A good book, a view of the river and the occasional trip to the Moama RSL Club are the simple pleasures of a one time giant of the Victorian Football League, Carl Ditterich.
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Carl, and his wife of 40 years Alana, have enjoyed spending the warmer months of the year at a riverside cabin at Moama. When it gets cold, they escape to Mission Beach in a caravan.
With his old side Melbourne aiming to end a 57-year premiership drought against the Western Bulldogs in next weekend's AFL grand final, and thanks to the coaxing of good friend Des Campbell, Ditterich agreed to talk to The Riv last week.
Campbell and Ditterich are neighbours on the river, and best mates, having met while they were both playing with Melbourne in the 1975 season.
Campbell remembers having to face his friend the following year, when Ditterich returned to his original side St Kilda.
“I remember he whacked me in the guts and then later picked me up by the hair after I marked in front of him,” Campbell said.
“But I think he was the lesser of two evils. He was changing (in the forward pocket) with Jeff Sarau, who I reckon was worse.
“We beat them easily and as soon as the siren went he came running over, saying, "let’s go and have a beer’’.
Campbell said he loved playing with the man known as the “Blonde Bombshell”, his larger than life status in the league ensuring an inner confidence in his teammates.
“You loved running out on the ground with him, it made you feel six inches taller,” Campbell said.
Campbell had his own grand final day story to tell, playing in the 1970 reserves grade season-decider which Melbourne won on the same day of the biggest grand final crowd in history, 122,000 people.
“Obviously they weren’t all there for the reserves game, but it is my claim to fame,” Campbell said.
Ditterich never got to play in a winning premiership, despite being at St Kilda in the 1966 season – the club’s only grand final victory.
He was suspended in the second last round of the home-and-away season and given a six-match suspension, effectively ending his chance of playing in a premiership.
Ditterich played in losing grand finals in 1965 (against Essendon) and again in 1971, when the Saints were 20 points up at three-quarter-time and lost by seven points to Hawthorn.
Originally from Brighton, Ditterich played VFL/AFL 285 games, and spent 30 games on the sidelines through suspension, in a career that spanned 18 seasons.
He will be 76 this October, but still remembers his first game at the Junction Oval as a 17-year-old in 1963.
In spite of playing in front of 100,000 people regularly at the MCG in September, he says the only crowd he really can remember is from his first game at the historic St Kilda oval.
“That was against Melbourne,” Ditterich said.
“Just running out of the race at the Junction Oval was amazing, between the two big stands.
“I can picture all the gentleman in their hats. It felt a bit surreal with the roar of the crowd when we ran onto the ground.”
That same day, triple Brownlow medallist Ian Stewart also made his debut.
“There was a few of us on debut - Jimmy Wallace, I think Bobby Murray also played his first game,” Ditterich said.
He remembers being part of the lead-up to 1966 and where he was when the Saints lifted the cup.
“We watched the game in our St Kilda area,” Ditterich said.
“I was with Ross Oakley, who later became the AFL chief.
“I remember we danced on the seats when Breeny (Barry Breen) jagged that point to win the game.”
As for that six-game suspension, Ditterich described it as ridiculous.
“I think the boundary umpire came from the wing,” he said about being reported.
“Six weeks was over the top.
“The good thing about it (the grand final) was they won the game. I felt part of it. I’ve got an ability to rationalise things. I helped them get to the grand final. It didn’t matter whether I played or not.
“As long as they won,” he said.
Ditterich said his motto of “it was always better to be a giver than a receiver” had caused him many problems in his football career, but he retired with an extraordinary record.
He won best and fairests with St Kilda (1968) and Melbourne (1973), finished fourth in the Brownlow Medal (only seven votes behind winner Bobby Skilton) and played his final game at almost 35 years of age.
Ditterich laughed as he explained his ritual of swimming, riding and walking.
“All I do is remediate the body these days,” he said.
“I swim a lot and I’m now starting to walk a lot more.
“I’ve had a lot of injuries and a fair few operations. Use it or lose it, they say.
“There is a pool at the place where we stay. It’s very cold during the winter and even in the summer it’s not that warm.
“I’m told there is a heated pool in Echuca. That is where I will be heading.
“The only things I haven’t had operated on are my elbows. That's ironic, isn’t it?”
Campbell and Ditterich catch up most weekends during the summer months, when the former is not playing lawn bowls.
“We don’t talk much footy, I don’t follow it really,” Ditterich said.
“I’ve had my time in football, I do other things.
“I’ve been down to a couple of grand finals, but I haven’t really seen any games apart from that.”
He did say, however, that the television would be going on this year, given Melbourne is in the grand final.
“If the umpiring is too bad, I worry about it though,” he said.
Ditterich said he enjoyed a quiet and peaceful life with the people that live alongside him on the river.
A father of four children and grandfather to five, Moama keeps him within reach of his family.
Ditterich said preparing for his three VFL/AFL grand finals wasn’t a whole lot different to a regular game.
“There was no parade in those days,” he said.
“We just rocked up and put the boots on. It was a glorified Saturday afternoon.
“The crowd was sensational. That gets you going a bit.”
Ditterich played in a golden age of ruckmen. His weekly opponents included the likes of Polly Farmer, Don Scott, Len Thompson, Gary Dempsey and Jon Nicholls – just to name a few.
Thompson and Dempsey were both Brownlow medal winners, Don Scott was a three-time premiership player (twice as captain) and John Nicholls had the Carlton best and fairest named after him as a result of winning it five times.
“Don and I were at each other whenever we played,” Ditterich said.
“We had quite a few battles. It was just part of the game.
“It is very soft these days. You can’t compare the physicality.”
Ditterich remembers Bobby Skilton and Ted Whitten as two of his favourite opponents, and people.
“They were just fantastic blokes,” Ditterich said.
“Skilton could play football like you wouldn’t believe.
“He and Ted Whitten, you couldn’t help but like them.”
Ditterich was inducted into the VFL/AFL Hall of Fame in 2004, recognising his outstanding contribution at his two clubs.
He had two-year coaching stints at Woorineen and Boort, which was his last involvement at club level.
He said his sojourn into politics came after 30 years of teaching, once he recognised he was probably getting a bit old and grumpy for the school setting.
“I remember a student swearing and carrying on at the school librarian,” Ditterich said.
“I confronted him and he asked me what I was going to do about it.
“I took two weeks leave soon after and decided to run for the seat of Swan Hill.”
Ditterich came very close to causing an upset in the Nationals held seat.
“I came very close,” he said.
“We had a 22 per cent swing. I only finished a couple of hundred votes away from tipping over a blue ribbon seat.”
Ditterich said he doesn’t field many footy questions these days, but had an excellent explanation.
“I look in the mirror and I can't see any resemblance to me, compared to what I was then,” he said.
“There are one or two (footy conversations) when I'm walking down the street. Or if I go into the chemist, people start to talk to me.
“It’s amazing the people who do remember. A lot of those people would have been staring through the picket fence.”
As for his grand final tip, it all revolved – unsurprisingly – around a ruckman.
“(Melbourne captain) Max (Gawn) is an outstanding player and a great leader,” Ditterich said.
“If he plays anything like he did last week, then Melbourne is in with a real chance.”
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor