FOR the first "Where are they now?" (WATN) of 2018, we track down a man who won underage, SANFL and AFL Premierships with the club and now operates more than 30 pharmacies across Australia.
Darryl Wakelin was first selected by the Adelaide Crows and moved to St Kilda but found his way home after six seasons in Melbourne.
Wakelin was born in Whyalla but grew up in Kimba and Port Lincoln before moving to Adelaide with his identical twin brother Shane to complete his schooling and play for Port Adelaide’s junior teams.
A knee injury scuppered his chances of an AFL career with Adelaide, with the Crows delisting him without playing a game.
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He returned to Port Adelaide’s SANFL team and played a total of 24 games with the Magpies, winning the 1994 Premiership and being judged best afield.
St Kilda came calling in 1995 and he enjoyed some success in 115 games with the Saints, where he became a household name in defence alongside his brother.
Return to Alberton
At the end of 2000, an opportunity presented itself to come home, and Wakelin jumped at the chance to join the Power.
“I was actually offered a contract (for the Power’s initial list),” he said.
“They were very confident of getting the licence to start in the 1996 season and the way it worked out Fremantle got it with Port coming into the competition in the 1997 season.
“So I basically said to the club, I am going to go to St Kilda and if I am good enough and if I get some games under my belt, you never know I might come back at some point.
“I had stayed in contact with the club at the end of every year for the first few years and had the conversation but it never got serious until the end of 2000.”
Wakelin said with St Kilda opting for a new coach in Malcolm Blight and a list rejuvenation, he decided it might be a good time to come back to Alberton.
He was part of a very successful period with Port Adelaide.
Winning the history-making 2004 AFL Premiership was among his best footballing experiences and one of his best performances in an impressive shut-down of Brisbane’s Alastair Lynch.
He provided two of the more memorable parts of the television coverage on the day with his dodging of Lynch’s haymakers and vision of him in tears after the match embracing Shane, by then a Collingwood player.
Retirement
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Wakelin’s career ended in 2007 on a sour point.
Having fought back from injury to play in the Preliminary Final win over North Melbourne, the reliable full-back played in the “disastrous” 2007 Grand Final, a game he says he doesn’t recall or think about.
After retiring, Wakelin worked in his Alberton Pharmacy and played a handful of games for his junior teams Kimba and Boston in Port Lincoln.
His involvement in football was limited to playing in Slowdowns and EJ Whitten legends games, although he did spend three years on the board of the Port Adelaide Football Club from 2008 – a significant transition stage for the club.
Now not really working in his pharmacy, he is a part-owner of the Iron Pharmacy Group, which operates more than 30 pharmacies across Australia and in particular in remote indigenous communities.
Wakelin is also doing some radio commentary work with Crocmedia, including some involvement this season in its Power Radio, where for the first time listeners in regional South Australia will have access to a parochial call of Port Adelaide’s home games.
He and his wife Karmen have three children - Amelie, 12, Gill, 10 and Stella, 8 and spend as much time as possible with his parents at Lucky Bay on Eyre Peninsula or with her parents in Swan Hill in country Victoria.
“We still get along to a lot of Port games,” he said.
“I’ll commentate about 10 games this year with Crocmedia on SEN and AFL Nation, but the kids come along with me whether I am working or we just go along as a family.”
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Darryl Wakelin
AFL Games: 261 (115 St Kilda, 146 Port Adelaide)
Goals: 12 (8 St Kilda, 4 Port Adelaide)
SANFL Games: 24
SANFL Goals: 3
Premierships: 1994 (SANFL), 2004 (AFL)
Honours: Jack Oatey Medal (1994 SANFL Grand Final)
2005 Best Team Man
