SA Footy

Have finished reading the Ken Farmer biography and one of the more fascinating SANFL books around. Reading about how much work he put into his football, the background to his career and how he coped with life after football - not too well in many ways - is very intriguing.

The chapters that examined his coaching were very interesting. The amount of preparation he undertook, the very comprehensive notes on players and tactics and the indepth analysis he did indicated he was a man well ahead of his time, in terms of the psychology and preparation, with coaching. He admitted that he burnt himself out and couldn't go on at the same rate, and had tried a few times to resign from the post due to the incredibly intense pressures he placed upon himself and his players. Despite this, many reports suggested the players loved him as a coach.

I'd be interested to hear from older fans here, or ardent North Adelaide fans/historians, that could offer an insight into what he was like in the coaching department, or even if they met him to talk to. For one of South Australia's most famous football names, time has dimmed many first person accounts of him.

He was a panellist on the early SANFL Sunday TV footy shows.

CK wrote:Have finished reading the Ken Farmer biography and one of the more fascinating SANFL books around. Reading about how much work he put into his football, the background to his career and how he coped with life after football - not too well in many ways - is very intriguing.

The chapters that examined his coaching were very interesting. The amount of preparation he undertook, the very comprehensive notes on players and tactics and the indepth analysis he did indicated he was a man well ahead of his time, in terms of the psychology and preparation, with coaching. He admitted that he burnt himself out and couldn't go on at the same rate, and had tried a few times to resign from the post due to the incredibly intense pressures he placed upon himself and his players. Despite this, many reports suggested the players loved him as a coach.

I'd be interested to hear from older fans here, or ardent North Adelaide fans/historians, that could offer an insight into what he was like in the coaching department, or even if they met him to talk to. For one of South Australia's most famous football names, time has dimmed many first person accounts of him.

In the four years he coached North he won two flags (1949 and 1952) and was runner up once (1951). The year before he took over as coach, North had finished outside of the finals under Haydn Bunton Senior. Farmer should have been coach of North's Team of the Century IMHO.