Leigh Newton

Leigh Newton (born 25 March 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A ruckman, Newton played 13 matches for Melbourne in his first season at the club, 1997. He was struck down by injuries the next two seasons, which resulted in him not playing a senior match. Melbourne delisted Newton at the end of 1999. Despite this, Newton remained with the club for many years, working as a ruck coach and media manager, before moving to become Hawthorn's ruck coach in 2009.

Newton is originally from Whitfield, a small town of around 200 people, located near Wangaratta in north-eastern Victoria. He began playing football for Whorouly Football Club, located near his hometown of Whitfield, in the Ovens & King Football League; he first played senior football at the age of 15. Later he moved to play for the larger Albury Football Club in the Ovens & Murray Football League, before being selected to play for the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup. Newton played for Albury and for the Bushrangers in 1996, earning the attention of AFL recruiters by winning the award for the best and fairest player in the Ovens & Murray Football League, the Morris Medal. Despite not being selected in the 1996 AFL draft, Newton was invited to do a pre-season with Melbourne in the hope of being selected in the pre-season draft. He had an impressive pre-season; his track work was described as "stunning", he put on a lot of muscle and he played well in intra-club practice matches. As a result, Melbourne selected Newton with their first selection (third overall) in the pre-season draft, to be a back-up for Brownlow Medal winner, Jim Stynes.