All roads lead to the Cobradome

Last year's EDFL grand final venue, Garfield's Beswick Street oval, will host a preliminary final this time around. 127668 Picture: ROB CAREW

By RUSSELL BENNETT

THE Ellinbank and District Football League (EDFL) grand final is set to return to the ‘Cobradome’ at Cora Lynn this season.
The league has announced the venues for this year’s finals series, and its showpiece event will return to Cora Lynn for the first time since 2010 – when Nar Nar Goon defeated their arch rivals.
But at least one big EDFL name is unhappy with the league’s choice of venue.
Garfield player-coach Ryan Hendy – still a relatively new face to the competition since crossing from what is now the South East Football Netball League (SEFNL) – said Warragul’s Western Park has “a perfect set-up for a grand final” and said Cora Lynn’s home ground “isn’t even in the top three”.
Hendy’s Stars played on the Western Park surface for the first time in his tenure on the weekend and he came away highly impressed with the ground and its facilities.
He said he’d spoken to a range of people who voiced similar views to his own, and added that “this isn’t a Garfield thing”.
Hendy was also at pains to say his views weren’t due to the fact that Cora Lynn’s seniors are currently undefeated and would be an almost unbackable favourite to return to make back-to-back grand final appearances.
“I strongly believe home ground advantage doesn’t come into it on grand final day,” he said.
As for why Western Park will host a preliminary final – and not the grand final – Hendy couldn’t offer an explanation.
“It just baffles me,” he said.
Garfield, which hosted last year’s grand final and is widely considered to have the best playing surface in the league, will host the other preliminary final. In putting forward Western Park as an alternative to Cora Lynn’s home ground, Hendy didn’t even list Garfield’s Beswick Street ground as an option for the decider.
At this stage, the finals fixture is: qualifying finals 1 and 2 at Bunyip and Longwarry respectively on 29 August; elimination finals 1 and 2 at Buln Buln and Nilma Darnum respectively on 30 August; semi final 1 at Kooweerup on 5 September; semi final 2 at Catani on 6 September; preliminary final 1 at Warragul’s Western Park on 12 September; preliminary final 2 at Garfield’s Beswick Street on 13 September; and the grand final at Cora Lynn on 19 September.
Interestingly, the Gazette understands that Nar Nar Goon put forward a proposal to host a final at Cora Lynn (with the cooperation of the Cobras), but that was knocked back by the league.
The EDFL grand final will once again clash with the South East Football Netball League decider – held on the same date at the same time.

It’s important to note that the finals’ venues are subject to host clubs meeting a set of conditions and criteria put in place by the EDFL, and approval by the Ellinbank and District Netball Association. League officials will visit with the clubs over the next month to explain what is required for a venue to be officially signed off.