Ken Melville is a 90-year-old retired Presbyterian church minister who lives on the other side of the country. But in the past week, since Melbourne won its way into the AFL grand final, he has become somewhat of a celebrity in football circles. All the way back to Echuca and he is the inspiration for the blue-and-red painted gate on the property of Hugh and Lauri Melville. Hugh is the great nephew of Ken, a two-time premiership player with Melbourne. "Hugh's family are Melbourne through and through, I am somewhat of a ring-in,” Lauri said. "Ken is certainly one of the reasons the family is such big supporters. "The gate is our way of supporting the team." Lauri and Hugh's three children, eight-year-old Edward, Alex, 6, and four-year-old Anna, will be watching the television on Saturday night for the Demons’ first grand final since 2000. Ken Melville is the great-great uncle of the devoted Demons fans, who have had an exciting lead-up to the game of their own. "The kids were part of a Zoom session with (Melbourne players) Christian Salem and Bailey Fritsch,” Lauri said. "I registered them and they were able to send in some questions, then got to watch as the contributed questions were asked." She said the three spent half an hour glued to the computer screen, which apparently attracted almost 1000 children (and no doubt some adult fans watching on in the background). Ari the dog and Tippy the cat have also been caught up in all the excitement of grand final day. The kids have never met their great-great uncle, who was the first ever Melbourne footballer to win a Keith "Bluey" Truscott Medal (for the club's best and fairest player) in his first year. He played 71 games between 1953 and 1956, including back-to-back premierships in 1955-56, a centreman highly regarded by legendary coach of the time Norm Smith. Smith was a six-time premiership coach of the club, including its last premiership, 57 years ago in 1964. The club is hoping to end what has always been referred to as the "Norm Smith Curse'’, which was created after Smith was sacked, and later reinstated, as coach of the club. Ken Melville quit football suddenly after the 1956 season to become a priest and, in 1973, led the funeral service for Smith — his boyhood idol — as the Melbourne faithful celebrated the man whose name is on the medal given to the AFL grand final's best player. Melbourne won another three flags soon after Ken's retirement, in 1957, 1959 and 1960.Smith made an interesting initial assessment of Ken as a footballer. He said, toThe Age newspaper, at the end of the 1953 season, "At first glance Melville does not look a good player. He is an ungainly strider and not a good track horse. "However, in a game he is deceptively fast and is always in position to find the ball. "In addition, he is a brainy player and by the time he gets the ball he already knows what he intends to do with it. "Melville is a remarkably courageous player, one of the most courageous players I have seen. "He's a quiet chap, he loves to talk football and analyse a game. His opinions are very sound, too." As for the Melville children, Edward — as you might imagine by his name — is a big fan of Ed Langdon, and Christian Petracca. Max Gawn is Alex's favourite, while Anna has climbed aboard the Langdon bandwagon with her eldest brother. The Echuca family is not the only Melville family to have brought out the paint brushes to show support for the Demons.
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