“Spiritual leader” is a footballing phrase that has been spawned in comparatively recent times, probably starting with Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer and again being affixed to Luke Hodge at Hawthorn.

Lenny Hayes and Alan Morrow were Saints heroes of different footballing eras, but they share qualities which have been admired in footballers since the dawn of the game.

The accolade of spiritual leader fitted both men comfortably, yet their self-effacing natures would shy away from such lofty tags.

Interestingly, during their heydays Morrow’s captain was Darrel Baldock, Archer’s skipper was Wayne Carey and Hayes’s predominant skipper — apart from his own stint — was Nick Riewoldt.

All three nominal leaders were fine captains in their own right and happened to be ranked among the best centre half forwards of all time.

But the unofficial Spiritual Leader tag fitted Archer, Morrow and Hayes equally well.

Morrow recently told the story of how he first met Hayes a decade ago on a day when St Kilda players were having a swimming session at the Sandringham King Club and Morrow happened to be having a gym workout at the same time.

Morrow introduced himself and Hayes was stunned that the man who he had heard about as a lion-hearted ruckman in the 1966 premiership side was only 183cm tall compared to his own height of 186cm as a midfielder.

“You played in the ruck?” was Hayes’s first remark as he shook his head.

In the case of Hayes and Morrow, there was only a single point between them in terms of Grand Final achievement.

Morrow was the man who had the ball in his hands when the siren signaled the end of the 1966 Grand Final. Hayes played in a drawn Grand Final in which he was awarded the Norm Smith Medal.

It was Morrow to whom Bob Murray looked when he took a saving mark seconds before the final siren in 1966.

Murray’s quick analysis was that those sure hands wouldn’t let the side down and if the ball did somehow happen to spill free then Baldock would be nearby to beat anybody at ground level.

Hayes’s desperation to haul the Saints over the line in 2010 is embodied in the Norm Smith accolade, but in the 2009 Grand Final he fuelled St Kilda’s flying start to the game.

So dominant was he at centre clearances that Geelong sacrificed no less than a Brownlow medallist in Jimmy Bartel to quell Hayes.

The stats and the honours lists of both Morrow and Hayes are impressive enough in themselves, but they don’t tell the full story in either case.

Morrow didn’t win a best and fairest, but he ran second three times — once to Verdun Howell, who won the Brownlow that year, and twice to Baldock, one of the game’s greatest ever. He also ran third on another occasion.

Hayes won three best-and-fairests in an era where Riewoldt has dominated the club award. Lenny was an all-Australian in 2003, 2005 and 2009.
Morrow was selected four times as a Victorian representative in the days of state football.

Remember, too, that this was a time when he was an undersized ruckman competing against players such as Polly Farmer, John Nicholls and John Schultz, who would come to be hailed as three of the all-time great ruck practitioners.

The words “heart” and “spirit” have always been at the forefront in descriptions of Morrow and his manner of showing the way for others. In tough situations he was the bloke teammates would always look to.

The same applies to Lenny Hayes, and that is the highest compliment that can be paid to any footballer.

ALAN MORROW
Born November 29, 1936
163 games
151 goals
183cm, 89kgs

Player Honours:
1966 premiership, 4 x Victorian representative, Most Serviceable 1958, Second best and fairest 1959,1962,1963, Most Determined 1965, Outstanding Play 1966.

LENNY HAYES
Born January 14, 1980
292 games
94 goals
186cm, 84kgs

Player Honours:
3rd in Brownlow Medal 2009, 3 x Best and Fairest, Norm Smith Medal 2010, 3 x All-Australian, Captain 2004 & 2007.


Russell Holmesby is the official historian of the St Kilda Football Club. Among his many books, he has written The Point Of It All - The Story of the St Kilda Football Club (with Jules Feldmann), Heroes With Haloes - St Kilda's One Hundred Greatest and Strength Through Loyalty - Saints at Moorabbin and Beyond.