By Ken Moore
SHANE Newcombe – who replaced Paul “Jacko” Williams as coach of KOOWEERUP for 2011 – has been sacked. Newcombe, an assistant coach at Demonland last year, was asked to stand down but refused. He was then given his marching orders. Newcombe was replaced by former coach Rhys Morgan, a Kooweerup club legend, five-time best and fairest and last season’s EDFL best and fairest. Apparently, Newcombe did not see eye to eye with some players and committeemen. It appears a number of the more senior players (among an inner clique at the club) were not happy when they incurred his wrath after their rounds two and three thrashings at the hands of POOWONG and NEERIM NEERIM SOUTH. Newcombe told me two weeks ago that he told a few players a few home truths, so I sensed a potential issue but didn’t think it would lead to his demise. Newcombe intends to move to Fiji at the end of the season. However, a club spokesman said the committee – especially the players – believed Newcombe might leave earlier, leaving them “in the lurch”. “He’s a good, local bloke. The players aren’t babies, they weren’t upset about anything he might have said, but there was a belief he might finish early,” the spokesman said. Newcombe believes this was a reason used for standing him down, saying the club wanted to appoint a long-term coach and were perhaps misled when they appointed him. Newcombe says there are a few other issues he wants to air, but not until the club details the reason for his dismissal. Under Newcombe, Kooweerup had two wins and two losses, not too bad considering it has a young team and had plenty of player losses over summer. Under Morgan, the Demons bounced out of the blocks with eight first-quarter goals on Saturday on their way to thrashing Nyora. I believe Morgan was one of Newcombe’s critics – because he was not given more time in the midfield. Newcombe felt Morgan was better used as a forward.
NARRE WARREN captain Glenn Hamilton shocked the club by retiring before the Magpies’ clash with CRANBOURNE. The courageous defender finally succumbed to a degenerative and chronic foot problem. While Hamilton is serving a two-week suspension, the club has given him a send-off game against KEYSBOROUGH in round five, which is fitting considering Glenn’s father played for the BURRA.
IT WAS a new-looking CRANBOURNE in more ways than one against NARRE WARREN. The Eagles looked dashing in their pink jumpers to mark Pink Footy and Netball Day, while young winger RYAN JONES took matters a step further by wearing pink boots. However, the numbers on the players’ didn’t correspond with the numbers in the Chronicle. Those unfamiliar with the league would have walked away praising Michael Boland for kicking nine goals, when in fact it was captain Marc Holt, who had the day out. Nevertheless, the pink jumper might provide a suitable clash option for Cranbourne as five other league teams have blue on their jumpers.
DEVON MEADOWS has settled into EG Allen Oval while its home ground, Glover Reserve, is resurfaced. With the facilities and surface in good condition, it might be worthwhile trying to acquire a bigger scoreboard. The majority of Saturday’s spectators were squinting to read the scores from a small board on the back of a ute on the other side of the oval.
MAFFRA fullback Sam Bristow will this week play his 150th game … and the 25-year-old has a record that will take some beating. The rugged defender has played in seven senior grand finals for six victories since making his senior debut as an 18-year-old. He will desperately hope to have a better game than last week when, for one of the rare times in his career, he got stitched up. Former BERWICK, LONGWARRY and BEACONSFIELD star Ryan Donaldson inflicted the pain, kicking 10 goals against him and with it, showed he would be a strong candidate for GFL leading goalkicker, having jumped to the top of table with 21 goals – one ahead of former ST KILDA player Matt Ferguson, who joined SALE over summer and kicked five majors against MORWELL on Saturday. Other GFL players to chalk up their 150th game over the weekend included pacy WARRAGUL wingman Brad Nott and pony-tailed LEONGATHA and regular interleague half-back, Jack Hughes.
AND speaking of SALE, which is well fancied to win the GFL premiership, the Magpies unveiled another handy recruit on Saturday when Peter McFarlane, lined up at centre-half-forward, kicked two goals and showed good bodywork and plenty of footy smarts. McFarlane is captain of NTFL team ST MARY’S and is expected to fly in from Darwin for at least enough matches this season to qualify for the finals. McFarlane will play without any match payments and his desire to put on the black and white vertical stripe jumper stems from his friendship with a number of old mates, including Rodney Love, who had an extensive career in the SANFL and former GIPPSLAND POWER player Taylor Collins, with whom he played in the early 2000s.
DROUIN cut the ribbon to open its new $1.3 million club rooms on Saturday. The luminaries to attend included local Liberal MP Gary Blackwood and Rod McLeish, chairman on the Drouin recreation reserve. The football club will share the rooms with the netball club, fire brigade and cricket club. The new rooms had their genesis in 2004 and with the Drouin community bank chipping in $235,000, the project has finally came to fruition. The new development includes two canteens and a gymnasium and along with other new ground additions in recent times, including an electronic scoreboard, a new irrigation-watering system and MCG-sized goal posts, the Drouin ground now is in the upper echelon of Gippsland grounds and the Hawks must be at prohibitive odds to win a finals match or two come finals time.
AND speaking of new facilities in Gippsland, MOE was also relieved to christen its new $3.15 million development of the Ted Summerton Reserve on Saturday. Unlike DROUIN, which disappointed against WONTHAGGI, the Lions came to the party, recording an upset win over reigning premiers MAFFRA.
WITH CATANI star forward Owen Fitzpatrick sidelined with a hamstring injury and Leigh Jose, a potential star forward who kicked a ton in the thirds a few seasons back, having suffered an Achilles injury against LANG LANG on Saturday, how the Blues must have missed former star Luke James, who departed over summer. It was reported that James had lost interest in football after a breaking two bones in his leg last season, which curtailed his wizardry, but on Saturday his interest in football appeared to have been rekindled, after he kicked 17 goals and 10 behinds, including 14 goals before half-time for KILCUNDA-BASS against TOORA.
BUNYIP introduced a new program on Saturday – the Team Managers Award. In the spirit of sportsmanship and at the end of every seniors game this year, the Bunyip bench staff will vote for the best player on the ground from the opposing team – win, lose or draw – and present that player with an award that encourages their players and supporters to hang around for a while after the game to unwind and enjoy the facilities before heading home.
