FOOTBALL clubs are famous for hot wind at this time of year, but it was the real thing that caused consternation for officials at NARRE WARREN on Saturday.
During the week the gusts at Fox Road hit a new peak, so much so that when the Magpie gatekeepers turned up to officiate on Saturday, all they found was a neat concrete pad to stand on.
Their once cosy little shelter was ripped from its foundations by a severe squall during the week and deposited across the Kalora Park car park and on to the ground. Fortunately it did not rain and the bemused gatemen carried on albeit with a little more breeze in their hair.
“WE wouldn’t expect to see Harvey in the Casey Cardinia League finals. The umpires’ (association) wouldn’t do that, would they?”
Those were the exact words of one senior Casey Cardinia League club official in relation to 2008 DOVETON chairman of selectors Phil Harvey’s possible appointment to officiate during the next four weeks of senior finals competition. Exactly 12 months ago Harvey, an experienced senior umpire with the Southern Umpires Association, was plotting the demise of the four other CCL finalists after the Doves finished the home-and-away-season in fourth place.
After his side’s exit in the first week of the finals and the subsequent departure of then coach Tom Hallinan, Harvey returned to the umpires’ ranks this year and has spent time in all three MPNFL divisions.
While this column is not suggesting there is any bias one way or the other in his umpiring, it is all about perception and the last thing the league or the SUA needs during its showcase-season finale is accusations of perceived impropriety from PAKENHAM, CRANBOURNE, NARRE WARREN or BERWICK folk.
“THE place was rocking and the rooms were chock-a-block. I thought we were going to blow the roof off,” said excited former DROUIN president and current fourths coach Rob Fairlie after the Hawks astounding win over MAFFRA on Saturday.
DROUIN smashed the previous league record for both a comeback and turnaround from three-quarter time with its amazing final-quarter revival. Trailing by 43 points at the final break, the Hawks added a stunning 12.4 to Maffra’s three behinds in the final term, to win the match by 30 points. Their comeback breaks the old record held by TRARALGON that came from 39 points down against NEWBOROUGH in round 18, 1982.
Earlier this year WARRAGUL equalled the league record for a turnaround when it kicked 9.6 to Sale’s 1.1 to turn a 28-point deficit at the final change in to a 25-point win – a turnaround of 53 points.
Drouin’s 73-point turnaround was the biggest dating back to the formation of the Latrobe Valley Football League in 1954.
And Drouin was also the first team to beat Maffra in both home-and-away encounters since Traralgon did in 2000.
ROC bade farewell to premiership midfielder Mick Moylan with a great win over TOORADIN on Saturday, but the word out of Starling Road is that there could be more than one ready-made replacement on the way to the Kangaroos next season.
The early reappointment of coach Kris Fletcher has already worked a treat, according to our spies, and several potential recruits, at least one with serious AFL credentials, have already been short-listed as ROC players in 2010. Let the silly season begin.
PAKENHAM coach Jock Holland used his interleague connection as a pre-finals inspiration last week. Holland organised MPNFL Sharks coach and former SEAFORD premiership mentor Paul Kennedy to attend training and give the Lions a rev-up prior to the coming season.
Kennedy’s address was fitting, given the situation the Lions are now in. In 2006 Seaford lost the preliminary final by a point when Mt Eliza scored a goal after the siren.
That grated on the club for the whole summer and Kennedy and his players dedicated themselves to work on and off field to righting that perceived wrong and have since won the past two Peninsula League premierships.
Last year the Lions went through the home-and-away season undefeated and then lost the preliminary final by a kick to the darkest of horses KEYSBOROUGH. It is fair to say that event has had a similar effect on Lions players and supporters and they are now in a position to balance the ledger in exactly the same way. Can they do it?
OF the six Casey Cardinia League clubs that are now sitting back enjoying a quiet ale or 10 during their post-season debriefing sessions, only two have not confirmed their senior coaching appointments for 2010 after BEACONSFIELD officially appointed Austinn Jones as its coach yesterday.
Our spies suggest that TOORADIN is a long way down the track and will officially announce its successor to Cristian O’Brien shortly, leaving only KEYSBOROUGH to decide whether to extend 2008 grand-final mentor Greg Siwes tenure at the Rowley Allen Reserve.
Siwes has done an outstanding job with the club, given the well-documented depth problems he has had to deal with and should retain the post if he wants it.
NAR NAR GOON product Lachie Hansen has signed on with NORTH MELBOURNE for another two years, effectively ending speculation that the number-five draft pick of 2006 would be used as trade bait in the club’s effort to rebuild.
Hansen has been developed slowly by the Kangaroos, but has been a steady performer at both ends of the ground this year and looks ready to blossom into a key player in the next phase of his career.
AS usual it was a case of tough love at DOVETON on the weekend. During the third term on Saturday, youngster Ryan Morrison was poleaxed right in front of the Doves’ coaches box by BERWICK star Jason Heath with one of the best hip-and-shoulders you’ll ever see.
The umpire stopped play and awarded Morrison a free kick (for what, we don’t know) but he was unable to take the gift because he wasn’t quite sure what day it was.
The trainers initially looked a little worried, but after a minute or two, in typical Doveton style, Morrison rose to his feet and walked unsteadily off the ground for a rest.
However, when the young bloke’s gutsy effort was praised by a couple of Wicker players in the social rooms after the game, one well-known Doveton dinosaur just sniffed: “That’s the difference, in our day we would have got up, walked back to our position and kept playing!”
JARRED Attenborough narrowly won POOWONG’s best-and-fairest from fellow midfielder Matt Grant on the weekend. Scores were tied after 17 rounds, but a terrific last game from Attenborough against NYORA where he picked up more than 50 possessions earned him enough votes to pip his assistant coach. Emerging ruckman Connor Cunningham finished third.
ONE EDFL club was none too pleased to hear that one of its star players was involved in an incident at a local watering hole last Thursday night that saw him loose a few teeth and enter their weekend’s elimination final with a suspected broken jaw. Whether it was his injury or just penance for his misdemeanour, he started on the interchange bench and was barely a shell of his usual lively self during the match.
GARFIELD has invited all EDFL clubs to a meeting this week (Wednesday night at the Garfield social rooms) to discuss their application and proposal to enter the league in 2010. It is believed a representative from the league executive will also be in attendance. At a recent meeting, 11 clubs voted to retain the leagues existing 14 team structure and that will be just one of a number of stumbling blocks for the Stars to overcome.
NYORA rover Corey Wilson won the Saints best and fairest award this season. The lively assistant coach won by over 30 votes from another small midfielder Aiden Cumberland with vastly improved big man Daniel Morrison coming in third.
