Originally from Salisbury North, Malcolm "Mullet" McGrath arrived at South after 73 league games as a tough defender at Central Districts. Throughout the late 1980s the club had been enduring shaky times - with the demise of the GDFL and then divison in the ranks over the departure of Graham Schultz - and although these rumblings had been duly quashed by the vision of Peter Beythien and wisdom of Mick Daly previously, when McGrath arrived he meant business. He intended to return us to power which was long overdue.

Mullet was a mean footballer and a grumpy coach - a tough and uncompromising competitor who reinstated a killer-instinct at what had languished into an unstable football department. A master of gamesmanship, he never professed to be a great communicator, but as Captain-Coach between 1990 and 1993 he led purely by example. With courage and determination, he took us to a watershed flag in his first season 1990, an unlucky finals campaign in 1991, and then back-to-back premierships in 1992 and 1993.

For a star-import, while certainly a tuned athlete from the top-level and a master of the skills - particularly tackling - McGrath wasn't exactly a high-profile player, nor did he accept any annual trophies while playing with us. He represented the Association as a key backman, but he was all about the team's success, preferring to let the local shining receive the cudos.

McGrath left South in 1994 to coach Gaza and then a couple of years later returned to the BLGFA to coach fellow blue and white side Angaston, with who we now compete for the McGrath Cup named in his honour, but Mullet never achieved the same success there as he did with us in Gawler.

However today, he remains our most successful modern coach, and certainly enjoys coming back to the club for a reunion. McGrath has now returned to Centrals to continue coaching. Ironically, in 2006, he was appointed as Assistant Coach to our own Jeff Brown at Central District Under 19s, who he originally barked at during the glory-days of the early 1990s.