Willett had made the decision that he was done with city life, and the mud patch of Collingwood Football Club’s Victoria Park, when he accepted a teaching appointment at the tiny Strathallan school.
“The day after I was appointed, Jack Green was on the doorstep in suburban Melbourne selling Rochester football club,” Willett said.
“He was a brilliant secretary. His timing was perfect, I was sick of the stinking mud of Victoria Park and when I first visited the oval at Rochester it was like a bowling green,” he said.
Willett was outstanding during Rochester’s unbeaten 1962 premiership season in the Bendigo league, winning not only the club best and fairest but also the league award, the Michelsen Medal.
He remembered his decision to play at Rochester was quite popular with the parents of his eight students, who were mostly Rochester supporters.
He sat down for a chat with me and one of the Tigers’ 1992 premiership stars, Robbie Miller, when the two teams shared the limelight in a reunion of the two teams — celebrating 30 and 60 years since their pennant victories.
Willett was recruited to Collingwood straight out of school. His VFL career didn’t reach extraordinary heights, but he is still remembered in the history books.
His fourth, fifth and sixth games were all finals, the last of those a grand final in 1960. Collingwood lost and he only played another eight games in 1961 before heading to the country.
He played in two premierships at Rochester, in 1962-63, before returning to Collingwood briefly in 1964. He again made headlines, kicking six goals in his first game back against Fitzroy.
He played only five more games under Collingwood legend Bob Rose, but his story was a long way from finished.
Rose actually approached Willett to return after he had been instrumental in an interleague win for Bendigo in 1963, while Rose was coaching at Wangaratta.
Willett became a Goulburn Valley League Hall of Fame member — having won three Morrison Medals (1965-67-68) as the league’s best and fairest player — while coaching Mooroopna.
Willett now lives in Corowa, having finished his playing career at Wagunyah.
He fondly recalled his 1962 season, when he kicked 72 goals. He played mainly as a ruckman, but spent time forward and interchanged in the key forward post with Noel Howe (who kicked 50 goals).
“It was a ‘Pagan’s paddock’ arrangement well ahead of time,” he said.
Willett eventually married an Echuca girl, Lynette Stapleton, the daughter of Jim Stapleton, who died last year aged 108.
Willett and Bruce Major, the other 80-year-old in the room for the 1962 reunion, were the youngest members of the premiership team that year.
Many Goulburn Valley Football League fans will remember the athleticism of Robbie Miller, who was among several Rochester born and bred stars from the era.
Miller played all his junior football at Rochester, including a 1984 grand final, and after just two senior football seasons with Rochester in 1985-86 was recruited to Carlton in 1987.
“I played about 20 reserves games and came back to Rochester in 1988,” he said.
Miller then signed on for two seasons at Glenelg, in South Australia, but played just a few games after suffering a shoulder injury.
His return to Rochester netted him a pair of grand final wins, 1992 and 1999, before he finished in 2000.
Miller finished runner-up in the Morrison Medal in 1992, but remembers finished third in the club best and fairest behind Shane Dupuy.
The 54-year-old was a star with the Goulburn Valley at interleague level and part of the league’s 1994 country championships team.
He finished with more than 200 senior games to his credit
Miller now works in civil construction and lives in Essendon.
His 27-year-old son, Isaiah Miller, played at Rochester for three seasons and is currently assistant coach at South Bendigo.
