The king of South Australian football, Neil Kerley AM, has died aged 88 in a car crash in the Murraylands.
Known to many as "Knuckles", he spent more than five decades in football as a player, coach and pundit, playing 275 games in the SANFL and coaching for another 628.
The crash happened at Walker Flat in the Murraylands just before 5:30pm on Wednesday.
His car towing a trailer crashed through a fence and into a paddock on Mallee Road.
Born in Barmera, the SANFL superstar famously took West Adelaide to the 1961 premiership as captain and coach and led South Adelaide from the bottom of the ladder to a flag in 1964.
He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1997, and will be remembered as one of the sport's brightest stars.
After starting his football career in the country, he spent his first full season in the SANFL with West Adelaide in 1956.
He lost to Port Adelaide in three grand finals, before leading the Bloods to the '61 flag against Norwood.
The match was played in 35-degree Celsius heat and became known as the "Turkish Bath Grand Final".
Kerley was sensationally sacked as West's captain-coach after losing the 1962 grand final to Port, and in 1964 moved to South Adelaide.
He led the Panthers from the bottom of the table to win the grand final.
He joined Glenelg in 1967, ending his playing career three years later, but continuing as coach and taking the Tigers to their second premiership in 1973.
Graham Cornes kicked a goal to bring Glenelg into the lead.
"The first time I met him he was such a powerful presence," Cornes said.
"You just had to be in awe of his physical presence, and he said things that made sense and he made you feel important and he really was awe-inspiring.
Kerley returned to West Adelaide to win another premiership in 1983, and also coached West Torrens and Central District.
He was prominent in the media, often appearing alongside good friend KG Cunningham.
Kerley said his only regret was not playing in the VFL.
"I think deep down I should have gone to Melbourne, just for a couple of years," he said.
"The reason I haven't gone is because I don't like Melbourne."
Kerley became the Adelaide Crows' first football manager, while Cornes was the club's first coach in the AFL.
"Neil Kerley has been just a true mentor, and a friend and a father and a brother and an uncle and all those sorts of things over the years — so he was an enormous influence," Cornes said.
Another SANFL great, John Halbert, who played with Kerley in State of Origin football, said he was admired by all.
"He was an all-rounder — he had a wonderful impact working with men, young men because he was able to get the best of them," Halbert said.
"He was one that was pretty vigorous and pretty strict in his approach to them."
Former team-mate and opponent John Cahill said Kerley was "fiercely competitive".
"He led the way — he led from the front," Cahill said.
"He didn’t shirk any issue at all. He met it head on and he was so good in defeat.
"If something happened and his team lost, he could bounce back really quickly, and I admired that."
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the possibility of a state funeral would be discussed with Kerley's family.
"It is absolutely appropriate that the state recognise the contribution of Neil Kerley and that has to be done in a way that is most at ease with the family of Neil Kerley," he said.
"We’ll make sure that occurs, but there will be a lot of South Australians that would want to show their affection and their regard for his legend, which is substantial and we’ll make sure that is facilitated whichever way we can."
Kerley was an inaugural inductee into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
