WHAT is it with the youth of today? TOORADIN officials have worked their behinds off to recruit and rebuild after failing to win a senior game last year and now its under-18s have decided it’s all too hard and look like pulling the pin. Surely the young footballers in the area want to join in a bit of the pending success after seeing out such a hard 2008 season? The Seagulls have lured former COLLINGWOOD playmaker Chad Liddell to the club as a player and also with the aim of assisting the under-18s to develop their skills and make the best of their football, but at present his knowledge is not being put to full use. Senior coach Cristian O’Brien and President Chris Deneraez are at a loss, and the club has sent out an urgent call for all players to make an effort and join the push to return the club to strength in all grades. Any players interested can call Chris on 0417 338 525.
DANNY Casset’s tenure at DOVETON lasted officially one month before, in habitual fashion, the enigmatic goal kicker decided to search for more rewards at another club. This time the end was swift with the Doves agreeing to clear him to Kalgoorlie outfit MINES ROVERS under new coach and former DANDENONG star Shaun Millane. Casset dabbled with LALOR before Millane’s approach lured him out of the state and his clearance will be signed as soon as his affairs are settled by Mines Rovers.
THE horn in the Footy Shorts office was in overdrive last week and one of the most questioned topics was the health of HAMPTON PARK. One MPNFL stirrer rang to give us the word that the Redbacks were in dire straits with no players and no money.
Wrong and wrong!
That was put to rest swiftly by the club, which fielded three sides against EMERALD in Saturday’s practice match, winning the senior game by a lazy 12 goals despite being without Linden Fredericks, his brother Sheldon, Scott Eastwood, Matt Shorey and Sean Nunan. With the football taken care of, the coffers were injected on Sunday with the proceeds from a big draw at the clubrooms. Needless to say that particular spy is now leading the award for 2009 porky-pie king.
A CASEY Cardinia League meeting decided that, if given the choice, they would prefer WONTHAGGI POWER to become the 12th club in the competition instead of PHILLIP ISLAND as recommended in the recent South Gippsland football review. Given that Phillip Island has gone into meltdown after it was announced that a transfer to the CCL in 2010 was the preferred option that will be good news to the Islanders. While a faction at Wonthaggi is still fighting to stay in the Alberton League, it is believed that the CCL is much preferred to the WGLFL if they are forced to swap leagues. The deadline for submissions to the VCFL on the recommendations has been extended from this Friday until after Easter, and it will be interesting to see which way the Power leans when push comes to shove.
KOOWEERUP finished in front against KILCUNDA-BASS after a six-quarter game on the weekend. The Demons were chuffed with the performance of 20-year-old recruit Brock McConnell, who has not played football for three seasons and hails from BEACONSFIELD. Midfielder Gavin Marusic, who has applied for a clearance out, won heaps of disposals and the Demons are confident he will now reconsider and stay with the club. Anthony Burr, who was on the 2008 DANDENONG STINGRAYS list, made his presence felt while Beaconsfield recruit Jim Alexander and Ryan Kitchen from CATANI also enjoyed a fruitful game.
ONE club’s butter has turned out to be another club’s jam after country football’s newest nomad Darren Sheen decided to swap from CORA LYNN to Peninsula League club PINES recently. According to a deep Cobra insider, that decision freed up enough funds for the reigning EDFL premiers to recruit ex GARFIELD, PAKENHAM and BUNYIP defender Joe Allen after the club initially knocked him back because it was “at capacity”. Cora Lynn officials will not like reading it, but the fact is that opposition clubs believe that they have now set the bar in all aspects of on-field competition and several have privately said that unless they can find some generous sponsors, the league may as well start engraving the next few premiership cups with Cora Lynn’s details now.
A COUPLE of changes to this weekend’s practice match schedule have been announced. BEACONSFIELD will play MULGRAVE on Sunday at the Perc Alison Reserve, not Saturday as previously advertised, while the clash between NARRE WARREN and NOBLE PARK will be played as a night fixture on Saturday at the Moodemere Street ground. DOVETON and BERWICK have both had their opponents, KARINGAL and CORA LYNN, pull out of scheduled games with them and may end up playing each other. That is still to be confirmed.
TWO local lads featured in a recent discussion between former HAWTHORN player Daniel Hartford and Jason Richardson on radio SEN. During their Sunday sports show they played a game of snakes and ladders that involved Harford tipping who in each AFL side would rise to the top this year and who would fall from grace. When Harford got to COLLINGWOOD he named PAKENHAM boy Tyson Goldsack as the Magpies rising star. NAR NAR GOON big man Lachlan Hansen also rated a mention in discussions about NORTH MELBOURNE, and while he was not the nomination, he was tipped as a player to watch.
AFTER a “call to arms” last Friday night at GARFIELD, club president Neville “Turtle” Bow is now upbeat about the Stars 2009 prospects. According to club stalwarts in attendance the meeting produced plenty of positives for the embattled club and Bow insists that the club will not fold.
“We were always going to keep going and we’ve now got a few old blokes back to help,” he said. “It’s no longer about keeping the club afloat but going ahead. We have the cattle now to play senior football and we’ve filled all off-field roles.”
Bow said that while it was disappointing that they would not field seconds or thirds teams this season, the club’s future was very healthy in the junior ranks with good under-16 numbers and multiple teams at under-10, 12 and 14-and-a-half level in the Warragul Junior league. Garfield was also buoyed by its first practice match victory against a below strength LONGWARRY outfit on Saturday. Stars newcomer from Tasmania, Rick Barber, did well in defence, while youngster Russell Hall, Dean Fitzgerald and captain Ben Marsh were all prominent. Senior Longwarry coach Graeme Jose was not in the coaching box as he skipped over to Western Australia with his star greyhound Mantra Lad, which unfortunately was unplaced in the rich and prestigious Perth Cup later that night.
COUNTRY football from leagues across the region will feature as part of a new Channel 31 television show called “The Local Footy Show” this year. It will include a segment on MPNFL football every week during a one-hour version of the show at 7.30pm on Friday nights and an extended 90-minute show at 9am on Saturday mornings. How much MPNFL content is yet to be determined, but it is guaranteed that the Casey Cardinia League will be a target given the influx of quality players to the league this season.
HOT and windy was the case on field and off at TOORADIN on Saturday with a few HASTINGS supporters apparently peeved at the “doubtful” two-point result in the Seagulls’ favour. According to our spy the scores only went up at three-quarter time and the tally did not include three extra Hastings goals. Not only that, the Blues contend that the final term was a short one with the siren going just as a Hastings player ran in to an open goal that would have won them the game. It was only a practice match you might say, but when two success-starved clubs are playing, any win is a good one.
AND while on practice match scores, CORA LYNN was again ahead of a Casey Cardinia League rival in BEACONSFIELD after the final siren in Saturday’s practice game was sounded. “Another Casey Cardinia league notch on our belts,” was the happy reaction from one senior Cobra official, who went on to say that, practice matches or not, country football followers must now acknowledge the star-studded 2008 EDFL premiers among the best sides across the district.
DROUIN had an easy practice match win over CATANI on the weekend. Under new coach Ben Soumilas the Hawks looked slick, fit and hungry with ruckman Bob McCallum, SPRINGVALE recruit Pat McGrath, wingman Jason Barwick and forward Luke Kneebone all catching the eye. For the Blues youngsters Phil Strahan and Tim Grant impressed, while Luke Harris showed no signs of a nagging back injury. Diminutive HIGHETT recruit Jason Meade won plenty of the ball from his wing and should cement a senior spot for the big round 1 “Footy Kicks Cancer” match against arch rivals NYORA.
