Alex Jesaulenko could not have known that this was his final game in a Carlton guernsey. But as he hobbled to the podium to take receipt of a handshake and a hunk of silverware from the then Victorian Governor Sir Henry Winnecke, the man in the No.25 guernsey knew that this was his finest hour.

Jesaulenko, League football's last premiership captain-coach, had just commandeered Carlton to its 12th premiership in a nail-biter over Tom Hafey's Collingwood outfit - 11.16 (82) to 11.11 (77) - in the gluepot that was the MCG on Grand final day '79.

Within a matter of months, Jesaulenko's illustrious tenure at Princes Park - which took in four Grand Final victories and a club best and fairest through 256 matches and 13 seasons, would be brought asunder amid the calamitous events of the club's power struggle on a barmy evening at Festival Hall.

Though he made the game look easy as a player of prodigious talent, Jesaulenko was Spartan in his training methods through the course of his coaching tenure. Ask any member of Carlton's famed "Mosquito Fleet" of '79 and they'll all tell you they lived in fear of the ramifications of a  loss - like the full-scale practice matches on the following Tuesday night, and the brutal one-on-one contests their coach mercilessly imposed as penance.

But it was all worth it well and truly, and as ‘Jezza’ himself told reporters afterwards the 1979 Grand Final was, “without doubt my greatest moment”. But not before the President, George Harris turned the knife, piping up with the truly unforgettable quip: “What’s better than beating Collingwood by 10 goals? Beating them by five points … in a Grand Final”.

Jesaulenko's imprint upon Carlton was indelible, particularly upon the young group of footballers who would be there again in the back-to-back premiership years of 1981 and '82 under David Parkin.

And at Etihad Stadium on Thursday, August 27, at a luncheon acknowledging the 30th anniversary of his remarkable feat, Jesaulenko will be there with members of the triumphant '79 team to relive history, in what was yet another triumph over the hapless black and whites.

Spirit of Carlton - PAST & PRESENT
“Last Ever Captain-Coach”
Premiership 1979 Luncheon
Thursday 27th August 2009, 12.00pm
“The Victory Room” Etihad Stadium, Docklands
Price: $170.00 All Inclusive
Dress: Lounge Suit
For further information CLICK HERE.