Bulldogs make their move

The Quirk brothers, Ryan (left) and Dylan (right), are set to have a huge impact for Bunyip in the 2021 West Gippsland season under new coach Tim McGibney (far right).

By Russell Bennett

Bunyip has long been considered one of the great blue collar success stories of west Gippsland – a family-based club with a no nonsense, no fuss approach to its footy; one with a proud history of developing home-grown talent into senior premiership players.

But the Yips are evolving – they’ve had to – and from 2021, their new era will feature two of Narre Warren’s modern day favourites, as well as one of the biggest x-factor players from Cora Lynn’s most successful era.

In the super-competitive West Gippsland Football Netball Competition (WGFNC), they know they’ve got to keep moving forward at ‘The Kennel’ – otherwise they’ll go backwards.

And it’s their hope that a quartet of key signings will help propel them back towards the top tier of the competition.

New senior coach Tim McGibney was unveiled in recent days, along with former Narre Warren stars Dylan and Ryan Quirk – and both McGibney and playing club president Brad Walker weren’t kidding when they said they’re not finished yet.
They’ve also signed 26-year-old multiple Cora Lynn premiership-winning star, former co-captain, and team of the year member Jackson Dalton to provide his genuine match-winning spark forward of the centre.
The Yips have been on the receiving end of his magic before, and now they get to benefit from it after his cross from one of their arch rivals.

Jackson Dalton has made the switch from Cora Lynn to a playing assistant coaching role with local rival, Bunyip. 197394 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS

Like Dalton, his great mates – the Quirk boys – need absolutely no introduction to footy fans in the south east.

Dylan is a three-time senior premiership player at Narre – including the most recent one as captain; has been named in the top three of the side’s best and fairest four times; is a multiple interleague representative; and has been a five-time selection to the prestigious team of the year.

The midfield ace – and senior playing assistant coach – is set to have a massive, immediate impact in the engine room for Bunyip, as will his brother, Ryan, across half-back.

Ryan is also a premiership player at Narre, a former best and fairest runner-up, a former team of the year player, and was the side’s 2019 vice-captain.

Still also in his mid-20s, Dylan made his senior coaching debut on the big stage – filling in for Narre’s Matt Shinners in last year’s qualifying final against Beaconsfield.

He was then amongst Narre’s best in a memorable performance in last season’s premiership win over Berwick at Pakenham.

McGibney, still only 33, pursued his coaching career after a neck injury brought about a premature end to his playing days.

He signed on as a line coach at Frankston in VFL for 2020 before the season was ultimately cancelled before it could begin – due to the fight against Covid-19.

Prior to that he served as Traralgon’s senior coach in the Gippsland League after a stint at Casey in the VFL. His coaching journey began at Garfield, and the Drouin local knows exactly how fierce the rivalry with Bunyip truly is.

He said he couldn’t help but be inspired by the Yips’ “footy-focussed” committee, led by premiership skipper, former coach, and current playing president Walker – who years ago broke his own neck putting it all on the line in an on-field footy incident.

In a sign of just how serious the Yips were to secure their coach of the future, outgoing coaches – Bunyip locals, and south east footy royalty – Aussie Jones and Ricky Clark were a key part of the committee that made the appointment.

Walker made no secret of the fact Bunyip was after a new coach that could hit the ground running, and bring some established star talent in to the fold – particularly given the flexibility in the club’s player points and salary cap position.

And with McGibney and the Quirk boys, they hit it out of the park.

He said both Jones and Clark stepped away to spend more time with their young families, and McGibney was just the man to take over.

With many local clubs rolling over their 2020 coaching appointments into 2021, Walker said the challenge to appoint a new Bunyip coach became that much harder.

Ultimately, it came down to whether or not the Yips would appoint one of their own, Aaron Paxton, for his first crack as a senior coach, or go the more experienced route.

They opted for McGibney, while Paxton has hit the ground running as the new senior coach of Longwarry in the EDFL.

Walker said it’s a win-win of a situation.

“When Packo is one of the best players in your side and you have to decide between a team mate who’s also a really good friend, and someone else, it’s never going to be easy,” he admitted.

“We probably just didn’t want to go down the first-year coach path at this point in time, with our current list and the average age of the group.

“We wanted someone to come in and hit the ground running, particularly in a competition as strong as West Gippy.

“We look at it as a win-win – Packo takes over a very strong Longwarry group, where he gets the senior role and experience he’s after. I can only hope he achieves great things there, and I’m sure he will. He’s a fantastic bloke, and a fantastic mate to all of us.”

Moving forward, Walker is thrilled with the appointment of McGibney.

“Tim is a guy who’s worked really, really hard on trying to learn and develop as a coach over a number of years so he can put himself in the position that he can only further his career in that space,” he said.

“He’s a passionate man, who we’ve already seen puts a mountain of time and effort into making sure he’s successful at what he does. He’s a dog with a bone. If he doesn’t have something, he’ll find any which way to get it.

“We made sure Tim was able to lock and load a couple of guys to come with him, and you can’t get much better than the Quirk boys.

“We’re not done yet, either. We’ll see other big names coming to our club who we feel are the right fit for us, given our culture and what we stand for.”

McGibney said his new role at Bunyip and the recruitment of the Quirk boys is “a match made in heaven”.

While he’d never coached them directly prior to signing on at the Yips, the two parties were brought together through mutual footy contacts.

“Dyl and I had our first chat for about two-and-a-half hours and we just clicked immediately,” McGibney said.

“When we started chatting I hadn’t officially taken on the Bunyip role yet – I was still at Frankston in the VFL.

“It was a bit of a partnership thing – I said: ‘Let’s do it together, let’s join forces. I’ll coach the club and you can come out with me as the assistant. We’ll go on a Bunyip journey together’.”

McGibney formed a strong friendship with Frankston senior coach Danny Ryan, and said the call to tell him he was leaving for Bunyip was a particularly hard one to make.

But it’s one he’s glad he did.

He said he and the Quirk boys were all drawn to the buy-in from those at Bunyip – from everyone from playing president Walker, to Clark and Jones, to the existing playing group.

“There’s nothing more appealing than having a genuinely football-based committee, because it’s probably the biggest disconnect in clubs, generally,” McGibney explained, adding he was also excited by the external interest and upside in the growing WGFNC.

Traralgon parted ways with him in a high-profile move after comments he made about a rival Gippsland League player on a podcast, but he’s completely moved on from a moment in time he says “feels like a lifetime ago now”.

“Look, I got the arse from a coaching gig – in perspective of what’s going on around the world at the minute, it’s nothing in the scheme of things,” he said with trademark honesty.

“The attention I received when the Traralgon thing happened was quite exhausting for a couple of weeks there – my phone was ringing non-stop from all sorts of people.

“But that was a lifetime ago. It sits in my past and it’s part of my story, but it’s not going to define me, that’s for sure.

“When the news came out that I’d signed at Bunyip, my phone blew up again – but this time it was all positive. I know I’ve made the right move.”

After signing the Quirk boys – who bolster an already encouraging Bunyip senior list – McGibney said he’s looking forward to develop some young key position players from within.