It has been a tough week for the successful Riverina League club with the passing of McCaig on Tuesday and there will be no shortage of emotion when the Lions run out onto Ganmain Sportsground.

Luke Walsh is one of the elder statesmen of the GGGM team and played in the premierships that McCaig oversaw as president.

He said the current-day Lions will be out to do as much as they can to honour the ultimate clubman on Sunday.

“It will be (emotional), Keggy was a pretty well respected bloke around the whole league really, and very much loved in our club especially,” Walsh said.

“He was one of those blokes that was always putting his hand up to help out and happy to do it. He was always doing something for the club to try and bring it forward and have success.”

Walsh said McCaig was one of the major reasons behind the Lions’ golden era in the late 2000s, that saw four straight flags.

“I reckon he’s one of the reasons we were able to recruit so many good players when we had those pretty good teams and were winning the flags,” Walsh said.

“When you have a bloke like Keggy talking to players, it certainly helps.”

The Lions went ahead with training on Wednesday night, despite the tough circumstances.

“We trained but had a few away obviously. It was a pretty flat feeling to begin the night but we talked about it, and said that we’re here now and we may as well try to get something out of it,” he said.

“Keggy always wanted us to work hard, play hard and play to win and it turned out to be a good night in the end, even though we had a few missing, everyone put in.”

McCaig was a father of four, and his son Jack plays in the senior team.

Walsh said there is no expectation for any of the kids to play football or netball this week, but said the entire club is behind them regardless.

“I’m not sure if (Jack) will play or not. I imagine it would be pretty tough to after the week he’s had,” Walsh said. 

“If he does decide to, we will all have his back and we will all be supporting him. The best thing for him would be to get a kick early, we’ll be looking for him to try and get him a kick early on.

“If he does play, he’s a fairly competitive player so he will want to get in, have a crack and do his old man proud.”

While there is much emotion, Walsh added that the importance of a win over Griffith this weekend is not lost on the Lions, as they look to cement themselves in the top five.