VCFLVAFA1_10.jpg: Gembrook’s Nathan Muratore starred for the VCFL under-19 side, playing a lockdown backline role that earned him the Peter Knights Medal. 84214 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By RUSSELL BENNETT
PETER Brewster says his three sons were always competitive growing up as youngsters in South Australia. Kick to kick, shooting hoops and even fishing presented constant battles of one-upmanship.
And this Thursday there will be more than just state pride on the line when the Victorian Country Football League 2 side squares off against Queensland in the Australian Country Football Carnival in Wagga Wagga.
Playing for their adopted states, Shane Brewster, 27, and little brother Danny, 25, will face each other for the first time in an official football match.
Shane, the Warragul Industrials coach, will line up in the midfield for the Vics, while Danny will play a key role up forward for the Queenslanders.
The Brewsters relocated to Victoria from South Australia in 2000. Continuing their footy in their new home state, Danny and Shane went on to represent the Dandenong Stingrays and later win three Casey Cardinia Football League premierships with the Narre Warren senior side. The pair then joined forces once more for the Industrials.
Danny moved to Queensland after two years with Shane at Warragul and is now in his second season with Noosa in the South East Queensland Australian Football League. Shane is now at the Warragul helm with the third Brewster brother Nathan, 22, one of his charges.
Peter said his boys were “extremely close-knit” as youngsters but would often get into heated arguments after one-on-one basketball games. The proud dad isn’t sure what to expect when Shane and Danny meet this Thursday but said: “There will definitely be major bragging rights on the line”.
The clash of the Brewster boys follows another hard-fought battle for supremacy on the weekend when the Victorian Country Football League (VCFL) side thumped their VAFA counterparts by 50 points to retain the under-19 Challenge Cup.
Gembrook young gun Nathan Muratore was awarded the Peter Knights Medal as the best player between the two sides. He starred in his negating role on key VAFA forward Shaun Glennen and said his performance would give him added confidence for the rest of the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League season as Gembrook tries to avenge its first division grand final loss last year. Muratore was joined in the victorious VCFL side by Narre Warren 19-year-old Adam Giobbi.
All three leagues under the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League banner will be represented at the Australian championships in Wagga Wagga this weekend, with Cranbourne’s Justin Berry and Narre Warren’s Nick Scanlon – who received a late call up – joined on the VCFL 1 team by Byron Barry, Justin Van Unen, Chris Irving and Scott Simpson.
The VCFL 2 team also boasts plenty of local talent, with Narre Warren’s Kain Baskaya, Nar Nar Goon’s Brett Dore, Cora Lynn’s Brendan Kimber, Bunyip’s Nathan Lieshout, Beaconsfield’s Daniel Mislicki, Emerald pair Caillin Porter and Josh Taylor and Tooradin-Dalmore duo Beau Miller and Matthew Wade joining Shane Brewster.
