EDWIN Flack Reserve was dumped as a semi-final venue at the last minute last week with all Casey Cardinia League matches played at PAKENHAM. After consultation with BERWICK and an inspection during the week, the decision was made to shift Saturday’s games due to the condition of the surface, which was roundly criticised after the first week of the finals.
The Toomuc Reserve held up well to the traffic and a decision will be made this week whether to transfer the grand final on 18 September. The weekend shift (together with any future decision to do the same) would be sweet vindication for Pakenham officials, who were dismayed at losing the grand final back to Berwick after its success at the Lions venue last year.
The Toomuc Reserve has held up remarkably well, despite the amount of rain that has fallen in the last fortnight and, now that Pakenham is out of the race, there is no home ground advantage involved. As far as the Wickers are concerned, the transfer, and subsequent loss of significant income, put the icing on a particularly ordinary week which saw Glenn Dale, the coach of two years, resign after being told his job was up for grabs and that it would be advertised. Hopefully, there will be compensation paid to the Wickers to help them balance their budget.
HAMPTON PARK has joined clubs looking for a new coach after the mentor of the past two years, Josh Taylor, stepped down on Monday. The Redbacks were slow to reappoint Taylor at the season’s end and had been assessing their options, so he made the decision for the club and accepted the position of senior coach of his old junior club EMERALD in the Yarra Valley and Mountain District League. The Bombers have been keen to lure Taylor back to the fold for some time and his departure will hurt at the Booth Reserve.
CORA LYNN’s Caiden Slivarich put in his bid for senior selection this week with a pearler of a game in the reserves against ELLINBANK on Sunday. With the match locked up at two goals apiece at half time, Slivarich proceeded to score an unbelievable six consecutive goals in just over a quarter and a half to single-handedly wrench the game from the Bankers grasp. This feat would be stunning on a good day, but on Sunday at NEERIM NEERIM SOUTH, the Bill Cumming Memorial Oval was more conducive to mudlarks and a single goal, let alone half a dozen in quick succession, was absolute gold. More remarkably, Slivarich was selected on the wing and in 16 previous games this season, had kicked only 15 goals.
CONGRATULAIONS to one of our favourites, KEYSBOROUGH hard nut Corey Wilkinson. ‘Wilko’, with captain Will Gayfer and playmaker Anthony Brannon, was a co-winner of the Burra’s best and fairest award announced last Friday. With due respect to Gayfer and Brannan, Wilkinson’s victory was the highlight of the evening, given he is an old-style player that has been insanely loyal to the Burra over more than a decade of ups and downs. The hard luck story of the night was that of centre half forward Tyson King, who finished one vote behind the trio despite missing the last three games.
ANDRE Young has long been somewhat of a cult figure at CRANBOURNE and that was fairly obvious by the description used by 3SER Casey Cardinia League radio show panellist Stuey Batten when he called him a ‘Greek God’ last week. The comeback from fellow commentator, Eagles veteran Brett McMaster, was even better, suggesting Young didn’t like the overcast and wet weather because he was always ‘oiled up like the Sunday roast’ to show off his guns on field. Despite his side’s loss, Young still managed to put on a reasonable show for his fans before hurting his shoulder in the second term of Saturday’s game and spending time on the bench.
PERHAPS Nar Nar Goon coach Clint Williams could apply for a job at the Bureau of Meteorology. After winning the toss at GARFIELD on Saturday, the wily midfielder opted to give CORA LYNN first use of the breeze. His decision was based on a gut feeling that if it was calm during the coin toss, the wind would likely pick up later. The Cobras kicked with a negligible wind advantage in the opening term and, sure enough, right on cue, the wind sprung up at the change of ends. Nar Nar Goon used it well with two quick goals to star BEACONSFIED recruit Luke McConnell, putting the Cobras on the back foot for 15 minutes before it abated again. In the end, only eight points separated the sides.
AN article in the Casey Cardinia League Football Record a couple of weeks ago suggested senior footballers should have, as part of their contracts, provision to train with the junior arms of their clubs throughout every season. One club that does not need to write that in is PAKENHAM – and that was evident a couple of Fridays ago when several Lions players, including now retired star midfielder Dan O’Loughlin and spearhead Daniel Fry, joined the under 10s training in an effort to provide a boost to the team’s grand final tilt. Pakenham is well-known for its junior development and the ploy worked, with the Pakenham Maroons getting up to win the flag by three points over CRANBOURNE BLUE.
WHILE on the junior side of things, congratulations also to the CRANBOURNE Youth Girls who won their first premiership last weekend. The girls have developed quickly after being formed in 2009 and to win a premiership, particularly the way they did by one point over NOBLE PARK, was a magnificent achievement.
A COUPLE of nicknames enjoyed by the finals crowd at PAKENHAM on Saturday certainly tickled the fancy. Firstly, lanky CRANBOURNE youngster Michael Boland carries the mantle of ‘Fluffy’ – hardly a name the hard men of football would appreciate. More interesting and amusing was the continued reference to veteran senior umpire Paul Callaghan as ‘Danny DeVito’ by a section of those watching. The lads reckon that Callaghan who, similar to the Hollywood actor, is height and follicley challenged, was always giving the shorter and balding players a better run with the free kicks. Great banter indeed.
FORMER Gippsland field umpire Matt Stevic certainly made a name for himself last Friday night. Stevic was the umpire who paid that controversial free kick against Cameron Mooney, which denied GEELONG what looked likely to be a match-winning goal in the dying minute of the qualifying final clash against ST KILDA. Stevic showed he was a star in the making in the West Gippsland league, where he umpired a senior grand final at the age of 16 before being promoted to the AFL umpires list in 2004. Last season he chalked up his 100th AFL game and now has over 135 senior games to his credit. He is the first Gippsland whistle blower to be in contention for an AFL grand final gig since Gavin Dore, who officiated in the big one in 1996.
JUST as NARRE WARREN hit the lead during an exciting and desperate final term of Sunday’s first semi-final against PAKENHAM, one Magpie fan in the crowd gave his fellow supporters a good laugh with a marvellous sledge. “They were going to line the Pakenham rooms with Tasmanian timber during the week but they cancelled it because there was already too much dead wood in there,” he bellowed. Straight out of the jungles that one…
NOT to be outdone were the PAKENHAM faithful during the second term. After one experienced NARRE WARREN defender made two costly disposal mistakes in quick succession, one Lion lad yelled, “Give the ball back to ‘Apples’, he’s our gun.” That went on for a few plays and when it was asked why the Magpie was being referred to as Apples, the quickfire reply was: “Because he is the king of turnovers!”
GRAND final aspirants TRARALGON and DROUIN will be keeping a lookout for MAFFRA star Adrian Burgiel at this weekend’s preliminary final clash at the Maffra oval. Burgiel went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury against the Maroons on Saturday and word around the traps is that he will undergo a full knee reconstruction this week, ruling him out of the grand final. His loss would be a massive blow to Maffra as it attempts to win its sixth grand final in eight years. Their only loss was to Traralgon in 2005, when they entered the game as red-hot favourites. Maffra has not missed the finals in 11 seasons.
HEARTY congratulations to all clubs that put in the time and effort to make the pre game ‘run through’ banners. Like a pie and sauce and picking up the ‘Footy Record’ when you come through the gate, (although this is a moot point in the home and away EDFL season), banners are a football tradition. They add atmosphere to the day and get the competitive juices of players and supporters flowing and help build the game up to a crescendo. For the second week in a row, GARFIELD produced a banner and, as far as anyone at the club could remember, the Stars have always honoured players who reach key milestones and sides who play in finals with a banner.
THE wet weather has claimed another ground victim, with this Saturday’s EDFL preliminary finals switched from LONGWARRY to KOOWEERUP after a ground inspection on Sunday afternoon. Supporters will be hoping the Demons canteen staff have the manpower to open more than one window this time around, to avoid the 10-deep queues the last time a final was held there.
