The Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame Legendary Team for 2012 is the Latrobe Football Club’s state premiership-winning team of 1970.
Tasmanian Football Icon, Darrel Baldock, coached the Latrobe Demons team of 1970 and their victory over Clarence in the Tasmanian State Premiership Final was the high water mark of Latrobe’s golden era from 1969 to 1972.
This era of sustained success by Latrobe was also arguably the most dominant period for any one club in the history of football on the North-West Coast. Latrobe had enjoyed two highly successful eras in the early 1920s and early 1930s but had not tasted premiership success since 1933.
The return of Darrel Baldock from a seven season stint with St Kilda was rightly treated with great anticipation in 1969 in the hope that he would, at long last, return Latrobe to pre-eminence.
The Demons fans did not have to wait long as ‘The Doc’ was perfectly equipped and qualified to mould talented individuals like John Jillard, Bob Hickman, Denis ‘Mary’ Smith, Ken Luxmore and Rod Butler into a consistently winning
combination.
The win in the 1969 NWFU decider over Wynyard began a sequence of six consecutive grand final appearances for Latrobe Football Club from 1969 to 1974 and a record-breaking four consecutive premierships in the NWFU. As well,
during this golden era, they annexed the 1970 state title with a win over Clarence and were runners-up in 1971 and 1972.
The state premiership win in 1970 was the only one in the long and proud history of the Latrobe Football Club.
| NWU Grand Finals – 1969 to 1974 | |||||
| Year | Premiers | Score | Runner Up | Score | Crowd |
| 1969 | Latrobe | 9.10 (64) | Ulverstone | 4.5 (29) | 8867 |
| 1970 | Latrobe | 14.19 (103) | Wynyard | 12.5 (77) | 9937 |
| 1971 | Latrobe | 14.6 (100) | East Devonport | 5.9 (39) | 8113 |
| 1972 | Latrobe | 11.16 (82) | Burnie | 8.12 (60) | 7846 |
| 1973 | Cooee | 14.12 (96) | Latrobe | 10.10 (70) | 9907 |
| 1974 | Burnie | 14.15 (99) | Latrobe | 9.12 (60) | 6778 |
| State Premiership Games – 1969 to 1972 | |||||
| 1970 | Latrobe | 15.10 (100) | Clarence | 9.11 (65) | 9778 |
Tasmanian State Grand Final
Latrobe: 4.2 | 7.3 | 10.7 |15.10 (100)
Clarence: 1.3 | 6.7 | 8.9 | 9.11 (65)
Goals:
Latrobe: Baldock 5, Dixon 3, Huxtable 3, Fox 2, Hickman, M. Jaffray.
Clarence: Mayne 2, Whitehouse 2, King 2, Teague, Ingles, Cheek.
Best:
Latrobe: Baldock, Jillard, I. Smith, Jackson, Hickman, Taylor.
Clarence: Norris, Whitehouse, King, Palmer, Bingley, Stirling.
Venue: Devonport Oval
Umpire: K. Williams
Attendance: 9,778
Gate: $6,248
B: Kevin Parker, Bob Hickman, Gerald Wyatt
HB: Ian Smith, John Jillard, Tony Jackson
C: Bob Huxtable, Gary Cox, Denis Smith
HF: Kerry Aherne, Darrel Baldock, Ken Luxmore
FF: Harvey Fox, John Harris, Mervyn Jaffray
R: Terry Taylor, Colin Jaffray, Bill Dixon
Int: Phillip Reeves, Paul Sheehan
Coach: Darrel Baldock
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