Yarrawonga's Matthew Holgate looks to win flag after dad's 1989 victory

Matt Holgate played in the Pigeons' upset 16-point win over Wodonga in 1989 and his son will also be part of the underdogs against Wangaratta at Lavington Sportsground.

Matt had been away from the club over the last five years as his son and daughter attended school and university in Melbourne.

"We were driving down to watch sport, but it's been great to be involved again and watch the footy club weekly," Matt suggested,

His son, who turns 22 on Monday, played in the Amateurs.

"Coming back to country footy is so much better than what I was doing in Melbourne, just the sense of community at the club because once you finish the game, everyone will hang together and then there's recovery on the Sunday," Matthew explained.

A strongly built defender at 192cms and 92kgs, Holgate had no intentions of playing football after June.

"I planned to go over to Europe, but the price of flights went up so much, I ended up calling it quits, I'll look to do it later on," he offered.

Holgate started in the reserves, but forced his way into seniors and his size is crucial to the Pigeons' hopes of stopping Wangaratta's power forwards Callum Moore, Ben Reid and Michael Newton.

"I played on Moore in the first half (in the second semi) and then he moved into the ruck, so I had Newton in the second half," he revealed.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The Sextons (father Damian, sons Jack and Will) are also after the same double.

To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: