The family of AFL icon/Hall of Famer Ron Barassi has been offered a state funeral after the 87yo died on Saturday. “The word legend is used a lot. But nobody deserves it quite like Ron Barassi,” Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said yesterday. He wasn’t overstating things… Barassi was born into Aussie Rules as the son of Ronald Senior, a premiership player for the Melbourne Football Club before he was killed at Tobruk during World War II. Barassi became a star player for his dad’s club in the 1950s before heading to Carlton in 1964, becoming the first reigning VFL premiership captain to change teams. He went on to coach for Melbourne, Carlton, North Melbourne, and Sydney, and built his reputation as quite a yeller, but also a forward-thinking pioneer of the modern game. Barassi won 10 AFL premierships and too many other honours to list over his career… Yesterday, his former teammate Brian Dixon remembered him as “a beautiful, beautiful person”.