Neagle’s funeral at the Walla sportsground took over the town with 1984 premiership coach Kevin Sheedy and players Simon Madden, Terry Daniher, Tim Watson, Mark Thompson, Paul Van der Haar and Mark Harvey attending.

Essendon chairman David Evans, chief executive Ian Robson and club doctor Bruce Reid were also on hand to farewell Neagle, who was killed in a truck incident near Griffith 10 days ago.

The funeral was the biggest in Walla since legendary sports administrator Des Kennedy died in the early 1990s.

Essendon broke a 19-year drought when it beat Hawthorn at the MCG in 1984 with Neagle kicking the final goal of a last-quarter blitz.

One of his great on-field adversaries, Hawks great and Brownlow medallist, Robert DiPierdomenico was also at the funeral.

An injured Neagle didn’t play in the 1985 win and then left Windy Hill for Sydney.

Another Brownlow medallist, Greg Williams, Barry Mitchell, Dennis Carroll, Tony Morwood, Steve Taubert and Bernard Toohey were among Neagle’s former Sydney teammates present.

The 90-minute service began with a song from Neagle’s niece, Jessica, before tribute poems were read by two of his children, Stacey and Nathan.

Eulogies were delivered by his brother, Sid, Daniher, van der Haar and Carroll. They reminisced about his laid-back approach to life, his competitiveness on the field and his penchant for travel which took him to clubs all over Australia after his VFL career.

A large contingent of players and supporters from Balranald were among the clubs to pay tribute to Neagle.

“He was like a lot of you guys out there,” Daniher said.

“He was a country boy who loved Saturdays to just get out and play footy or cricket and then get in and be with his mates.

“To me that epitomised Merv, he was a champion bloke — a great bloke to be around.”

Neagle played 147 games for Essendon and 56 with Sydney to finish with 203 in a career in which he was runner-up in the Brownlow Medal.

Neagle was recruited to the Swans, along with Williams and Toohey, by controversial owner of the Swans Dr Geoff Edelsten.

Carroll said the former Bomber had made an instant impact at Sydney.

“As a young Bombers fan in the Riverina, I first became aware of Merv Neagle in the mid-1970s,” he said.

“A few years later when I arrived at South Melbourne in 1981, I played against the Bombers.

“I was genuinely in awe of Essendon with their superstars.

“On one wing was M. Neagle and D. Rhys-Jones who would proceed to belt the crap out of each other from minute one to minute 100.

“He was a big-game player and outstanding during our finals campaigns at the Swans.”

After the service, Neagle’s coffin was loaded on the back of Van der Haar’s ute and taken on a lap of honour of the Walla sportsground where he had been coach this season.

His children Stacey, Jay, Jydon, Nathan, Matthew and Jaxon rode in the back of the ute.

Neagle is also survived by his wife Donna, whom he married in 1996.