AFL Grand Final heroes: Tom Lynch, John Coleman, Chris Mew, Stewart Loewe
Blairgowrie boy Tom Lynch is the latest Mornington Peninsula footballer chasing more premiership glory. See who came before him.
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The 2020 AFL season has been the strangest on record and the MCG will sit idle this Saturday as Richmond and Geelong battle it out for the Premiership at the Gabba in Brisbane after a COVID-19 interrupted year. But the presence of Tom Lynch in the Tiger attack will at least continue a proud tradition between the Mornington Peninsula and football’s greatest stage that stretches back many decades. These are our favourite the stories of glory and heartbreak.
John Coleman (Essendon)
The decision of the Coleman family to relocate to Hastings in 1943 created an indelible link between the Peninsula and one of the greats of the game. The youngest of four, 15-year-old John Coleman debuted for the Blues in 1943 but it would be six years until he debuted for Essendon in the VFL. He kicked his 100th goal of that inaugural season in the Bombers’ Grand Final demolition of Carlton, then a remarkable 120 in 1950 as Essendon went back-to-back. After his career was cut short due to a knee injury in 1954, Coleman returned to Windy Hill as a coach, leading his beloved club to flags in 1962 and 1965. He relocated to the Peninsula and ran the Dromana Hotel until his tragic death at just 44 in 1973.
Chris Mew (Hawthorn)
The zoning of the Mornington Peninsula Football League to Hawthorn in the pre-draft days played a pivotal role in the club’s success during the 1970s and 1980s. Leigh and Kelvin Matthews (Chelsea), Michael Moncrieff (Edi-Asp), Dermott Brereton (Frankston Rovers), Kelvin Moore (Pearcedale) were just some of the players who left the region for successful careers at Glenferrie. Chris Mew was another Peninsula lad, joining the Hawks in 1980 from Rosebud. He would form part of one of the greatest defensive units in AFL/VFL history alongside the likes of Chris Langford, Gary Ayres, Andrew Collins and Peter Schwab. After 230 games in the brown and gold across 13 seasons, the no-nonsense key defender had amassed a staggering five premiership medals (1983, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991), and would be named centre half-back in Hawthorn’s team of the century.
Tom Lynch (Gold Coast, Richmond)
It’s not hard to find the footprints of 2019 Richmond premiership player Tom Lynch across the Mornington Peninsula. The imposing Tiger spearhead was raised in Blairgowrie and played his junior footy with Sorrento. Drafted by the Gold Coast Suns 11th overall for the club’s debut season, Lynch debuted in round 7 and would go on to play 131 games, kicking 254 goals, with the Suns including two years as co-captain. His long-rumoured return to Melbourne came to fruition in 2019 after signing with Richmond. After a slow start to the year due to injury, Lynch improved as the season progressed, culminating in the Tigers’ massive 89-point win over the GWS Giants in the 2019 Grand Final. Despite a somewhat tumultuous 2020 campaign, Lynch will again pull on the boots in this week’s Grand Final.
Billy Hartung (Hawthorn, North Melbourne)
This speedy small man’s legend status on the Peninsula was assured when he booted 20 goals straight for the Red Hill under-14s in an MPNFL game against Dromana in 2009. Hartung progressed from Mornington FC to the Dandenong Stingrays and surprised no-one when he was drafted to the big league in 2013 by Hawthorn with the 23rd pick overall. He debuted for the Hawks in round 8 but injury meant he played the bulk of 2014 with their VFL affiliate Box Hill. In 2015, Hartung played 20 games for Hawthorn but was left devastated when he was dropped for the season decider against West Coast, which the Hawks won. After 63 games with Hawthorn, Hartung was drafted by North Melbourne but was cut at the end of 2018. He now plies his trade with North Adelaide in the SANFL.
Stewart Loewe (St Kilda)
So many great footballers have gone without premiership glory throughout their career with this 321-game St Kilda stalwart prominent on that list. Originally from Mt Eliza, Loewe emerged through the now-defunct P & C juniors in south Frankston and joined the Saints in 1986 as the club emerged from a dark period. The imposing centre half-forward, who formed the “twin towers” with champion full-forward Tony Lockett, featured in four finals series during his 16-year career culminating in a Grand Final appearance in 1997 after St Kilda claimed the minor premiership. Despite leading into the third quarter, the Saints conceded 14 goals to six after halftime and lost by 31 points to the Adelaide Crows. Loewe’s 16-year career ended in 2002 without the premiership medal to which he, and that great generation of St Kilda players, came agonisingly close.
Zak Jones (Sydney, St Kilda)
Mt Eliza’s Jones brothers have played a combined 386 AFL games (Nathan with 286 starts for Melbourne) but only the younger Zak has played on the biggest stage of the game. After following in his sibling’s footsteps through the Dandenong Stingrays’ system, Zak was drafted to Sydney with the 15th overall pick in 2013. After just 30 games with the Bloods, he was picked for the Swans to face the Western Bulldogs in the 2016 Grand Final. That journey was not without drama, as Jones suffered a severe concussion and an ankle injury that threatened to derail his season. The fairytale was not to be with the Bulldogs running out 22-point winners. Jones has since returned home and is now plying his trade with the improving Saints.
Toby Thurstans (Port Adelaide)
The career of this former Crib Point junior was one of persistence that culminated in the ultimate reward. A tall and imposing key defender, Thurstans was a fill-in reserves player for both Carlton and Collingwood but earned his AFL call-up in the 1998 draft. He admitted he didn’t know much about his new club Port Adelaide and the history at Alberton, and it would be four long years until he broke into the senior side after a long apprenticeship with Sturt. In just his second season, Thurstans would find himself playing more and more in attack, kicking 28 goals including three in the 2004 Grand Final where the Power ended Brisbane’s dreams of a fourth successive flag. He called it a day in 2009 after 110 games and remains living in Adelaide where he works in the construction industry.
Craig O’Brien (Essendon, St Kilda, Sydney)
He wasn’t the tallest but what this former Rye junior lacked in height he made for with strength and an eye for the goals in a 114-game career across 12 years at three different clubs. He was on the Bombers’ list in 1990 but wasn’t picked for the Grand Final team that lost to Collingwood. After three years at Windy Hill, O’Brien was shipped to St Kilda (1992-95) before a perfectly timed move to Sydney, who finished atop the ladder in 1996 before earning a shot at their first flag since 1945 in a Grand Final match-up against North Melbourne. But it was a miserable day for O’Brien and the Bloods, who lost by 43 points. His AFL playing days came to an end in 2000 before embarking on a successful coaching stint in Queensland.
Rowan Sawers (umpire)
The story of this field umpire is intrinsically linked to the Mornington Peninsula. The then-18-year-old was handed the whistle for his first senior outing in a practice match at Dromana after the appointed umps failed to turn up. After climbing through the ranks of the Southern Umpires (based in Seaford) and the VFA, he was handed his first VFL start in 1997 at a muddy Moorabbin. Sawers would go on to officiate in 410 games (a record that would stand until 2007) over a decorated two decades including four season deciders (1982, 1984, 1987 and 1990). In 2004, he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Another great of the umpiring ranks, the late Don Jolley, spent two years as an advisor for the Southern Umpires on the Mornington Peninsula in the 1980s.
Mt Martha JFC (Auskickers)
Auskick participants have played a major role in Grand Final festivities in recent years – from a bright and cheerful presence in the Grand Final parade to the traditional halftime grid games during the season finale before helping hand out the premiership medals to the winning team. In 2019, centre coordinator Mario Leitao was shocked to receive a call from League HQ to confirm that the Mt Martha Auskickers would join just three other centres from around the state as part of the Richmond v GWS Giants Grand Final celebrations. Coincidentally, a former Mt Martha junior, Lachie Whitfield, lined up for the Giants in that game but the emerging star’s day didn’t end well with GWS on the wrong end of an 89-point pasting at the hands of the Tigers.
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