Border and North East football families share connection to AFL grand finalists Sydney and Geelong

A standout season with Albury in the Ovens and Murray league in 1954 was enough to earn him trials with the Cats and Fitzroy and he was picked up by the former in 1955.

His five seasons at Geelong were separated by a year of national service in 1956, but Barton enjoyed every moment of his 38-game career alongside some of the club's greats.

"It was a great experience and I was with a pretty good mob of blokes," he said.

"I played with Bernie Smith who was a Brownlow Medallist (in 1951), Bobby Davis, Peter Pianto, Neil Trezise and Ron Hovey, who went on to be president of the club for a long time.

"There was a lot of quality players there because they won grand finals in 1951 and '52 and I went there in '55.

"A lot of those players were still there and it was a great experience for me just to be with them. I was only 18 and a lot of them were pretty big names.

"I played with the Albury seniors in 1954 and then got invited down to Fitzroy and Geelong in 1955.

"One of the reasons I didn't go to Fitzroy is because it was in the city, where Geelong was more like the country."

Upon his return to the club in 1957, he made the transition from back pocket to the midfield and has very fond memories of that time.

Now living at Wangaratta, Barton has been a member of Geelong's past players' club since his VFL retirement and always kept a close eye on his beloved Cats.

"I went back and played the next three years and my wife came from Albury and I wanted her to come down and experience some of the highlights of league footy. She enjoyed those three years as much as I did," he added.

"I didn't want to be there by myself and have all the accolades that came with it, I wanted her to be part of it.

"At the end of 1959, I was offered more money to play in the country, which was the done thing back then. Money was hard to come by, so I left and went to Cobram and stayed there for a long time.

"I played in a couple of grand finals there and coached there. I also coached at Yarroweyah and got into two grand finals and lost them. I was a non-playing coach in 1985 and we won the grand final that year."

Barton's older brothers George and Bill also got to experience league football, the former played nine games in 1956 with Hawthorn, while the latter made two senior appearances for North Melbourne.

Both went on to forge impressive careers in the bush.

"Bill played two games with North Melbourne and didn't like it, so he went back home," Barton said.

"He played with North Albury and coached in the Hume league and won about five grand finals with three different teams.

"My other brother George had one year at Hawthorn and played nine games, but he didn't like it either and played in the Tallangatta league for a long time.

"George passed away with cancer in 1977 and they named the Barton Medal after him in the league."

Barton's children grew up loving football, particularly his daughter, Kylie, who had to wait until she was in her 40s to get her opportunity.

"My daughter Kylie is at Wangaratta now and she captained the Wang Rovers' ladies team when they first started," he said.

"She had three brothers and they all played football and the women weren't allowed to, so she wanted to fulfil that ambition.

"She played for a couple years and retired, but she's still on the committee at the club and has enjoyed it."

Barton will watch the Cats take on Sydney in Saturday's decider with family in Torquay and is quietly confident they can get the job done.

"I'm not being biased at all, but they're playing the best footy I've seen them play since 2007," he said.

"They won by 10 goals last week which is pretty telling in finals and it was a pretty tough game for the Swans. They might run out of a bit of power after half-time.

"If they do win, we might go down to Kardinia Park on Sunday and see what's going on because we went to the 2007 celebrations down there and had a ball."

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Corowa's Fred Longmire has experienced the highs and lows through his son, John, who enters his fourth grand final as coach of Sydney.

A win came in his first attempt in 2012, but was followed by losses in 2014 to Hawthorn and 2016 to the Western Bulldogs.

"With the experience of that journey, he will go into the game well prepared and there's not much more you can do," Fred said.

"You only play as well as the other blokes let you, so if Sydney are switched on, and there's no reason they can't be, they'll have a chance.

"At the moment the ratio is in favour of the loss, so we just hope he can win another one and square the ledger up.

"He missed out the 1996 premiership with North Melbourne because he had a double knee operation that year, he played in four losing preliminary finals and his last game was in 1999 when North Melbourne played Carlton and they won it."

Fred has been to every grand final John has been involved in and said the feeling is similar watching him as a player and as a coach.

"You're always nervous in both instances, but his philosophy as a coach is to take it all on board and enjoy the opportunity," he said.

"It's probably the same watching him as a player and as a coach because it's so important to so many people.

"People say it's only a game, but when you're up close to the job you see a lot of anxiety and frustration and the good times as well.

"There's a lot of sacrifices to get to this point and if they can get a hold of it, it will be very much appreciated.

"There's been a bit of a changing of the guard with the players he had for such a long time and now he's got a fresh batch and it's pretty exciting.

"He really loves coaching them and teaching them. He said in the hubs the last two years he enjoyed having everyone around him and I think that's where they have gelled and they've come on so quickly."

Fred had his heart in his mouth last weekend as the Swans held on to defeat Collingwood by one point in the preliminary final, before he watched his grandson, Jedd, win through to the Ovens and Murray thirds grand final by the same margin the next day.

"It was a quite an anxious weekend of footy," he added.

"We'll be in Melbourne this weekend and then get back to Lavington at nine o'clock on Sunday morning to watch Jedd in the grand final."

From his conversations with John this week, it's been business as usual.

"We generally don't talk much footy, I probably talk more about farming and the crops," Fred said.

"I let him know about the other members of the family playing footy and netball. I've got eight grandkids and they're all participating in either footy or netball.

"I just try to talk about normal things rather than pressure things."

Also at the 'G today will be Farrer MP Sussan Ley, who has barracked for the Swans for 20 years.

She was in the stands in 2016 when the Bloods last appeared in a grand final and lost to the Western Bulldogs.

"It was a super disappointing result," Ms Ley said.

At that time she was federal sport minister.

She also is an admirer of John Longmire and was rapt he accepted her invitation to visit Finley and speak at the local football club last December.

The pair share an interest in rural communities and mental health.

There's also a North East connection to the Swans camp with Bright's Sam Reid in his third AFL grand final.

Older brother Ben, a Collingwood premiership player and now coach of Ovens and Murray club Wangaratta, is hopeful Sam can have a big impact on the contest after his place in the side was in doubt due to a groin injury sustained in the preliminary final.

"I'm just rapt for him because at the start of the year he was probably wondering if he was going to get a game or not and to turn it around like he has and be in a position to win a grand final, I couldn't be prouder and happier for him," Ben said.

"I speak to him every couple of days and in terms of his footy, he's just been trying to get himself right this week after a groin niggle in the preliminary final.

"The first thing I thought when it happened was, if they win, he might miss a grand final. They were up by 30 points or so at that stage.

"He's confident he's going to be right. He's got the best people looking after him, so I'm sure he'll be ready."

With a grand final of his own to prepare for on Sunday with Wangaratta, Ben won't make the trip to Melbourne on Saturday.

"It will be different. I wish I could get down there but it's three-and-a-half hours from Bright and to then come back and play the next day is not ideal," he said.

"I'll be sitting on the couch watching it and barracking for the Swans and hopefully they can win the flag.

"Mum and dad will be down there and Sam's wife and kids from Sydney.

"I think they're the best days of the year, grand final days, and it will be a really enjoyable one.

"It was a bit weird watching the prelim last week. I wanted Sam to play well and have a shot at playing in a grand final, but at the same time I've got a lot of close mates at the Pies and I wanted them to win as well.

"Sam will have the bragging rights (with premierships) if he gets up this weekend and hopefully he does."

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