Stephen Kernahan
Career : 1986 – 1997
Debut : Round 1, 1986 vs Hawthorn, aged 22 years, 211 days
Carlton Player No. 936
Games : 251
Goals : 738
Last Game : Round 22, 1997 vs Richmond, aged 33 years, 364 days
Guernsey No. 4
Height : 196 cm (6 ft. 5 in.)
Weight : 97 kg (15 stone, 4 lbs.)
DOB : 1 September, 1963
Premiership Captain: 1987, 1995
Captain: 1987-1997
Best and Fairest: 1987, 1989, 1992
Leading Goalkicker: 1986-1996
All Australian: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994
Carlton Hall of Fame Legend Status: Inducted in 1993
Team of the Century Captain: Centre Half Forward
AFL Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2001
AFLPA Best Captain: 1987, 1994
The numbers are impressive enough; 251 games, 738 goals, All-Australian, twice captain of Carlton Premiership teams, three times club Best & Fairest, captain (and leading goal-kicker) for eleven seasons in a row – yet this fabulous record only goes part of the way toward explaining why Stephen ‘Sticks’ Kernahan is revered as one of this proud club’s greatest players and most inspirational leaders.
Sensationally appointed captain of Carlton in only his second season of VFL football, Sticks led by example throughout his career. He was wonderfully skilled, courageous, surprisingly good at ground level, and a glorious high mark. While his kicking style sometimes seemed a touch awkward, time after time he slotted crucial goals when it mattered most. He was at his very best on big occasions and scrupulously fair on the field, winning the respect of team-mates and opponents alike.
The Stephen Kernahan at Carlton story began in 1979. The club’s Promotions Manager at that time, Shane O’Sullivan, was about to head to Perth for that year’s ANFC Schoolboy Championships when Chairman of Selectors Wes Lofts jokingly said to him; ‘Shane, find me another Royce Hart.’ O’Sullivan came back a few days later and said, ‘I think I’ve found him.’ A sixteen year-old, tall, skinny forward from South Australia – son of Glenelg Football Club legend Harry Kernahan – was one of stars of the carnival, and the chase for his signature had begun. Essendon, Melbourne and Carlton led the pack.
O’Sullivan was hell-bent on getting Sticks into navy blue, and for the next three years he stayed in regular contact with Stephen and his dad. The youngster continued to impress as he rose through the ranks at Glenelg, where he made his senior debut in 1981. In ’82, after thorough discussions with three VFL clubs, Stephen finally agreed to sign with Carlton – but he honoured his father’s wishes with the proviso that he would only transfer across when Glenelg had won another SANFL Premiership.
In 1983 Sticks was sensational. He polled 43 votes in the Magarey Medal – 8 more than runner-up Tony Antrobus – but Antrobus took home SA’s most prestigious individual honour because Kernahan had been suspended during the season. Sticks still won Glenelg’s Best & Fairest – the first of three in a row. Then in 1985, the moment that both Carlton and Glenelg were yearning for arrived. At last, the Bays beat North Adelaide in the SANFL Grand Final to win only their third flag after a 12-year drought. Alternating between the key forward posts, Kernahan was unstoppable all day to be unanimously voted best-on-ground. He was the club’s leading goal-kicker for the second time, on the way to being named All-Australian centre half-forward. No wonder the phone ran hot between Adelaide and Princes Park in the days after that Grand Final!
After 136 games and 290 goals in Glenelg’s black & gold, Sticks arrived at Carlton in 1986 to join a Blues’ outfit shaping as a flag threat under new coach Robert Walls. By then a seasoned 22 year-old, scaling 196cm and 97kg, Kernahan slotted straight into the team and made an immediate impact as a key forward, in tandem with Blues’ captain Mark Maclure. Carlton wound up Sticks’ first home & away season in third place, and accounted for Sydney in a torrid Qualifying Final. They then caused a huge upset by knocking over hot favourites Hawthorn in the second Semi Final, only to be out-gunned in a Grand Final rematch. The Hawk forwards were unstoppable that day, blitzing Carlton by 42 points in Blues’ legends Bruce Doull and Mark Maclure’s last match. As compensation, Carlton fans knew afterward that the club had unearthed three future champions; Craig Bradley, Peter Motley and Stephen Kernahan.
Sticks was the Blues’ top scorer of the year with 62 goals, and was named All-Australian for the second time. Then, early in the following year, Carlton shocked the football world by announcing that Stephen Kernahan, after less than 30 games for the club, would captain the Blues in season 1987. In hindsight it was a master stroke, but at the time the decision was widely questioned.
Thanks to the Blueseum for player bio and pic.