History of the
Glenelg Football Club
affiliated South Australian National Football League

In 1927,

• Glenelg changed it's guernsey to a black V on a gold background - the guernsey which it wore in the 1934 premiership.
• Jack Owens (pictured right) became the first Glenelg player to top the league goalkicking list with 80 goals. This was the highest goal tally by any player in any club in this competition since A.Daly kicked 88 goals in 1893. He also became the first Glenelg player to kick 10 goals in match, which he did twice in the season - 11 against South in round 3 & 11 against Norwood in round 8, both at Adelaide Oval.
• Jack Sexton came 4th in the Magarey Medal
• George 'Blue' Johnston made his debut for Glenelg
• John Lloyd won the club's best & fairest award.
• The team again finished 7th, with 4 wins & 13 losses, but 5 of those 13 losses were by less than a goal and they had their first win against Port (after 13 consecutive losses).
• Go to 1927 season page, 1927 match results page, 1927 articles page

In 1928,

• Roy Brown took over as coach from Jim Handby, and Len Sallis became captain.
• Jim Handby (pictured right) became the first Glenelg player to win the Magarey Medal, after being relieved of the responsibility of being captain-coach.
• Jack Owens again topped the league goalkicking list, this time with 83 goals.
• John Lloyd won Glenelg's best & fairest award for the second consecutive year.
• Harold Percy, Keith Olliver & Reg Rosewarne made their debuts for Glenelg.
• With 4 wins & 13 losses, including their first win against Sturt (after 17 consecutive losses), Glenelg again finished 7th.
• Go to 1928 match results page, 1928 articles page

In 1932,

• Jack Owens became the first Glenelg player to kick 100 goals in a season, and tied with Ken Farmer for the league top goalkicker - both kicked 102 goals. Owens kicked 10 goals in a match twice during the season - 13 against Port at Alberton & 13 against South at Glenelg - in CONSECUTIVE matches.
• 'Blue' Johnston (pictured right) returned from the South-East and duly won his first Glenelg best & fairest award.
• Arthur Link finished 3rd in the Magarey Medal.
• Mel Brock, Arch Golsdworthy & Albert James made their debuts for Glenelg.
• The club fell back to 7th on the ladder, with 5 wins & 12 losses.
• Go to 1932 season page, 1932 match results page, 1932 articles page

In 1934, the Tigers miraculously won their first premiership. After being on the bottom of the ladder and winless after the completion of round 5, they won 10 of their last 12 minor round games to storm into their first finals series, and even secured the coveted double chance by finishing 2nd on the ladder.
After suffering from finals nerves and getting belted in their first finals appearance against Port, they fought back and beat Sturt by 13 points in the preliminary final, and Port by 9 points in the grand final to win the premiership.
In the grand final, Glenelg had lead all day, but Port had fought back and had just drawn level deep into the last quarter, when 'Blue' Johnston took a towering mark (pictured right) in the goal square, and kicked the goal to restore the lead and win the match.

• The Premiership Coach was Bruce McGregor, and the Premiership Captain was Jack Owens.
• Len Sallis won his 5th Glenelg best & fairest award.
• 'Blue' Johnston became the club's second Magarey Medallist.
• Jack Owens was the club's top goalkicker for the 10th time with 89 goals, and he kicked 10 goals in a match once during the season - 11 against South at Adelaide Oval. Rover Arthur Link also kicked 52 goals.
• Lance Leak, Ron Birrell, Frank Bergin & Murray Whitaker all made their debuts for Glenelg during the season and played in the premiership side.
• Go to 1934 season page, 1934 match results page, 1934 articles page

After round 3 of the 1935 season, Jack Owens retired. In his 11 and bit seasons, he had kicked 827 goals in 177 matches - 4.67 goals per match, and topped the club's goalkicking in 10 of his 11 full seasons, and came second by 1 goal in the other season - a truly remarkable achievement.
After the 1934 premiership, the fall from grace was long and severe. Glenelg became the first club in history, to go from premiers to wooden spooners in consecutive years. In the 1934 premiership season, Glenelg had won 12 games, in the next 6 seasons they won a combined total of only 16 games.

• In 1935, 19 year old Mel Brock (pictured right), won his first best & fairest award for Glenelg. 5 years later in 1940 he won his second club best & fairest award and became Glenelg's 3rd Magarey Medallist.
• In 1936 & 1937, 'Blue Johnston won his 2nd & 3rd best & fairest awards, and when he finished up in 1940, he retired as the club's record games holder with 203 games.
• Ron Keane won the club best & fairest award in 1938, while Ray Hunt won his 1st club best & fairest award in 1939.
• In 1938 & 1939 Leslie Lush won the top goalkicking honours, cracking the half century on both occasions, whilst Glenelg's other leading goalkickers during this period were Ron Birrell in 1935 & 1936, Percy Winkler in 1937, and Frank Burt in 1940.
• In 1936 Percy Winkler kicked 10 goals in a match against Torrens at Glenelg Oval, and in 1940 Frank Burt kicked 10 goals in a match against Norwood at Glenelg Oval.
• The coaches during this period were, Bruce McGregor in 1935, Walter Scott (a triple magarey medallist) in 1936-1937, Roy Brown in 1938-1939.
• Marcus Boyall was appointed Captain-Coach for 1940, after having to sit out of football for a year because Collingwood refused to clear him. But after 6 consecutive losses, he resigned from both roles after round 7.
• Harold Percy was captain from 1935 to 1937, and Ron Goodwin was captain in 1938-1939.
• At the end of the 1935 season, Ern Rugless ended his 16 year stint as secretary of the Glenelg Football Club, which began in 1920.
• Go to 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940 match results page,
• Go to 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940 articles page

In 1941,

• Ray Curnow was appointed coach
• After taking over from Marcus Boyall as captain in 1940, Ron Keane continued in that role in 1941.
• Playing as a ruckman and full-forward, Marcus Boyall (pictured) won the club best & fairest award and also became Glenelg's 4th Magarey Medallist, beating Norwood's Jack Oatey by 3 votes.
• Forward pocket/rover Frank Burt was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the second consecutive year, both times surpassing 50 goals in the season
• In a sign of things to come, Allan Crabb became the first Glenelg player to win the Tomkins Medal for best & fairest in the senior colts competition (under 19's).
• As this was the last season before the SANFL competition was suspended for 3 years, Ernest Anthoney ended his 17 year reign as Glenelg president (including the last 16 in a row)
• In their best season since the 1934 premiership, Glenelg finished 6th on the ladder, with 5 wins & 12 losses - including 5 losses of 9 points or less.
• Go to 1941 match results page, 1941 articles page

In 1948, the team showed a marked improvement. After winning just 9 out of 51 games in the first three seasons after Word War II, Glenelg showed signs that they were becoming competitive again for the first time since 1934.
With five rounds remaining, Glenelg were still in finals contention on 6 wins, 6 losses - just two games behind 4th placed West, whom they played the following round. Unfortunately they lost this pivotal match and finished the season in 6th place with 8 wins & 9 losses - two games and percentage out of the final four.

• Ray Curnow was Glenelg's coach for the 5th successive season (either side of the war), and Norm Betson returned as captain.
• Alex Donaldson won Glenelg's best & fairest award.
• Colin Churchett (pictured) was Glenelg's top goalkicker with 88 goals, and became the 2nd Glenelg player, after Jack Owens, to be the league's leading goalkicker.
• Go to 1948 season page, 1948 match results page, 1948 articles page

In 1949, Glenelg adopted the black guernsey with a yellow sash, as worn by Richmond, and after 10 rounds were sitting in 6th position, equal with Torrens and Port in 4th & 5th, on 5 wins & 5 losses.
In round 11 Glenelg narrowly lost to Torrens by 4 points - putting them a game behind - but kept in touch by defeating top side Norwood at Norwood Oval (with a goal on the final siren) in round 12.
However they then suffered a 2 point loss to bottom side Sturt the following round, followed by a loss to 4th placed West, which left them 2 games and percentage out of the top four with only 3 games remaining. They finished the season in 5th position with 8 wins & 9 losses.

• Ray Curnow's 5 year reign as coach ended, and Port Adelaide iron man Allan 'Bull' Reval was appointed coach, while Allan Crabb was appointed club captain.
• Allan Crabb (pictured) won Glenelg's best & fairest award, and tied with H.R. Phillips in the Magarey Medal. Unfortunately at the time, ties were resolved using a countback method, and Crabb was adjudged to be runner-up with Phillips the sole winner.
  Forty-Nine years later this countback system was abolished and all players who had come second on a countback were retrospectively awarded the Magarey medal.
  So in 1998, Allan Crabb became a 1949 Magarey medallist.
• Colin Churchett was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the 3rd season in a row with 72 goals, including 13 goals in a match against South at Glenelg Oval.
• Colin Churchett was also the league's top goalkicker for the 2nd season in a row.
• Go to 1949 season page, 1949 match results page, 1949 articles page

In 1950, the Taylor brothers - Johnny, Laurie & Don were recruited from West Adelaide and had an immediate impact at Glenelg.
Johnny Taylor (pictured) was appointed Captain-Coach, and in his first three games in charge the Bays thrashed Port at Alberton Oval by 74 points, South at Adelaide Oval by 65 points, and Sturt at Glenelg Oval by 51 points.
Over the course of the season the Bays were in the top two on the ladder for 12 of the 17 rounds, and after defeating eventual premiers Norwood at Norwood Oval, in the last minor round game, they finished the minor round in 2nd position, with 12 wins & 5 losses.
They narrowly lost the Second Semi Final against Norwood by 5 points, thrashed Port in the Preliminary Final by 44 points, and then lost the Grand Final to Norwood by 47 points.

• Don Taylor, at centre-half-back won Glenelg's best & fairest award.
• Colin Churchett became the 2nd Glenelg player, and the 6th from any SANFL club, to kick 100 goals in a season. Churchett kicked 105 goals to be Glenelg's leading goalkicker for the 4th year in a row, and the league's leading goalkicker for the 3rd year in a row.
• Allan Crabb was runner-up in the Magarey Medal. At the time, that was 2 years in a row that he had been runner-up, but in 1998 the countback system was abolished, and he was retrospectively awarded the 1949 Magarey Medal.
• Go to 1950 season page, 1950 match results page, 1950 articles page

In Johnny Taylor's 2nd year in charge as Captain-Coach, Glenelg finished the minor round in 3rd position with 12 wins & 6 losses, including 9 of the last 11, and a best ever percentage of 54.4%.
They then beat Torrens by 38 points in the First Semi Final, but lost to North by 25 points in the Preliminary Final.

• Brian Wright won his first Glenelg best & fairest award playing at half-back.
• Colin Churchett (pictured) was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the 5th season in a row, was the league's top goalkicker for the 4th year in a row, and kicked 100 goals in a season for the 2nd year in a row - becoming only the 2nd player to achieve this feat, behind Ken Farmer. At the end of the minor round Churchett had kicked 92 goals, which was 41 goals more than the next highest in the league.
• Furure All-Australian and dual best & fairest winner Neil Davies was recruited from Broken Hill, and after just three games was picked in the state side.
• Glenelg had developed a very stong goal to goal line of Colin Churchett (FF), Don Taylor (CHF), Neil Davies (C), Brian Wright (CHB), Ray Hunt (FB).
• Go to 1951 season page, 1951 match results page, 1951 articles page

After Johnny Taylor declined to extend his coaching tenure, Glenelg appointed 23 year old Pat Hall from Norwood as Captain-Coach.
The team got off to a fast start, winning their first four games by sizable margins, and never slipped out of the top 4. But they only just made it, having to beat North in the last minor round game at Kensington Oval to secure their finals spot - which they did by 29 points, and they finished in 4th spot with 9 wins & 9 losses. After this virtual elimination final against North, they beat Norwood in the first semi final by 24 points, but lost to Port by 58 points in the preliminary final.

• Neil Davies won his 1st Glenelg best & fairest award, and was runner-up in the Magarey Medal.
• Neil Davies becomes Glenelg's first All-Australian player.
• Colin Churchett returned to full-foward and was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the 6th time with 74 goals.
• Go to 1953 season page, 1953 match results page, 1953 articles page

Glenelg were outside the top four for the entire season, until four consecutive wins in the last four rounds, snuck them into 4th place in the last round with 10 wins & 8 losses.
The first semi final against Sturt was a close game all day, with Sturt continually sneaking ahead and Glenelg always fighting back to close the gap. Sturt had again sneaked out to an 11 point lead with just 3 minutes remaining in the last quarter, but two spectacular marks and goals from full-forward Fred Pemberton late in the game gave Glenelg a 1 point victory. In the preliminary final, Glenelg were defeated by eventual premier Port Adelaide by 59 points.

• Neil Davies was captain-coach for the 2nd successive year.
• Colin Richens won his first club best & fairest award.
• Fred Pemberton topped the club's goalkicking with 44 goals.
• Glenelg won the night premiership in the pre-season competition - The Advertiser Cup
• The club won both the Junior Colts and Senior Colts premierships.
• Go to 1959 season page, 1959 match results page, 1959 articles page

1964 saw the appointment of triple Magarey medallist Len Fitzgerald as coach, and Harry Kernahan as captain. It also saw the introduction of two new teams into the league competition - Cental Districts & Woodville.
After a poor start to the season, with a draw and 2 losses in the first 3 rounds, Glenelg won 8 of their next 9 games to entrench themselves in the top 4 after 12 rounds, and held on to fourth spot with a 12 wins, 6 losses, 2 draws record at the end of the minor round.
Glenelg played Sturt in the first semi final - the first time either side had played finals since their epic clash in the 1959 first semi final. In another thrilling and eerily similar encounter, Sturt had opened up a 17 point lead with nine minutes remaining in the last quarter. But Glenelg had fought back to within 5 points, and with two minutes to go, McGowan kicked the ball in to Button who marked within scoring range - but the umpire awarded a contentious free against McGowan for running too far and Sturt held on to win by 5 points.

• New recruits Colin Rice and Brian McGowan (pictured) had an immediate impact in their first season at the club. Rice won the club's best & fairest award, while McGowan was the club's top goalkicker with 54 goals.
• Future star Fred Phillis won the thirds best & fairest award.
• Go to 1964 season page, 1964 match results page, 1964 articles page

1967 saw Glenelg recruit Neil Kerley (pictured) to the club as Captain-Coach, and with him came a new era of professionalism and prosperity for the club. Kerley had already coached West and South to premierships, their first premierships for 14 and 26 years respectively, and had taken South from bottom in 1963 to top in 1964 in his first year as coach.
Kerley had an immediate impact, beating North Melbourne in a trial match, and opening the season with 4 consecutive wins - three of them over 10 goals, including a 100 point win over Woodville in his very first match in charge (only the club's 2nd ever 100 point win).
Glenelg finished the minor round in 4th spot with 12 wins & 8 losses, including impressive wins of 36 points over Norwood at Norwood, and 53 points over eventual premier Sturt at Unley Oval, but unfortunately their season was ended with a 46 point loss to Port in the first semi final.

• Glenelg changed to its current jumper - a black guernsey with a gold sash.
• As well as being Captain-Coach, Neil Kerley also won the club's best & fairest award.
• Ray Button & Bob Anesbury tied for the top goalkicking honours with 45 goals each, and Ray Button kicked 11 goals in the round 1 demolition of Woodville.
• Peter Marker, Rex Voigt, Kerry Hamilton, Wayne Phillis & Graham Cornes all made their league debuts in 1967.
• The reserves won their first ever premiership, and the thirds won their second premiership after losing just one game for the year.
• Go to 1967 season page, 1967 match results page, 1967 articles page

The 1969 season, Neil Kerley's last as Captain-Coach, was a record breaking season for the Glenelg Football Club. They were undefeated on top of the table after 11 rounds, then had a lull where they suffered 3 narrow losses in 4 weeks (all against the other finals bound sides), and then finished the minor round with another 5 consecutive wins, to finish the minor round on 17 wins and 3 losses, with a percentage of 63.73% - winning their first minor premiership. In the finals, they lost to Sturt by 38 points in the second semi final, defeated West by 53 points in the preliminary final, and then lost the grand final to Sturt by 65 points.
Grand Final loss aside, 1969 was full of highlights:

• Glenelg had their 5 biggest wins ever in the 1969 season- 126 points v Woodville, 122 v Centrals, 113 v South, 112 v Norwood, 110 v North. In fact only 4 of their 18 wins were by less than 7 goals.
• They won the Stanley H Lewis Trophy - awarded to the best club over all the grades - for the first time.
• Fred Phillis (pictured) topped the league goalkicking for the first time with 137 goals, and broke Ken Farmer's 33 year old record for most goals in a season of 134. His 137 goals included 3 matches where he kicked 10 goals or more - a club record 15 against South at Glenelg Oval, 11 against Norwood at Norwood Oval & 10 against Woodville at Woodville Oval.
• Fred Phillis also became the first full-forward to win the Magarey medal, while Ken Eustice was runner-up in the medal but won the club's best & fairest award.
• A club record six players were selected to represent South Australia in the 1969 Australian Football Championships - Ken Eustice, Brian Colbey, Fred Phillis, Peter Marker, Harry Kernahan & Keith Pattinson - and Brian Colbey became the second Glenelg player to be selected as an All Australian - after Neil Davies.
• They won the Thirds premiership for the second time in three years.
• Go to 1969 season page, 1969 match results page, 1969 articles page

In Neil Kerley's first season as non-playing coach of Glenelg, with Ken Eustice as captain, the team could not replicate the dominance of the previous season.
For most of the season Glenelg consistently lost to the top sides - Sturt, Port & North - and consisently defeated everyone else, until a slump late in the season led to four consecutive losses, and in round 17 they dropped out of the top 4 for the first time sinnce round 3.
With 2 rounds remaining, they found themselves half a game out of the top 4, and facing top side Sturt at Unley in the next round. Despite conquering Sturt by 5 points in round 19, they still needed to win their last match and hope Norwood lost to Port in round 20. As it transpired, Norwood drew with Port in that last match and Glenelg qualified for finals on percentage.
In probably Glenelg's most consistent and impressive finals series since their 1934 premiership, they defeated North Adelaide in the first semi final by 16 points, defeated minor premier Port Adelaide in the preliminary final by 18 points, but went down gallantly to Sturt in the Grand Final by 21 points.

• Rex Voigt (pictured) won the club's best & fairest award.
• Fred Phillis was the club's top goalkicker for the 3rd year in a row with 107 goals, including 12 in a match against Woodville at Glenelg Oval.
• Fred Phillis was also the league's top goalkicker for the 2nd year in a row.
• Go to 1970 season page, 1970 match results page, 1970 articles page

1971 was probably Glenelg's worst season during Neil Kerley's reign as coach. They lost their first four games (albeit by less than 3 goals each time), and never recovered from that bad start. After 7 rounds they were equal bottom with Torrens on 1 win, 6 losses, and despite winning 8 of their next 11 games, and climbing into the top 4 for the first time in the season, they lost their last 3 games to the top 3 sides (North, Port & Sturt) and finished 6th, with 9 wins and 12 losses - 3 games outside the top 4.
Glenelg did win the Coca Cola cup - a knockout competition during the finals for sides ranked 5th to 8th on the ladder.

• Peter Marker (pictured) began his 7 year stint as Glenelg captain, won the club's best & fairest award, was runner-up in the Magarey medal by 1 vote to Russell Ebert, and became the club's second State Captain - after Neil Davies.
• Fred Phillis was the club's top goalkicker for the 4th consecutive season with 102 goals, including 10 goals in a match aginst Woodville at Glenelg Oval.
• Fred Phillis was also the league's top goalkicker for the 3rd year in a row, kicking 99 goals in the SANFL competition.
• Peter Carey made his debut against Centrals at Elizabeth in round 12, 1971, and Harry Kernahan retired after succumbing to a knee injury.
• Glenelg won their 4th Colts premiership.
• Neil Kerley released his single, "Wandrin Star".
• Go to 1971 season page, 1971 match results page, 1971 articles page

1973 saw Neil Kerley (pictured) coach Glenelg for a 7th season, and Peter Marker captain for a 3rd season, and the team dominated - losing only one game for the entire season, and claiming their second premiership, 39 years after their first.
The season started with six consecutive wins - the narrowest of which was a 32 point win over Sturt - and by round 6 they were already 2 games clear on top with a percentage of 63.79%.
Round 7 provided the only speed-bump for the year with a 27 point loss to North Adelaide at Prospect Oval. After being level at half time, 4-12 to 5-6, Glenelg were weakened in the 2nd half by injuries to Peter Marker and Graham Cornes, and North ran out winners 14-13 to 8-22.
From then on, they won 14 consecutive games to close out the minor round, finishing on top of the ladder 3 games clear of Sturt in 2nd place. The highlight of these wins was an incredible 160 point belting of 3rd placed North Adelaide at Glenelg Oval in round 15 - a game in which Peter Carey kicked 11 goals.
In the second semi final, they overran Sturt by 57 points - with Fred Phillis kicking 8 goals - but the grand final against North Adelaide was a different story. In the first half of the grand final, Glenelg and North both had periods of dominance and held leads, but in the second half Glenelg had led for 95% of the time, until North hit the lead again with just 5 minutes remaining in the match. With just 3 minutes remaining, Graham Cornes took a hanger on the half forward flank, and goaled from 35 metres out to put Glenelg back in front, and win the premiership.

• Centreman Kerry Hamilton won the 1973 club best & fairest award.
• Centre-half-forward Peter Carey was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the year with 69 goals, rover Rex Voigt was 2nd with 68 goals, and Fred Phillis was 3rd with 61 goals after spending time at both full-forward and centre-half-back during the year. In a testament to their scoring power and varying avenues to goal, John Sandland and Greg Wickens also kicked over 50 goals for the season.
• With 3117 points they broke the SANFL record for most points scored in a season, previously held by Glenelg's 1969 team with 2805 pts.
• Harry Kernahan took over as Sectretary of Glenelg Football Club from Ray Curnow after 19 years in the job.
• Go to 1973 season page, 1973 match results page, 1973 articles page

During 1974 Glenelg definitely came back down to earth from the giddy heights of 1973.
They were clearly only the 4th best team during the minor round, winning only 1 of 9 matches against the top 3 sides (Sturt, Port & Norwood), but were obviously far superior to the rest of the teams, winning 10 out of 13 matches against the bottom 6 sides, and those three losses were all by a goal or less on the opposition's home ground - whereas, apart from a 2 point win against North, the wins against those sides were all by 7 goals or more.
Glenelg finished the minor round in 4th spot with an 11-11 win-loss record, but in the finals Glenelg kicked up a gear.
They beat Torrens in the elimination final by 36 points (after kicking 15-28), Norwood in the first semi final by 23 points, and Port Adelaide in the preliminary final by 49 points (after being just 3 points up at 3/4 time).
The Grand Final against Sturt, the first at Football Park, was played on a very windy day and the weather conditions played a big part in the result of the match.
Sturt won the crucial coin toss and kicked with a howling wind in the first quarter, and took full advantage leading 6-5 to 0-1 at quarter time. The Bays turn with the wind, was hampered by rain after 10 minutes, so they trailed 4-6 to 6-6 at half time. In a magnificent third quarter into the wind, they outscored Sturt and were only 5 points down at 3/4 time, with the wind at their backs in the last quarter. However, they had used all their petrol tickets in the 3rd quarter, and due to injuries had used all their reserves as well, so had no-one to freshen up the team in the last quarter. Sturt kicked three goals into the wind in the last term and ran out winners by 15 points.

• Neil Kerley and Peter Marker continued their coach-captain partnership for the 4th year in a row.
• Graham Cornes (pictured) won his 3rd club best & fairest award, and continued to take a number of spectacular marks during the season.
• John Sandland was the club's top goalkicker for the season with 55 goals, and Fred Phillis was 2nd on 46 goals after again spending time at centre-half-back early in the season.
• Kym Hodgeman and Stephen Copping both made their league debuts in 1974, and Paul Weston played his first SANFL league match after debuting in the 1973 champions of Australia series.
• Kym Hodgeman won the reserves Magarey medal in just 12 games, before he was promoted to the league side.
• Go to 1974 season page, 1974 match results page, 1974 articles page

1975 was another golden premiership opportunity lost during the club's golden era, a season that promised so much, but in the end just delivered another frustrating grand final loss.
Glenelg started the season with demolitions of two of the previous season's powerhouses, Norwood by 76 points in round 1, Port by 55 points in round 2, and followed it up by defeating reigning premiers Sturt by 22 points in round 4.
After 9 rounds, they were sitting on top of the table, undefeated, 2 games clear of 2nd, with a percentage of 64.2% - with one newspaper scribe even predicting that Glenelg could go through the season undefeated.
Then, just like in 1969, they had a short slump - losing 3 out of 4 matches in the middle of the season - before finishing off the minor round with 5 thumping wins.
During the course of the season, they had four 100 point wins, including a league record 238 point win against Centals at Glenelg Oval, and a league record score of 49-23, 317 points.
Despite finishing the minor round with 15 wins & 3 losses and a percentage of 62.3%, Glenelg finished 2nd, 1 game behind Norwood - who had not lost since round 2 - but with a vastly superior percentage. Glenelg won the qualifying final against Sturt by 26 points (after nearly kicking themselves out of it with 17-24), and then in the second semi final inflicted Norwood's first defeat since round 2, with a 29 point win.
Glenelg went into the grand final as favourites on a sunny, but windy day. The grand final was a dour, low scoring match, with only 16 goals scored between the two teams. Glenelg had many opportunities to hit the scoreboard that day, but a litany of missed shots for goal throughout the match, and a couple of dubious umpiring decisions deep into the last quarter when the match was up for grabs, conspired to deny Glenelg a premiership that was their's for the taking. However, the fact remains that Glenelg were only in front for 3 minutes in the entire match, and apart from 3 goals in 3 minutes just before half time, they only managed 4 goals for the rest of the game - they simply weren't good enough on the day and Norwood won the grand final by 12 points.

• Neil Kerley and Peter Marker were once again coach and captiain.
• Peter Carey (pictured), still only 21 years old, won his first club best & fairest award.
• Peter Marker was 2nd in the Magarey medal by just 1 vote, Peter Carey finished 4th, and Kym Hodgeman finished 6th.
• Fred Phillis returned to full-forward for the entire season and was the club's top goalkicker for the 6th time, kicking 128 goals - including a club record 18 goals against Centrals at Glenelg in round 17, and 11 goals against Centrals at Football Park in round 8.
• Fred Phillis was also the league's top goalkicker for the 4th time in 1975.
• Glenelg broke SANFL records for the biggest winning margin in a match (238 points), the highest score in a match (49-23, 317 points), and the highest scoring season (3185 points - beating the previous record of 3117 set by Glenelg in 1973).
• Glenelg won their 5th Colts premiership.
• Go to 1975 season page, 1975 match results page, 1975 articles page

1976 saw the departures of Greg Bennett, Bob Tardiff, Kerry Hamilton, Peter Anderson & Bob Treganza from the club, but despite this Glenelg still remained premiership contenders. Smarting from their unexpected grand final loss in 1975, Glenelg were on top of the ladder and undefeated after the first 5 rounds, which included comprehensive victories of 58 points against Sturt in round 1, our biggest ever win of 88 points against Port in round 2, and a 29 point win against reigning premiers Norwood in round 4.
Although they remained on top of the ladder until round 10, they suffered from massive fluctuations in form for the rest of the season. Apart from 10 & 20 point losses to Port, every other match was either a big win, or a big loss, with no close matches. In fact against 8 of their 9 opposition clubs, thay had a turnaround of atleast 13 goals from 1 meeting against that club to the next. Glenelg's inconsistency saw them finish the minor round in 3rd position with 14 wins & 7 losses.
In the finals, they beat Sturt in the qualifying final by 23 points, lost to Port in the second semi final by 43 points, and then faced Sturt again in the preliminary final - whom they had defeated twice in the previous 3 weeks by 82 points & 23 points. Unfortunately this game did not go to plan, and after missing countless opportunities to establish a match winning lead, Sturt came back and inflicted a gut-wrenching 7 point loss.
The repercussions of this loss were severe, with Neil Kerley resigning as coach after 10 years in the job.

• 19 year old Paul Weston won his first club best & fairest award, and came 3rd in the Magarey medal.
• Fred Phillis (pictured) was the club's top goalkicker for the 7th time with 104 goals, including 12 in a match against Sturt in round 21 at Football Park.
• Fred Phillis was also the league's top goalkicker again - for the 5th time.
• Brian Colbey's career was cut short at 29 due to a serious achilles tendon injury.
• Go to 1976 season page, 1976 match results page, 1976 articles page

As Neil Kerley had resigned after the 1976 preliminary final, Glenelg appointed Carlton hard-man John Nicholls as the new Glenelg coach, and Peter Marker continued on for his 7th year as club captain. Unlike the previous two seasons, the team never really looked like they were going to carry all before them, and be the team to beat for the premiership, although they were one of the contenders - and did have a couple of 100 point wins late in the season against lower ranked sides. They started slowly and gradually worked their way up the ladder, eventually finishing in 2nd position with a 14-8 win loss record, 3 1/2 games behind top side Port Adelaide - and if not for a couple of inexplicable losses to bottom side Centrals would have been closer. In the finals, they had a comfortable 40 point win over West in the qualifying final (with peter Carey kicking 8 goals), followed by a 25 point loss to Port in the second semi final, and then a 26 point victory over West again in the preliminary final, had them advancing into their 6th grand final in just 9 years.
The grand final against Port Adelaide was a tight match all day, with Port running out 8 point winners.

• A highlight of the season was a 3 point win over Norwood at The Parade. Norwood were 3 points up with only seconds remaining, when Graham Cornes took a hanger 15 metres out from goal, and kicked a goal after the siren to win the match. Watch youtube video
• Captain Peter Marker suffered a serious leg injury on the eve of the finals, which all but ended his career. He attempted a comeback in 1978, but retired after only a handful of games. Wayne Phillis took over captaincy duties in the finals.
• Kym Hodgeman won his first club best & fairest award.
• Graham Cornes was the club's top goalkicker with 74 goals, followed closely by Stephen Copping with 72 goals.
• Go to 1977 season page, 1977 match results page, 1977 articles page

With John Nicholls at the helm as coach for his 2nd year, and Graham Cornes appointed captain after Peter Marker's serious leg injury towards the end of 1977, the 1978 season began in sensational fashion against South at the Bay in round 1. Only 6 points up at 3/4 time, Fred Phillis, who had returned to full-forward after spending 1977 at full-back, kicked 7 goals in the last quarter - finishing with 10 all up - and the Bays ran out winners by 53 points.
This encouraging start to the season continued all the way up until round 11, with the Bays on 10 wins & 1 loss, and in 2nd spot on the ladder, only percentage behind top side Sturt. After belting North Adelaide at Prospect in round 15 by 122 points - with Kym Hodgeman picking up 52 touches and kicking 7.3 - they were still 2nd with a 12-3 record and three games in front of Norwood in 3rd spot.
However, then the wheels fell off. They proceeded to lose the next 5 games in a row (3 of them against sides outside the top 5). Even after this disatrous run, because of their sensational 10-1 start to the season, and wins against West & Torrens in the last 2 rounds, they managed to cling onto 3rd spot and the double chance in the finals with a 14-8 record. But it counted for little, they were eliminated from the finals race in straight sets, losing to Norwood by 54 points in the qualifying final, and Port by 12 points in the first semi final - after being 28 points up at three-quarter-time (of note is that Kym Hodgeman was injured at training and could not play in the first semi final).

• Kym Hodgeman (pictured) had a sensational season - winning his 2nd club best & fairest award and winning the Magarey medal.
• Kym Hodgeman was also the club's leading goalkicker with 54 goals, with Fred Phillis 2nd on 53 goals, and Stephen Copping 3rd on 50 goals - Hodgeman became only the 3rd player, after Frank Burt in 1945 and Neil Davies in 1956 to win both the best & fairest and top goalkicking honours in the same season.
• Graham Cornes was appointed SA state captain in 1978.
• Fred Phillis became Glenelg's greatest ever goalkicker, surpassing Jack Owen's career goal tally of 827 goals for the club.
• Go to 1978 season page, 1978 match results page, 1978 articles page

With John Halbert at the helm for his 2nd year as coach, and Paul Weston as captain for a 2nd season, Glenelg showed a massive improvement from the previous disappointing season.
During the 1980 minor round, Glenelg won 19 out of 22 matches, had a percentage of 58.9%, and finished in 2nd place, half a game behind minor premier Port Adelaide, and 6 games clear of Sturt in third place.
And yet, somehow, they were eliminated from the finals race in straight sets, with two comprehensive losses - to Sturt by 29 points, and Norwood by 37 points - and this was a side which, for the second season in a row had the equal most All-Australian representatives of any club in Australia.

• Paul Weston (pictured) won his 2nd club best & fairest award, at just 23 years of age.
• 20 year old Robbie Walter was the club's leading goalkicker with 78 goals.
• Graham Cornes won the Tassie medal in the state of origin carnival held in Adelaide.
• Glenelg once again had three players selected in the All-Australian side - Graham Cornes, Peter Carey & Keith Kuhlmann - after the state of origin carnival held in Adelaide in October, and once again, along with Richmond this was the equal most of any club in Australia.
• 1980 also marked the end of John H Ellers' 13 year reign as President of the Glenelg Football Club.
• Go to 1980 season page, 1980 match results page, 1980 articles page

After the vast improvement shown in 1980, John Halbert and Paul Weston were kept in place as coach and captain, and Glenelg swept all before them in a dominant minor round. They had two winning sequences of 10 matches, and 8 matches separated by a solitary loss to Port Adelaide in round 11, and those two winning streaks included a 55 point belting of Port Adelaide in round 1, and a 26 point win over Port at Alberton in round 17 - after being nearly 6 goals down at half time.
With 3 minor round matches remaining, Glenelg had an 18-1 win-loss record, were 5 games and percentage clear of South in 2nd place, and looked like they were going to repeat the heroics of 1973 when they only lost 1 game for the entire season - and was also the last time they had beaten Port at Alberton.
With not a lot to play for in the last 3 rounds, they lost to finals contenders Norwood & Sturt, either side of a 149 point drubbing of bottom placed Woodville.
In the second semi final against Port, they were down 4-4 to 13-10 at half time, eventually losing by 54 points, and serious questions were being raised about Glenelg'ability to handle the finals cauldron, as this was their 6th consecutive finals loss over 4 seasons dating back to the 1977 grand final.
Glenelg simply had to beat Norwood in the preliminary final to regain the respect of the SA football public - and they did, belting Norwood by 55 points, 12-14 to 4-7.
Like in the second semi final, Glenelg did not put up a fight in the grand final, only kicking 2 goals in the first three quarters - and lost by 51 points.

• For the record, Glenelg's combined win-loss record in the minor round over the 1980 & 1981 seasons was 38-6, or 86% won (including 10-5 against Port, Norwood & Sturt), whilst their finals record over those seasons was 1-4, or 20% won.
• Peter Carey (pictured) won his 3rd club best & fairest award, and also won the Fos Williams medal for SA's best player in the state game against WA.
• Paul Weston was appointed SA state captain, and came 3rd in the Magarey medal for the third time.
• Stephen Copping was the club's leading goalkicker for the 2nd time, with 49 goals.
• Stephen Kernahan, Chris McDermott, Tony McGuinness & Tony Symonds all made their league debuts for Glenelg in 1981 - with Kernahan & McDermott playing the entire year.
• Glenelg won their 2nd Reserves Premiership with a 2 point win over Port Adelaide - with a side containing Fred Phillis, Malcolm Greenslade, Colin MacVicar, Peter McInerney & Michael Farquhar.
• Go to 1981 season page, 1981 match results page, 1981 articles page

After Glenelg had dominated the minor round, but failed in the finals, in the last two seasons, 1982 unfolded in a completely diffent manner. Glenelg were never higher than 3rd on the ladder throughout the minor round, and whilst the ladder shows they only made the finals by half a game, it was a bit more comfortable than that as they were 2 1/2 games inside the top five with just 3 rounds to play.
A highlight of the season was a four point win over Norwood at Football Park in round 19, when Paul Weston kicked 3 last quarter goals, including a booming screw punt from the half forward flank with just seconds remaining.
They finished in 4th spot with a 13-8-1 record, and faced Centrals in the elimination final - who had beaten them by 109 points at Glenelg Oval just 3 weeks earlier.
In a 26-goal turn-around from their previous meeting, Glenelg defeated Centrals by 50 points in the elimination final, then defeated Sturt (whom they hadn't beaten in the minor round) by 35 points in the first semi final, and then faced Port Adelaide in the qualifying final - whom they hadn't beaten during the minor round, and hadn't beaten in any final since 1974 - 6 consecutive finals losses. In a match made famous by a rampaging and out of control David Granger - who broke Stephen Barratt's leg with a kick, and was suspended for 9 matches for stiking Graham Cornes - Glenelg prevailed by a point to progress to the grand final against Norwood. But unfortunately, after 3 tough finals, and on a six day break from the toughest of them all, Glenelg had run their race, and put in yet another disappointing grand final performance - losing by 62 points.

• John Halbert and Paul Weston were Glenelg coach and captain for the 4th year running.
• Tony McGuinness won the club best & fairest award, and at 18 years of age became the yougest ever winner of the Magarey medal.
• Paul Weston was again SA state captain, and also won the Fos Williams medal for best player against Western Australia at Football Park.
• Michael Lunniss was the club's top goalkicker with 69 goals.
• Graham Cornes became the first Glenelg player to play 300 league games.
• At the end of the season John Halbert quit to take up the coaching position at Sturt, after the retirement of Jack Oatey.
• Glenelg won their 2nd consecutive reserves premiership.
• Go to 1982 season page, 1982 match results page, 1982 articles page

Graham Campbell and Peter Carey continued as Glenelg coach and captain respectively, and the team got off to a slow start, losing 2 of their first three matches. But from then on, they won 16 of their last 19 matches - losing to Port twice & Norwood once - to finish equal top with Port Adelaide on 17 wins, 5 losses. After round 19, Glenelg were in fact top on percentage, but in the last 3 rounds Port Adelaide had bigger wins than what Glenelg did, and Glenelg were relegated to 2nd on percentage.
Glenelg had a comfortable 48 point win against Centrals in the qualifying final, but in a spiteful match four players were reported, including captain Peter Carey. In a crushing blow to Glenelg's premiership aspirations, Carey was suspended for 2 matches for attempted striking.
Without their captain, Glenelg subsequently lost the second semi final to Port by 39 points, and the prelimnunary final to Norwood by 18 points (kicking 11-23).

• Stephen Kernahan (pictured) won the Glenelg best & fairest award for the 2nd year in a row, and was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the second year in a row with 56 goals. In doing so, he became the first player to win the best & fairest award andbe top goalkicker in the same season TWICE.
• Stephen Kernahan won the Fos Williams medal for best player against Victoria at Football Park - kicking 10 goals in the match.
• Stephen Copping kicked 11 goals in a match against Sturt at Unley in round 14.
• Peter Carey became the 2nd Glenelg player, after Graham Cornes, to play 300 league games.
• Go to 1984 season page, 1984 match results page, 1984 articles page

After doing his coaching apprenticeship with South Adelaide in the previous two years, 1985 saw the homecoming of Graham Cornes as coach of Glenelg. Peter Carey continued as captain for a 3rd season, and Stephen Kernahan and Tony McGuinness both deferred any interstate moves, having unfinished business at Glenelg.
The 1985 season began with a round 1 encounter against old foe Port Adelaide at Glenelg Oval. After being 11 points down at half-time, Glenelg kicked 11 goals in each of the last two quarters, on the way to a record score (by any club) against Port Adelaide of 31-18, and an 88 point win.
After a 14 point loss at Norwood Oval, Glenelg then won their next four games, including 2 matches in which Stephen Copping kicked 10 goals in the match - a 71 point win over Sturt, and an 83 point win over Woodville. After 6 rounds, Glenelg were sitting in 2nd spot on the ladder with a 5-1 record.
However, the Bays then suffered a mid-season slump, losing 6 of their next 8 games, putting their finals place in jeopardy with a 7-7 record - and only percentage in front of 6th placed Torrens.
From round 15 onwards Glenelg started to string some wins together, and were on a 7 game winning streak when they reached the top of the ladder with 1 round to go. Unfortunately, after losing the last minor round game to Sturt at Unley Oval, they slipped back to 3rd place on the ladder, and faced Norwood in the qualifying final.
The big question was... which Glenelg would turn up in the finals?
Aside from the 1982 finals series when they won 3 out 4 finals, in every other finals series going back to 1978 they had only won 2 out of 10 finals matches, and since the 1975 grand final, they had lost 5 out of the 6 finals they had played against Norwood - even though they had won 17 out of 27 minor round matches against them over the same period.
As it turned out, Glenelg vanquished their finals demons during the 1985 finals series by defeating Norwood by 30 points in the qualifying final, North by 14 points in the second semi final, and North again in the grand final by 57 points, and claimed their 3rd long awaited premiership.

• Stephen Kernahan (pictured) won his 3rd straight club best & fairest award.
• Stephen Copping was the club's top goalkicker with 83 goals, followed by Stephen Kernahan with 81 goals, and Tony McGuinness with 58.
• Stephen Kernahan won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final - kicking 7 goals.
• Stephen Kernahan was named in the All Australian side for the first time - an honour he repeated another 4 times while playing with Carlton.
• Go to 1985 season page, 1985 match results page, 1985 articles page

In 1986 Graham Cornes and Peter Carey continued on as coach and captain, and Glenelg regained the services of Kym Hodgeman who returned home from North Melbourne, but lost Stephen Kernahan to Carlton and Tony McGuinness to Footscray. Filling the void left by the departures of Kernahan and McGuinness was always going to be a monumental challenge for Glenelg, but Hodgeman was a ready made replacement for McGuinness and Tony Hall stepped up to the challange of filling Kernahan's shoes at centre half forward magnificently - kicking 73 goals for the year and coming 3rd in the best & fairest. John Seebohm was also a revelation, moving from centre-half-back to full-forward to help cover the lost scoring power of Kernahan & McGuinness, and kicking 54 goals.
But it was a difficult year, equal bottom of the ladder with 2 wins - 5 losses after 7 rounds. The turning point came in round 10, with a 12 point win over Norwood at Norwood Oval, followed by a 9 point win over Port at Alberton Oval the very next round. These two wins started off a sequence of 9 wins in 10 matches, including another critical 7 point win against top side North at Prospect Oval in round 16, which had Glenelg sitting in 2nd position with 12 wins - 7 losses. But two losses in a row, had Glenelg sitting in 4th place, and needing other results to go their way in the last round in order to get the double chance. Fortunately those results did go their way, and they faced Port Adelaide in the qualifying final. Once again though, they had to confront their finals demons, as since 1976 they had lost 7 of their 8 finals against Port - with their only win being the 1 point victory in the 1982 preliminary final.
Just as in 1985, they proved that they had vanquished those demons by belting Port Adelaide to the tune of 47 points. After losing the second semi final to North by 24 points, they overcame a revitalised Woodville by 21 points in the preliminary final, and then had a surprisingly comfortable all the way win of 48 points over North in the grand final - Back to Back, Take That!

• Chris McDermott won the club's best & fairest award.
• Tony Hall (pictured) was the club's top goalkicker with 73 goals, followed by Stephen Copping with 63, and John Seebohm with 54.
• Tony Hall won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final - kicking 6 goals.
• Chris McDermott was named in the All Australian side.
• Go to 1986 season page, 1986 match results page, 1986 articles page

Graham Cornes and Peter Carey were once again coach and captain in 1987, and the team got off to a rocky start, losing their opening two matches to Norwood & Port, and battling to a 3-5 record and 7th position on the ladder after round 8 - including a 75 point drubbing by North at Prospect Oval.
But when they finally got their act together, and inflicted successive wins of 100 points over Norwood, 97 points over Port, 66 points over West, 82 points over Sturt & 74 points over Woodville (all top 6 sides, apart from Sturt), the competition new that the sleeping giant had awoken, and that Glenelg were going to be hard to beat for the premiership.
But after defeating top of the ladder North by 26 points in round 17, their form tapered off, winning just 1 of their last 5 minor round matches (including losses to the bottom two sides) to finish in 4th place with 12 wins & 10 losses.
Come finals time they emphatically found their form again, starting with a 102 point win over Woodville in the elimination final, and followed up with wins over finals bogey sides Port & Norwood in the first-semi and preliminary finals.
So Glenelg were into the grand final, to have a crack at three premierships in a row.
Alas, it wasn't to be - they got belted by North to the tune of 82 points in the grand final.

• Chris McDermott (pictured) won his 2nd club best & fairest award.
• John Seebohm was the club's top goalkicker with 89 goals.
• Chris McDermott won the Fos Williams medal for best player against Victoria in the state game at Football Park, and the Simpson medal for best player on either side in the state game against Western Australia at Subiaco.
• Scott Salisbury and Chris McDermott (for the 2nd time) were named in the All Australian side.
• John MacFarlane became the 3rd Glenelg player to play 300 league games - after Graham Cornes & Peter Carey.
• Peter Carey became the first SANFL player to play 400 games, against Torrens in round 7 on May 23.
• Go to 1987 season page, 1987 match results page, 1987 articles page

1988 was Graham Cornes' 4th year as coach, and Peter Carey's 6th and last year as captain. During the off-season Glenelg had gained John Schneebichler, Gary Christie, Warren Ralph & Chris Melican, but they lost Tony Hall, David Kernahan & Michael Murphy to the VFL.
Glenelg got off to a good start in 1988, on top of the ladder after 10 rounds with an 8-2 record. But a 10 point loss to Port at Alberton in round 11 began a losing streak of 5 losses in 6 matches, which had Glenelg sitting in 6th spot, half a game behind North in 5th at the conclusion of round 16. As it turned out they faced North at Prospect the very next round - and a loss would have left them 1 1/2 games out of the top five with 5 games to play.
In a season defining match, Glenelg defeated North by 33 points at Prospect to move back into the top 5, which is where they stayed for the rest of the minor round - despite narrowly losing 2 of their last 3 matches due to poor kicking for goal.
For the second season in a row, Glenelg would have to launch their premiership campaign via the elimination final. In the elimination final Glenelg defeated Sturt by 59 points, then they defeated Centrals in the first semi final by 21 points (thanks to poor kicking for goal by the Dogs), and Norwood in the preliminary final by 5 points. In the grand final, after being up 3-3 to 0-2 at quarter time, they only kicked 5 goals for the rest of the match and Port ran out winners by 29 points.

• Chris McDermott won his 3rd straight club best & fairest award.
• Craig Budarick was the club's top goalkicker with 41 goals.
• Chris McDermott was appointed SA state captain.
• Peter Carey broke an Australian record when he played his 447th senior game against Centrals on May 14 (pictured).
• In his first four seasosn as Glenelg coach, Graham Cornes had taken the team to the grand final every year.
• Go to 1988 season page, 1988 match results page, 1988 articles page

Graham Cornes continued into his 5th year as coach, and Chris McDermott took over the captaincy after the retirement of Peter Carey, but as he had injured his left knee in an exhibition game for South Australia against Western Australia in Vancouver he could not play until half way through the season, and Scott Salisbury deputised as captain until his return.
The loss of Carey & McDermott, was compounded by the retirements of Alan & Wayne Stringer, the transfers of David Grenvold to Essendon, Geoff Winton & Craig Woodlands to South, and long term injuries to John Schneebichler, Craig Budarick and Gary Christie. As a result Glenelg struggled in the first half of the season, and after a 117 point flogging by Port at Alberton in round 11, were sitting in 6th spot with 4 wins & 7 losses - 1 game and percentage behind 5th placed West, who they were to play in the next round.
This "double point" game against West at Richmond proved to be the turning point in the season, as they strung together 5 consecutive wins to get themselves back into the top five. One cause for concern though was that Glenelg had been accustomed over the last decade to having a number of big wins each season, and so far during 1989 their biggest win was just 35 points and their percentage was just 48%. Finally though the big wins came, by 85 points over Torrens in round 18, and 132 points over Sturt in round 22 - and expectations started to build that Glenelg might still be a legitimate premiership contender, rather than just making up the finals numbers.
For the third season in a row Glenelg had to start their finals campaign via the elimination final. In a gladiatorial elimination final against Norwood, the lead changed 10 times during the match, and 6 times during a frantic last quarter. Tony Symonds had the chance to kick a goal from the boundary line deep into time-on of the last quarter, which would have put Glenelg back in front, but the swirling winds took the ball out of bounds and Norwood hung on to win an epic contest by 5 points.

• Kym Hodgeman won his 3rd club best & fairest award.
• Jim West (pictured) was the club's top goalkicker with 60 goals.
• Go to 1989 season page, 1989 match results page, 1989 articles page

1990 was a year of upheaval in the SANFL, and as it turned out the last SANFL premiership that was untainted by the presence of a local AFL side which effectively relegated the SANFL to a second tier feeder competition.
For a number of years, the SANFL had been under pressure to enter a side in the AFL competition, but had resisted due to disagreement over the terms of entry and concerns over what it would do to the SANFL competition. However during the 1990 season, Port Adelaide went behind the SANFL's back and secretly launched their own solo bid to join the AFL, which forced the SANFL's hand into entering a composite side into the AFL in 1991 - thus changing the SA football landscape forever.

Graham Cornes was Glenelg's coach in 1990 for the 6th and last season (as he became Adelaide's inaugural coach in 1991), and Chris McDermott was captain for his 2nd and last season (as he became Adelaide's inaugural captain in 1991).
With Chris McDermott available for the full season, an injury free John Fidge hitting his straps, the improvement in youngsters Robbie Thompson, Rod Jameson & Matthew Liptak, and the recruitment of Clayton Lamb from West, Glenelg were a rejuvenated side in 1990 and back to their dominating best of the early to mid 80's.
Glenelg took top spot off Port in round 3 by defeating them by 26 points at Football Park, and held on to top spot all the way through to round 16, until a loss to North by 21 points in round 17, allowed Port to snatch top spot and keep it. Glenelg finished the minor round in 2nd spot, with a 16-3-1 record, half a game behind Port on 17-3.
Starting their finals campaign via the qualifying final for the first time since 1986, Glenelg were down at half-time by 26 points to North, but a 9 goal third term saw them lead by 12 points at the last change, and they held on to win by 23 points. This set up a grudge match against Port in the second semi final - just 3 days after the AFL had approved the SANFL's bid to join the AFL in 1991, instead of Port's. Glenelg led by 23 points at the final change, and held on to win by 11 points - but Clayton Lamb suffered a broken ankle and would be unavailable for the grand final. This was only Glenelg's fourth 2nd semi final victory from 12 attempts, and their first win over Port in a 2nd semi final after 5 successive losses. But in the end the win counted for nothing, as Glenelg were once again defeated by Port in the grand final by 15 points.

• David Marshall (pictured) won the club's best & fairest award, and was runner-up in the Magarey medal by 1 vote to Scott Hodges.
• David Marshall became the 4th Glenelg player to play 300 league games - after Graham Cornes, Peter Carey & John MacFarlane.
• John Fidge was the club's top goalkicker with 124 goals, including 10 in a match against Sturt at Adelaide Oval - and became only the 4th Glenelg player to kick 100 goals in a season after Jack Owens, Colin Churchett & Fred Phillis.
• Chris McDermott was appointed SA state captain.
• Go to 1990 season page, 1990 match results page, 1990 articles page

Kym Hodgeman and Scott Salisbury continued as coach and captain for a 2nd season, and after 18 rounds Glenelg were sitting in 2nd place on the ladder with 10 wins & 6 losses. Then 3 successive losses saw Glenelg slip down to 4th position, only 1 game in front of South in 6th, with 3 games to play. Fortunately Glenelg's last 3 games were against the bottom 3 sides, which they won comfortably to finish the minor round in 4th position with 13 wins & 9 losses - and only percentage away from gaining 3rd spot and the double chance.
In the elimination final, they thumped South by 51 points, then came from 4 goals down at quarter time to beat North by 6 points in the first semi final, and then belted Woodville-West Torrens by 64 points in the preliminary final - with John Fidge kicking 11 goals.
So for the 5th time in 16 seasons Glenelg faced up to Port in the grand final. Since the arrival of Neil Kerley in 1967, Glenelg had a 6-6 win-loss record in all finals against Port excluding grand finals, but over the same period of time they had a 0-4 record against Port in grand finals. Unfortunately the trend continued and Port won the grand final comfortably by 56 points.

• Nick Chigwidden won his 2nd club best & fairest award.
• In an injury interrupted season John Fidge (pictured) still managed to be the club's top goalkicker (for the 2nd time) with 91 goals, including 3 matches where he kicked 10 goals or more - 13 goals against West at Glenelg, 11 goals against Sturt at Glenelg & 11 goals against WW Eagles in the preliminary final.
• Mark Russell was 2nd on Glenelg's goalkicking list with 72 goals, including 10 in a match against Centrals at Adelaide Oval.
• Andrew McKay was runner-up in the Magarey medal to Nathan Buckley.
• Go to 1992 season page, 1992 match results page, 1992 articles page

After the abrupt departure of Kym Hodgeman, Mark Williams was appointed coach, and Nick Chigwidden was appointed captain after the retirement of Scott Salisbury.
Glenelg were entrenched in the top 3 for most of the season, and had some impressive wins, including a 73 point drubbing of eventual premiers Woodville-West Torrens in round 2, and an 84 point belting of Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval in round 16 (who were top of the ladder at the time).
Unfortunately, after that magnificent win in round 16, the only wins they had for the rest of the season were against the bottom 3 sides. After finishing the minor round in 3rd place with a 12-7-1 record, losses to Port and Norwood in the finals meant that Glenelg were eliminated from the finals in straight sets - for just the third time after 1978 & 1980. Of note is that Glenelg were the only team that the eventual premiers, Woodville-West Torrens did not beat during the year.

• Nick Chigwidden (pictured) won his 3rd club best & fairest award, and was runner-up in the Magarey medal.
• John Fidge was the club's top goalkicker for the 3rd time with 56 goals.
• Go to 1993 season page, 1993 match results page, 1993 articles page

1994 saw both Mark Williams and Nick Chigwidden continue in their roles as coach & captain for a second season, and despite qualifying for finals it was a very disappointing season for the team. Glenelg had a five match winning streak to get them into third spot on the ladder with 6 wins, 3 losses after 10 rounds.
But this was followed by a horror stretch of 6 consecutive losses including two 100 point losses at Glenelg Oval in consecutive weeks - the first time this had happened in the history of the club.
Overall, Glenelg spent 40% of the season outside the top 5, and only fell into fifth spot after North lost to Norwood in the last minor round match while Glenelg looked on with the bye. Glenelg finished the minor round with 10 wins, 12 losses and a woeful percentage of 46.5%, and lost the elimination final by 44 points to Norwood.

• Nick Chigwidden won his 4th club best & fairest award.
• Dean Caldow was the club's top goalkicker with 37 goals.
• Go to 1994 season page, 1994 match results page, 1994 articles page

After 4 years in the doldrums where finals participation never looked a remote possibility in the second half of each season, 1999 provided a ray of hope that the Bays might be on the way back towards being premiership contenders again. Tony McGuinnes continued into his 2nd season as coach and Nick Chigwidden was captain for a record equalling 7th season.
In the first part of the season, Glenelg showed a significant improvement from previous seasons, sitting in 2nd position with a 6-3 win-loss record after 11 rounds, but this was followed by 3 consecutive losses, which left them sitting in 7th place, just percentage out of the top 5.
However it was the last part of the season where encouraging signs emerged that the Bays might be back as legitimate contenders. They won 7 of their last 8 matches, including wins over 2nd placed Norwood at Norwood Oval, 3rd placed Woodville-West Torrens at Woodville Oval, and a 50 point demolition of top side Port at Glenelg Oval.
Glenelg finished the minor round in 3rd place with a 13-7 win-loss record, and having beaten the other major premiership contenders in the run to the finals gave hope that Glenelg were a genuine premiership threat.
However, Glenelg's poor finals run since the 1992 grand final continued, losing their 5th & 6th consecutive finals matches (albeit narrowly), to Woodville-West Torrens by 11 points, and Norwood by 14 points, to again be eliminated from the finals race in straight sets.

• Richard Kelly won the club's best & fairest award.
• Ben McEntee was the club's top goalkicker with 28 goals, with Chad Cornes coming 2nd on 20 goals.
• Nick Chigwidden (pictured) was runner-up in the Magarey medal for the 2nd time.
• Go to 1999 season page, 1999 match results page, 1999 articles page

After 6 seasons which included 3 wooden spoons and just 27 wins from 120 matches, Glenelg showed the first green shoots of recovery towards finals participation. Glenelg had finished in the bottom three for 10 of the last 11 seasons, and had won just 51 out of 202 matches since 1995 (excluding 1999 when they won 13 out of 22 and made the finals).
Finally, in 2006, in Mark Mickan's first year as coach and with Ben Mules in his first year of captaincy, Glenelg were in the top 5 on the ladder for most of the season, and were in 3rd spot, 2 wins in front of South in 6th place with just four rounds to go.
But then a heartbreaking 4 point loss to 2nd placed North at Glenelg, followed by a loss to Centrals at Elizabeth, left Glenelg with a virtual elimination final against South in the last round. Defeat South and they would face Port in the actual elimination final the following week, lose and they were out... they lost to South by 49 points and finished 6th with a 10-10 win-loss record (after being 2nd with a 10-7 record).
However, the signs of recovery were there, 6 of their 10 wins were by 10 goals or more, including a 95 point win over grand finalist Centrals and an 81 point win over 5th placed Port, and they finished with a percentage of 53.6%.

• Brett Backwell (pictured) won the club's best & fairest award, and also won the Magarey medal for fairest & most brilliant player in the league.
• Matthew Duldig was the club's top goalkicker with 41 goals.
• Go to 2006 season page, 2006 match results page, 2006 articles page

In 2007 Mark Mickan and Ben Mules continued in their roles as coach and captain for a second season, but the team got off to a very slow start, sitting in last position on the ladder with 1 win & 6 losses after 9 rounds - although part of the reason for the slow start was due to the draw, where Glenelg had to play at Unley, Elizabeth, Noarlunga and Norwood in the first 7 rounds.
However for the rest of the minor round Glenelg only lost 2 more matches - to Centrals at home and Woodville-West Torrens away - to finish in 5th position with 10 wins, 8 losses & 2 draws.
Glenelg faced Sturt in the elimination final, and despite the fact that they were in form, and had defeated Sturt in 2 out of 3 meetings during the season, the fact remained that Glenelg had lost 6 consecutive finals dating back to the 1992 grand final. In the elimination final, Glenelg started slowly and trailed Sturt for the entire match until well into the last quarter when they finally hit the lead. They hung on to win by 1 point, thanks to a late miss from 20m out by Sturt's Simon Feast which would have snatched Sturt the game.
In the first semi final against Woodville-West Torrens, Glenelg again got off to a slow start, trailing by 22 points at quarter time, but fought back in the second term, and should have led at half time, but for some ill-discipline gifting the Eagles a goal just before the siren to give them a 6-8 to 6-3 lead at the main break. Thanks to poor kicking for goal by Glenelg in the third term the Eagles pulled away to lead by 19 points at three-quarter-time, but Glenelg fought back in the last and with a minute to go the scores were level. Unfortunately the Eagles then had a bit of luck when a soccered kick was marked by an Eagles player, who then kicked the goal, and Glenelg went down by 6 points.

• Ben Kane (pictured) won the club's best & fairest award.
• Justin McConnell was the club's top goalkicker with 64 goals.
• Glenelg won their 4th reserves premiership.
• Go to 2007 season page, 2007 match results page, 2007 articles page

With the stability of Mark Mickan and Ben Mules remaining in their coaching & captaincy positions for a third season, the momentum created in the second half of the 2007 season carried on into 2008. After a round 1 blip against South, Glenelg won 12 consecutive matches to be on top of the ladder after 15 rounds with a 12-1 record. This included a number of memorable wins including:

• An 84 point win over Norwood at The Paradae when Glenelg resticted Norwood to just 1-3. This was very satisfying for Glenelg supporters who remembered the corresponding match at Norwood Oval 4 years earlier when Glenelg were restricted to 1-4.
• Defeating Centrals at Elizabeth Oval for the first time since 1992 - after 14 consecutive losses.
• Defeating Port at Alberton Oval for the first time since 1993 - after 14 consecutive losses and a draw.
• Defeating Sturt in a top of the table clash at Glenelg Oval in front of a crowd of 11,827 at Glenelg Oval - the biggest Glenelg Oval crowd since the arrival of the crows in 1991.

Glenelg clinched their fourth ever minor premiership (after 1969, 1973 & 1981) with a 16-4 win-loss record, and only lost one match to the other teams who qualified for the finals - to Centrals at Elizabeth in round 18. In fact 2008 was only the second season (after 1973) that Glenelg had not lost to Port, Norwood or Sturt during the entire season.
In the second semi final against Centrals, Glenelg were only 6 points down at half time, but got blown away in the third quarter, and eventually lost by 30 points. Against Sturt in the preliminary final, Glenelg took control in the second quarter to lead by 42 points at half time, and eventually ran out winners by 66 points. The grand final against Central was again a tight affair until half time, with Glenelg trailing by 4 points, but once again Centrals dominated the third quarter to establish a 37 point lead at three quarter time, and maintained that lead to the end, winning by 42 points.

• Ty Allen (pictured) won the club's best & fairest award.
• Todd Grima was the club's top goalkicker with 54 goals.
• Ty Allen came 3rd in the Magarey medal, and Adam Fisher came 4th.
• Glenelg won their 6th Under 19s/Thirds/Senior Colts premiership.
• Go to 2008 season page, 2008 match results page, 2008 articles page

In 2009, Glenelg were minor premiers for the second year in a row, and only the 5th time in their 85 seasons. With 17 wins, 2 losses, & 1 draw, and a win rate of 87.5%, it was their second best minor round performance ever (behind only 1973 with a 95.2% win rate) - and yet they failed to even make the grand final.
Just like in 1980, which was their previous 2nd best minor round performance with 86.4% matches won, they were eliminated from the finals race in straight sets. But unlike 1980 when they were inexplicably soundly beaten by 29 & 37 points in their two finals appearances, in 2009 they suffered two heart-breaking losses by 2 points & 5 points which were self-inflicted by their own inaccuracy in front of goal.
Glenelg went into the 2009 finals series choc full of confidence after being undefeated in their last 15 matches, with the only minor blemish being a draw against Centrals in round 17.
In the second semi final against Centrals, Glenelg were up by 20 points at three quarter time, but lost by 2 points after kicking 1-4 in the last quarter.
They then went into the preliminary final against Sturt, having beaten them the last 9 times in a row, held Sturt scoreless in the first term, but kicked themselves out of the game, losing by 5 points, 7-13 to 9-6.

• Mick Mickan and Ben Mules were coach and captain for the 4th successive season.
• Adam Fisher (pictured) won his 2nd club best & fairest award.
• Ruory Kirkby was the club's top goalkicker with 37 goals.
• Glenelg won their 5th reserves premiership, and the first ever Under 18s premiership (after it replaced the old Under 19s competition).
• Go to 2009 season page, 2009 match results page, 2009 articles page

Like 2009, 2010 was another season that promised so much but delivered so little. Glenelg were only percentage away from winning their third straight minor premiership, but in the end had to settle for 2nd spot on the ladder with 15 wins & 5 losses - which is where they belonged, having lost all 3 encounters with top side Centrals, but only losing 2 other games against the rest of the competition.
Even though they had beaten both Norwood & The Eagles comfortabley within the last 4 minor round matches, Glenelg got smashed by both teams in their two finals - Norwood by 44 points, and Woodville-West Torrens by 38 points. So once again despite a stellar minor round performance they were eliminated from the finals in straight sets.
Over the course of 2009 & 2010, Glenelg's minor round record was 32 wins, 7 losses, 1 draw (81.3% win rate), but in finals their record was 0 wins, 4 losses (0% win rate).
In fact, from the 1992 grand final to the 2010 first semi final, Glenelg's finals record was 2 wins, 13 losses (compared to 41 wins, 31 losses up to the 1992 preliminary final).

• Mark Mickan and Ben Mules were coach and captain again, for a 5th consecutive season.
• Ty Allen won his 2nd club best & fairest award, and was 3rd in the Magarey medal.
• Todd Grima (pictured) was the club's top goalkicker with 58 goals, and also won the Ken Farmer medal for leading goalkicker in the league during the minor round.
• Glenelg won their 2nd consecutive Under 18s premiership (and their third junior premiership in a row after also winning the Under 19s flag in 2008).
• Go to 2010 season page, 2010 match results page, 2010 articles page

2011 was the beginning of another decline in Glenelg's fotunes, as although they qualified for the finals, they were no longer a genuine premiership contender as they had been in the previous 3 seasons.
Mark Mickan began the year as league coach (for the 6th consecutive season), but was replaced during the season by reserves coach Kris Massie, while Ben Mules continued as captain for a 6th season.
After 13 rounds Glenelg were in 6th position on the ladder, with 4 wins, 7 losses & 1 draw. But then a mini resurgence under the new coach saw them win 3 in a row which got them back into the top 5, and despite only winning 2 of their last 5 matches, they limped into the finals in 4th position with 9 wins, 10 losses & 1 draw.
Against South Adelaide in the elimination final they lost by 31 points - their first ever loss to South in a final, and their 6th consecutive finals loss since the 2008 preliminary final.

• Ben Kane won his 2nd club best & fairest award.
• Ruory Kirkby (pictured) was the club's top goalkicker for the 2nd time with 39 goals.
• Glenelg won their 6th reserves premiership.
• Go to 2011 season page, 2011 match results page, 2011 articles page

From 2013 to 2015, Glenelg won just 12 out of 56 matches, and finished last, last & 2nd last.

• Kris Massie was in his last year as coach in 2013, Nick Stevens was coach in 2014, and Matthew Lokan began his coaching stint in 2015.
• Ty Allen was captain in 2013 and he shared the captaincy with Andrew Bradley in 2014, then in 2015 Andrew Bradley continued as captain on his own.
• Andrew Bradley won the club's best & fairest award in both 2013 & 2014, and Craig Pitt shared the club's best & fairest award in 2014.
• Matthew Snook won the club's best & fairest award in 2015.
• Ruory Kirkby was the club's leading goalkicker for the 4th time with 24 goals in 2013, and Andrew Hooper was the leading goalkicker with 29 goals in 2014.
• In 2015, Clint Alleway (pictured) was the club's leading goalkicker with 47 goals, and he also won the 2015 Ken Farmer medal as the league's top golakicker during the minor round.
• Glenelg won their first Under 16's premiership in 2014.
• Go to 2013, 2014, 2015 match results page
• Go to 2013 articles page, 2014 articles page, 2015 articles page

Mark Stone continued as coach, and Chris Curran continued as the sole captain in 2019, and the six game winning streak at the end of the previous season created an expectation that 2019 would be the season when Glenelg returned to finals football. Whilst Glenelg did not get off to the greatest of starts - 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw in the first 3 rounds - they only lost one more game between round 1 and round 18 (which was a dead match for the Bays). Their only losses for the entire minor round were by 5 points at Norwood Oval in round 1, 4 points at Noarlunga Oval in round 10, and 12 points at Unley Oval in round 18 - and they were undefeated at Glenelg Oval. During the season Glenelg won their first match at Elizabeth Oval since 2008 (breaking an 11 match losing sequence), and won their first match at Woodville Oval since 2012 (breaking a 6 match losing sequence).
Glenelg won their 6th minor premiership with a 13 win, 3 loss, 2 draw record, but went into the finals series on a six match finals losing streak dating back to the 2008 grand final - and a 4 point loss to Port in the second semi final extended this losing streak to 7. In fact after this second semi final loss, Glenelg had won just 2 out of their last 17 finals matches dating back to the 1992 grand final. So the niggling question in the back of every Glenelg supporter's mind was whether the finals fade outs would continue or whether the preliminary final against Adelaide could kick start the beginning of a new era? Thankfully they broke their finals drought against Adelaide with a 27 point win, but now they faced Port in the grand final, to whom they had lost 5 grand finals in a row (in 1977, 1981, 1988, 1990, 1992). Whilst they had defeated Port quite comfortably twice in the minor round, Glenelg's history shows that this minor round superiority is meaningless come finals time.
In the grand final, Glenelg got out to an early lead and Port were never really able to close the gap. Glenelg ran out winners by 28 points to claim their 5th premiership, and had finally translated their minor round dominance into credible finals performances - which thay had failed to do in 1980, 2009 & 2010.

• Jesse White won the club's best & fairest award.
• Liam McBean (for the 2nd time) and Luke Reynolds tied as the club's top goalkicker with 53 goals each.
• Liam McBean won the Ken Farmer medal for the league's top goalkicker during the minor round.
• Luke Partington (pictured) won the Magarey medal for the league's fairest & most brilliant player - the 10th Glenelg player to do so.
• Matthew Snook won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final.
• Glenelg won their fourth Under 16s premiership in a row.
• Go to 2019 season page, 2019 match results page, 2019 articles page

2020 was a season like no other.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season start was delayed until late June, the minor round was reduced to 14 rounds, Adelaide & Port Adelaide did not participate and the finals were reduced to a top 4.
The league side suffered a large turnover of players from the previous season, as 3 premiership players retired, 2 were lost to the AFL, and 3 suffered long term injuries - resulting in only 12 players from the 2019 premiership team playing in the last game of the 2020 season.
Whilst Glenelg made finals relatively comfortably in the end, with a 9-5 win-loss record in the minor round - 3 games clear of Norwood in 5th place - they never looked like dominating the competition like thay had the previous season.
Whilst they did achieve their first wins at Norwood and Unley Ovals for the first time since 2011 & 2012 respectively, and won at Elizabeth for just the 2nd time in a decade, they only won half of their matches at Glenelg Oval, and 4 of their 9 wins during the season were by less than a goal.
Fourth place was a fair reflection on where they belonged - having a 2-4 record against the finals sides, and a 7-1 record against the non-finals sides.

• Mark Stone continued as coach, Max Proud became captain as Chris Curran was not expected to be available for the 2020 season.
• Matthew Snook won his 3^rd Glenelg best & fairest award - becoming the 11th player to win it on 3 or more occasions.
• Liam McBean (pictured) won the Glenelg top goalkicking honour for the 3^rd time - becoming the 10th player to do this on atleast 3 occasions.
• Liam McBean also won the Ken Farmer Medal for leading SANFL goalkicker in the minor round for the 2^nd time in a row - becoming the 4th Glenelg player after Jack Owens, Colin Churchett & Fred Phillis to win multiple SANFL Leading Goalkicker or Ken Farmer Medals.
• Go to 2020 season page, 2020 match results page, 2020 articles page

In Glenelg's Centenary year, despite the loss of coach Mark Stone in early pre-season and the difficulties caused by the late appointment of Brett Hand as senior coach, the club performed a bit of a miracle and carried all before it, as after 7 rounds, the league, reserves and under 18s were all undefeated and on top of the ladder — and in fact each team would remain on top of the ladder for the rest of the minor round — only losing 6 games between them.
The league side won their first 17 games of the season — equalling Sturt's record of 17 wins in a row in 1970 — and were on the cusp of being the first undefeated side in an SANFL minor round since Port in 1914 — 107 years ago. Unfortunately in the last minor round game at Alberton, they went down to a Port side laden with AFL talent to deny them this record.
Amongst those 17 wins were many hard fought battles, with 4 come-back victories after being behind at 3/4 time — including a comeback win from 47 points behind in the third quarter against Norwood at The Parade.
In the finals Glenelg lost the second semi final to the Eagles by 4 points, defeated South by 28 points in the preliminary final, but then got belted by the Eagles in the Grand Final by 67 points.
So despite winning 17 out of 18 minor round games and being 4 games clear at the top of the ladder, the gap to the rest of the competition was not as great as the win-loss record would suggest, as is evidenced by the fact that only 2 of Glenelg's victories during the season were by 7 goals or more — as opposed to the Eagles, who had 8 victories of 7 goals or more and despite 4 extra losses had a significantly better percentage than Glenelg at the end of the minor round.
As it turned out, 2021 ended up being eerily similar to 1969 and 1981. In 1969 and 1981, Glenelg finished minor premiers respectively 2 games and 4 games clear of 2nd place, were top of the ladder for most of the year after being 11-0 and 18-1, but were smashed in the grand final by 65 and 51 points respectively by Sturt and Port.
Despite the disappointing end to the season, Glenelg's centenary year was full of many fine achievements:

• the league team was only 1 win away from being the first club in 107 years to go through the minor round undefeated.
• Defensively it was the second best season in the club's history (after 2019), conceding just 67.8 points per game.
• Glenelg won their 7th SANFL Minor Premiership (unfortunately only 2 have been converted into premierships), won their 7th reserves premiership, and won their 1st ever SANFL Women's premiership. In addition the under 18s and under 16s both played in the grand final, which means Glenelg made the grand final in all 5 grades.
• With 56 goals, Liam McBean was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the 4th time and won the Ken Farmer medal for the third consecutive year.
• Matthew Snook (pictured) and Luke Partington tied for Glenelg's Best & Fairest - Matthew Snook's 4th B&F award, only 1 behind record holder Len Sallis.
• Co-captains Max Proud and Chris Curran, and the playing group in general showed great leadership in maintaining training standards during the pre-season without the motivation, guidance and supervision of a head coach until late January.
• Hugh Stagg won the McCallum Tomkins Medal for Best & Fairest in the Under 18s competition.
• Go to 2021 season page, 2021 match results page, 2021 articles page

After the incredible Minor round performance, but conflicting Grand Final debacle in the previous season, expectations for 2022 were mixed - was the Grand Final an anomalie, or would there be ongoing side affects from the Grand Final disaster ?
Despite the fact that Glenelg's round 1 side had 9 changes to the 2021 grand final side, the 2022 season got off to a good start with 4 tight wins, all against good sides - including rare wins at Unley and Woodville ovals, and a comeback win from 40 points down at half time against Adelaide.
Two narrow losses by 3 points and 2 points, were followed by 5 consecutive wins. So after 12 rounds, Glenelg had a 9-2 win loss record, a percentage of 56.6%, and were in 2nd spot on the ladder (less than 1% behind North in top spot). But more importantly, at full strength Glenelg were shaping up as a genuine premiership contender.
However, in the middle of that 5 game winning streak was an event that effectively reduced Glenelg from a premiership contender to an also ran - the AFL mid-season draft. After round 8, Glenelg lost a key mid-fielder and a key defender for the rest of the season, when Brett Turner and Sam Durdin were drafted to Adelaide and Carlton respectively.
In the last 7 rounds, Glenelg only won 3 matches, including 2 unconvincing wins against the bottom 2 sides, and 3 of the 4 losses were by more than 7 goals. They finished the minor round in 4th spot, surprisingly only 1 match off top spot, but with a vastly inferior percentage. After defeating Sturt in the Elimination Final by 16 points, they lost to eventual premier Norwood by 28 points in the First-Semi final.

• Brett Hand continued for a second season as coach, and Max Proud continued as Captain for a 3rd season.
• Max Proud (pictured) won Glenelg's Best & Fairest award for the 2nd time.
• With 44 goals, Lachie Hosie was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the first time.
• Glenelg's Under 18s side were premiers (the club's 10th Under 18s/19s premiership), while the Under 16s made the Grand Final.
• Kyle Crompton won the Reserves Magarey Medal (the 6th Glenelg player to do so).
• Ben Ridgway won the McCallum Tomkins Medal for the Best & Fairest in the Under 18s (the 2nd Glenelg player in a row to win this award).
• Jessica Bates won the SANFL Women's Best & Fairest award.
• Go to 2022 season page, 2022 match results page, 2022 articles page

The 2023 season began in turmoil — when once again pre-season training began without a head coach after the club parted ways with coach Brett Hand in December — but ended in glory when new coach Darren Reeves led the club to it's sixth premiership.

After a slow start, losing to Sturt at Unley in the first round, they showed continuous improvement throughout the season, gradually adjusting to their new coach, developing their playing style, building momentum and staying focussed on the ultimate goal in September.
Following their round 1 defeat, Glenelg strung together 11 consecutive wins to charge to the top of the table, where they stayed for the rest of the season.
Eight of those 11 straight wins were comfortable, percentage boosting wins of 5 goals or more, but the highlight was a stunning 105 point victory against the previously undefeated ladder leader Sturt in round 9 at Glenelg Oval. It was an absolutely unprecedented flogging of a side that was sitting pretty at the top of the table with an 8-0 win-loss record. It was Glenelg's first 100 point victory for 16 seasons, and their 23-12 was their highest score for 12 seasons - all against the previuosly undefeated top side - amazing!

After clinching the minor premiership with a 15-3 win loss record, Glenelg played the second semi final against Adelaide, and uncharacteristically allowed Adelaide to score way too easily in the first quarter, to the extent that at one stage, Glenelg were 3 goals down. But during the 2nd and 3rd quarters Glenelg put the clamps on Adelaide's scoring, and from late in the 2nd quarter to early in the last, Glenelg kicked 8 unanswered goals, to eventually run out winners by 32 points.
This win marked only the 2nd time (after 1973) that Glenelg had won the minor premiership and also won the second semi final - the 6 other minor premierships were followed by a second semi final loss.

In the Grand Final, Glenelg came up against their old Grand Final nemesis, Sturt, who they had lost to in the 1969, 1970 and 1974 Grand Finals.
Aided by Sturt's poor kicking for goal, Glenelg recorded a relatively comfortable 24 point victory, in which they were never headed, and from late in the 2nd quarter onwards, were always between 4 and 7 goals in front. In the end, the scoreboard probably flattered Sturt, because although Sturt had more scoring shots, most of their points were kicked in the last quarter, long after the game was effectively over.

• Max Proud continued as club captain for a 4th successive season
• Corey Lyons won Glenelg's Best & Fairest award in just his 2nd year at the club.
• With 61 goals, Lachie Hosie (pictured) was the club's top goalkicker for the 2nd consecutive season.
• Lachie Hosie won the Ken Farmer medal for the league's top goalkicker during the minor round.
• Lachie Hosie won the Jack Oatey medal for best player in the grand final.
• Glenelg won their 8^th Reserves premiership, and won the League and Reserves Premiership double for the first time, and won the Stanley H Lewis Trophy for the best all-round club across all grades for the 11th time.
• Go to 2023 season page, 2023 match results page, 2023 articles page

In 2024, Darren Reeves continued as coach, and Liam McBean became captain after Max Proud stood down.
The season got off to a mixed start with thumping wins against understrength Port and Adelaide sides, mixed in with losses to powerhouses Norwood and Sturt. The Sturt loss in particular was extremely disappointing, because it was a marquis match at home on ANZAC day, and we continually turned the ball over due to their immense pressure and were never in the game, with the final margin of 38 points being quite flattering... it felt worse than that.
Despite long term injuries to lead ruckman Cam McGree in round 1, and leading goalkicker Lachie Hosie in round 7 (probably for the rest of the season), Glenelg still managed to keep their premiership defence on track by winning their next 6 games (often winning ugly), and even climbing to the top of the ladder, before slipping to 2nd due to a bye.

Glenelg had won 8 out of their first 10 matches and were averaging 83.5 points per game. But then things changed, in the next 7 rounds, the scoring dried up, Glenelg won just 2 matches, were only averaging 62.9 points per game, and dropped from 2nd to 4th on the ladder - coughing up the highly sought after double chance in the process.
So what changed? Obviously the attrition of not having your main scoring weapon (Lachie Hosie) over an extended period of time was a factor, but on top of this our accuracy in front of goal just collapsed from 121-109 (52.6%) in the first 10 matches, to 59-89 (39.9%) in the next 7 matches. Unless this was addressed, things were looking bleak. In amoungst that 7 round slump there was one outstanding performance, a 34 point thumping of ladder leader Norwood, inspired by Matthew Snook's 200th game.

Things turned around in the last minor round game with a confidence boosting 20-goal belting of a lacklustre South Adelaide, and the inspiration and motivation provided by the possibility that Lachie Hosie who, in the background, had been been working his butt off rehabilitating his injured knee, might be be available in the finals... if the team could just go deep enough.

Matt Snook's 200th game aside, the four best team performances of the year were clearly the four finals matches... and guess what, our accuracy in front of goal ramped up from 39.9% during the slump to 60.6% during the finals.
— The elimination final was an emphatic 71 point win over an admittedly out of form Woodville-West Torrens.
— The first semi final was a tight and absorbing battle with Sturt, which hung in the balance at the 3/4 time break with Sturt 6 points in front, until Glenelg blew them away with a 6 goal to nothing last term.
— The preliminary final was the stage for Lachie Hosie's unbelievable comeback after 3 1/2 months on the sidelines. And what a performance, kicking 3 of Glenelg's first 4 goals, and finishing with 4 goals in a 38 point demolition of Central Districts. So once again Glenelg had advanced from the Elimination Final to the Grand Final. — In a grand final for the ages, Glenelg were behind for most of the day, and dangerously fell behind by 25 points at the 9 minute mark of the 3rd quarter. But led by a magnificent performance by captain Liam McBean (who kicked 7 goals straight, including 5 of the team's 8 goals in the second half), they hung in there to be just 13 points down at the final change. And just as they had done in the previous three finals, they dominated the last quarter, kicking 5 goals to 2, to run out winners by 5 points.

• Daren Reeves joined Graham Cornes in winning a premiership in each of their first two seasons as Glenelg coach.
• Liam McBean became Glenelg’s 6th Premiership Captain (following Jack Owens, Peter Marker, Peter Carey (2), Chris Curran & Max Proud).
• With 55 goals, Liam McBean (pictured) was Glenelg's top goalkicker for the 5th time (only legends Jack Owens, Colin Churchett and Fred Phillis have done better). Although he did not win the Ken Farmer Medal for the league's leading goalkicker in the minor round, McBean did finish the season as the league's leading goalkicker.
• Liam McBean won the Jack Oatey medal for best afield in the Grand Final.
• Matthew Allen and James Bell tied for the Glenelg Best & Fairest award.
• Go to 2024 season page, 2024 match results page, 2024 articles page