DAN O’Loughlin is a swinger!
That’s right, the veteran PAKENHAM star will be swinging a golf club and caddying in Ireland rather than playing football next month. O’Loughlin’s second passion is golf and he will continue to pursue that pastime before returning to assist the Lions in another likely finals campaign. While there will be groans from Lions supporters at that news, coach Ryan Cassidy said that he had known of the trip since before the season started and it might be a blessing in disguise. “Dan was really sore towards the end of last year. We gave him some time off and he came back and was brilliant in the finals,” he said. “A mid-season break at his stage of life might be perfect for him again. All the rest of us have to do is make sure we get the team into the top five.”
THE worst-kept secret in local football will be officially out this weekend when former BEACONSFIELD coach Robbie Taylor takes the field for the first time this season in the Eagles reserves clash with NARRE WARREN. Taylor has been keeping fit by running for the under-18s this year and has gradually upped his training to now be ready to test his body in match conditions. If he comes through and plays seniors it will add another key midfielder to Aussie Jones’ already impressive arsenal.
CORA LYNN retained the Bell Challenge with its victory over CATANI on Saturday. The match is named after a bell which was discovered by Cobra stalwart Kelvin Dalziel in the time-keepers box five years ago. The ‘Cobra Chat’ reports it is the only remaining memento of the 1944 premiership won by a combined Cora Lynn-Catani side after a fire gutted the Catani clubrooms a few years ago and destroyed all the associated memorabilia. Frank Rovers polished the bell and Kevin Beilby decided playing for it would be a great way to celebrate the historical event. The bell is yet to leave Cora Lynn as the Cobras have prevailed on all four occasions since.
‘PRECIOUS’ is a word sometimes unfairly directed towards umpires but it was certainly an apt description of the attitude before Saturday’s clash between KEYSBOROUGH and PAKENHAM at the Rowley Allen Reserve. Despite under-18s and reserves games being completed without complaint or incident by the men in yellow, one of the senior field umpires threatened to call off the main game prior to the first bounce due to the uneven ground behind one of the goals. Apparently the concern centred around the goal umpire tripping during his duties. After an unbelievably wet week the ground surface at Keysborough was excellent and drew praise from all in attendance, but that didn’t stop the umpire making the threat during an exchange with stunned Burra president Clay Cullen. Some hasty measures were taken to appease the nervous officials, but maybe the umps should take a tour of the other venues in the Casey Cardinia league and realise how lucky they actually were.
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for two regular Casey Cardinia league Team of the Year selections on milestones this weekend. DOVETON assistant coach and star goal kicker Ryan Hendy plays his 200th game for the Doves, while CRANBOURNE captain and champion forward Marc Holt chalks up his 100th senior appearance in the Eagles strip.
GARFIELD fans were surprised to see young gun Luke Tynan line up with the reserves rather than the senior side on Saturday. Tynan played two senior games with CASEY SCORPIONS earlier this year but has succumbed to the dreaded Osteitus Pubis. Tynan could have played in the Stars senior team but, on advice from the Scorpions medicos, he was only to be used sparingly so he felt he was better kicking off the dew in the seconds. On the plus side, Tynan now qualifies for the finals with the game and could also be joined at the business end of the season by younger brother Josh, who has won rave reviews with GIPPSLAND POWER this year.
CRANBOURNE has snared a couple of late transfers which will stick in the craw of neighbours DEVON MEADOWS. Youngster Mitchell Gersbeck has decided to return to his home club and another talented teenager in Brandon Wapshott changed the Panthers for the Eagles as his home club. Wapshott is currently playing in the VFL with FRANKSTON and his departure would be particularly disappointing, given Devon Meadows coach Steve O’Brien made a point of publicly supporting the young play-maker in his quest to further his football at the start of the year. It topped off what was an all-round bad week at the Glover Reserve.
PEARCEDALE will hold a ‘Get a Better Future Together’ auction night in a bid to replace funds stolen from a safe at the club earlier this year. Some of the money stolen had been raised for an injured player and a number of supporters have formed a committee to recoup the funds and support the club. The response from the Pearcedale community has been overwhelming with donations including a ride-on mower, construction materials for a driveway, a pergola including materials and labour, an installed spa bath, jewellery, babysitting, house cleaning, manchester and meal vouchers. It will be held on Saturday 3 July at 6.30pm and entry with a meal is $30. Donations or tickets are available from Karen on 0407 853 595.
CATANI received some good news on the weekend with star forward Luke James, who sustained two fractured bones in his lower leg against GARFIELD in round four, having his plaster removed last week. James should return in about three to four weeks, all going well, just in time to tune up for the Blues finals tilt.
THREE genuine EDFL stars celebrated milestones on the weekend. POOWONG’s Trevor Hooker, a dual club best-and-fairest winner, played his 150th game; Adam Baxter, a best-and-fairest winner at LANG LANG played his 250th game; and KOOWEERUP dynamo Rhys Morgan, a five-time club best-and-fairest winner, lined up for his 200th game.
CRANBOURNE is the next Casey Cardinia league club to host a race day at the local track with their major event taking place on Sunday 11 July. Race naming rights are up for grabs for sponsors interested in the exposure while the big luncheon with everything included excluding punting money will cost $100 per head. For further details contact Geoff Laffin on 9793 1022, Hank Frenken on 8790 0525 or Graeme Davies on 5996 2981.
OFFICIALS from at least two EDFL clubs have identified alleged problems with the Player Points System (PPS) that was introduced in the District League this season, and say they will be raising this at the next league executive meeting. The PPS is designed to encourage clubs to foster juniors with the aim that they stay and play senior football with their parent club, however several anomalies have been identified that need to be addressed and a review will be requested, according to our sources.
POOWONG coach Brent Clinnick must be shaking his head and wondering what he has done wrong. In his first season as a senior coach the former DEVON MEADOWS player has won praise from insiders for his attention to detail but has had wretched luck with serious injuries to key players. The Magpies season has stalled and now two-thirds of his senior line up is sidelined. Some of the key men to go down include former Panther team-mate Callum O’Hare, LYNDALE recruit Matt Timmerman, former SPRINGVALE forward Justin Sweeney with a broken hand and on-baller Beau Anthony with a shoulder reconstruction. Suffice to say that Poowong’s final round clash against LONGWARRY will likely decide who wins the 2010 wooden spoon.
THE jokes are only just starting but credit to the PAKENHAM ‘fines-master’ for getting in first after training last week and fining Lions full-back and well-known red-head Nathan Brown because, “his mum has just been elected as prime minister!” Cruel … but funny.
THE 2010 tale of veteran goal-kicking star Danny Casset has taken another twist with the latest recipient of his services being YVMDFL club SILVAN. That will make it three clubs this year for Casset. He transferred from DOVETON to BUNYIP and played two matches before breaking a bone in his hand and departing to Peninsula League club BONBEACH where he played only one game and then left for Silvan by mutual agreement. Given there is one day left before clearances close, a fourth club for the year is still on the cards!
BULN BULN coach Daniel Charles was dumbfounded when he told his players prior to Saturday’s match against NAR NAR GOON to wear their ‘screw-ins’ to combat the slippery ground. Charles was greeted with blank stares with most of his players, and for that matter most youngsters these days, only carry the one pair of boots with moulded soles. In fact, fellow veteran Dean Burnell, was the only other player to run on to the field with the screw-in stops and many of the Lyrebirds’ youngsters struggled to keep their feet.
PERHAPS BULN BULN’S western-based boys should have applied the same wet weather preparation to their trip home from training in the mini-bus last Thursday night. It seems bus driver Patrick Tuck had a little trouble negotiating the second roundabout at NAR NAR GOON and bogged the truck in the middle of the traffic device, stranding his team-mates, including Pat Venville, Mark Symons, Tom Randle and Mitch Nobelius. Their rescuer came in the form of Goon president Mick Keane, who lives nearby. He may have been tempted to leave them to their own devices, given that the Goon played Buln Buln on Saturday, but did the right thing and sent them safely on their way.
EVEN CORA LYNN, usually the closest ground in the league to a verdant Gippsland pasture, was chopped up down the spine on the weekend. Club stalwart Mick Dillon, who still plays in the reserves after almost 600 games, reliably informed us that you had to go back to 1997 to see the ground in a similar condition. Many commented they hadn’t seen the ground as heavy since the 2000 West Gippsland League grand final, won in a slog by PAKENHAM over BEACONSFIELD. That day Lincoln Withers, then with the Lions, was close to best-on-ground and it came as no surprise that he again was one of the most influential players for Cora Lynn on Saturday. Withers showed wet weather skills that are often foreign to youngsters brought up with the ‘top of the ground’ football over the last decade.
GARFIELD’s clash with BUNYIP this weekend is expected to have some extra needle. The Stars have not played their neighbours for match points since 1981, when the Bulldogs were part of the West Gippsland Football League. Practice matches between the two clubs have been played with plenty of gusto in front of big crowds since and, with a combination of premiership points together with bragging rights on the line, this match should be a beauty.
