Border Mail | CULCAIRN has announced its best team from the past 25 years.
The only criteria to be eligible for selection was a player had to have spent a minimum of two years at the club.
Neville Hensel has been named coach, with power forward Andrew Robertson his captain.
Hensel coached the Lions from 1989-92, including their 1990 flag triumph in the Tallangatta league.
The wiry wingman/forward is regarded one of Culcairn’s best exports after also playing in Albury’s 1982 premiership and notching 99 matches with the Tigers.
Hensel said it was a huge honour to be named coach of his junior club’s best team of the past quarter-century.
“I was a bit surprised to be honest,” Hensel said.
“But coaching my home town to the flag in 1990 is one of my most cherished football moments.
“It was made all the more special because everyone in the side with the exception of Mick Stagg was connected to the town.
“Most went to school at Culcairn and if they didn’t, lived in Culcairn at some stage.”
Robertson made his senior debut for Culcairn as a 16-year-old in 1989, winning two flags in 1990 and 1993.
Alongside Clint Brown, the strong marking forward is among a select few to have won three best and fairests with the Lions.
The star-studded line-up boasts four Azzi medallists, with Scott McGrath, Michael Killeen, Brent Barber and Graham Fruean all taking out the Hume league’s highest individual honour.
Tough as nails defender Michael Brown also made the team on the interchange.
Brown is considered one of the toughest Lions of his era — he once broke his jaw in the opening quarter against Bethanga in the early 1990s before playing out the remainder of the match.
Culcairn won flags in 1990, 1993 and 2007 and also finished runner-up in 1992, 1995, 2005 and 2010.
The seniors and reserves will wear one-off guernseys against Rand-Walbundrie on Saturday, which will be auctioned off at an after match function.