All the stars come out for Leongatha's first grand final breakfast

WHAT was it like to be Jarryd Roughead and stand on the top step of sporting achievement in Australia, not once, but four times?

Members of the inner circle at the Leongatha Football Netball Club probably don’t need to ask that question or even talk about it much.

They lived every moment of it with one of their favourite sons through the heady days of the unexpected Hawthorn premiership in 2008 and then the dynasty of 2013, 2014 and 2015 that seemed like it would never end.

They don’t need to talk to ‘Roughy’ about it, but you know what, it’s still fun to relive those incredible days, and they’ll get the chance to hear about it from the man himself, when Jarryd Roughead returns to the footy club for the inaugural ‘Leongatha Past Players and Officials 2026 Grand Final Breakfast’ on Friday, September 25.

And Roughy won’t be on his own.

All of the homegrown Leongatha players who ever pulled on a VFL/AFL guernsey have been invited to attend, going right back to Curly Salmon, still a regular around the club, Ivan Rasmussen and Lauire Maloney who not only played VFL but also covered themselves in glory locally as members of Leongatha’s 1970 Gippsland Latrobe Valley Premiership Team, the club’s first since returning to the major Gippsland competition in 1969.

Gary ‘Bull’ Baker who played his junior footy at Leongatha before heading out to Meeniyan and ultimately to Melbourne. He’ll be back.

The great Steve Wallis, who played 261 games for Footscray, including as captain of the team, he can’t make it, neither can Christin Macri who played five senior games for the Dogs.

But Mick Johnston will be there, Stu Wigney too and Dyson Heppell.

And there will be an array of other players, like Leongatha premiership coaches Terry Benton, Neville Stone and Col Boyd, who came to the Parrots after illustrious careers in the big time.

“We’ve been talking about doing it for a long time,” said one of the organisers Tony ‘Jock’ Johnston.

“The public holiday Friday before the AFL Grand Final is the perfect time to do it and we’ve got a commitment already from seven or eight of our past players who went on and played VFL/AFL football.

“We’ve also asked the present-day players; Xavier Lindsay, Zac Reid, Wil Dawson and Tom Hanily to come along too but we’ll just have to wait and see with them.

“But we’ve had a great response. It should be a great day.

“We’ve also asked Matt Stevic, arguably one of our greatest-ever football products with 12 AFL Grand Finals I think it is now. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the finals for him but he’s been contacted.”

Jock said there's a committee of former Leongatha players and club officials organising the day but he’s quick to stress it’s not a fundraiser.

“Look, we just wanted to get everyone together and to refresh those links. I think it’s important to provide an opportunity like this, to get-together and enjoy each other’s company.”

The organisers also had a stroke of luck when arranging the day, after they asked former Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson, these days an Inverloch resident, if he’d like to come along.

“He said he’d only come if we asked him to compere the day. Of course, we were delighted. Together with Dan Eddy, he’ll be able to have a few quick chats with the players but it’s more about getting together over breakfast and we’ll be leaving plenty of time for that.”

Attending the event, at the Leongatha Grandstand Function Room, from 8.30am to 11am on Friday, September 25 is likely to be the “hottest ticket in town" and is open, not only to past (and present) players and officials of the Leongatha Football Netball Club at a cost of $50, but all interested people. Entry includes a hot breakfast, player interviews and lucky door prize draws. See you there!!

Table bookings are also available for groups of 8 or 10, pay on the day.

Contact Dan Eddy 0438 584 742 or daneddy523@gmail.com