Back with a vengeance

By Matt Cunningham
THIS Saturday the Garfield Football Club will, for the first time in six years, play a home-and-away game against a club from a town with a population smaller than its own.
It will also mark the beginning of what the club hopes will be a new era.
Garfield enters round 1 of the 2010 Ellinbank and District Football League after one of the most turbulent periods in its history.
The moment when coach Ben Soumilas and captain Lincoln Withers raised the premiership cup at a rain-soaked Cora Lynn football ground in 2004 must seem like a distant memory to many at Starland.
The 2004 premiership marked the end of a golden run for Garfield. In the past 15 years the club had played in eight grand finals in the West Gippsland Football League, won three premierships, and missed the finals just twice.
But the era of dominance ended abruptly when what was left of the old West Gippsland league folded. Garfield, along with Warragul and Drouin, were left with no option but to join the West Gippsland Latrobe Football League, taking on the likes of Maffra, Traralgon and Sale.
The Stars were far from disgraced in their early years in the big league, narrowly losing the 2007 preliminary final to Maffra. But by 2009, the long travel, uncompetitive teams in the lower grades and internal bickering had started to take its toll.
Garfield watched as many of its better players moved clubs, many opting to play in the Ellinbank League rather that travel to Maffra and Sale.
After just one senior win in 2009, many feared the club would fold if it could not find a new home.
It took a casting vote to allow Garfield into the EDFL, after the 14 clubs were split on the Stars’ entry.
With a new lifeline, Garfield is now looking to rebuild its reputation as a proud and successful club.
New president Gerry Cunningham said it was difficult to tell how the Stars would perform on the field this year.
“The plans for the year are to be competitive,” he said.
“We are not sticking our necks out and saying we are going to be premiers. We are going to have a competitive side. I think we will finish closer to the top than the bottom but we have really got no idea.”
A successful Garfield won’t win too many friends in their new home. Many of their old West Gippsland rivals would be happy to see the Stars struggle. Some would have rathered they stay in the WGLFL, but Cunningham says Garfield is in the EDFL to stay.
“Half of (the EDFL clubs) wanted us in and half of them didn’t. I don’t know who did and who didn’t and I don’t want to know. We are in and that’s it. It would be terrific if we (won a premiership), but if we do they aren’t going to say ‘You are too good, go back to the other league’. We compare in every way possible with the other teams in the league in terms of population.”
Cunningham also dismissed suggestions Garfield was selling itself short by moving back to a lower league.
“This bush league talk is bulls**t,” he said.
“That’s a slight on Ellinbank that’s no longer relevant. We don’t finish games at 4 o’clock so blokes can go home and milk cows.”
In fact, a glance at the team lists for 2010 would suggest Garfield will have its work cut out matching it with the best EDFL sides. In a twist, it will be the two clubs that Garfield spent its last days in West Gippsland beating up on that look to be teams to beat this year.
Nar Nar Goon has bolstered its stocks after a disappointing finals series in 2009, while Cora Lynn’s list suggests anything less than a flag would be a let down.
What will make the Cobras strength even harder to stomach for Garfield is the fact the cream of their list grew up wearing a green and gold jumper. Lincoln Withers, Joe and Jack Allen and Beau Runnalls will all play a key role in Cora Lynn’s September march.
But Cunningham holds no animosity towards the former Stars.
“That’s the way it goes,” he said.
“They are good players and we would love to have them at Garfield but they have chosen to go to Cora Lynn and good luck to them. We will compete hard against them, then shake their hand and have a beer afterwards.”
Garfield’s on-field performance will again rely heavily on coach Brent Eastwell and the Marsh brothers, Ben, Tom and Ned. But their stocks have been bolstered by the return of Shaun Pickering (Catani) and Terry Mildren (Casey Scorpions) and the recruitment of Warragul duo Jamie Ferguson and Tim Mitchell.
Every Garfield player will receive the same match payment in 2010, and Cunningham says the Stars are not interested in trying to recruit big name players, as Cora Lynn has done.
“Cora Lynn has to be different because there’s no town in Cora Lynn,” he said.
“They have got to drag people from other parts of the district and they have done a bloody good job of doing it. Their fundraising is terrific.
“We think we can compete by hanging on to our locals and looking after them, not by handing out big dollars to marquee players who just turn up on the day.”
Cunningham says there is a sense of excitement both on and off the field as Garfield heads in to this new era. He says an army of tireless workers have ensured the club is primed for long-term success.
“We had our first social event for the year. We thought we would break even and we made $5000,” he said.
“There are stalwarts there who do all this hard work to make sure the club is successful.”
But Cunningham knows there are still some old wounds to be healed – there is no such thing as a war without casualties. Still he is hopeful those still bearing the scars of the last five years will eventually come back on board.
“Perhaps there will be the odd one that will never come back, but I expect most of them will,” he said.
Garfield royalty Ben Soumilas will coach Drouin again in 2010 and his brother Andy will likely hold the key to the Hawks’ strong premiership chances. But Cunningham would love to see them one day return to their home club.
Asked if the club would welcome a Soumilas return he said: “Too bloody right we would. They are two of the better footballers we have had in the place for a long time.”
But for now, Cunningham says the club is focussed on doing its best, back in the EDFL.
“We are happy to be back with our old foes of 60-odd years in the WGFL – Nar Nar Goon, Cora Lynn, Bunyip, Longwarry, Lang Lang, Kooweerup. We feel at home,” he said.