When two tribes go to war

Kooweerup's current rivalry with Pakenham could be unsurpassed in the local region.

By sports editor Russell Bennett

It seems almost impossible to think of a better current day local sporting rivalry than that of Kooweerup and Pakenham in the West Gippsland Cricket Association’s Premier grade.

Cricket has a way of dividing the pretenders from the contenders, and an even more brutal way of extinguishing premiership dreams in a relative instant. So with that in mind, it’s even more remarkable that – in the four seasons prior to 2019/20 – the Demons and the Lions haven’t been able to be split.

In those four grand finals the ledger was squared at 2-2, and cruelly this season – due to the Covid-19 pandemic – neither club, their fans, or the local community more broadly got the chance to see a tiebreaking clash in all its glory.

Players have joined and left the Lions’ and Demons’ Premier sides over the years, but the mentality and fighting spirit of each group remains. They’ve got far more in common than they would maybe even care to admit. They’ve both got fearless competitors, proven champions, experience beyond their years, and a knowledge that they belong on the last weekend of the season – until another club can come and knock either of them off.

Truthfully, it’s what they’ve both got in common that sets them apart.

The Demons only lost one game all season leading into what would have been grand final weekend in 2019/20.

And although that game was at Kooweerup, against Pakenham in another classic chapter of their rivalry, the Demons emerged with the premiership due to their commanding ladder position.

It’s the only way the competition could have been decided, but still, fans and opposition players alike all over the region were left salivating at the prospect of just what a fifth straight grand final match-up might’ve had in store.

The first chapter was in 2015/16, when Ben Shipperd (47*) and Rob Elston (34*) steered the Lions to a breakthrough victory on home soil late on day two.

But as incredible as that game was, the next chapter of the rivalry is its most famous to date – when Kooweerup inexplicably defended just 113 at Denhams Road, dismissing Pakenham for just 108 in reply in a game that could surely never be replicated in its intensity or its breathtaking moments from start to finish.

Chris O’Hara top-scored in that game with just 44 and also took two wickets, while Elston (33 not out) was the stranded batsman as the Lions’ last wicket fell.

Powerful all-rounder Jess Mathers claimed 5/50 with the ball to win his second straight Lex Duff Medal as the player of the grand final after his gallant showing with bat and ball in Pakenham’s win the year before.

In 2017/18, Mathers starred yet again in another Lex Duff Medal winning showing, this time tearing the heart out of the Lions with an astonishing 9/49 as Kooweerup – led with the willow by captain-coach Mark Cooper’s 101 – claimed a comfortable win.

But in 2018/19, the tables were turned once more – this time courtesy of star Lions recruit Dale Tormey, who dominated in his first season in the competition – taking out both the player of the year medal, and the Lex Duff. On this occasion, Pakenham reeled in Kooweerup’s 161 in the 74th over for the loss of six wickets.

Elston, yet again, was not out for Pakenham as the game reached its conclusion – this time with him holding the trophy aloft as victorious captain-coach.

For this edition of ‘Rivalries Revisited’, O’Hara and Elston, along with Phil Anning and Jack Ingram, speak to the Gazette from both sides of one incredible local sporting saga.

To sum up the rivalry, which has had its heated moments on the field at stages, it’s best left to Anning, the Pakenham Cricket Club president.

He delivered a stunning speech in the victorious Kooweerup rooms after the 2018 decider, featuring star turns from Mathers and Cooper. These are excerpts from that speech, which were later read out in parliament by Russell Broadbent:

“I’ve got to say I’m extremely disappointed in the Kooweerup Cricket Club first off … because I thought we had a mutual agreement that we took it in turns to win these!
“It’s really interesting that for the past five or six years, through social media and comments from talking with people, every year after Kooweerup has been successful you hear things like ‘Tubsy (Chris O’Hara) is too old’ and ‘the Bright boys (Paul, Matt, Chris, and John) have been there too long’, but we sit back at Pakenham and think those people are living in a fantasy world to think that this club is just going to slide away and not want to better itself and continue to grow.
“We sit there and think that if we want to win another premiership, we’re going to have to beat the best side in the competition – which is Kooweerup.
“We know that, and we were fortunate enough to win it two years ago, but over the past two years we’ve been beaten by a better side and that’s indisputable.
“Dom (Paynter) said that to our players, and we’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to match you blokes.
“We’ll do everything in our power at the Pakenham Cricket Club to make sure that your run comes to an end next year.
“If it doesn’t, we’ll put our tails between our legs again as we will tonight and we’ll start planning how we can do it, because you are the benchmark and you should be very proud of that – whether it’s Mark (Cooper) as coach, or Gilesy (Michael Giles) before him. Whoever.
“Our season will not be defined by the result of today’s grand final. It will be defined by getting four sides into the grand final.
“It’s no coincidence that our Premier sides are playing off in a grand final, our second sides are both playing off in grand finals, and our junior sides are playing off against each other in the under-16s. We’re doing something right, and while every other club wants to sit back and have little snide remarks and play silly mind games, we’ll continue to go out there and play the game in the spirit it was meant to be when it was first developed.
“No other club has taken the mantra of the Pakenham or Kooweerup cricket clubs and thought ‘maybe this is the way we need to improve ourselves’.
“I don’t like being in here, but if ever I was going to be in some other side’s rooms, these are the rooms I’d be in.
“Be very proud of what you’ve achieved. You’re a wonderful club with a wonderful support group, and you’ve got wonderful facilities … but the thing I like most about Kooweerup is that I coached you!”

Pakenham president and former Kooweerup captain-coach Phil Anning delivered a heartfelt speech to Demons premiership skipper Mark Cooper and the rest of the Demon group after the 2018 grand final. 207519 Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS

Phil Anning – Pakenham Cricket Club president and former Kooweerup player-coach

“Until the final wicket is taken or the final runs are scored, absolutely anything could still happen in a game between Kooweerup and Pakenham.”

That, in a nutshell, explains just why Kooweerup’s rivalry with Pakenham could be the greatest current day sporting rivalry anywhere in the region.

They’re the words of Phil Anning in speaking to the Gazette for this story.

He’s made an indelible mark on not just his beloved Lions, but also the Demons.

Not only does he relish his position as a leader of one of the two benchmark clubs in the WGCA, he remembers vividly his time as Kooweerup’s captain-coach.

That’s right, Pakenham’s own figurehead was once a Demon – as he referred to in his now famous speech.

Anning led Kooweerup for a three-year stint, and although the first XI fell at finals hurdles on each occasion and Pakenham won two premierships in his absence back then, he’d still take nothing back and has absolutely no regrets about his time at Denhams Road.

“In the 1960s to the mid-‘70s, Kooweerup and Berwick dominated the competition pretty strongly and then Berwick moved into a different association and that’s when the rivalry between Pakenham and Kooweerup really started,” Anning explained.

“I played in the 1980/81 (flag) at Pakenham and Koowee was one of our rivals, as were Officer and Lang Lang.

“Then when I went Kooweerup in 1983/84, we were a strong side and so was Pakenham, but Pakenham won the flags in 1983/84 and 1984/85.”

In two of the three seasons Anning coached the Demons, they finished on top of the ladder only to fall in the finals. In fact, they made the finals in each season he was at the helm.

He explained the circumstances of just why he left Pakenham in the first place. He was even club secretary at the time.

“Pakenham was a pretty strong side, and I was club secretary and was even part of the process of appointing Steve Vivian as the new coach,” Anning explained.

“I then got a phone call from Jack Ingram asking me if I’d be interested in going over to Kooweerup because everything they did back in those days was internal. They didn’t go outside the box and appoint coaches from outside but they thought about bringing in someone with some fresh ideas, someone different.

“I just wanted the opportunity to captain and coach a side. Koowee took a punt on me, really, and I’m forever grateful they did.”

Anning said it wasn’t long before he had to face his home club.

“I think we played them in about Round 2 or Round 3,” he said.

“It was really odd – playing against Hanksy (Brett Hanks) and Smitty (Clinton Smith), these kinds of blokes.

“There was no sledging or anything like that. Smitty and I used to have a bit of banter between each other but it didn’t go to any real extraordinary levels.”

But the mind games did kick in, ultimately, when the Lions and Demons faced off in the semi-final stage one particular year.

With Anning’s Demons having finished on top of the ladder that season, he and Smith – then the Lions’ skipper – came to the middle to toss the coin.

“We went out to toss the coin and he says to me ‘good luck next week as well’ – in other words, we think you should beat us, which we should’ve because we finished on top and they’d finished fourth,” Anning explained.

“They were just too good for us in those games, really, and that was reflected in them winning both premierships as well.”

One of the reasons Anning has no regrets about his time at Kooweerup – even though it meant missing out on being a part of two Lions flags – is the lifelong mates he has at Denhams Road.

“I’d known Jack (Ingram) and Fonz (Robert Dennis) through playing Country Week with them, and also through footy,” he said.

“I’d known them well before I took the coaching role, but I got to know them a lot better – especially Fonz – and now they’re great mates of mine.

“Coaching Koowee, you’d get to know blokes like Johnny and George Glasscock and Ronnie Ingram a lot better than when you’d just play against them, and your respect levels for how they went about their cricket and their ability as cricketers would just keep rising.

“To play with them for 40-odd games through my time at Koowee, it was just a privilege really because they were seriously outstanding cricketers. Jack was easily the most underrated cricketer going around, too. I rate him as one of the best cricketers I ever played with.

“He had bad knees but he was still as good a wicket-keeper as you’d see, and he was just a punishing batsman.”

Anning then recalled one particular game that summed up Jack Ingram as a player.

“One day we were playing Lang Lang at Koowee and Jack had just bought a new bat and he made 170-odd not out with it and came off the ground and said it just didn’t come off the bat the way he wanted and he wasn’t sure if he bought the right stick,” he said.

“I just said to him ‘Mate, you’ve just made 170 – I’ll be doing well to make 170 for the whole year!

“That’s the sort of bloke he is – he’s just so humble. He’d play down his own ability, but he was a sensational player, as was his brother Ron.”

Despite falling short in the finals, Anning – and those Kooweerup players, alike – consider that to have been a successful era.

“You can get reflective sometimes and think about how you would have played in those back-to-back premierships at Pakenham, but I’ve never seen it that way,” he said.

“The thing is, with a little bit of luck, I could have been a dual premiership captain-coach at Kooweerup in the ‘80s – imagine that now.

“I think in the three seasons that I was captain-coach – and this clearly isn’t because of me – we lost five or six games, total.

“But I’ve not got one inkling of regret that I went to Koowee and possibly missed out on playing in two premierships for Pakenham.

“I look at it the other way – Kooweerup gave me the chance to do something that I’d wanted to do, to test my own ability as captain-coach of an A Grade side, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for it.”

Given the history, it’s little wonder Anning delivered such a speech that fateful day just a few years ago at Denhams Road.

These days, even though he’s normally behind the bar at Pakenham each game day, Anning tries to get back to Denhams Road every time Kooweerup’s first XI hosts the Lions.

“Firstly, I know what a great game it’d be between two really strong, competitive sides, and second – it’s great to catch up with blokes like Fonz and Jack, and Peter Thompson – these blokes.

“There’s always a bit of banter – a bit of fun.

“I just wish I’d have been there this season when we chased down the 350-odd!

“Fonz was pretty yappy on the text messages after day one, put it that way.

“Then when we beat them he didn’t answer his phone for three weeks!

“I rang Jack to ask if Fonz was alright, and Jack told me he didn’t think Fonz wanted to speak to me! That’s the sort of banter we have, and it works both ways.”

Anning was brutally honest when it came time to explain his eventual exit from Kooweerup, back to Pakenham.

“I knew my time was up,” he said.

“Firstly, I didn’t know if I had the ability to stay in their A Grade side, and secondly I’d had three years at it and didn’t bring them the ultimate success and a club like Kooweerup is always looking for success.”

After finishing off his playing career back at the Lions, and then taking a break from the club, Anning returned once his son, Jack, started to become a regular fixture as a player. It led to his current role as club president.

“I wanted to put something back in because we were going through a bit of a rough time – both financially, and playing-wise, so they asked me to come back,” he said.

“I’m not the messiah or anything like that – I’ve just had some terrific people work with me to bring us to what we hope is a level we can maintain for years to come, both on and off the field.”

Anning has forged a reputation as one of the finest club leaders around – of any sport – so he’s as well equipped as any to talk about just why the Demons are in such a position of strength in the current era.

“Kooweerup is the benchmark, and were from well before we started our run of success,” he said.

“Sometimes you have to look at the benchmark and ask yourself what they do so well, so we looked into it. We were discrete in asking questions and seeking answers, and one of the things was that they continually promote their kids.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

“Sometimes you just have to acknowledge when you have to change your way of thinking, and the way you go about things, and that’s what we did.

“We went and got Robbie (Elston) and we’re pretty selective in who we recruit.

“We want the people we bring into our club to embrace what we’re all about – similar to what Kooweerup does.”

As for the current chapter of the Demons’ and Lions’ rivalry, Anning is as enthralled by it as anyone.

“Until the result is known between these two sides, until the final wicket is taken or the final runs are scored, absolutely anything could still happen in a game between Kooweerup and Pakenham,” he said.

“That’s why people enjoy going to watch the two sides play – whether it’s a home and away game, a final, a two-day game, or a one-day game. They always know there’ll be a lot of twists and turns in each game.”

Jess Mathers claimed his third Lex Duff Medal in 2018 with the astonishing grand final figures of 28 overs, 11 maidens, no extras, 9/49. 178913

Jack Ingram – Kooweerup premiership-winning icon and former club president

Still, to this day, one of Anning’s great mates, Jack Ingram has nothing but respect for the Pakenham Cricket Club – and he even has his own take on just where the Kooweerup v Pakenham sporting rivalry originates.

“The Eddie Lewises, Dallas Wyatts, and Clinton Smiths of the world – we were privileged to play against them,” Ingram said.

“We went hammer and tong on the field but once the game stopped we enjoyed each other’s company immensely back in those days.

“We all played Country Week together for quite a few years, but I think the rivalry between the two towns probably stems more from the footy side of things if we go right back.

“I remember playing in the thirds and there was always a bloody war with Pakenham. It wasn’t as friendly in the footy as it was in the cricket!

“I’m talking back in the ‘60s, and when they beat us in three grand finals in a row in the ’70s.

“I think it started with the footy and crossed over into the cricket.”

Even though Ingram played in each of those three footy grand final losses in a row to Pakenham, he didn’t technically see each of them through – as his great mate Anning was only too quick to tell the Gazette.

“On the day of the middle grand final, it was my twin brother’s wedding,” Ingram said with a laugh.

“Everyone was pissed off in the lead-up to it, but in the third quarter I was quite glad to go – we were about 12 goals down!

“I just told the boys ‘I’m out of here, I’ll catch you later’.”

When it came to Anning’s stint at the helm at the Kooweerup Cricket Club, Ingram – who was the president at the time – said it was just what the club needed.

“I thought it’d be great for a change – to get someone in from the outside,” he said.

“We played cricket and we played it well – we were in the finals for 20 something years in a row there at one stage – but I thought it’d be a good idea if we got someone else out, and it might generate a bit more club feel about it.

“That’s when I asked Phil if he was interested, and he said yes.

“He generated a whole lot of interest off the field, and we didn’t win a flag while he was around but we were still successful, and he developed the club a bit more, I reckon.”

Looking back, Ingram said Anning’s appointment – from a leadership perspective – played a key role in the club’s history.

He also added that two of Kooweerup’s modern day leaders, Chris ‘Tubsy’ O’Hara and current day president Matt Davey, had taken charge of the Demons in a similar way to Anning in his role as Pakenham president.

“When you talk about our club now, the driving force behind it is Matty Davey,” he said.

“He’s been sensational, and when Tubsy came along he brought another voice from outside, which was great as well. It really enhanced the club, and it’s as strong a club as is around at the minute. There’s no doubt about it. Mitsu’s been great over there but he’s been no better for Pakenham than what Matty and Tubsy have been for Kooweerup.”

And as for the current rivalry? Ingram loves being able to sit back and watch as a fan, with beer-in-hand.

“I really love going to watch both sides, and not just Kooweerup,” he said.

“I love watching Pakenham play and Dale Tormey bat, too.

“I’m just a fan of the cricket those two sides play. To go and watch them go at it, head-to-head, is really something else.

“That rivalry now is as big as I’ve ever seen any two sides have.

“Last week in the Gazette it mentioned Nar Nar Goon and Cora Lynn in the footy being like Collingwood and Carlton. This is as big as that, or even bigger.

“When they get out on the ground, it’s on for young and old and you just know it’s going to go down to the wire because that’s just how they both play. Neither side is ever out of it. It’s incredible – it doesn’t matter if a target is 120, or 350. It still seems to be nip and tuck.”

Chris ‘Tubsy’ O’Hara takes off towards the Kooweerup crowd after the Lions snared an against the odds win in 2017. 166214 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS

Chris O’Hara – Kooweerup player-coach and seven-time Premier grade flag-winning legend

As a two-time Lex Duff Medalist in his own right, and with more first XI premierships to his name than most people have played games, Chris O’Hara knows a thing or two about the big stage.

So it’s no surprise he can articulate just why his Demons, and the Lions, have been at the head of the pack in the WGCA for the past five straight seasons.

“I think both teams probably know their games pretty well, and I think we play to our strengths,” he said.

“We’ve probably got match-winners throughout each team too, so I don’t think either side has to necessarily rely on just one or two players. I think that probably sees you through the home and away season and puts you in good stead for the finals too.

“It really is about sticking to a game plan as well, and with that probably comes a little bit of perceived pressure for the other side.

“I think sometimes when things turn our way – either Pakenham or Kooweerup’s way – maybe the opposition then starts to think ‘here they come’. When you’ve got the runs on the board to defend, that can play into the opposition’s minds as well.

“You know your opponents, you know what they do, and you know their strengths and weaknesses and in your preparation you’re trying to plan for those things.”

So, with so many shared characteristics, it’s hardly a surprise that Kooweerup and Pakenham keep facing off year after year, after year.

“But then again finals are a different beast again and Lady Luck has probably shone a bit on each side over the journey,” O’Hara added.

“It’s truly never over until it’s over and that’s what both teams respect so much about each other, I think. You’re always in for a real fight.”

Looking back to the most famous chapter of them all so far between Kooweerup and Pakenham, O’Hara revealed that he almost considered walking away from the game at probably the highest point of his career.

“I was seriously contemplating retiring after that game because I was wondering what more I could achieve, on a personal level and from a team aspect as well, because it was just a euphoric win,” O’Hara said of the Demons’ successful defense of just 113.

“When you look back at the photos you just get goosebumps, even now. There was a massive crowd there, and it was just an epic game.

“We’ve been lucky enough to have had more success in finals since that one, but that feeling is the one you chase.

“As a team, you commit, you train multiple nights a week, you have your team meetings, and you play on Saturdays all to try and have those moments, and that feeling again.”

O’Hara hardly had to be encouraged to re-live his role in that famous game, either.

“Wombat (Chris Bright) gets quite excited re-telling this story because I do recall we were sitting there at afternoon tea and Robbie (Elston) was out there, and Wombat and Jess said to Coops (Cooper) ‘righto, it’s time!’

“We take the piss about it, a little bit, and have a chuckle about it now, but sure enough they probably talked Coops into giving me a bowl and luckily enough I just got them in the right areas… and there was definitely a bit of wobble after that!

“That was from both the ball, and the bowler! (laughs)

“If you were to die the next day you’d take a memory like that.

“Growing up as a kid, in the backyard, you kick the footy around and pretend you’ve kicked the winning goal, or you’ve got a cricket bat or ball in your hand and you’re going to win the game for your team. When it does become reality, that’s really special.”

And the biggest reason that feeling was so special for O’Hara, as he snared that final wicket of that famous decider before taking off toward the home crowd, was all down to the quality of the opposition club, not just its first XI.

“After we rolled Pakky in a couple of those grand finals, they came back with real hunger and they were good enough to do it, and good on them for it,” he said.

“What you’re trying to do – your number one goal – is to build a strong club for your community.

“Then, obviously on top of that, you want success but the biggest one is having the structures in-place off the field.

“Pakenham has obviously had a really strong committee for years and has been really strong in leading new initiatives in the WGCA. They’re a real leader, and if you’ve got those structures sorted out off the field, I think it’s a natural process then to have it transpire on the field.

“I think there’s definitely mutual respect there for what each other has gone through, and is trying to continue to achieve, for sure.

“I think they’ve kept us motivated to keep pushing and to try and stay ahead of the pack, which is really hard, or even maintain our standards – not to let them drop.”

Rob Elston and Dale Tormey, along with Dom Paynter, have been the Lions’ instrumental on-field leaders in recent years. 191809

Rob Elston – multiple Premier XI flag winner at Pakenham, current player-coach

Since signing on with Pakenham at the start of the current chapter of the club’s Kooweerup rivalry, Elston has done it all as a premiership-winning captain-coach. His own perspective offers real insight into just what makes these two champion sides, and clubs, tick.

“Coming back into the association (from Victorian Premier Cricket), I was instantly thrust into the fact Kooweerup was the team to beat,” he said, adding how excited he was to take on the Demons at the start of this current era.

“But I don’t think I even realised how much of a rivalry the two clubs already had.”

Since then, Elston – along with the rest of his Pakenham team mates – has experienced the constant rise and fall of such an epic head-to-head rivalry.

“Memories of the clashes are mixed with fond ones – obviously being the premiership wins and this season’s (home and away round) run chase,” he said.

“In the first (the 2015/16 grand final), it was the fact we hadn’t lost a game, were expected to win, and for a lot of the game we were behind the eight-ball, but as we had done all year we managed to find a way with a couple of great contributions (Shipperd was simply brilliant, following on from Russ Lehman’s gruelling work with the ball) at the end to see us over the line.”

Then, in 2018/19, there was more euphoria for the Lions – on that occasion skippered by Elston in the absence of an injured Dom Paynter.

“We’d missed out two years running to these guys, and you just appreciate hitting those winning runs and getting the chance to enjoy giving everyone who had worked for the past three years the reward. It felt pretty good to hit the winning runs, for once, as well.”

But Elston admitted he still thinks about the extraordinary 2016/17 clash.

“I’ll always rue the one that got away and have those ‘what if’ moments,” he said.
“Should I have done this, or should I have just gone for broke (at the death) against Tubsy?

“We bowled so brilliantly and then that small spell at the end of the (first) day threw the game wide open again. Like they say, the hardest run to hit is the winning one.

“The following year we just got outplayed with a couple of unbelievable individual performances (from Cooper and Mathers).”

Elston said it’s the defeats the Lions have experienced against Kooweerup that have motivated them to keep improving.

“The losses certainly toughened us up and drove us to get better, work harder, and reap the rewards again,” he said.

“They have certainly made the rivalry a topsy-turvy one and meant it’s an edge-of-the seat thriller every time we meet.
“It’s a credit to both clubs, and the players within the teams, that they can rise to the challenge when playing against the best, and perform so well.

“Both teams have big game players with the ability to win matches off their own back, and are filled with players who love the contest, which has meant that every ball possesses a huge challenge, and a battle within a battle.

“The major reason the rivalry is what it is comes down to the evenness throughout the teams, and players willing to sacrifice their own games for the sake of the team.
“Both sides have been brilliantly led off the field, as well as on – Coops brilliantly leading Koowee, and Dom Paynter our team.

“From our perspective, while Kooweerup was certainly the best team this year – only losing one game – it was bitterly disappointing to not get another crack at them to try and get the upper hand in this amazing sequence of grand finals.
“Rest assured we’ll be doing everything in our powers to put ourselves in a position to challenge the competition yardstick next season, and for years to come.”