FOUR-TIME premiership coach and official Legend of the Game Ron Barassi will be among the stars of AFL Grand Final day when he will present the Jock McHale Medal to the coach of the winning team.
AFL Chief Executive Officer Andrew Demetriou took possession of the 2008 Premiership Cup on Monday when the League formally launched this year’s Toyota AFL Finals Series at the MCG.
The league also announced the key football identities who will present the various major awards through September, with Barassi headlining the stellar cast set to play major roles on footy’s biggest day.
Barassi coached Melbourne, Carlton, North Melbourne and Sydney for 514 games in all between 1964-1995, winning premierships with the Blues in 1968 and 1970 and then with the Kangaroos in 1975 and 1977. He was named an inaugural Legend of the Game in 1996.
While Barassi will present the Jock McHale Medal to the victorious Grand Final coach, Tony Shaw – best afield in the 1990 Grand Final – will present the Norm Smith Medal to this year's best on ground.
And the former Magpie great admitted he would still feel the butterflies despite his match-day duties long since having passed.
“I’m a bit nervous about it really,” Shaw said when asked how he was feeling about having to present the Norm Smith Medal.
“That was 18 years ago [that I won it],” Shaw said.
“I’m looking forward to it because since I gave away coaching I’ve been sitting up in the stands behind glass and, you still get the goosebumps before the game but I’m looking forward to it just to get as close as you can, to seeing someone get the enjoyment that I had when I won it.”
The Premiership Cup on Grand Final Day will be presented to the winning team by a legend of the club, with the presenters to be confirmed once the Grand Final teams are known.
Former North Melbourne champion and Shinboner of the Century, Glenn Archer, will act as the AFL’s official Ambassador for the premiership cup.
Mr Demetriou also announced that Amanda Harrison and Lucy Durack, the lead stars in the musical production Wicked, would perform the national anthem before this year's grand final.
