’s 1952 Simpson Medal performance. 

A Fremantle Docker supporter, he continued to follow the fortunes of the Bulldogs, for whom son Tony played ninety five games, mainly as a ruckman, but was at full back when part of South Fremantle’s 1980 premiership. Grandsons Leigh and Joel carried on the Kelly name at Fremantle Oval.  

Des nominated West Perth star Ray Schofield as his toughest opponent, and rovers Marsh and Carbon as best team mates.

Des Kelly was another example of a country footballer leaving the WANFL stage far too early because of farming commitments, but he is remembered at the port as one of the club’s many “greats” of it’s golden era, and a four time premiership player.  

And then there was the Des Kelly Premiership.