RORY Hower made his senior debut for GARFIELD at the age of 15 last Sunday. Hower picked up a heap of possessions after starting on the interchange bench, bored in and did not look intimidated by the occasion. Hower looms as a likely type and joins his older brothers, Zeke and Jake, who are still young and bright prospects in their own right.
The move is part of Stars’ coach Ben Soumilas’ openly stated youth policy, which he hopes will see the depth of talent at the club improve.
HAMPTON PARK coach Jason Chapple has banned longsleeved jumpers on match days in a move designed to get the Redbacks back to basics. Chapple said he had noticed that a growing number of his players were playing in the longsleeved guernseys and enough was enough.
“One of the memories I have of playing against Hampton Park was the fact that once the players pulled the jumper on they all looked the same and played the same way for each other,” Chapple said referring to his days with BONBEACH in the mid1990s. “It could have been snowing and there still wouldn’t have been a long sleeve amongst them. That was intimidating and that’s the attitude I want back. And they can forget about looking pretty before the game in fancy training tops too.”
That little edict will cost each longsleeve wearer $65 for a new jumper and, on top of that, any Redback player who attends training with dirty boots from the previous weekend will also donate $10 to the endofseason trip fund.
NARRE WARREN assistant coach Steven Kidd was a casualty of the 40goal win now known as the DINGLEY slaughter and will spend at least six weeks on the sidelines with a medial ligament injury. While it is disappointing for the Magpie veteran, he will be going to Ireland in five weeks for a wedding. One of he and Aussie Jones’ best mates is getting married and, while both were invited, only Kidd will be going. When Kidd does finally make it back to the action he will saddle up for his 200th game in a Magpies jumper.
NYORA has picked up another handy recruit in Jed Answerth. Answerth, who has not played football for a number of seasons, played in WARRAGUL’s 2002 Western Division grand final team, which went down to ROC. The pacy wingman won his share of the ball on debut for the Saints last week and adds further depth to the formidable midfield, which was recently bolstered with the arrival of the DOVETON EAGLE Corrie Wilson and WONTHAGGI’s Rory Gilliatte.
NOTICED at interleague selection night at BERWICK last week was the ‘Battle of the Creek’ trophy, won by the Wickers in their classic encounter with BEACONSFIELD the week before. The sight of the handsome trophy miffed one DOVETON type however. “That cup’s bigger than the 2005 premiership cup. We’ll have to get on to the league about that,” he sniffed.
INTERLEAGUE football was the subject of a memo sent to the senior officials of all VCFL football leagues last week, in which the football media copped a pasting. The leaked document, from VCFL chief executive Glenn Scott, basically demanded that league bosses put a positive spin on all public comment concerning interleague football or not comment at all.
The threepage letter blasted publicity perceived as negative after the withdrawal of the Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula leagues from this year’s VCFL Country Championship series. However, judging by opinions expressed at many clubs (and some leagues), this could be a classic case of shooting the messenger.
CHUCKLES were heard in the BERWICK office at Sunday’s interleague spectacular, when one Wicker official sidled up to club president Peter Jensen with a worried look and whispered that he was concerned, given WorkSafe was the VCFL sponsor, that the chap taking the video of the game on the roof of the clubrooms was not in a safe work environment.
“It’s okay, we’ve got him roped to the airconditioning unit,” replied Jensen. “If he goes over, it goes too!”
UNDER18 interleague best afield Sam Drake has a strong family connection to PAKENHAM and, the way he played on Sunday, those links may be sought out very smartly with a view to his senior career. Sam is the son of former Lion John Drake and nephew of Pakenham legend Bill Drake, who played and coached the club in its West Gippsland League days.
WHILE on family ties, the name Virgona appeared in both the MPNFL and Hampden League under18 lists on the weekend. MPNFL’s Brad and Hampden’s Frankie are cousins and both 17yearolds are playing senior football for their clubs DOVETON and PORT FAIRY respectively. Both were among their side’s best players and saw a bit of each other’s game with Frankie playing in Hampden’s forward half and Brad positioned across halfback for the Sharks.
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for NARRE WARREN youngsters Ryan Bastinac, Tom Scully, Jackson Parker and Guy Miller, who have been selected in the Victorian Schoolboys under15 side to play in the national carnival at Darwin in August. The lads’ coach Peter Bastinac (Ryan’s Dad and also KOOWEERUP coach) said he was rapt for the foursome but lamented the timing of the championships that will make his four best players unavailable for the DDJFL second semifinal and preliminary final. The Magpies under 15s are currently undefeated ladder leaders.
ALL season it has appeared that many EDFL goalkicking records may be under threat, with both Nathan Osler and Ryan Ablett shooting the lights out, but after last week perhaps that will not be the case. Osler missed NYORA’s clash against NEERIMNEERIM SOUTH with what club officials called “general soreness” and word is he is also likely to be rested this week against WARRAGUL INDUSTRIALS. BUNYIP star Ablett also suffered a setback, incurring a hamstring injury early in last week’s clash against the Dusties, and is also likely to be sidelined for a number of weeks.
Another highprofile forward, POOWONG’s Rohan Best, also fell victim to a hamstring injury this week and missed most of the Magpies’ clash with CORA LYNN. That leaves LONGWARRY’s mercurial sharpshooter, Glenn Browney, to fly the flag for full forwards and he has jumped to the top of the goalkicking table after a ninegoal haul last week against NAR NAR GOON.
KEEP an eye out for the name Ben Davis. The 16yearold NEERIMNEERIM SOUTH onballer has been receiving rave reviews from not only his own club, but rivals as well. Reports suggest that Davis has been best afield in all the thirds games he has played this season and among the Cats’ best in his three senior appearances. GIPPSLAND POWER was said to be interested in the blond youngster but the cutoff point for the 2006 squad had passed by the time they got wind of him. The Cats have also fielded a few queries from AFL talent scouts, with HAWTHORN showing the most interest.
THE umpires were also intensely scrutinised in Sunday’s game and the freekick count made for interesting reading. While they awarded 17 free kicks in the first half of play (nine to the Hampden League and eight to the MPNFL), the men in white swallowed their whistles after the long break, only finding three penalties worthy of a free kick in the entire second half.
ONE forgotten player is WARRAGUL’s Xavier Gargan. Gargan, a tall mobile utility, is a vital cog in the Gull’s side but has been dogged by injuries over a number of years. The Gulls’ scribe recently noted in its club notes in the WGLFL Football Record that it took the ‘Xman’ longer to lace up his boots than it did for his hamstring to go twang in the first quarter against DROUIN on Sunday. And while on Warragul’s injuries, it appears that captain coach Ash Green, who broke his leg in a training accident a few weeks ago, is making good progress and may well be back in action in six to eight weeks.
ONE of the bugbears of football clubs is the penchant for supporters to bag their own when things are not travelling as well as they could be and the side was losing. Well the exact opposite was the case recently at BEACONSFIELD, when the leader of the Eagles’ supporters group addressed the players after a loss and congratulated them on their effort and development. He said that it was appreciated by those faithful to the club who tipped their money in to help out and they were prepared to wear results that were not always positive in the name of longterm success.
DUAL premier CATANI has not had a large turnover of players in recent seasons but on Saturday it introduced two newcomers in Drew Campbell who played across the forward line and former CORA LYNN wingman Daniel Strahan.
Both made handy contributions and will add to the Blues’ depth.
WHAT an ordinary weekend for the Murphy clan.
First WESTERN BULLDOGS star and former WARRAGUL junior Robert had his knee folded under him by COLLINGWOOD’s Anthony Rocca and then his sister Bridgett, who is married to GARFIELD coach Ben Soumilas, went out in sympathy, wrecking her ankle in the Stars’ Agrade netball clash against LEONGATHA on Sunday.
LONGWARRY is keen to reschedule its round10 home clash against NYORA to a Sunday. With both teams in redhot form and likely to enter the game undefeated, the match is a true blockbuster and a massive crowd is guaranteed. Subject to the approval of its netball club and league officials, Longwarry is willing to repay Nyora the favour. However the return fixture at Nyora would have to wait until next year because the clubs are drawn to play each other just once in the 2006 homeandaway season.
