As Jeremy McGovern strode towards the podium in the Crown Grand Ballroom and paused for club icon John Worsfold to drape the coveted Club Champion medal around his neck it was a moment to reflect.

To cast back to three or four tough years where his body had let him down ... and to then fast forward to December 2023.

In a bid to improve his durability, to manipulate his body and find subtle tweaks to ensure a higher level of availability, McGovern visited a renowned high-performance centre in Qatar just before the pre-season Christmas break.

Travelling with him to spend a week of exploration at the Aspetar Sports Academy that boasts some of the most astute medical minds and advanced training techniques in world sport were Elliot Yeo and Harry Edwards.

It was no coincidence that Yeo, too, was on the stage for this showcase event after finishing runner-up.

While the trip to Aspetar was not the singular reason for McGovern playing 19 of 23 games, it was a significant factor. And the games the great interceptor missed were due to impact injuries rather than soft tissue problems.

McGovern was sidelined for three games with fractured ribs in the second half of the season and then went in for surgery on a broken thumb on the eve of the final game of the year against Geelong.

He wound back the clock with some eye-catching performances, returning to his dominant best in the air and repelling countless opposition attacking forays on his way to winning his fifth All-Australian blazer.

Include the ultimate prize of a premiership medal in 2018 and McGovern had achieved the full set of accomplishments before lowering his head to accept the John Worsfold Medal.

“It’s an absolute honour to be receiving the JW Medal, someone I was lucky enough to be coached under and have admired for a very long time,” McGovern said after edging out Yeo by seven votes.

“I haven’t had the best of luck in the last few years, but with Yeoy we went to Aspetar to try and get ourselves in the best shape possible and it was very satisfying to string some games together and to contribute to the footy club.

“As much as we didn’t have a great year, I feel like we’re moving in the right direction. We have a lot of young players coming through and a lot of change coming which is exciting, but at the same time, it’s sad to see a lot of people leaving who have been the fabric of this club.

“I feel like I put together a good year and my body held up. I’m trying to get better all the time but I just haven’t been out there the last few years.”

McGovern admitted being tormented by the fact that he was watching the club’s struggles from the players’ viewing box or his loungeroom, playing just 50 percent of games in the previous four years and a meagre 19 of a possible 46 in 2022 and 2023.

“It has killed me watching the last few years,” he explained. “One as a senior player, and two as my performance could help us win. A goal was just to get back out there and try to contribute as much as possible.

“To win the best and fairest is amazing but it was never my objective.

“It seems like it’s the recipe (the Qatar trip), but it was also the body of work we (he and Yeo) had done over the last couple of years. Aspetar definitely helped, but there has been a lot of people around the club who have helped us as well.”

The veteran defender said he was looking forward to getting to work under new coach Andrew McQualter as the playing list homed in helping the club bounce off the floor.

“We all need to get better as a group, it’s everyone. It’s not just young boys and old boys, it’s the whole group,” he assessed. “As a club we need to improve wholistically.

“We need to dig in, we’re a great club and a powerful club; a club I’m extremely proud to be a part of.” 

The impact of McGovern is there for everyone to see when he’s strutting his stuff in the defensive half, plucking the ball out of the air with great regularity.

But his work off the field with the McGovern Foundation, which has assisted many Aboriginal people in gaining their licence, saw him win the Eagles in the Community Award.

Together with his father Andrew facilitating something as simple as a driver’s licence, not only provided independence for the people they assisted, it has opened up employment opportunities as well.