Named: Greatest sporting families, dynasties and legacies of Melbourne’s east
From football premierships to cricket pitch heroics, living the Olympic dream to the AFL odyssey, Melbourne’s east has had no shortage of sporting stars – many from families who have left lasting legacies.
Eastern
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There’s no shortage of opportunities to excel at your chosen sport in Melbourne’s east, with one of the strongest local football competitions in the country among a host of renowned clubs across different codes. For some, it becomes a family affair with a sporting legacy built across multiple generations. Here are some of the best.
THE KINGS
If you hang your hat in the east, have even a passing interest in local football and cricket and haven’t heard of the King family, then you must have been living under a rock. Where do we begin? For starters, the King name is synonymous with the Ringwood Cricket Club and the South Croydon Football Club.
With the bat and ball, David – touted as Ringwood’s greatest-ever player – recently won a second Ryder Medal as Victorian Premier Cricket’s best, among a career spanning more than 300 First XI matches, a club-record 11,000 runs (and counting) and seven Team of the Year gongs. Father Robin and uncles Chris and Noel also represented the club with distinction, while David’s brothers Matthew and Michael followed suit.
All three brothers donned the red, white and blue for South Croydon – but cousin ‘Dano’ King stands above for accolades with the Sherrin in some 30 years at the football club. Among several premierships at underage level, King’s senior career has produced more than 300 games, a string of best and fairests – and the Eastern league’s highest individual honour in 2013, the Chandler Medal. Captaining South Croydon to its first-ever top-division premiership in 2017 in a best-afield display, the 38-year-old midfielder is still going strong, shaking a tag most weeks. He also held his own as a cricketer, firstly for Ringwood, then in Cricket Victoria’s Academy where he played state Second XI in 2009 and took 7-74 in a match – including the scalps of Joe Burns and Chris Lynn.
Michael ‘Zippy’ King won two Premier Cricket flags with Ringwood and recently finished a damaging career which notched a 6000th senior run at South Croydon, while he also steered the club to the RDCA’s 2020-21 top-flight premiership. He was an explosive footballer for South Croydon and Chirnside Park, too, playing more than 250 games and kicking more than 600 goals. Among stops at Premier clubs Ringwood, Richmond, Wantirna South and most recently captain of South, Matthew has more than 7000 career runs. But it doesn’t end there. Cousin Steve Dinnell carved out a successful VFL career winning two flags with North Ballarat, before returning to local level where he featured in South Croydon’s 2017 Eastern league flag.
Hard act to follow, right?
THE O’DONNELLS
Hailing from North Ringwood, the O’Donnell family has produced its share of elite sporting talent. Crafty on-baller Gary O’Donnell would go on to captain Essendon in a 243-game career taking in the highs of a premiership in 1993 to go with a best and fairest. Sisters Shelley and Wendy, to put it modestly, were more than handy netballers. Shelley played internationally for Australia from 1990 to 1999, winning a gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games – and three gold medals at the World Championships – across 84 top-flight appearances, while Wendy took the court on the national stage.
Their father Graeme (originally from Geelong West) played league football for North Melbourne and Geelong in the early ‘60s. Top football talent has continued among the family’s legacy, with Wendy’s daughter – Jasmine Fleming – a rising star with Hawthorn’s AFLW team. Her father? None other than former cricketer Damian Fleming. The family’s netball legacy also continues, with Shelley’s daughter, Hannah Mundy, selected in the Australian Diamonds squad last year, while she’s also on the books with the Melbourne Vixens. Trekking back to North Ringwood in Round 19 of the 2006 Eastern league season, Gary and his brothers Kevin and Cameron took the field for the Saints one last time.
THE STRATTONS
The late 1980s through to the mid-90s would produce four Eastern league competition best and fairests for Doncaster East’s Russell Stratton – 1988 (Division 4), 1990 (3), 1993 (4) and 1996 (3) to become an official league legend. At the time of receiving the legend honour in ‘93, Stratton would be just the fourth man to achieve the feat behind Gary Galvin, Keith Robins and Ian Clark. But the legacy of his distinguished sporting career wouldn’t end there.
Nunawading’s Little Athletics club dawned the career of Australian Olympian long-jumper Brooke Stratton (now Brooke Buschkuehl) – coached by her dad Russell. Following in the footsteps of older brother Jamie, Brooke’s athletic prowess was apparent from age five, where she’s since competed on a host of international stages, including the last three summer Olympics and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (winning two silver medals) among several world championship events.
She holds the women’s Australian and Oceanic long-jumping records, and has done so twice – firstly a handy 7.05m, before topping that feat in 2022 with 7.13m. Add to that, younger sister Kristy plays AFLW for Hawthorn, after the midfielder started her top-flight career with Collingwood in Round 6 of 2018. That’s some line-up of family sporting achievements.
THE GALVINS
Identities at Bayswater Football Club simply don’t come much bigger than the Galvin name – and what a mark they’ve left across two generations. Gary Galvin won three Eastern league competition best and fairests – 1980 (Division 1), 1981 (Division 2) and 1982 (Division 1) – earning official league legend status. He later served a long stint as Baysie’s president.
In 2005, the eldest of Gary’s three sons, Joel, would burst onto the local footy scene as a 17-year-old, playing in Bayswater’s Division 2 senior premiership side against seasoned men. Come the 2010s and Joel would too go on to become a legend, winning three league medals in the second tier – 2012, 2016 and 2018 – making the Gary-Joel Galvin combination the only father-son legends in the league’s history.
What makes the 2016 honour stand out from the other two is Joel also captained his side to a premiership that season – something his old man never did.
Marking his 300th game this season, the former long-serving captain remains at Marie Wallace Oval. Brothers Bryce and Mitch have played more than 200 and 150 games for the club respectively, including the 2016 flag under Joel. There would’ve been some interesting clashes with the Sherrin in the backyard as kids ...
THE CULLENS
Vermont Football Club was truly blessed to have had the Cullen brothers among their ranks spearheading a golden age for the Eastern league powerhouse. Together, they hold the club record for most grand finals played in together – five – 1997, ‘01, ‘05, ‘06 and ‘07. Individually, they were both scintillating players in their own right. Let’s start with Mark – 255 games for the Eagles with 84 of those played consecutively, seven senior premierships (equal second-most by any Vermont player in club history), a best and fairest in a premiership year (2001) and life membership of the EFNL after heading to Silvan to finish his career where he racked up game 300, and claimed another senior best and fairest.
Brother Brad captained the Eagles to a three-peat of flags across 2005-2007, in a senior career which spanned 187 games. He won two senior best and fairests, the first in 2003 and the second in a premiership year in 2005. Father Tom, is a legend at both the Blackburn football and cricket clubs. In more than 200 matches with the Sherrin, he kicked more than 700 goals, while he’s revered as “the most talented batsman” to represent the Burners, named as vice-captain in their Team of the Century. He’s also a great of Fitzroy Cricket Club and a former Victorian representative.
THE MURPHYS
Here’s one for the football purists. John Murphy made his name as a champion with Fitzroy across 214 games through the 1960s and ‘70s, debuting in 1967 after being picked up from Heidelberg. Remarkably, 158 of those 214 matches would be played consecutively from the beginning of his career, setting a record and one that wouldn’t be broken until 2005.
During his time at the Lions, he would take home five best and fairests, captain the club from 1973-77 and top the goalkicking twice. He played out his career with South Melbourne for 23 matches across 1978-79, followed by nine appearances for North Melbourne from 1979-80. After hanging up the boots, the Fitzroy legend embarked on a coaching career in the VFA, first at Werribee for three seasons followed by Box Hill, where he would steer the club from 1993-98 with a grand final appearance in ‘94.
His six seasons at the helm made him the club’s longest-serving coach at the time. John Murphy was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2006, and is named in the centre in Fitzroy’s Team of the Century.
His sons Leigh and Marc forged illustrious football CVs in their own right, starting out at Beverley Hills in the juniors. Leigh, the eldest of the two, is revered as an Eastern league and Doncaster East great, hanging up the boots at the end of 2018. Six club best and fairests, the captaincy, and two premierships (2007 and 2018) among multiple Team of the Year selections told the tale for the elder brother, who also played representative cricket.
Marc was snared by Carlton as the No. 1 pick in the 2005 national draft, although he could have ended up at the Lions under the father-son rule. He finished his career with 300 games for the Blues, twice won the best and fairest (2011, 2017) to go with an All Australian nod in 2011 and the club captaincy for six seasons. Back further, John’s father and Marc’s grandfather, Leo, played 132 matches for Hawthorn in the 1930s – making the trio the first father-son-grandson line-up to have each played 100 matches of league football.
THE BLAKES
Box Hill Cricket Club hit the jackpot with the Blake family, when the eldest of the five brothers, Tim, joined in 1990 in the under-15s. What would follow would be one of the great family contributions to a sporting club across more than two decades, when brothers Andrew and Simon joined the following year, and younger brothers David and Sam some time later. Father Ron found himself unexpectedly captaining the VSDCA club’s fourths, and family matriarch Jennie would always be in attendance on match-day cheering her sons on while also preparing the players’ afternoon tea. In fact, from 2003 to 2017, a Blake featured in at least one Box Hill cricket side. Families like the Blakes are the lifeblood of grassroots sporting clubs, and as then Box Hill CC president Peter Shepard described them in a 2006 Leader interview – “They’re the heart and soul of Box Hill Cricket Club”.
THE BARLOWS
From the big-time to the ‘burbs, Paul and Kris Barlow spent time at league football clubs in between making significant contributions at local level. Paul worked his way through the under-19s at Richmond to earn his opportunity in 1988, playing four senior matches, before linking with then-VFA outfit Port Melbourne in 1991 where he made his name at full-back and represented the league.
He returned to the Eastern football scene in 1995 with Vermont, leading the club to a flag as playing-coach. Playing underneath him was younger brother Kris, whose reputation in the 1990s caught the eye of scouts to earn an opportunity as a mature-aged recruit at 25 with Hawthorn.
Kris would go on to play 102 games with the Hawks before returning to Vermont in 2005, later winning best and fairests at Noble Park and Blackburn. Coaching stints with the Bulls and Vermont followed, coaching the latter to a grand final in 2012. Paul, a long-time Eastern Football Netball League board member, now serves as the competition’s chairman. His son Taine won an under-19 flag and best and fairest at Vermont – and is on Frankston’s VFL books (aligned with Rowville) and other son Braeden won under-19 and reserve flags at Vermont, and currently plays in the Eastern league for Knox. Meanwhile, Kris’ son Kye spent time at Coates league club Oakleigh Chargers and now laces up for the club where his old man and uncle made mammoth contributions, Vermont.
THE HANNONS
Central to Boronia’s rise from a middling Eastern league club stuck in the wilderness for nearly two decades to a modern-day powerhouse has been the ongoing legacy of the Hannon family. Greg has overseen two premierships – 2023 and ‘24 – in a long presidency of the club.
He made his name at Tormore Reserve, playing in the 1986 flag – the Hawks’ first in almost a decade and the club’s last taste of the ultimate success until the year 2000. ‘Flash’ would later go on to lead Knox before a coaching stint back at the Hawks from 2003 to 2005.
Jump to the present day, and sons Luke and Josh have been key members of the club’s recent success, winning three senior premierships together. The first struck in Division 3 in 2018 – the Hawks’ first senior flag in 18 years. Front and centre in the upset win over Ringwood would be crafty utility Luke, winning the medal for best on ground.
Gathering quite a collection of silverware, Luke, vice-captain of the Hawks and current assistant coach, has won senior club champion awards in 2017 and ‘18 to go with an Eastern Ranges premiership in ‘13 and a best and fairest in ‘14 – the latter as captain of the Coates league club. Brother Josh continues to star as a pivotal ruckman for the Hawks of more than 100 games, winning the best and fairest in ‘23 after stints at Upwey-Tecoma and Eastern Ranges.
Now in Division 1, Boronia continues to remain in the hunt for more glory, so there could very well be another chapter to play out with the Hannon family legacy.
THE WINTERTONS
Mulgrave’s last two senior premierships were decades apart – 1979 and 2010. But among the teams read the ‘Winterton’ name. Neil Winterton is one of local footy’s most successful coaches of the modern era, turning a battling Mitcham into an Eastern league powerhouse with four flags as the club’s longest-serving mentor.
But before he moved the magnets, he was a star at VFL club Frankston – even winning a Team of the Year guernsey – before moving on to Mulgrave for two seasons to claim back-to-back best and fairests and 2010’s drought-breaking premiership.
He followed in the footsteps of his uncle Gary, who played 80 senior games for the club, including the 1979 flag. Described by the club as a “midfielder who possessed a damaging burst of speed and a great kick”, Gary “spent the majority of his time on the ball but also kicked plenty of goals.” Recently, he was honoured with a spot in Mulgrave’s coveted Team of the Century. Neil’s dad Mark, uncle Kevin and brother Steve also represented the club, making the Winterton name one of the most recognised at Garnett Road. And it’s undoubtedly as revered at Mitcham.
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