Jeff Sarau

{{short description|Australian rules footballer, born 1954}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Jeff Sarau

| image =

| fullname = Jeffrey Raymond Sarau

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|1|25|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| originalteam = East Brighton

| height = 191 cm

| weight = 96 kg

| position =

| statsend = 1983

| years1 = 1971–1972

| club1 = Sandringham (VFA)

| games_goals1 = {{0}}32 {{0}}(32)

| years2 = 1973–1983

| club2 = St Kilda

| games_goals2 = 226 (119)

| years3 = 1984–1985

| club3 = West Torrens (SANFL)

| games_goals3 = {{0}}35 {{0|00}}(9)

| years4 = 1986–1989

| club4 = Frankston (VFA)

| games_goals4 = 67

| careerhighlights = *St Kilda Best and Fairest 1975, 1977

• Victorian B side representative
• [https://www.saints.com.au/club/history/hall-of-fame St Kilda Hall of Fame Inductee]

}}

Jeff Sarau (born 25 January 1954) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda in the Victorian Football League and West Torrens Football Club in the South Australian National Football League as a ruckman.

Although at 191 centimetres, Sarau was short for a ruckman, he compensated for this by his aggressive attitude and good leap. Sarau made his debut with Victorian Football Association (VFA) club Sandringham Football Club in 1971 before transferring to St Kilda in 1973.

Sarau played for Victoria twice, won Best and Fairest Awards at St Kilda in 1975 and 1977 and became club vice-captain. After 226 games and 119 goals for St Kilda Sarau moved to West Torrens after being sacked from the vice-captaincy role in 1984. He won the West Torrens Best and Fairest in his first season and played 35 games for the Eagles before returning to Victoria to join VFA club Frankston Football Club in 1986.

Sarau was runner-up in the Liston Trophy in 1986 and was appointed Frankston captain-coach in 1987, a position he held until the end of the 1989. He played 67 games for Frankston, and finished with a win–loss record of 29–24 from his 53 games as coach of the club.{{cite news|newspaper=The Sun News-Pictorial|publication-place=Melbourne, VIC|page=81|author=Amanda Buivids|date=15 September 1989|title=VFA in coaching turmoil}} He was sacked following the season, in part due to the eight match suspension he received for four striking charges in the 1989 elimination final.{{cite news|newspaper=The Sun News-Pictorial|publication-place=Melbourne, Victoria |page=80|author=Amanda Buivids|date=7 September 1989|title=26 matches}}