Collingwood captain Jack Hellier retires from the VFL

The classy midfielder has signed at a country club after a long stretch as skipper of the state league Magpies.

Collingwood captain Jack Hellier has retired from the VFL.

Hit the road, Jack.

Collingwood VFL captain Jack Hellier has retired from the state league and is heading bush, his destination Euroa in the Goulburn Valley league.

The 32-year-old joined the Pies in 2012 and was appointed co-captain the following year. He’s been the skipper in his own right since 2014.

Hellier played more than 100 VFL games but only four in 2019 as he battled groin problems.

He’d been named captain for the 2020 season that never was.

“Yeah, I won’t be going around again. It’s a little bit too hard with the new structure of the VFL and how it’s looking, and I’ve got a young family now, a little fella, who’s eight months old now,’’ Hellier said.

“So unfortunately it’s come to a bit of a halt, which is not what I really wanted. I wanted to go again, finish on a good note.’’

Jack Hellier joined Collingwood’s VFL team in 2012.

Still, he said, at least he would be staying a Magpie: Euroa also wears black and white.

Hellier joined the Magpies from St Bede’s Mentone Tigers, where he figured in the fabled A and B section premiership teams coached by Luke Beveridge.

He won the 2011 best and fairest, and Beveridge suggested he have a dash at the VFL. Tarkyn Lockyer made the call to invite him to the Pies.

Hellier said he was a “little chubby fella’’ when he went to Collingwood. But he worked diligently on his fitness and established himself as a fine midfielder in the VFL.

He was selected in the VFL team of the year in 2013.

“I had to adapt to play at that level of footy, with the physicality of it,’’ he said.

“I’m happy with what I did at Collingwood. I’m sure in time I’ll sit back and be proud of it. Been an awesome journey.’’

Package of recruits: Euroa newcomers (L-R) Nathan Stewart, Tristan Davies, Daniel Yogarajah, Jack Hellier, Dan Garside and Erish Uthayakumar.

Hellier and three other former Tigers have joined Euroa.

Tom Garside linked with the club in 2018, tapping a connection made when his father, Malcolm, played with the Magpies.

Tom’s brother Daniel, Hellier and Erish Uthayakumar have joined him.

“We’ve got a car load, the four of us heading up the Hume,’’ Hellier said.

He said he’d wanted to play country football for some time.

“A couple of my mates have done it and I’ve gone and watched them and the atmosphere and the support in the towns tick all the boxes,’’ he said. “It’s a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to it.’’

Hellier doesn’t know a lot about the Goulburn Valley league. But he does know “Kye’’, Kyabram, is the team to beat and that it’s a strong competition.

Euroa finished ninth on the ladder with six wins and 12 losses in 2019.

Kyabram defeated Echuca in the grand final.