Lions lament grand plan

PAKENHAM and BERWICK will share the Casey Cardinia League finals again in 2010 but the grand final will revert back to the Edwin Flack Reserve after being played at Pakenham’s Toomuc Reserve last year.
That decision has not pleased Pakenham officials and the club will seek an explanation from the MPNFL board of directors as to what they could have done better in 2010.
Pakenham president Greg Marshall said he was “surprised” and “disappointed” with the decision, given that the feedback from the league suggested the club had excelled as host last year.
Marshall took particular exception to the league’s suggestion that Berwick had been restored as host on a “rotation” basis. “We felt that with Berwick having it for four years (2005-2008), we were a good chance to get a second crack at it,” he said.
“But if it is to be rotation, then we’d feel we’re in with a good chance next year.”
Marshall added that the effort put in to run the grand final to the league’s specification was huge and plans had already been made to further improve last year’s first effort.
Pakenham will host all the Sunday finals games this year on 29 August, 5 September and 12 September. Berwick gets the Saturday finals on 28 August, 4 September and 18 September.
The pressure will be on Berwick to do the job given that the 2008 and 2007 grand final days at the Flack Reserve were marred by crowd violence and arrests.

TOORADIN coach Chad Liddell gave a fair indication about the future of the Western Port club during an interview on the 3SER Footy Show on Saturday morning. “We are in the right league for our style of play and level and I wouldn’t think going down a grade would help the club at all. Nobody has even mentioned it to be honest,” Liddell said in reply to a suggestion that the Seagulls were being courted to join an expanded EDFL in the coming years.

NARRE WARREN will celebrate the 250th senior game of star defender and wannabe forward Steven “Skiddsy” Kidd against PAKENHAM this Saturday. Kidd is the first player to reach the milestone with the Magpies, but still has a way to go before he breaks the all-time club games record (seniors and reserves) of more than 300 set by Sid McCoy back in what was described by club president Kim McGill as “the old days”. Kidd was assistant coach in the 2006-2007-2008 triple premiership seasons and is among the most highly respected players in local football. It is believed that he may also have something special planned to mark the occasion with a whisper suggesting that somebody matching Kidd’s description was inquiring about the availability of a pair of pink boots at a well-known sports store recently.

BEACONSFIELD will transfer this Saturday’s clash with TOORADIN to the Toomuc Reserve No. 2 oval (at the back of the main oval) after the closure of the Perc Allison Oval because of its poor state. While the Eagles will no doubt be looking forward to running on top of the ground again after battling through the mud at Fox Road last weekend, the plan is to return to Beaconsfield for the club’s last two home games on 31 July and 14 August. One high-ranking club official said that would happen regardless of whether it rains from here on and added, while watching Saturday’s slog against the Magpies, that muddy grounds were a common sport-wide consequence of a wet winter and were less dangerous to players than the hard post-summer surfaces during the pre-season.

AND while on grounds changes, Casey Council has also closed Casey Fields and transferred CRANBOURNE’s big clash with berwick to the E.G. Allen Reserve (at the racecourse) this weekend. Casey Fields was deserted by VFL resident CASEY SCORPIONS last weekend because the risk to potential MELBOURNE AFL players was deemed too high. There has been widespread speculation that the ground’s drainage is inadequate, however, shire sources denied that in the press last week. The closure of the showcase venue is planned to be reviewed each week but more rain will no doubt cause more stress for the shire’s decision makers.

NAR NAR GOON averted a crisis recently when full-forward and former ROC goalkicker Chris Jones decided to celebrate a win with a beer in the post-match ice bath. While it sounds harmless enough, one of our trusted spies said the incident was frowned upon under the new professional attitude that is being fostered within the club and it was swiftly addressed. The next week, after a match committee meeting, jaws dropped when a total ban on the traditional post-match beer for all players was declared. According to our man, the ban was branded un-Australian by many club stalwarts and Jones, along with several other senior players, quickly negotiated a compromise that now means that every Goon player must rehydrate with at least one Powerade drink before cracking his first can. And the ice bath is out of bounds.

OVER the past two weeks ROC coach Kris Fletcher was rumoured to have been sacked and then stepped down as the young Kangaroos struggled to find a win. However, as is often the case in these situations, those whispers turned out to be completely wrong. Fletcher told Footy Shorts last week that there had been suggestions that the decision to play a swag of under-18s against TOORADIN had cost the side its best chance to win a game, but he stuck by the decision because those kids were the absolute future of success at Starling Road. Saturday’s win against DOVETON with the side again bolstered by teenagers including Blake Gilbert, Jake Ingaliso and James Canty must have been sweet vindication for Fletcher and his match committee.
“IT WOULD never have happened in our day,” said politician Bill Sykes, the MLA for Benalla, referring to the presence of a table of BUNYIP officials inside the GARFIELD social rooms on Saturday. Sykes, centre half-forward in the Stars’ 1966 premiership team, was a guest speaker at the Garfield past players’ reunion on the day and waxed lyrical about a few of his old mates, including Jim “Frosty” Miller. He also spoke of his football experiences at University, FITZROY where he played close to 50 games, and SHEPPARTON. Sykes spoke about the similarities between politics and football and pressed home the important role football clubs play as an extended family to many. In conclusion he could not help himself and ended with a crack at the opposition, “with due respect to Bunyip, I hope you get flogged today”. And they did.

GREAT to see star goalkicker Darren Sheen in the goal square for BEACONSFIELD reserves on Saturday after he was cleared to the Eagles from CORA LYNN on Friday. Sheen kicked three goals in the Eagles’ win over NARRE WARREN and could well make the senior side before the finals if he regains his best fitness and form over the coming weeks. Another weekend comeback at Beaconsfield did not finish as positively with former coach Robbie Taylor playing his first game in 2010 with the senior team, but ending the day with (another) concussion. In typical fashion Taylor threw himself in to every contest but came off second best and left the field on wobbly legs halfway through the second quarter. Taylor had planned to have the year off football but the lure of success saw him return on the weekend. His future must again be in doubt after Saturday’s episode.

DIVISIONAL football is inevitable in the Ellinbank and District Football League, VCFL Eastern Region manager Ben O’Brien told the Nar Nar Goon life members and sponsors lunch on Saturday. He said the Ellinbank league was the biggest one division league in country Victoria and that the current 15 team format was unworkable in the long term. He also warned clubs about adopting a quick fix mentality to winning premierships and used the situation at Yarra Valley club Silvan as an example. The club recruited a sprinkling of former AFL stars, bankrolled by a ‘white knight’, and won a flag but is now struggling to win a game after the money dried up through the global financial crisis. O’Brien said it was wide to spread the financial risk, rather than rely on one source.

GIPPSLAND Umpires Association was disappointed with the response from clubs to its open invitation to attend training last Tuesday or Thursday, including hospitality and a lecture. All clubs were invited to meet the umpires to discuss any issues of concern but not one club turned up and only one team, POOWONG, offered an apology. “In fairness to all clubs, it did fall on a traditional training night, but we will soldier on and persevere again next year,” said GUA president Shane Morgan.

PAKENHAM lost a loyal on-field servant just as clearances closed last week, with the transfer of Trent “Yardie” Fairclough to WONTHAGGI POWER in the Gippsland League. Fairclough has been a regular senior player over the past six years after joining the Lions as a code-swapper from soccer when he was suspended for two years from the world game. He was among the players at the Toomuc Reserve who enjoyed the physical contact of the game and will be sorely missed by the Lions younger, less robust players.
WARRAGUL is looking for a new senior coach for the next season after Peter Fusinato agreed to step aside at the end of this season. After two seasons at the helm, Fusinato has encouraged club officials to seek a high-profile replacement but still intends to work closely with the club, mainly because of his ties with its junior arm through his son, Tom, a promising player and GIPPSLAND POWER under-16 squad member. After making finals for the past few years, the Gulls have taken a big tumble this season and now sit at the bottom of the ladder in both the senior and reserve grades.
Officials accept the club is in a rebuilding phase this season and finals football is beyond them, but still remain upbeat about the future. Their confidence stems from the promising group of youngsters who have regularly played senior football this season and shown enough to suggest there is a strong platform to build on. Warragul’s list of coaches is impressive and has an AFL flavour including such names as Bill Green, Pat Twomey, Mick Twomey and Robert Dean all from COLLINGWOOD, Graham Gahan and Charlie Flanagan from RICHMOND and Kevin Mithen from SOUTH MELBOURNE. There was also Max Jose from HAWTHORN, Bob Turner from MELBOURNE and in more recent times, Stephen Carey from ESSENDON.
Anyone interested in the position can apply in strict confidence marked to the president, Warragul Football Club, PO Box 349, Warragul 3820.

CONGRATULATIONS to BULN BULN stalwart Anthony Baker, who played his 400th club game for the Lyrebirds in the reserves on Saturday. Now 41, Baker has played more than 300 seniors games and is both a club and EDFL life member. He is a triple premiership player at Buln Buln, a former club captain and a five-time best and fairest winner. His actual game tally must be closer to 500 because he has also had stints at YARRAGON, NAR NAR GOON and NILMA DARNUM.