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Footy stars align for local hospice

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Glen Jakovich will be going one-on-one with Mark LeCras on Saturday night.
Camera IconGlen Jakovich will be going one-on-one with Mark LeCras on Saturday night. Credit: The West Australian, Getty

Mark LeCras joined the West Coast Eagles when the club was at the peak of its powers on the field and at one of its lowest ebbs off-field.

When he retired 13 years later in 2018, the Eagles were again tasting premiership success, but the working environment was very different.

Club great Glen Jakovich, who will go one-on-one with LeCras in Albany on Saturday night, said the small forward was one of the figures who steered the club out of the darkness.

“It was completely different culture-wise by then. It’s a very good story,” Jakovich said.

“He’s one of the people who helped lead that club out of a pretty toxic place.”

The two West Coast premiership stars from different eras will come together this weekend to raise money for the Albany Community Hospice in its 30th anniversary year.

Jakovich is a mainstay of the annual footy stars weekend, having visited Albany to raise money for the hospice on seven previous occasions. The AFL Hall of Fame star has made a habit of bringing with him a fellow WA football champion.

Last year, special guest Josh Kennedy was a huge hit in the wake of the 2018 grand final triumph.

Jakovich said he hoped Kennedy’s good friend LeCras — who might feel more willing to share insights in retirement — could keep that momentum going.

The pair will host a dinner with auctions at the Motel Le Grande on Saturday night before the annual charity golf day at the Albany Golf Club on Sunday.

The golf day is sold out but there are still tickets available for the dinner through Motel Le Grande.

The pair will also drop in on the hospice, where Jakovich is hoping to make a long-awaited breakthrough.

“I’ve been bugging them for the last seven years but the ladies still have not given me the recipe for their homemade sausage rolls,” he said.

“I can tell you, they are the best sausage rolls ever and I’m going to be wolfing them down again.”

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