Jack McLeod

A lifelong local who grew up watching the Mayblooms from the stands at Glenferrie Oval, Jack McLeod was recruited from Auburn and made an immediate impact as a skillful defender. His debut season in 1945 was defined by extraordinary endurance, as he played VFL football on Saturdays and represented the RAAF on Sundays, yet his on-field quality was such that he earned Victorian state selection in just his second season. However, McLeod's playing career was cruelly curtailed by a severe knee injury sustained in his 50th game against Melbourne, costing him two full prime seasons before a brief, courageous comeback in the early 1950s. While his playing days were cut short, his legacy at Hawthorn was cemented off the field; he served as Chairman of Selectors during the club's breakthrough 1961 premiership era and, decades later while living in Queensland, famously alerted the club to a teenage talent named Jason Dunstall.