Australian Football

East Keilor

After five seasons as a purely junior club East Keilor fielded a senior team for the first time in 1971. That same season saw the club relocate from the diminutive Quinn Grove Oval to its present home ground of the Overland Reserve.

The club’s first senior premiership was won in 1979, in B Grade. A second B Grade flag arrived in 1992, and this was a prelude to a brief but noteworthy spell of success which included a losing A Grade grand final in 1993 followed the very next year by the club’s only A Grade premiership to date. The victorious side was coached by former Footscray player Peter Baxter.

Quite a number of V/AFL footballers either commenced their careers at East Keilor, or spent some time with the club before progressing to the game’s elite level. Among the most noteworthy of these have been the Essendon duo of Mark Harvey and Gary Young, Carlton’s Rohan Welsh, David Calthorpe (Essendon and Brisbane), Matthew Hogg (Footscray and Carlton), and Glen Manton (Essendon and Carlton).

East Keilor endured a woeful time in 2006, with the seniors losing all 18 A Grade matches contested, and the reserves faring only slightly better, managing just 1 win. Needless to say, both teams finished with the wooden spoon.

The 2007 season brought some improvement, albeit in B Grade, with the seniors finishing in tenth place (out of 14) with a 5-11 record, and the reserves also finishing tenth with 6 wins. Highlight of the year for the Cougars was Cameron Munro’s success in claiming the B Grade best and fairest award. It was a similar story in 2008 with Daniel Bonnici’s Hutchison Medal win the highlight of an otherwise unmemorable year. Fortunes then nosedived.

The past decade has seen the Cougars spend most of their time in the EDFL's third tier competition known nowadays as DivisionTwo. The undoubted highlights came in 2012, 2014 and 2016 when they claimed Division Two premierships. In 2012 East Keilor overcame Moonee Valley in the grand final by 8 points, 11.10 (76) to 10.8 (68). Two years later, following relegation from Division One, the Cougars won 16 out of 18 Division Two home and away matches to qualify for the finals in second position, a win behind minor premiers Roxburgh Park. They then surged to the premiership on the strength of convincing "straight sets" wins over the Magpies, by 46 points in the second semi final and 28 points a fortnight later in the grand final. The 2015 season saw East Keilor struggle manfully in Division One only to end up succumbing to relegation back to Division Two. They then bounced back in superb fashion, again qualifying for a Division Two clash with Roxburgh Park and going on to repeat their success of two years earlier with scores of 13.8 (86) to 11.10 (76). The 2017 season saw them manage half a dozen Division One wins to finish eighth before improving by one place a year later. The improvement continued in 2019 as the Cougars qualified for the finals in pole position and went on to reach the flag decider. There was a disappointing sting in the tail, however, as opponents Craigieburn won comfortably with scores of 13.17 (95) to 8.16 (64).