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Brad Campbell & Mooroopna Print E-mail
Goulburn Valley FLSo far, it has been the year of the Cat, both at Geelong and also in the Goulburn Valley where Mooroopna tops the ladder.

Coached by local sporting icon Brad Campbell, the Mooroopna Cats won their first 12 games in a row and are headed for top qualifier status ahead of Seymour, which has won the last three flags.

With three qualifying weeks to go before the play-offs, captain-coach Campbell says his team needs to maintain their intensity to guarantee a top two finish and a place in the second-semi final.

“Our only loss coming into this last month was against the Shepparton Swans a couple of rounds ago,” he said.

“We’ve got a good even team and have had a good year so far, but as I have been telling the boys, you have to start again in September. The team which is up and about when it really counts is the side to beat.

“We know it is not going to be easy, especially given Seymour’s good record in Grand Finals of late.”

Other than a loss to the Shepparton Swans in round 13, Mooroopna has played consistent high quality football, sparked, Campbell believes, by the enthusiasm and skill of  several of its young players and the inclusion of three experienced recruits from Heidelberg in tall forward and relief ruckman Marcus Dean, midfielder Russell Lee and half forward Craig Whelan.

“They have all had success at Diamond Valley level and they have been important for us, too,” he says.

Asked about his club’s most promising young players he said there are many, three of which have been particular standouts in teenage winger Simon Russell, who played a handful of games with the Murray Bushrangers at elite Under 18 level, midfielder Dan Collier, 21 and half-back Nathan Tweddle, 20.

“They add a vibrancy around the place that you need,” said Campbell. “They were all extremely enthusiastic about pre-season and work harder than many other country players I have seen. They really love it and are coming along nicely.”

Campbell says there have been others, too, to impress in what has been a very even performance so far.

“Our evenness has been our biggest strength,” he said.

“We have been tested and have been able to lift when it counts.”

Campbell, a one game player at Melbourne (in 1993), has only just been able to return to the team after injury and is hoping to have an impact in the next weeks.

“It’s been an interrupted year for me, but with the finals so close it’s important now to be out there. We can finish first or drop to third as it shapes right now, so there is a lot to play for.”

Now, 32 and in his fifth year with Mooroopna, the first four as assistant-coach, Campbell

says he’s still very passionate about football and would love Mooroopna, a long-time Goulburn Valley easybeat, to go all the way and win a Grand Final.

“It’s a very friendly club and one which doesn’t take anything for granted,” he said.

“I get a kick out of seeing the young guys improve and how enthusiastic they are about everything they do. We haven’t had success for a long time and it’s very exciting being part of the group all focused on finishing as high as we can and doing as well as we can come the finals.”

Campbell says Mooroopna has played finals only twice since winning its last flag in the mid-‘80s so season 2008 has been very satisfying.

Campbell says spring is in the air and it’s always his most favorite time of year as it means the opportunity to play in the most competitive games of the year against the season’s best.

Twice he’s played in reserve grade Grand Finals in Melbourne, with the Demons in 1993 when they defeated North Melbourne, and with Hawthorn in 1997 when they lost to Richmond.

He has also played in two Goulburn Valley Grand Finals in 1996, a premiership year for Kyabram and in 2001 when his old home town Tongala finished runners-up.

“Being part of that Melbourne reserves flag in 1993 as a 17 year old was really something,” he says.

“(Experienced) Guys like Darren Bennett, Rodney Grinter, Graeme Yeates and Andy Goodwin all played that day. They hadn’t played much in the reserves that year but they came back that day. For many of them it was their swansong.”

Campbell said he had only a handful of possessions, but the following year he made his senior debut and played his one and only match, against Essendon at the MCG.

He made a comeback of sorts, at Hawthorn, without making it.

“If I had my time again I’d do things differently,” he said. “As you grow older, you get a little wiser. At the time though it was pretty tough and demanding. I was away from family and my closest friends. I didn’t leave because it was too hard. It just didn’t suit me at the time.”

His father Des had also played League football in the ‘70s, with Melbourne and like Brad struggled at first with life in the Big Smoke.

In a distinguished all-sports career Campbell says his alltime favourite moment came with Kyabram’s flag in 1996, the same week as his mother Sue tragically died (aged 43) in a car accident.

“I did okay that day but I remember how exhausted I was at the end of it all. It was a big week for all of us. I ran out of legs,” he said.

A talented cricketer, too, currently in semi-retirement, Campbell says the demands of lifting Mooroopna on and off the field have been so demanding he has taken a temporary break from the summer game.

“Right now I haven’t the passion to play,” he says, “not with all the footy requirements from recruiting and organising pre-season. Work is busy. Millie and I have a young daughter now (Charlie, six months). It all adds up.”

By Ken Piesse

Article first appeared The Sunday Herald Sun, August 10, 2008
 
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