Congratulations again to our home grown Legend, Leith Dawes, for being recognised and rewarded for all of his hard work and dedication to grass roots football over 30 years this year, as the SA recipient of the the AFL Junior Coach of the year.
Presented at the SANFL Awards night at Adelaide Oval on the weekend, Leith now has his certificate and plaque to go with his tittle 
Having been around Mt Lofty Football Club and being involved in volunteering roles for around 30 years, Leith’s passion and dedication to his community is so admirable and contagious it has been a big part of shaping our club into the place it is today.
Beginning his services to the club from his early playing days, Leith was giving back at any opportunity. A trait he has passed on to his own players. Even in 2020 Leith has been known to still throw the boots on to help when the boys are short!
Over the Past 3 years, Leith has been the Auskick Coordinator for the Mt Lofty Football Club, over those years he has mentored a large number of our up-and-coming senior male and female footballers to take over the program for the next generation of young footballers to come.
This is not the first time Leith has run the Auskick program for the club, 17 years ago he was the Auskick coordinator for 5 years, quite several of our now senior squads, male and female, started in the program under Leith all of which have a wonderful sense of community and football spirit.
Leith’s love of junior football shows in that he loves coaching juniors’ football. Just this year alone he also coached the U8 moddies and U17 Girls. Having been a past Mt Lofty A Grade coach these kids are getting a coach that truly understands what developmental skills are needed to take them through to the top tier. Leith takes the time to work with each player to get the best out of themselves, and makes it his main priority to ensure they enjoy the game, and want to keep playing next year.
Leith has also been on our football club committee for over 10 years, he donates endless amounts of time for the club.
Because of the time and effort that Leith has put into our players over the years, our senior footballers have a great understanding of what it truly means to be a community club footballer. Once you hit senior football it’s not just about playing the game, it’s about helping inspire the kids to stick around the club. This is evidenced by the rotation of male and female senior footballers that attend Auskick each week, and the senior male and female footballers that have taken on coaching roles, not only this year but in the history of the club, whilst also being playing members.
As a club Life Member and Hills Football League Life Member, it has been very clear to us that Leith’s passion has been to instill both his, and the club’s values into the upcoming generation of young footballers for the Mt Lofty Football Club.
On a side note, and unrelated to this award, Leith is also on the Sports and Social Club Committee, being an instrumental part in helping to work with the AHC to develop our new change rooms due ready for season 2022.
We at Mt Lofty appreciate all of his hard work and time that he puts into the club, players and Auskickers, the club wouldn’t be the same without him. We wish to thank Leith for all of his dedication to developing our youngsters into becoming great people and footballers.