Mooroopna’s Haisman Shield triumphs of 1998-99 and 2003-04 were celebrated at the clubrooms during the football club’s home game against Shepparton.
Shane Hughan featured in both A-grade premierships and despite relocating to Geelong, he was more than happy to help organise the joint 15 and 20-year reunion.
‘‘It was a really fun night and it was great to rekindle with your former teammates and reflect on the success we shared together,’’ Hughan said.
‘‘As well as the two premiership reunions, we combined past players into the night, so it was great to see a lot of familiar faces.
‘‘I feel it’s important for clubs to hold reunions and celebrate past glory — maintaining the connection with former players is vital.
‘‘It’s really great for us to always have those memories together.’’
On the night all but one from the 2003-04 premiership attended and six returned to celebrate the 1998-99 flag — with a past player’s birthday coinciding with the event.
The captain of the 2003-04 flag said the highlights of the night were definitely the stories that got retold from both grand final wins.
‘‘We have always joked that the 03-04 three-wicket win over Central Park was probably the catalyst for them to go on and dominant the league for the next 10 years,’’ Hughan said.
‘‘And in 98-99, I was only 16, but we had the opposition nine wickets down chasing 150-odd, still with the next day to play.
‘‘But Sunday was rained out and we actually had to come back the following weekend and we actually ended up having a few celebratory drinks that night.
‘‘When we rocked up on the following Saturday, we were only out there for about three minutes and got the final wicket to win.’’
