Lee Coghlan will play his 200th senior game for Sandhurst when the Dragons host arch-rival Golden Square at the QEO.

The major milestone sits alongside a brilliant playing career that includes a premiership and a Michelsen Medal.

"Sandhurst has been my second home,'' the Dragons' skipper said this week.

"There's people at the club who I really respect and admire and I've learned so much from them.

"I'd like to emulate what others have done for me. I'm extremely grateful for everything Sandhurst has done for me. I feel very lucky.

"Saturday is a way for me to express my thanks to everyone at the club that has helped me."

The relationship between Coghlan and Sandhurst has been a win-win for both parties.

He made his senior debut for the Dragons as a fresh-faced, bottom-age Bendigo Pioneer in 2007.

"We played Maryborough at Princes Park, I hardly got a touch and spent a fair bit of time on the bench,'' Coghlan recalled.

"I kicked one goal after taking a mark on the goal line. I actually stole someone else's goal."

His first full season with Sandhurst was in 2009 and it proved to be one of the most remarkable performances in the club's proud history.

Coghlan became the fourth teenager in BFNL history - behind Sandhurst's Brian Walsh (1969), Golden Square's Greg Williams (1982 and 1983) and Gisborne's Matt Fitzgerald (2003) - to win the Michelsen Medal.

"At the time I probably didn't understand it,'' Coghlan said of the magnitude of his Michelsen Medal success.

"Quite a lot worked out for me that year. Opposition didn't know much about me, our team was really young and (coach) Keiran Nihill had a lot of faith in the young boys.

"Our starting midfield was me, Nick Stagg and Cal Prest, who were all 18-year-olds. We were all good mates and we just went out and played and had fun."

Nihill had the job of mentoring a very young group.

"Lee was brilliant right from the start,'' Nihill said.

"As an 18-year-old, Lee was more mature than most, he was wise for his age and just had so much talent.

"As good as he was in that first year, he's playing better footy now.

"Back then he was a 20-possessions and a couple of goals player, whereas now he gets 30 possessions, that's all in close, he reads the ball off the ruck better than anyone and brings team-mates into the game with brilliant handballs.

"The thing that gets underrated is his courage. He's not a big bloke and he cops plenty of attention, but he's so brave and tough."

WAFL and SANFL clubs came knocking on Coghlan's door after his Michelsen Medal success.

"At the end of 2009 I went and trained with a SANFL club, but I was too young, I didn't know anyone over there, so I decided against it,'' Coghlan said.

"In 2010, I played most of the year with Sandurst even though I was having a lot of hamstring trouble. At the end of that season I went and trained with a WAFL club, but my body let me down, which sounds bad because I was a young fellow at the time.

"My hamstring was no good and I couldn't even train with the main group, so I came back to Sandhurst.

"I don't have any regrets at all. Keiran Nihill taught me from a young age that footy is about enjoyment and having fun.

"I got the best out of myself at Sandhurst and it's where I enjoyed my footy the most."

A shoulder reconstruction forced Coghlan to miss the entire 2013 season.

He returned the following year to join a Sandhurst group on the cusp of success.

The Dragons played-off in the 2014 and 2015 grand finals where they lost to two powerful Strathfieldsaye sides.

In 2016, Coghlan and the Dragons achieved Bendigo footy's ultimate when they defeated Golden Square on grand final day.

"As a group we invested a lot of time and effort into our footy,'' Coghlan said.

"We played some really good footy across those three years. I was really happy for everyone across the club that we won the flag in 2016.

"Footy isn't all about winning, but to win with that group was special.

"As a group of mates we were going to stop at nothing until we achieved what we wanted."

A multiple inter-league representative, Coghlan sits comfortably on the top shelf of BFNL midfielders over the past 15 years.

"You'd love to have Lee in your side, he's in the similar class to Kal Geary for me,'' Strathfieldsaye co-coach Darryl Wilson said.

"If you could pick players from opposition clubs to play in your side, he'd be one of the first you'd pick.

"His work rate is enormous, his ability to win the ball on the fly is always dangerous, which is something we always talk about, and the other thing is he's so dangerous forward. He has the ability to go from no goals to three or four goals very quickly.

"He looks like such a great role model for their club and no-one across the league would have a bad word to say about Lee."

The Dragons' playing group has changed significantly since the premiership success in 2016, but Coghlan's passion for footy hasn't.

He's on the wrong side of 30 now, but he has no plans to hang up his boots.

"My body is getting old now and I try to get through as much training as I can, but there are some nights where I have to finish early,'' he said.

"I learned that from Blair (Holmes), Bear (Matt Thornton) and Staggy (Nick Stagg), who have been on modified programs their whole careers.

"I've had some soft tissue injuries this year, but I still love footy as much as ever.

"Being a teacher, I really enjoy helping educate the young boys at the club. I think those younger boys help keep me young.

"I'd like to think I have a few more years left in me."

Sandhurst's current coach Ashley Connick has no doubt that Coghlan has plenty of good footy in front of him.

Connick, who took over the reins at Sandhurst for the 2019 season, summed up Coghlan's contribution to the club perfectly.

"Lee's been outstanding on and off the field in my time at the club,'' Connick said.

"He's a great footballer and his footy IQ is off the charts, but the first thing that comes to mind is what a bloody good person he is.

"He's an incredibly nice bloke, who is genuinely interested in how everyone is going.

"When you have a conversation with Lee, you walk away feeling better than you did beforehand.

"The overriding thing is what he's contributed to the culture of the footy club and how people feel around the club. You can't measure that stuff.

"He loves the footy club and the feeling is mutual."

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