NEW photos from Carlton's 1968 Premiership year have come to the surface thanks to longtime Bluebagger, Miles Wilks. He shares the stories behind the pictures below. 

This batch of new photos from Carlton’s premiership year of 1968 is a great find as so few photos from that year are still available. The major newspapers only have a dozen or so photos remaining in their possession and none of those that feature in this article are in their collection.

Although these shots were supplied by a collector, there was no information left on the photographs other than that they were attached to a paper that said “Carlton -1968”.

As a result of this lack of information the aim here has been to try and provide some details behind each shot.

In this batch of prints, there are nine photos featuring Brian Kekovich. This is a significant find because until now, there were no proper action shots of Kekovich in circulation. Photographs were taken of Kekovich back in the day for the major newspapers, but other than a couple of shots of a melee (v Fitzroy in 1967), a photo of an accidental collision with Jesaulenko and some staged photographs, nothing remains in the major newspapers’ archives of Kekovich.  

Why is Kekovich important in Carlton’s history? Without his four-goal contribution in the 1968 Grand Final, it is more than likely that the outcome of the game would have been a Carlton loss and an Essendon victory. From that point, one could question how our club’s history could have differed.

Photo one: Kekovich (“Keka”) with the trainer

Here we see Kekovich being escorted around the ground by a trainer.  Of all the photos in this collection, this is the one that gives the clearest facial features of Kekovich as the other photos have him in action on the field and are obscured by other players. 

Photo two: Kekovich vs Pryor

This photograph is from either the second semi final or the Grand Final of 1968. At this moment, Kekovich is being pushed out of the action by Essendon’s Geoff Pryor.  Also featuring in the photo is Essendon defender John Williams and Bryan Quirk - one of Carlton's greatest midfielders.

Photo three: Kekovich being bowled over and Gallagher is in the corner

In this photograph, as with a few in this collection, Kekovich was up against two opponents.  The Essendon player taking the mark appears to be Charlie Payne.  In the far left corner of the photo is the club’s leading possession gatherer in 1968, Adrian Gallagher.

Photo four: Kekovich’s arm being held in a marking duel

We know this photo is from the second semi final as it was in that match that Kekovich wore a white wrist guard. One can clearly see the Essendon player hold onto Kekovich’s arm, allowing his teammate to have a clear run at the ball. That Essendon player also cleverly held one arm up in the air to make it look like he was making an attempt of marking the ball. 

The main question one can garner from these photos is: 'Why was Kekovich often scragged, held and double teamed with two opponents against him?'  The quick answer is that Kekovich topped the Carlton goal-kicking tally in 1968 with 59 goals. The next best was Adrian Gallagher who kicked 30 goals. That meant Kekovich almost doubled the next best Carlton goalkicker, so the obvious summation is that the Essendon coaching staff wanted to nullify Carlton’s main avenue to goal.

On top of this, Essendon beat Carlton in both home and away games that season and in one of those matches, the Blues only kicked one goal! Kekovich, Carlton’s leading goal scorer, was absent from both match-ups. In contrast, with Kekovich participating, Carlton won their two finals matches against Essendon. 

Based on watching the footage and the revelatory comments of Essendon’s Alec Epis, the Bombers were instructed to be bold in terms of taking Kekovich out of the action in the finals. According to Epis, the Essendon coaching team had given clear instructions to their players, “If you get a chance, take him out”. 

Photo five: Kekovich at the drop as two players contest

Kekovich (in the number 16 guernsey) is front and centre waiting for the drop of the ball. However, the missed mark by Kekovich's teammate results in the ball spilling through to the back of the contest.

One of the key features of this shot is how it has captured the crowd in the background. There were 106,365 people packed in for the second semi-final of that year and 116,828 for the Grand Final. This picture was taken from one of those two matches. 

Photo six: Kekovich’s arm being pushed away in a marking duel

This photo reaffirms the point that Kekovich was sometimes illegally taken out of the action. Here you can see the Essendon player curling his arm around Kekovich’s arm and pushing it backwards so that he couldn’t mark the ball.

Photo seven: Kekovich has the ball punched away with Jones in support

This is an unusual shot from this collection as there is a marking duel and Kekovich isn’t up against two opponents, just one. In this instance, the punch from the Essendon player looks effective but with Jones coming through in support it looks like a Carlton victory here. 

Take note of the different styles of boots worn by the players and how they compare to the modern-day equivalent.  

Photo eight: Kekovich is off balance and falling back into the pack whilst Jones takes good position

Kekovich is on the left-hand side of this photo and he is obscured by an Essendon player. Jones (28) is the most promiment figure in this photo and he looks set to gain possession of the ball.

Photo nine: Nicholls in action

This print features Carlton’s captain John Nicholls in the background and has Essendon’s yappy and cheeky defender Alec Epis in the foreground. Nicholls was famed for his steely gaze, yet there are few prints remaining that have captured that intense visual gaze. This photo has captured it to some degree.

Photo 10: Barassi the coach

This is a close-up of Barassi during an angst-ridden finals match at the MCG. The stress levels for Barassi look like they are off the scale.

Photo 11: Jesaulenko at the drop

The player who is obscured in this photo yet flying for the mark against two Essendon opponents is most likely Kekovich. It looks like he had a chance of getting this mark, but Alex Jesaulenko is waiting behind ready to pounce and tear away with the ball.

Photo 12: Jezza and Bennett imposing their will

This photo captures a moment from the first quarter of the 1968 second semi final. In contrast to video footage, which often doesn’t capture the players’ facial expressions, photographs give the viewer a close-up expression of the players’ intense desire to succeed.   

It is a useful addition to Carlton’s collection, as it is the only remaining of 1968 Premiership half forward, Bill Bennett. The major newspapers have no photos of Bennett remaining in their archives. Here Bennett is applying a crunching tackle on the Essendon player while Jesaulenko, with his jaw clenched, grabs the Essendon player around the waist and he also looks intent on impacting the contest.

These 12 photographs provide an insight into Carlton during the finals of 1968 and in particular are useful as they give Carlton supporters a photographic record of Brian Kekovich. The brand of football may well have been tougher back in 1968, but it ended with a positive outcome: a Carlton premiership.