LATE on the afternoon of Saturday, September 29, 1979, Alex Jesaulenko joined Peter Jones on the podium to raise Carlton’s 12^th Premiership Cup to the heavens.

Though he wasn’t to know it then, ‘Jezza’ had just crowned his 13^th season with his 256^th and final senior appearance for Carlton, as the last man of any League club to captain and coach his team to Grand Final victory on the game’s greatest day.

At that moment, Jesaulenko stood in triumph in his muddied, match-worn No.25 guernsey with the famous interlocking letters of the CFC monogram and the woven VFL and Avco badges on his chest.

This week, 40 years after the event, the back-up guernsey ‘Jezza’ had in his keep on Grand Final day 1979 has been generously forwarded to the club on permanent loan.

The guernsey handover was completed by the family of a former Carlton football staff member who officiated at the club through the ’79 season. The staffer, who prefers to remain nameless, was given the precious item by one of the club’s property stewards in the Carlton rooms at the MCG, minutes after the final siren signalled the Blues’ five-point triumph over Collingwood, 11.16 (82) – to 11.11 (77).

Twenty-nine days later, the new owner presented the guernsey to his Carlton-supporting younger brother as an 18^th birthday present – and it’s remained in the keep of that man who relocated to Western Australia 33 years ago.

“For the first 13 years I kept the guernsey tucked away in a drawer, but 20 years ago I got it framed and for the past ten years displayed it at my workplace in East Fremantle,” the owner, now 58, said this week.

“The guernsey always drew attention, particularly amongst the many VFL/AFL players and WAFL players who visited the premises. The invariable comment was ‘That looks like a real jumper, whose was it?’, and when I told them who and why they always reacted positively.”

The Governor, Sir Henry Winnecke applauds as Peter Jones and Alex Jesaulenko savour a famous victory, their last as Carlton players

The owner said that while he wanted Jezza’s jumper to remain with the family as custodians, “we’re all equally happy for the club to display the guernsey, so that all Carlton supporters and visitors to the club can appreciate it as much as we have”.

“The guernsey was a great birthday gift to me,” the man said. “It belonged to a great player and is a symbol of Carlton’s great history.

“This is a view shared by my own children, who will be more than happy to continue to share the guernsey long after I’m gone.”

It is anticipated that Jesaulenko’s guernsey will be displayed at the club’s spiritual home, Ikon Park.