PAKENHAM supporters are buzzing after confirmation that star big man and favourite son Glen “Sunny” Wouters will play with the Lions again this season. Wouters has been a year-on-year-off proposition over the past four seasons because of work and family commitments, but has been a regular at training to date and is certain to again join his club’s tilt at the 2009 Casey Cardinia league flag. And in more positive news at the Toomuc Reserve, SWAN HILL playmaker Jack O’Rourke has also confirmed that he will join former Ovens and Murray league mates Jake Matthews and Adam Cook in a Lions jumper this year.
STRONG-marking NOBLE PARK defender Daniel Rigg has accepted the role of playing assistant coach at DEVON MEADOWS for 2009. The former SPRINGVALE SCORPION signed with the Panthers after fielding a number of tempting offers in the post season, and coach Steve O’Brien was both thrilled and relieved by the coup, given the club had worked hard to snare a top-liner, without joy until now. Rigg’s inclusion will take much pressure off Aaron Henneman who has already told the club that he is super keen to make his mark on the Casey Cardinia league this season.
DESPITE rumours that LANG LANG’s Rhys Nisbett would join teammate and star ruckman Dale Robinson back at his former club BERWICK, the strong-marking forward has been re-appointed assistant coach at the Tigers under third-year coach Clint Evans. Lang Lang intends to play practice matches against NAR NAR GOON and STONY CREEK prior to the season start.
TOORADIN has snared high-quality forward Clint Setford, brother of Seagulls goalsneak Aaron, despite the former Sydneysider committing to ROC before Christmas. Apparently Setford changed his mind after returning to Victoria and opted to join his brother at the Western Port oval. Seagulls coach Cristian O’Brien is not making any rash predictions about where the winless bottom side from last year may finish, but has promised supporters that there will be a significant improvement on the back of an influx of talent led by assistant coach Chad Liddell, Beau Miller, Rory Gilliate, Ben Disney and former Ovens and Murray forward Chris Barker.
NETBALL will expand to include an eight-team Nepean League competition in 2009. That is official, with officials hoping that the bayside clubs can follow the example set by the Casey Cardinia league, which established netball seven years ago and has steadily grown it to now be a major part of the league’s culture. The eight clubs that will play in the debut season are PEARCEDALE, SOMERVILLE, HASTINGS, CRIB POINT, RED HILL, DROMANA, ROSEBUD and RYE. Dromana has already been pro-active and changed its name to the Dromana Football and Netball Club. Clubs have indicated that they may field between one and three sides in the first year. The success of former South West Gippsland league clubs DOVETON, CRANBOURNE, HAMPTON PARK, DEVON MEADOWS, NARRE WARREN, BERWICK and KEYSBOROUGH, none of which ever played netball before 2002, has set a positive example for the Nepean league clubs involved.
NAR NAR GOON youngster and 2008 EDFL best and fairest winner Andrew Oldmeadow will try out with VFL team CASEY SCORPIONS this season. The versatile playmaker, who played a handful of games as a supplementary player with VFL team COLLINGWOOD last year, will be joined at the Scorpions by his former GIPPSLAND POWER teammates, Michael Stockdale and Darren Granger, who also hope to make the final VFL list.
WORD from BEACONSFIELD is that coach Robbie Taylor is looking good for a return to full-scale competition in 2009 after a frustrating season off in 2008 because of a hip complaint. Excluding the signing of highly rated forward Lachlan Oakley, the Eagles have flown under the radar a little since the end of the 2008 season, however, with Taylor and Chris Kelf back in the side, improvement is almost certain. Kelf is still recovering from surgery late last year but is also on track for a round one comeback.
LAST year’s EDFL cellar dwellers WARRAGUL INDUSTRIALS has signed two more handy recruits. The Dusties have lured tall key position player Luke Sims, who has plenty of experience in country football, most recently with Ovens and Murray side NORTH ALBURY, along with Matthew Groat from NUNAWADING. The Industrials will be coached this season by Wade McGill, formerly of NARRE WARREN, and have also snared several of his former Magpie teammates, including assistant coach Shane Brewster, his brother Danny, Manny Peresso and Brett Wadleton. The Dusties have lined up practice matches against LONGWARRY and TRAFALGAR.
STAR midfielder-forward Josh Taylor has been appointed HAMPTON PARK coach, replacing Jason Caples who left suddenly a fortnight ago, and he is not backing away from the huge job at hand. Despite optimism that the Baskaya brothers, Kerem and Kain, would return to the 2008 semi-finalists, they have both decided to play with Nepean League side PEARCEDALE under ex-Redback coach Jason Chapple, along with Jack Besley, Linden Fredericks and Craig Lombard. It is fair to say that situation has not gone down well at the Booth Reserve but Taylor, in typical style, said that his team would still be more than competitive this year and any side that underestimated them would be in for a surprise.
MPNFL Peninsula league will have a final five for the first time this year. Despite having a 10-team competition the MPNFL board of directors has changed the rules so that the Peninsula league falls in line with the other two member competitions, the Casey Cardinia and Nepean leagues.
“OLD runners do it in pain …” That’s the motto doing the rounds at PAKENHAM and DOVETON as the season approaches, after former club coaches Travis Murphy and Stuart Batten took on the job as their club’s runner under 2009 mentors Michael “Jock” Holland and Clint “Bull” Wilson. And neither is likely to break any records delivering their coaches’ words of wisdom. While Murphy’s calves, thighs and groins are in slightly worse nick than Lou Richards’, he still has the edge on Batten who has suffered both a bout of gout and a ruptured knee cartilage in the post season. Can’t wait for the match race when the Lions play the Doves in round eight!
CONTRARY to reports that star LONGWARRY recruit George Gorozidis was carrying a knee injury and was doubtful to play in the early part of the season, Crows officials insist supporters can put their minds at rest. They are adamant that the former BERWICK sharpshooter will, barring a pre-season setback after recent clean-up surgery, definitely play in the opening round.
LONGWARRY has picked up CATANI big man Luke Tymensen. It could prove to be the renaissance of Tymensen, who worked hard on his fitness last season but because of a glut of quality talls at the Blues, struggled to earn a regular senior position. The Crows are short on big men with experience and his recruitment should prove a boon. On the downside, the Crows’ rugged McDonald brothers, Grant and Leigh, will pull on BULN BULN jumpers in 2009.
HAVING lost half a dozen players to NILMA-DARNUM, SALE was keen to regain the services of tough ruck-rover Shane Fyfe, a four-time best and fairest and regular Pakenham Gazette Team of the Year member. However Fyfe, who left to play with PRAHRAN last year, has opted to stay in town and play with top EFL side VERMONT in 2009.
