**Headaches, headaches, headaches. That seems to be the reaction to the switch between management platforms for both football and netball this year. Most football leagues have switched from GAMEDAY to PLAYHQ, while netball has made the move from MYNETBALL to NETBALL CONNECT. One of the main impacts of the switch is that basic statistics are now difficult to access for leagues, clubs, players, coaches and supporters. Hopefully things get sorted out soon, but we do apologise for the lack of information that is normally provided in our weekly scoreboards. There was nothing wrong with the old system…sometimes you just wonder, don’t you!
**CRANBOURNE will take on some familiar faces when it lines up against ST KILDA CITY at Peanut Farm Reserve on Saturday 23 April. The Saints have recruited remarkably well, with former BERWICK stars Madi Andrews and Jimmy Magner now on their list, while former PINES star Luke Potts and MPNFL-gun Brayden Irving are also wearing the red, white and black stripes. Throw in a certain Brownlow Medallist, COLLINGWOOD champion Dane Swan, and the Saints might be the Eagles main challengers for this year’s Southern Football Netball League (SFNL) Division One flag.
**The West Gippsland Football Netball Competition (WGFNC) is moving with the times and has set up a TV Portal to house the match-day footage it is now compiling on a weekly basis. The WGFNC will live stream a weekly Match of the Day, with the game between CORA LYNN and PHILLIP ISLAND on Sunday a worthy first-up choice. The TV Portal will be great for lovers of West Gippsland footy, with match vision, highlights and top-5 plays all part of the weekly fare. Well done to Brandon Milburn and the team at the WGFNC for the hard work they’ve put in behind the scenes.
**Now that WGFNC games are being live streamed, the visual brand of the competition is going to be important as people from other leagues now get to pry on what the competition really looks like. The current shortage, and standard of umpires, is something the WGFNC will need to look at. On Sunday, in very difficult conditions it must be said, the throw ins from the boundary umpires constantly fell short of the mark, quite often having to be recalled. It’s great that youngsters are out there having a go, but it wouldn’t have been a good look to people tuning in from the outside. It’s nothing super-important, but something the league will have to factor in from this point forward.
**While on umpires, there really is a shortage across all leagues at the moment as the impact of Covid-19 continues to have an impact. Numbers were already declining before Covid, but the last two years of basically inactivity has made the task for leagues even harder. If you’re young, fit, and know how to throw a ball back over your head, your appearance is just what leagues are craving these days. And past-players, who have a greater understanding of the game, are others the leagues will be trying to attract in the coming weeks, months and years.
**The serious leg injury that kept CORA LYNN star Jeremy Monckton from the playing field last year deprived us all of his bag of party tricks. Monckton, who played on the wing on Sunday, has a classy left-foot that has troubled many teams over the years. But on Sunday, during a tense last quarter against PHILLIP ISLAND, he took the party tricks a bit too far. A snap shot from Monckton sailed across the face of goal and landed on the very top of the point post. Some would say it was accidental…but we’re saying that the talented Cobra was just putting on a show for the crowd!
**Arch-rivals BEACONSFIELD and BERWICK have gone soft! Sorry, but that’s the only conclusion that can be drawn after we were made aware last week of a special deal that has taken place between the two clubs. The clubs have agreed on reciprocal rights for members, meaning members of both clubs can enter the ground of the other to watch games for free! So, if Beaconsfield is playing away, it’s members can duck around the corner and watch the arch-rival Berwick for free. It’s a great idea…but it doesn’t sit right with us. Next these two great rivals will be telling us a possible merge is on the table!
**One of the great blokes of West Gippsland football, former CORA LYNN coach David Main, stood down from the top job last year to take a little time away from the game. Well, Mainy is now busier than he has ever been! He is coaching the WGFNC Under-18 Interleague team, alongside Brent Clinnick, has a coaching role at NAB League level, and is also assistant coach for his son Ollie down at OFFICER. We reckon Mainy should be employed every day of the week, such is the knowledge he possesses that should be passed on to the young guns from around the region.
