Listening to Tony Locket talking about his career at the Hall of Fame induction brought back some very happy memories for a long-term Sainter.
He mentioned one game in 1989 when he kicked 10 goals playing on Silvagni. I was there that day and remember it well. It was a very tight game with the Sainters leading early but Carlton fighting back to draw level at 3/4 time (9.15 to 10.9). The last qtr was back and forth when, with little time left and Carlton leading, Lockett led out to the pocket and took a fingertip mark, Silvagni right behind him, fist inches from the ball. Lockett kicked his 10th goal and the Sainters won 13.18.96 to 13.14.92.
Lockett's stat.s that day:
18 kicks, 1 handball, 13 marks, 1 tackle, 1 FF, 8 FA, 10 gaols, 7 behinds. Not a typical Lockett day: he usually was very accurate; and while lockett regularly gave away free kicks the 8 FA was a bit much.
His Brownlow votes? Only 2. Believe it or not. The 3 votes went to Brett Bowey for 10 possies, 1 tackle and 1 goal. Why? I have no idea as I cannot remember his efforts in that game.
Lockett started the year scoring 70.23 in the first 9 rounds: 9.4, 10.7, 8.2, 5, 5.2, 6.1, 6.4, 9, 12.3. He missed the next 4 games, came back for 2 games in which he kicked 8.1 and then was out injured for the rest of the year. That's 78.24 in 11 games.
Truly a legend.
Congratulations are due to all the inductees but as a Sainter who saw so many of Lockett's games I think that his Legend status is fully deserved. Imagine going to every game knowing that your full forward was going to kick a bag and (almost) never being disappointed. That was my lot in those years.
To be fair, Lockett also mentioned that the next time the Saints payed Carlton he was again matched up on SIlvagni and had zero stat.s: that's right, no marks/kicks/handballs/goals. Not exactly true but he did have a shocker: 3kicks, 1 mark, 2 goals, 1FF and 5 FA.
