Carl Ditterich

Carl Ditterich
Personal information
Date of birth	10 October 1945
Original team(s)	East Brighton
Debut	Round 1, 20 April 1963, St Kilda v. Melbourne, at Junction Oval
Height/Weight	194 cm / 96 kg
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1963–1972 1973–1975 1976–1978 1979–1980 Total -	St Kilda Melbourne St Kilda Melbourne	153 (123) 053 0(35) 050 0(33) 029 00(8) 285 (199)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1979–1980	Melbourne	44 (11-33-0)
^1 Playing statistics correct to end of 1980 season.
Career highlights
Trevor Barker Medallist: 1968 Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist: 1973 St Kilda captain: 1976–1977 Melbourne captain/coach: 1979–1980

Carl Ditterich (born 10 October 1945) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda and Melbourne in the VFL. He also coached Melbourne for two years, as a playing coach.

Ditterich, known as the "Blonde Bombshell", made an impressive debut as a 17-year-old for St Kilda against Melbourne in the opening round of the 1963 VFL season, with his speed, high leaping and endurance noted.^[1][2]

He became a tough ruckman and often appeared at the VFL Tribunal, in particular missing St Kilda's only premiership victory in 1966 through suspension.^[3] He transferred to Melbourne under the short-lived 10-year rule in 1973,^[4] before returning to St Kilda in 1976, due to his six-year deal being too expensive for Melbourne to continue.^[5] In 1979 he switched again to Melbourne to become their captain-coach for two years;^[6] during this period, the Demons suffered the worst defeat in VFL/AFL history, losing to Fitzroy by 190 points in Round 17, 1979.^[7]

Statistics

Legend
D	Disposals	K	Kicks	H	Handballs	M	Marks	T	Tackles	H/O	Hit-outs	G	Goals	B	Behinds

Season	Team	#	Games	D	K	H	M	T	H/O	G	B	D	K	H	M	T	H/O	G	B
			Totals									Averages (per game)
1963	St Kilda	10	17	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.2	–
1964	St Kilda	10	17	–	–	–	–	–	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.3	–
1965	St Kilda	10	13	227	199	28	70	–	–	8	13	17.5	15.3	2.2	5.4	–	–	0.6	1.0
1966	St Kilda	10	12	203	167	36	41	–	116	9	13	16.9	13.9	3.0	3.4	–	10.5	0.8	1.1
1967	St Kilda	10	12	188	169	19	49	–	185	18	18	15.7	14.1	1.6	4.1	–	15.4	1.5	1.5
1968	St Kilda	10	20	388	317	71	123	–	335	5	9	19.4	15.9	3.6	6.2	–	16.8	0.3	0.5
1969	St Kilda	10	8	110	90	20	39	–	59	16	8	13.8	11.3	2.5	4.9	–	7.4	2.0	1.0
1970	St Kilda	10	16	258	202	56	94	–	96	14	13	16.1	12.6	3.5	5.9	–	6.0	0.9	0.8
1971	St Kilda	10	16	283	233	50	91	–	137	23	12	17.7	14.6	3.1	5.7	–	8.6	1.4	0.8
1972	St Kilda	10	22	418	317	101	127	–	241	22	14	19.0	14.4	4.6	5.8	–	12.0	1.0	0.6
1973	Melbourne	10	22	300	256	44	96	–	298	5	13	13.6	11.6	2.0	4.4	–	13.5	0.2	0.6
1974	Melbourne	10	19	292	214	78	79	–	8	12	9	15.4	11.3	4.1	4.2	–	8.0	0.6	0.5
1975	Melbourne	10	12	171	114	57	34	–	18	18	6	15.5	10.4	5.2	3.1	–	3.6	1.5	0.6
1976	St Kilda	10	18	226	154	72	51	–	203	11	3	12.6	8.6	4.0	2.8	–	11.3	0.6	0.2
1977	St Kilda	10	11	122	83	39	27	–	99	6	4	11.1	7.5	3.5	2.5	–	9.0	0.5	0.4
1978	St Kilda	10	21	252	172	80	60	–	197	16	13	12.0	8.2	3.8	2.9	–	10.4	0.8	0.7
1979	Melbourne	10	17	281	178	103	70	–	175	6	4	16.5	10.5	6.1	4.1	–	10.3	0.4	0.2
1980	Melbourne	10	12	152	76	76	28	–	122	2	6	12.7	6.3	6.3	2.3	–	10.2	0.2	0.5
Career			285	3871	2941	930	1079	–	2289	199	158	15.5	11.8	3.7	4.3	–	11.0	0.7	0.6

References

1. "Ditterich the Star Among League Recruits". The Age. 22 April 1963. p. 22.
2. Carter, Ron (22 April 1963). "Courageous Saints Show Up Several Demon Faults". The Age. p. 20.
3. "Ditterich Suspended: 6 games". The Age. 24 August 1966. p. 1.
4. "Carl will lift us into the five". The Age. 12 February 1973. p. 20.
5. Sheahan, Mike (30 December 1975). "Ditterich may lead Saints". The Age. p. 18.
6. Sheahan, Mike (18 January 1979). "Carl on way to coach Demons". The Age. p. 28.
7. Brodie, Will (1 August 2011). "Demon legends disappointed by coach sacking". The Age. Retrieved 31 December 2015.

External links

• Carl Ditterich's statistics from AFL Tables
• St Kilda Hall of Fame Profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 June 2004)
• Demon Wiki profile