When Bryce O'Garey packed his bags and left Hobart for Leeton at the end of 2010, it was only intended to be a 12-month sojourn for a 21-year-old looking to spread his wings.

Not for a second did the midfielder think he'd still be around in 2017 to not only captain the Crows to their first grand final win in 39 years, but also claim the Ron Hutchins Medal as best on ground.

A year after losing a grand final thriller in the wet to Wagga Tigers, the mercury almost reached 40 degrees in 2017 against Collingullie-Glenfield Park. The heat was on the Crows to defy history.

Three years later, as Leeton-Whitton look to repeat the dose against the Tigers in Saturday's AFL Riverina Championship decider, the pressure is not quite as intense.

O'Garey is still skipper, sharing the duties this season with Tom Meline, and the feeling of nostalgia has been evident with the shutdown of leagues due to COVID-19 resulting in a number of 2017 premiership players returning to the club.

Now 30, O'Garey is officially a Leeton local and met his wife, Jane, in the town of around 9000 people.

They have three children - Boston, five, Harper, three, and Ellie, six months.

"I thought I was coming up for a year," O'Garey said.

"I had a good job at the time and the lifestyle was a bit more relaxed than down home. We thought we'd stay for another year, but I've got three kids and am married now."

After finishing with the wooden spoon in last year's Riverina League, the Crows have effectively got the band back together.

When O'Garey looks around the dressing rooms and sees so many familiar faces from that glorious day in 2017, it fills him with belief they can claim another flag at Robertson Oval, and exact revenge on the Tigers for 2016.

"It's great memories and they'll last a lifetime. That's what you play footy for," he said.

"When we were warming up for our first game at Mangoplah I said to (fellow 2017 premiership player) Jayden Lehman 'it feels like a bit of a reunion'. It was a really good feeling.

"Most of them are training with us, they're all in town.

"Not just the 22 who played in 2017, but the 28 or so in that squad, you're going to have a special place in club history being remembered as the guys who broke that drought.

"It's always going to be there and have that extra special aspect about it.

"It's been good to have some of those guys back and get some professionalism off them, especially some of the boys who have been with the Canberra Demons playing NEAFL."

The 2017 decider was a closely-fought battle. The Demons led by five points at half-time, before the Crows rallied to build a five-point three-quarter time lead.

They nearly blew their hope by kicking 1.6 in the last term, but hung on to win by a goal.

"It was pretty much the same group that lost the grand final the year before, so if you didn't have enough motivation from that over the pre season you're doing something wrong," O'Garey said.

"Everyone was burning and itching to get going again. We set up really strong from the start and followed that through.

"We knew Collingullie were real strong and were going to fight until the end. We just thought it was destiny for us.

"It was pouring down rain against Wagga for three days beforehand the year before, the next year it was boiling hot about 37 degrees."

Leeton has a proud record of producing quality talents for such a small town, where the rugby codes are just as prevalent.

Jacob Hopper played for GWS Giants in last year's grand final, and his younger brother Sam will line up for the Crows on Saturday.

Then there's current Essendon player Jacob Townsend and other quality talents who have played in high level state leagues, including young gun Cooper Sharman who topped the competitions' goal-scoring tally.

The production chain isn't a fluke. For a couple of years the club struggled to attract experience but had a wealth of promising youngsters coming through their junior system.

There was some short term pain for a while, but the long term gain was the 2017 flag.

A few other recruits, including some more Tasmanians like current coach Daniel Muir, Matt Rainbird and 2017 premiership-winning coach Jade Hodge topped it off.

"They don't come overnight, you've got to put in a plan and work towards that," O'Garey said.

"Along the line if you pick up a few recruits to boost what you need to support that plan, it's a big help. In a small town like Leeton it's tough to get big recruits to move to town, especially if they've got partners and they want a secure job.

"It's hard to offer them what they want in a small place like here, but we've been lucky the last five or six years with people moving into town to play.

"One of the keys has been doing that to help support the juniors we've thrown into the deep end.

"We have very a very strong junior committee, and a very motivated team. Before COVID this year it was just packed down there all the time.

"I think we maxed out at 26 (with a player points allocation of 36), so we've got plenty of room to move with plenty of born and bred locals.

"It's unbelievable how much talent there is through the local juniors here. You can see the talent Cooper Sharman's got, he's going to be very stiff if he doesn't go somewhere by the end of the season."

O'Garey said the Ron Hutchins Medal was the icing on the cake, but it's the premiership medal he cherishes most.

"I was super proud individually to get that, but after the game all of us getting a premiership medal means a lot more," he said.

"But they had to pick someone out, and I probably got a bit lucky having watched the game a few times since with the boys. Jayden Lehman probably got robbed a bit, but I'll take it."

After last week's 41-point preliminary final win over Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong, club legend Carl Blackburn was emotional as he entered the sheds to kickstart the team song, which he does after every win.

It reminded O'Garey of the tears Blackburn shed three years ago, and that winning flags is a combined club effort.

"He was in tears again on the weekend when he came in to kick off the team song for us, that's just how much it means to him," O'Garey said.

"He organises the jumpers and team sheets, one of those people every club has.

"That's what keeps clubs alive, people like that. And to pay them back with some success now, they probably enjoy it more than us really."

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