Australian Football

Keith Leach was a dominant and highly-regarded tap ruckman with Wilston-Grange who might have enjoyed an even more distinguished career but for a serious knee injury in 1964. He made his senior debut in 1957 and impressed immediately, being runner-up in the Grogan Medal, an award he eventually won in 1961 and again in 1962. That was in addition to numerous club Best and Fairest awards and The Courier-Mail Player of the Year Award in 1960. 

Playing with Western Suburbs in the Sydney competition in 1966 and 1967 after moving south for business reasons, Leach won a premiership, the club Best and Fairest and finished third in the Phelan Medal in 1966. He returned ‘home’ in time to play in Grange’s 1969 premiership side. A permanent member of the Queensland side from 1957 to 1964, Leach also played in the only NSW side of his era that beat Queensland.

After retirement he became a successful businessman and actively promoted the game, becoming a long-term sponsor of the QAFL via his company, Leach Motors. That support continued when his Orchid Beach Resort funded a week long camp on Fraser Island for the first Brisbane Bears playing group. He coached in junior primary school competitions in his spare time and served as a president and committeeman at Wilston Grange.

Keith Leach was honoured in 2003 when he was named on the interchange bench for the Queensland Team of the Century.

Author - Murray Bird and Peter Blucher