'A man of action': Crouch remembered for decades of dedication to Saints

Garry 'Crouchy' Crouch passed away last Tuesday, aged 59, after a long and brave battle with brain cancer.

Described as the 'heartbeat' of the Saints, Crouch is being remembered for his hard-working and selfless approach that saw him serve the club for 41 years with a minimum of fuss.

A two-time premiership player as a tough, speedy rover, Crouch won North Wagga's best and fairest in 1986 and was beaten on a countback on one other occasion throughout a fine career.

But it was off the field where Crouch would go on to make his biggest mark at McPherson Oval, with his passion for the game and junior development helping the Saints to where they are today.

Former North Wagga president Brendan Nilsen paid tribute to his great mate.

"What attracted us to him is his loyalty, his passion and his selflessness. He's just selfless, and he was there all the time," Nilsen said.

"He's won so many awards and the reason he has because he's done everything. From junior president, coaching in nearly every grade, he was Auskick coordinator for years, team manager, you name it.

"His kids finished and he still stayed. He was there at 8 o'clock in the morning, putting the hats out, doing the timekeeping. Just anything that needed to be done was done.

"He was a man of action. Not 'let's talk about it for three weeks and then nominate someone to do it', just get it done. And when times were tough and we didn't have many people, he was there.

"He was a family man, very family orientated. He loves his family, he was very supportive."

Crouch arrived at North Wagga from Ganmain as a 19-year-old in 1983.

He started out in second grade but went on to become an important part of North Wagga's first grade team and enjoyed premiership success in 1991 and 1992.

It was his involvement in the juniors after his playing days were done that made the biggest impact.

Nilsen was in awe of his passion for the North Wagga juniors.

"What really struck me was how he could talk about an under 10s kid coming through as equally as passionately about what he would talk about a senior guy who was retiring and had done it all," Nilsen recalled.

"A good example was that we would talk about (2019 premiership coach) Kirk Hamblin, we talked a few times about him, but yet Garry's enthusiasm for a young kid coming through that could be the future of the club was just as great, he was already onto it."

Crouch coached just about every age group at North Wagga. He was Auskick coordinator and even coached the Saints' 17.5s a couple of seasons back.

Nilsen said Crouch would go above and beyond for the kids.

"He would pick players up, drive around and pick them up for training," Nilsen said.

"Four or five players that I know of couldn't come to training because they didn't have mum or dad to drive them. He would just go and get them and then he would drop them off after.

"That's how he rolled."

Long-time North Wagga secretary Rod Sheedy said Crouch also played a pivotal part in the junior and senior club merging in 2017.

"He was one of those guys who always put in, was always working for the club," Sheedy said.

"He was always coaching the kids. For North Wagga, one of his biggest contributions was with umpiring and getting the kids umpiring.

"He also played a big part in combining the senior and junior clubs."

AFL Riverina chairman Michael Irons said the game was poorer for the loss of Crouch.

"Garry was as passionate as they come about footy, especially about providing opportunities for kids to play footy," Irons said.

"He was also a very caring person and outside of footy, would check in on people and how they were.

"We've been very fortunate to have Garry contribute to our game and we are poorer for his loss."

Crouch is survived by his wife Deb and children Bronte, Julia and Isaac. His funeral will be held at 1.30pm on Friday at the Alan Harris McDonald Chapel.