AFL identities kick goals in property arena

Famous faces of the AFL are some of the biggest players in Melbourne property.

Topping the Domain real estate ladder – for the largest spend – is Collingwood president Eddie McGuire. The media personality and businessman snapped up a prime Toorak Village office block mid last year. The Pies supremo made the transaction in the name of a company, of which he and his wife Carla are directors. 

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Hawthorn chief Andrew Newbold occupies the second spot. The Hawks boss offloaded his Federation-style manor in the coveted Sackville Ward last year. Newbold’s wife Sarah is an interiors guru, and through her firm Newbold Interior Design, undertook a classical renovation.

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Ex-Essendon coach James Hird was one of the most high-profile real estate stories of the past 12 months.

He traded the investment property – the land title is held in his wife’s Tania name – in the thick of his club’s supplements scandal last year. The glamorous, renovated house is one of two that Ms Hird owns in blue-chip Toorak.

Channel Nine personality and Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire. Photo: Jesse Marlow

Hawks director Bruce Stevenson recently sold his renovated 1930s family house for a substantial windfall, against price expectations of $2.8 million. The two-storey property has four bedrooms and is in a quiet cul-de-sac off the mansion-lined Kooyongkoot Road.

The family of brothers Ted and Xavier Richards, of the Sydney Swans, sold a Tuscan-style villa this year in bayside Hampton. The pretty home was where the boys would play kick-to-kick as youngsters.

The Richards’ former house at 20 Hoyt Street, Hampton.

Melbourne Cricket Club boss Steven Smith – a Demons best and fairest in the 1980s and an experienced lawyer – inked the sale of his picturesque Victorian in late August. The elegant property has four bedrooms, including a marble fireplace in the main suite.

Greater Western Sydney CEO David Matthews sold his Victorian pad three years after moving to the harbour city. The renovated and extended property was auctioned in November, and has four bedrooms – including bay views from the main suite – and period flourishes.

Melbourne coach Paul Roos snapped up a modern bayside townhouse with four bedrooms and a pool in May last year. Roos has been back in Melbourne since 2013, when he shifted south from his head coaching job at the Swans.

Demons head coach Paul Roos’ Elwood pad.

Lance Buddy Franklin, former Hawk and now a Swan, started cutting ties with Victoria when he listed his Brighton East townhouse on the eve of last year’s grand final. The settlement on the modern home with a centrepiece pool went through in late November.

His former Hawks’ premiership teammate, midfielder Jordan Lewis, lined his property up for goal – at auction – in late February this year. The pretty two bedroom, modernised cottage, with council-approved plans for a second level, has two bedrooms and a deck out back.

Lancer Franklin’s former property at 55 Hodder Street, Brighton East.

Matthew Lappin departed the Pies after four years, where he was forward-line coach, to work for the Suns. The ex-Carlton and St Kilda footballer’s home, with four bedrooms, three levels and bay views, traded in December last year.

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