The Redlegs orchestrated a heart-stopping comeback against Stanhope last weekend, overcoming a 23-point half-time deficit to clinch a nail-biting one-point victory with a stellar seven-goal-to-three second half.
With one game separating fifth-placed Longwood to ninth-placed Violet Town, it’s a pivotal result in Longwood’s quest for a long-awaited finals appearance.
And the Redlegs’ prospects have received a mid-season boost in the form of a 1300-goal spearhead.
Former AFL man and local footy legend Shane Harvey laced up the boots for Longwood and wasted no time on debut, booting a game-high four goals.
The instant impact should come as no surprise to those who know of his exploits.
The former Essendon and North Melbourne forward – the brother of Roos legend Brent – has booted 100-plus goals on seven occasions across Victoria and is the only player in the Melbourne-based Northern Football League’s history to cross the 1000-goal mark, doing so for North Heidelberg.
It’s those NFL connections that have pulled him across to Longwood, where he has reportedly committed to playing for the season.
“We’ve got a number of Heidelberg connections and they’re all in that same group,” Longwood president Ricki Shiner said.
“He’s in for the season; he’s got family connections at Longwood, so they’d been talking about this for the last four or five years.
“It’s been on the radar for a long time, but it was just about everything lining up.”
Like Longwood, Harvey took some time to find his groove in the stirring Lions victory, but when he did his class was evident according to Redlegs coach Jordan Formosa.
And that class will be invaluable when they welcome 2024 grand finalist Shepparton East to Longwood.
“We had played some poor footy for two-and-a-half quarters (against Stanhope) and got ourselves into a bad position, but we had the belief to get back in it,” Formosa said.
“We worked hard to get it our way in the last quarter and then it fell our way.
“(Shepp East) are a team we’ll need to compete well against and we’ll have to do that against those top two or three teams to give ourselves a chance.”
Off the field, Longwood prepares to welcome its high-profile addition to the President’s Luncheon, with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon making the journey to Redlegs’ home.
“The President’s Luncheon is on this weekend with Andrew Dillon as the guest speaker, which is probably something that’s never been seen in country Victoria,” Shiner said.
The event, featuring the AFL’s leading executive since 2023, will take place from noon-2pm with tickets available via the events page on Longwood’s Facebook page.
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