Leslie has been named in a back pocket in the O and M’s Team of the Past 25 Years.

The league will name three teams on March 2, along with the football Team of the Century (1893-1992) and netball’s Team of the Past 25 Years (1993-2018).

The strength of the modern-day football side is reflected in the fact All-Australian Leslie was forced to the back pocket after a stellar 18-year career.

The fitness fanatic moved between defence and attack and spent many years as the Hoppers’ Mr Fix It.

He starred in the club’s 2004 grand final loss to a star-studded Wodonga and the Swans came calling.

“They were looking at a key defender, they looked at me and another bloke, they ended up taking Guy Campbell, who I ended up playing Vic Country with,” Leslie said.

“He was a bit taller than me and that was the deciding factor.”

Leslie always felt his height (188cms) counted against him.

“You look at them now (heightwise) and that’s a midfielder, rather than key position, Guy Campbell was probably six-foot four (inches) (193cms) or six-foot five (196),” he said.

Leslie played for Perth in 2005 with an eye towards making the elite level.

“There was a little sniff there of AFL (in making the move), but predominantly it was just to play at the higher level and test myself,” he said.

So the then 23-year-old resumed his time at North, finishing as the club’s only 300-gamer in last year’s final round win over Corowa-Rutherglen.

He was a premiership player at North in 2002, but it’s a three-time winner he rates the best he played with “by a mile”.

“'Hoggy' (Travis Hodgson) was so tough, he could do the shutdown role at fullback, he could play off half-back and pick up 45 (disposals), he was just really intimidating, he was great to play alongside, I learnt my craft from ‘Hoggy’," he said.

Tickets for the gala event are through the clubs.