Neil Kerley - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

Following his retirement from playing at the end of 1969, Kerley moved full time into coaching from 1970, continuing on with Glenelg. He took the Tigers to the 1970 Grand Final where again they lost to Sturt who won their 5th premiership in a row under the coaching of Kerley's former West Adelaide mentor Jack Oatey.

The Tigers finished sixth and missed the finals in both 1971 and 1972 but bounced back with a vengeance in 1973, finishing the 21-game minor round with a club best ever 20-1 record, their only loss to reigning premier (and 1972 Champions of Australia) North Adelaide in Round 8 at the Roosters home ground, Prospect Oval. Kerley coached the club to just its second premiership (and first since 1934) when they defeated North Adelaide by 7 points in front of 56,525 fans in what would be the last Grand Final played at the Adelaide Oval, as the league’s new headquarters, Football Park in the western Adelaide suburb of West Lakes opened in 1974.

Kerley coached Glenelg to both the 1974 and 1975 SANFL Grand Finals where they lost both times to Sturt in '74 and Norwood in '75. His last season as coach of Glenelg in 1976 saw The Bays finish in 3rd place. To this day, despite four separate stints at West Adelaide, Kerley says he felt more at home at Glenelg citing the lack of fighting with the clubs board, his success there as a player and coach as well as the general atmosphere at the club as reasons.

Kerley signed on as coach of perrenial under-performers West Torrens in 1977 and fans of the club were called upon to “Join the Kings Eagle Revival in 1977” with T-shirts printed up stating just that. He took them from bottom (10th) in 1976 to 6th in 1977 and 5th in 1978. The club slumped to 8th in 1979 before Kerley again lifted them and took the Eagles to their last ever finals series by finishing fifth in 1980.

In 1981 Kerley was enticed back to West Adelaide by their President Bob Lee and his 1961 premiership winning teammate, General Manager Doug Thomas, who had replaced Kerley as Captain-Coach of the Bloods in 1963. Kerley and Thomas had remained friends as Kerley’s beef from 1962 was with the then board of the club and not Thomas who only agreed to the coaching role in a bid to bring stability to the club. His impact at Richmond was immediate, steering the Bloods to fifth place and their first finals series since 1977. With strong recruiting and a game plan that was virtually all attacking football, Kerley had began to steer West back up the SANFL ladder after being easy beats for most of the late 1960s and 1970s. They finished sixth in 1982 before Kerley won his fourth premiership as a coach when West Adelaide defeated Sturt in the 1983 Grand Final at Football Park with Kerley stating that the 1983 team was the best side he had ever coached. As of 2012, the 1983 premiership was the last won by West Adelaide.

West Adelaide couldn’t repeat their stunning 1983 form due to injuries and finished the 1984 season in sixth place. Following the 1984 season Kerley, seeking a new challenge after more than 30 years of league football, accepted the position of Fitness Director and Tender Captain for South Australia's America's Cup campaign.

Following SA’s unsuccessful America's Cup challenge, Kerley was ready to come back to football and after negotiations with both Woodville and Central District he became the seventh coach of Centrals in 1988, leading them to fourth in both 1988 and 1989 before ending his three-year term at Elizabeth by finishing seven in 1990.

In 1991 Kerley was appointed Football Manager for the newly formed Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League and spent the 1991 AFL season with the Crows before making his third run as coach of West Adelaide in 1992, taking over from Kevin Morris who like Kerley in 1962 was sacked after taking Wests to the Grand Final in 1991. Unfortunately West Adelaide couldn’t recapture their previous seasons form due to the loss of key players to the Crows and the Bloods finished sixth in 1992 and only avoided the wooden spoon by percentage in 1993. Kerley was sacked for the second time as coach of West Adelaide, bringing an end to his SANFL coaching career after 28 seasons that began with a premiership at West Adelaide in 1961. Kerley is the only SANFL coach to win premierships at multiple clubs over three decades.