Leon, let's talk about your time playing for Mortlake and that premiership victory in 1975.
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I was 16 years old when we defeated Warrnambool to win the flag by eight points, but the backdrop to the story is we ended up on top of the ladder at the end of the home and away season.
We played Warrnambool in the second-semi final at Terang and we drew with them. Warrnambool got away with us early, but we fought back and ended up drawing with them.
The second-semi final replay was played at Terang again. We took the initiative away from Warrnambool early in the replay.
We were five goals up at quarter-time and Warrnambool struggled to get back into the game. Peter Osmond kicked six goals for us in the replay.
Warrnambool beat Camperdown in the preliminary final, so we played the Blues again in the grand final.
The grand final was played up at South Warrnambool.
The funny thing about the grand final in 1975 was the captain-coaches for both sides didn't play in the game. Terry Alexander was in charge of Warrnambool while Michael Mulligan coached Mortlake. Mulligan suffered a broken jaw in the second-semi, so he missed out on the grand final.
It was a tight tussle. I'll never forget, it was the dying minutes of the game and I handballed the ball to our ruckman Greg Richards in the goal square and he kicked a goal.
We won by eight points. I was lucky enough to kick four goals in that grand final win in 1975.
Where did your footy career begin?
I was 13 years old when I started playing in the under 17s at Kolora.
I played one senior game with Kolora when I was 15 before I went and played for Mortlake.
Leon, the obvious question is your parents had a farm at The Sisters - you were born and educated in Terang. Why didn't you play for Terang instead of Mortlake?
My cousin Robert Jewel and Mick Mulligan, who was the playing coach of Mortlake at the time, came out and asked me to play for Mortlake.
All my school mates were playing footy for Terang, and to be honest with you I would have preferred to have played at Terang but they never asked me.
There was an old rule in place that each club could have only have four country permit players.
They will tell you Terang had its four permit players before they looked at me, but the decision to go to Mortlake was a great one.
How many years did you play at Mortlake?
I was there for three years and played 55 games.
Mick Mulligan was my first coach. Noel Halden coached in 1976, while John Goold took over in 1977. I signed up with Fitzroy in 1978. Mortlake was in the Fitzroy zone back in that era.
Did you play in any practice games or do preseason training for Fitzroy in the lead-up to the 1978 season?
That's a good question. I was captain of The Sisters Cricket Club and we were playing in the grand final, so I decided not to turn up for a practice game with Fitzroy.
We ended up winning the cricket premiership.
I played the first four games with Mortlake and I went down to training at Fitzroy.
I'll never forget training was at the old Junction Oval.
I was called into the centre of the ground by the coach Graham Campbell, the captain Ron Alexander, Bill Stephens and Norm Dare. They told me I was sacked.
I informed them I had not had a chance to show that I could play.
I told them the reason why I played in the cricket grand final was because I had a commitment with the club.
They gave me a chance to play in the reserves against Carlton. I was going all right until I strained my leg and missed the next six games.
I made my senior debut against Essendon at Windy Hill in 1979.
Bill Stephens was our coach. I ended up playing 186 senior day games with Fitzroy, 14 night games and represented Victoria on two occasions, which took my tally of games to 200.
Who were some of the toughest players that you played on in your career?
Wayne Johnston, Wayne Schimmelbusch, Brian Royal, Dale Weightman, Robert Flower, Michael Turner and Ricky Barham. They were all top players.
I also had a few good tussles with Tony Shaw.
I was lucky to play in a reserves premiership with Fitzroy in 1989. I was the captain of the side. We defeated Geelong on the MCG. It was the year Geelong lost the three grand finals - the seniors, reserves and under 19s. I was assistant coach of Fitzroy in 1993 and 1994, before coaching the Western Jets in 1995.
I then coached Fitzroy reserves in 1996 - that was the year Fitzroy folded. It was a pretty tough time.
I coached Victoria Country under 16s and under 18s for 10 years before taking over the role as the high-performance coach for both sides.
I've been heavily involved with recruiting for the Brisbane Lions for the last few years.
With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world and footy in lockdown, how are things going for Leon Harris?
We're in amazing times. It's all just a wait and see regarding the footy this season and how things pan out in the future.
I'm really loving my time in the recruiting role at the Brisbane Lions.
It's always exciting to see young players like Hugh McCluggage develop and mature.
Watching Hugh develop his skills is extra special because of his and my links with the Western District.
