By David Nagel
The Pakenham Football Club was formed in 1892 and it’s fair to suggest that Daryl Young sits comfortably amongst the greats to have ever pulled on a Lion’s jumper over that 130-year journey.
Two premierships as a player, six club best and fairest awards, and two Breheny Medals – won by the best and fairest player in the West Gippsland Football League (WGFL) – have Young ensconced as a legitimate icon of our local game.
The star centreman, whose trademark was to burst through packs without fear, and emerge confidently with the football, elevated himself above others by winning his two Breheny’s in the premiership years of 1972 and ’73.
Winning a club best and fairest in a premiership year is considered one of the great achievements in football – Young did it twice and threw in two league medals as well!
Daryl Young – or Dick to his long list of friends – was born in August 1948, a twin brother to Stan and younger sibling to his big-sister Rhonda.
“Stan is 20 minutes older than me and for some reason he thinks that makes him wiser,” Daryl says with a familiar chuckle.
Daryl’s mum was born as Thelma Marshall and she had two sisters, Alma and Norma, and one brother Lenny.
Thelma married Percy Young, while Norma married Pakenham football royalty in Norm ‘Widow’ Jackson, arguably the club’s greatest name with seven premierships and two best and fairests either side of joining the army in World War II.
“Mum is still alive, she’s 96, and I’d be surprised if anyone has seen more games of football in West Gippsland,” Young said confidently.
“Mum and aunty Norma love going to the football – it’s their big day out – and uncle Lenny was on the gate at the football club for 40 years too. We all think he might have had a few drinks in that hut along the way (chuckles).
“Mum’s dad was the policeman in Pakenham so the town has always been in our blood.”
Percy Young – the father of Daryl and Stan – was a trainer at Pakenham for many years and introduced his boys to the club that they would soon call home.
“That’s how we became involved; dad would have all the senior players there on the dining room table on a Saturday night and Sunday morning after a game,” Young recalls.
“The Monckton boys, the Drake’s, Knapp’s, Bourke’s, the Wyatt’s, the O’Connor boys, all they knew was the ray lamp and I used to think they were getting their legs burnt off.
“But they kept coming back so dad must have doing something right.
“We were only about five or six years old but the players treated us like their little brothers and that really had an impact on Stan and I at the time.”
Daryl and Stan would soon become familiar figures around the club.
“We wouldn’t miss a game and I remember Billy Drake being a marvellous player, he was unbelievable, and great to dad and all the other volunteers,” Young said.
“I think he was getting 12 pound a week back then but was always shouting the players and volunteers so I don’t think he saw much of the money.
“The memories of the old tin shed at the old Pakenham ground are great. Dad used to sing everyone a song when Pakenham won games.”
Daryl may have been in love with his football, but at the age of seven he developed a pain in his right knee that would soon get worse through the running and jumping that kids naturally do at that age.
After 12 months of trying different methods of remedy Young was finally diagnosed with Perthes Disease, a condition in children characterised by a temporary loss of blood supply to the hip.
The inadequate blood supply causes a dead bone to develop in the hip and stops the leg from growing.
“It took them 12 months to work it out, then I had 18 months in hospital, in calipers, and then six months on crutches when I got out.
“It’s amazing to think, but it’s just rest and relaxation that fixes it.
“There were eight others kids in there with me, all seven or eight years old, and the bloke next to me had it in both hips. My right leg was three inches shorter after that but it started to grow once it got used more often.”
Young would soon be back on his feet, not fully mobile, but building his strength and determination that would hold him in good stead throughout his football career.
“I can honestly say that going through that experience made me more determined and helped my football in the long run,” he said.
“When I went from calipers to crutches I did as much as I could. The hurdles would come out the night before the Pakenham races and Stan, the O’Connor’s, the Wheeler’s, would run around the track and jump the hurdles.
“I would throw one crutch over the hurdle and pole vault with the other one…that’s dead honest and not a lie.”
With confidence returning to his body Daryl would join Stan and other friends for games of football, night after night, after school, at O’Connor’s paddock, next door to the Consolidated School in Pakenham.
“That’s where Stan and I first learned to kick a football, we’d jump the fence after school and they had a footy ground set up,” Young recalled.
“All the O’Connor’s were beautiful kicks, because they practiced so much. Bob O’Connor was probably the best kick of all and played thirds for Collingwood. Looking back, we learned so much from playing those games and a lot us then went on to play for the club.”
But Daryl and Stan would have one more detour before building their growing reputations at Pakenham – a brief dalliance with Cora Lynn.
“Yes, that’s right, we were only 10 years old, we couldn’t get a game at Pakenham, so we went to Cora Lynn because they were short of players and we could get a game out there,” Young said.
“We only played a few of games at Cora Lynn, but our first kick of a footy, on a footy ground, in a proper game, it wasn’t at Pakenham.”
The Young’s would soon return to Pakenham to play in the under-16s and it was the older brother – by 20 minutes remember – who appeared to have the sporting talent.
“Junior footy was pretty big back then, it was seniors and reserves on a Saturday and thirds on a Sunday,” Young said.
“Stan was a really good full forward and I was a bit smaller and bit of a late maturer so didn’t stand out as much.
“We kicked 41 goals against Catani one day. Stan kicked 17 and I kicked nine but I fed him a lot of those (laughs). He had the world at his feet the big fella but probably had other things on his mind (laughs again).”
Stan would kick 98 goals, and Daryl was emerging strongly, when the young Lions claimed the 1964 Thirds premiership under then coach Eric Stone.
Stan would win the goal-kicking award, sponsored by Mr D Purves, while Daryl would win the Best Team Player Award, sponsored by Trevor Hardy.
“I’ll never forget it, I won a Jarvis Walker fishing rod and it was a beauty…I caught more fish with that rod than any rod I’ve ever had,” Young said chuckling.
“But seriously, Eric Stone was a great coach for all of us. Chris Webster, the Murphy’s, Peter Johnson, Bruce Smethurst, it was great, just like a family. Eric’s son Allan Stone, he was a great mate, and it was great to win the premiership because junior football was a pretty big thing on a Sunday back then.”
Daryl Young was also a handy tennis player at the time and at age 16 played in an A Grade premiership side with the likes of star players Ron Carroll and Hughie Bourke.
He also played alongside Bourke in his first game of senior football against Longwarry.
“I played a fair bit of reserves football and remember starting on the wing in the seniors because Hughie Bourke was in the centre and there was no way I was replacing him,” Young said.
“I played okay and held my position which I was pretty pleased with. I played with some great players around that time like Lou Milner and Peter Russo who both went on to league football.
“The bloke I played on in my first game, he had the surname Serong and he shook my hand at the end of the game and said, ‘you’ll have a really good career mate.’ I took over from Hughie in the centre once he finished up and I loved playing in that position.”
Young would quickly develop into a star player for the Lions and would win the first of six senior best and fairest awards at age 21 in 1969.
“We were mostly there abouts but we had some lows when I first started, we didn’t make the four some years and never really threatened,” he said.
“I was doing extra training at the racecourse because I would put on weight over Christmas.
“I would put a plastic bag around my guts and run around the racecourse 10 times and then run up and down the stairs.
“Once you were fit it made an incredible difference because back in those days you never came off the ground.
“I was a good reader of the ball but you’ve still got to cover ground, to pick up your opponent and things like that. Once I got really fit, I think that’s when I played my best football for the team.”
In 1972, under fourth-year coach Barry Graham, and first-year president Gavan Bourke, the Lions would finish on top of the ladder but lose the second semi-final to Kooweerup by 23 points.
They would then hold on in a nail-biter against Nar Nar Goon, winning the preliminary final by three points, before winning another thriller against Kooweerup in the grand final.
Graham would kick a goal after the siren, with hundreds of people on the ground, to break a deadlock and give the Lions their first premiership in 10 years.
“To be honest, I can’t remember a lot of it, I got hit pretty hard at the start of the game and remember Cliffy Smith and the old man bringing out the smelling salts,” Young said.
“But I do remember B. Graham kicking that ball through from a half forward flank, it just sailed through, similar to Malcolm Blight’s kick.
“Barry Graham was incredible, I just had to get it out of the centre and kick it to him and he would do the rest.”
Almost 50 years later, Young remembers that team as if the game was played yesterday.
“In the backline we had Peter Johnson, Colin Bransgrove, Ray Murphy, Chris Webster, Ian Jackson and Kevin Burns,” he said.
“I remember George Barker was on a wing, Mark Fletcher and Stan were up forward with Barry Graham and Danny Murray as well.
“Bruce Smethurst was in the ruck, he was the best tap ruckman going around, and Cooky (David Cook) was sensational as well. He was rover and came across from Dandenong.
“Mike Hausegger was in the middle and I remember Terry Adams, mumbles we call him, because he mumbled all the time…he wore number one.”
And he remembers the camaraderie that was built through the club at that time as well.
“The social side of the club was incredible back then,” Young said.
“Darrell Hardy, still one of my great mates, would host a car trial, they were great fun, and we’d also raise money by picking apples at the packing sheds on Murphy’s Orchard.
“They’re days that you remember fondly because all the players and families got involved and it built a really strong culture at the club.”
Young would win his first Breheny Medal in 1972, five years after popular locals Mike Breheny, Peter Kay, Barry Sullivan, Noel Heatley and Don Smith were killed in a Northern Territory plane crash in December, 1967.
“That medal meant everything to me because it was named after Mike Breheny and I knew the people that were killed in that plane crash,” Young explained.
“The medal count was a pretty big thing back in the day. It was held at St Johns Hall in Kooweerup and I didn’t go to the first one, because I was in shock that I won it.
“And the second time (1973) Bob Utber was there for 3UL and would interview the winner and I remember not talking too well…I wasn’t one who enjoyed the limelight too much (laughs).”
Pakenham would finish third on the ladder in 1973, behind Drouin and Kooweerup, but would clean sweep the finals series to claim back-to-back premierships.
The Lions defeated Nar Nar Goon by 24 points, and Drouin by 28, before defeating Kooweerup for the second year running in the big dance, this time by 60 points.
“The rivalries were great back then, even if we played marbles, we wanted to beat Nar Nar Goon,” Young said.
“We had that hate because they were the neighbouring side, Kooweerup were neighbours as well, and it all started with the juniors, we had some great battles, and it then went through to the seniors.
“1973 was special because we had some young players coming through, like Greg Atkins and Peter Bennett, and I didn’t think I had any chance in the medal that year because I missed the last two games with a hamstring.”
Young believes it was his fitness and preparation that helped him win those back-to-back Breheny Medals.
“I treated every game differently, the preparation was the same but every game was different from week to week,” he said.
“The ball would just bounce into your lap one week and the next week you would have to work your butt off just to touch it once – no game of footy is the same.
“To win medals you’ve got to be consistent. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the best player going around, but it means you’re the most consistent.”
Young said the list of great players he played against showed the quality of football at the time.
“I played against the best centre players, but Ron Ingram from Kooweerup was a player I had the most trouble with,” he said.
“They were a great side and we had great respect for each other Ron and I. I’ve got my suspicions but I know it wouldn’t have been him who clipped me in ‘72.”
Young said Ingram, Ray Christie, Matt McMillan, Billy Morrison, Trevor Wilson, Chris McConnell, Herbie Baptist, Danny Trollope, Leo Kennelly, Ted Cleary, Peter Oakes, Peter Nadenbousch and Graeme Ebert were others he enjoyed locking horns with and had great battles with over the journey.
“One season a bloke would kick six on you and then the next season you might kick six on him,” Young said.
“That’s just the way footy was back then.”
Young surprised many by moving to Rythdale in 1974, and coached the club in ’75, before returning to Pakenham in 1976.
He would back up his three previous best and fairest awards with wins in 1976, ’77 and ’78, before having a one-year coaching stint at Bunyip in 1979.
It was then back to Pakenham in 1980, where he coached the reserves to a premiership while at the same time playing senior football.
“My son Luke was born in 1974 and after the two previous seasons I was getting offers from everywhere,” Young said.
“I was a factory worker at the time and thought I could make some extra money out of football…there was no falling out with Pakenham or anything like that.
“Rythdale was a good club socially and the football in South West Gippsland was good. It was tough football, a different style to West Gippsland footy because there were some ex-VFL players in the league.
“But when I returned to Pakenham, it really did feel like home.”
Young played senior interleague for both West Gippsland and South West Gippsland and coached an interleague under-17’s team alongside Garfield legend Mick Preston.
Young has four children, Luke, Emma, Julia and Anthony, and took up junior coaching when both Luke and Anthony took up the game.
Luke won a senior premiership with ROC in 2003 while Anthony played in Pakenham’s most recent senior premiership success in 2009.
Luke is the current coach of the Nar Nar Goon seniors, with Anthony playing under his brother in the midfield.
“I get a huge buzz and get excited with the boys still involved and I think Luke is going to become a very good coach,” a proud Daryl explained.
“I’ve got four children and nine grand-children, who all seem to love sport, and a very caring partner in Shirley who always looks after me. The hip still gives me some grief at times but overall life is pretty good.”
Unlike the old days, Daryl and Stan don’t live in each other’s pockets any more – they shared a room as youngsters – but still share common interests, being in trotters and horses together, and look after each other if the other gets hold of some produce from their long list of friends.
Daryl said his time in football had been a great way to enjoy life.
“Every kid that plays football, or plays sport, needs to know that whatever you put in, you get out of it,” he said.
“Team games are the best upbringing for any child and you never ever forget the blokes you played with and the opponents you have respect for. I run into blokes all the time and the memories we share are amazing.
“I’m proud that after being ill as a young bloke I could match it with those players and earn their respect. I have respect for them and all I ever wanted to do was give my best for Pakenham and the jumper each week.
“Winning the medals and premierships are also something I’m very proud of.”
And so you should be Daryl ‘Dick’ Young…you’re one the greats to have pulled on the Pakenham jumper over the last 130 years.
