He was 77.
Mary Gearin prepared this report.
ALLAN JEANS: What you've got to do is you've got to win this game today. Not only have you got to play it moment by moment (building) contest by contest (building) quarter by quarter?
MARY GEARIN: That's Allan Jeans at his rousing best, in a re-creation of one of his renowned Grand Final speeches for the AFL Hall of Fame.
ALLAN JEANS: Do not accept what's going on!
MARY GEARIN: His power to motivate was just one element driving one of the longest and most successful coaching careers in Australian Rules history.
Allan Jeans, nicknamed Yabby, won four premierships in 26 years of coaching; that's the first and only St Kilda flag of 1966, and three others during his time at Hawthorn, which he led into its powerhouse era of the 80s.
But it's also his more personal influence that's seen a legion of former players pay tribute today.
BARRY BREEN: He's been coach, mentor and more importantly friend for nearly 50 years.
MARY GEARIN: Barry Breen was just 17 when he joined the Saints under the tutelage of Allan Jeans, starting a long friendship.
Jeans' health faltered in recent years as he suffered from fibrosis of the lung.
Breen rang him last week to say goodbye, and today he remembered his mentor with emotion.
BARRY BREEN: I'll miss him... I will?He's just fantastic human being. You meet a lot of people but the values and example that Yab set for all the people that came in touch with him? pretty hard to beat.
MARY GEARIN: What made him successful as a coach do you think?
BARRY BREEN: Oh look, he had a great insight into the game and he was an innovator in many ways. Early in his career some would say that he wasn't but he certainly was both from the defensive side of the game and the attacking side of the game. His coaching style in many ways was a forerunner to what we see today.
MARY GEARIN: In his final interview about five weeks ago, Allan Jeans reflected on his life and childhood.
ALLAN JEANS: My father went to the war when I was seven. He came back from the war and he left us and we were virtually destitute. And it was through football I was given an opportunity and I grabbed it.
MARY GEARIN: Jeans went on to play 77 games for St Kilda, and became a policeman, before pursuing his coaching career.
It ended with a short stint at Richmond, before he retired and found bowls.
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett's strongest memory of Jeans will be of his decency.
JEFF KENNETT: His values, his humility and his wonderfully clear way of expressing what he wanted to get across to either an individual or to a team of individuals.
MARY GEARIN: What do you think was his greatest legacy for Hawthorn?
JEFF KENNETT: I think it's the way he was more interested in the development of those he led than he was necessarily even, the delivery of a team outcome. In other words, there are hundreds of people at Hawthorn who were players under Allan Jeans's leadership who will tell you today that their relationship with Allan and what he imparted to them, and the way he mentored their personal development has altered the way of their lives.
So I think his contribution, particularly to young men has been enormous.
MARY GEARIN: Allan Jeans moved into a palliative care home last year.
ALLAN JEANS: Since I've been ill I'm quite amazed that I must have doing something right. So many people come from both clubs to see me. And I think, you can't buy respect, you gotta earn it, that's one thing you gotta do. And I think being here you realise you did a reasonable job.
MARY GEARIN: Players from Jeans' past clubs are planning to wear black armbands in their next games.
And maybe they'll remember a few of Yabby's words.
ALLAN JEANS: You either step up, or you step down! It is entirely all up to you! You make the decision, not me!
STEPHEN LONG: The voice of the late Allan Jeans, champion Aussie Rules coach, ending that report from Mary Gearin.
