BEACONSFIELD has a new president (at last) in 2005 vicepresident Tim Gerbes.
Gerbes was installed recently after a review of the Eagles offfield structure and will act in the capacity for the remainder of 2006.
CONGRATULATIONS go to the MPNFL’s very own ‘serial pest’ Matthew Miller from DOVETON for his 150th game at the Robinson Reserve this weekend.
That will make 150 opponents who have been annoyed out of their minds by the slightly built ‘yapper’, who is proud of every game he has played in the green and black.
CORA LYNN could be a little closer to balancing the books this season if a rumour from, of all places, Warrnambool is correct.
The word is that one (or more) of the Cobras’ members is $75,000 richer after attending the annual jumps carnival at the ‘Bool’ last week and picking up the quaddie on the opening day.
CASEY mayor Kevin Bradford was an interested spectator at the clash between CRANBOURNE and BEACONSFIELD at Casey Fields on Saturday and is reported to be in the throws of organising a trophy for the coming clash with DOVETON at the stateoftheart venue on 3 June.
The question is, whose colours will the main man be wearing on the day?
While FS is not sure of the answer, the fact that he is currently carrying the numberone ticket for Cranbourne, but only the numbertwo card for Doveton might give us a lead.
PAKENHAM coach Michael ‘Jock’ Holland played a great game against DOVETON on Saturday, with a feature being the way he kept his feet in the clinches.
That could have been due to a brand new pair of boots he was sporting on the day.
Apparently the Holland’s labrador Jed ate his old pair after training on Thursday night and the Lions’ mentor was less than impressed when he got home to find the damage.
He fronted his dad ‘China’ about the pooch’s indiscretion and demanded compensation.
Word from inside suggests that Jock’s words were along the lines of: “That’s your bloody dog, so you can buy me a new pair.”
After some grumbling, Jock got his boots.
HUMOUR between teammates will never stop no matter how robotic the AFL want to make footballers and that was evident in the BEACONSFIELD rooms as coach and veteran fullforward Haydn Robins changed for his comeback match on Saturday.
While words like ‘old’, ‘slow’ and ‘past it’ were murmured with wry smiles from several more senior players, league best and fairest Daniel Charles didn’t muck around letting Robins know his place as he returned after a rubdown to find his nervous leader sitting on his bench.
“Hey, new bloke, get out of my seat,” he ordered.
WHAT about the hoohar surrounding BERWICK pair Dan O’Hara and Ryan Donaldson’s potential defection to GARFIELD last week.
Rumours swept the district that several players were not thrilled with the blast they got from Wicker coach Ronnie Burns and that was followed by word on the MPNFL website that a number including O’Hara and Donaldson were assessing their options elsewhere.
Berwick president Peter Jensen said on Friday that it simply was not true and even if it was, the players were contracted to the Wickers for 2006 end of story.
AFTER a tremendous start to the season, WARRAGUL has suffered a major setback with news that its captaincoach Ash Green has broken his leg after tumbling over at training in slippery conditions last Friday.
Green will miss the entire season and the curtain may have fallen on an outstanding career that saw him play AFL football for the Brisbane Bears, followed by a stint in the SANFL and premierships at both PAKENHAM and Warragul.
The 2006 interleague coach is still expected to front up on crutches to oversee the WGLFL team at this week’s Pool A country championship in Albury.
BAD news for DROUIN as well, with the talented Olsen brothers failing to see out last week’s match against LEONGATHA.
David suffered a knee injury in the second quarter and must be a doubtful starter in the upcoming weeks, while his older brother Marc popped out his shoulder in the third quarter and is expected to miss at least a month of football.
GREAT to see CATANI’s Michael ‘Billy’ Stockx is starting to return to his best form after a dramatic 2005 season.
No one would begrudge his return after battling to play on a regular basis last year due to chemotherapy treatment for cancer that severely curtailed his form.
Stockx’s presence in last season’s grand final proved an inspirational to not only Catani, but all football followers.
AFTER playing for GARFIELD the previous week, Joel Ferguson made a successful debut with BULN BULN last week and played a big role in the narrow victory over POOWONG.
Ferguson started well in a key defensive post gathering over a dozen possessions in the first quarter, before moving forward in the final term where he snagged two goals, including the matchwinner from outside 50 metres to snatch the lead.
Ferguson was disappointed to leave the Stars, but desperate to play regular senior football, which he was not guaranteed at Garfield.
Ferguson also trained at his former junior club NAR NAR GOON last week, but opted for the Lyrebirds.
AN interesting statistic after last weekend tells us that, in beating MOE, GARFIELD’S under16 team won its first match since round 10, 2003.
The Stars were then in the Western Division and beat TOORADIN.
In 2004 the Garfield fourths received premiership points for four forfeits (CORA LYNN and TOORADIN did not field under16 teams that year), but did not have the joy of actually winning a game on the field.
SPOTTED among the spectators at NAR NAR GOON on Saturday was former Gazette scribe and West Gippsland president Bob Utber, whose football interests these days centre around his grandchildren.
Bob turned out to watch grandchildren Max and Ben Longson line up for LANG LANG and mentioned that another grandchild, Patrick Dangerfield, had made Victorian country ranks alongside another boy with local connections in Jack Steven.
It seems Bob has not lost his touch in picking up football gossip. Hosting a golf day for former VFL/AFL players last week, he was reliably informed that the AFL was asked to upgrade the siren capacity at Aurora Stadium, but refused to shell out the money.
