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Merv Neagle & Merbein Print E-mail
Sunraysia FLMerv Neagle kicked the last goal in one of the great Grand Final revivals, which saw Essendon mow down Hawthorn for the 1984 premiership.Twenty-five years on he still gets tingles down the back of his spine watching that replay.

Mates from that flag are mates for life.“I’ll take memories of that game to my grave,” he says.
“Nothing beats it, nothing.”

Asked about his part in the unforgettable last quarter onslaught which saw the Bombers come from behind to win in a canter, Neagle said he got the first kick of the quarter, marked by Peter Bradbury for a goal and one of the last which sailed through into the back rows at the Punt Rd. end.

“In between I didn’t touch it too much,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter. We won it. The kids today ask me how good I was and I just tell them I was good enough to play in a VFL/AFL premiership team. And that’s all you have to be.”

Now 50, Neagle drives trucks for a living up and around the Sunraysia.

He and wife Donna have lived in four states in the last decade and Merv has almost lost count of the footy clubs he has been involved in from Mt Barker, north of Perth, to Mangoplah-Cookardinia United and Walla Walla through to East Devonport, Balranald and Merbein.

The father of five is back living and coaching again in the Sunraysia, at Merbein, where he won premierships in 2002 and 2003.

He hadn’t intended on coaching again but an SOS from two old teammates Leigh Riordan and “Chooka” Burns just had to be answered.

“They talked me into it,” he said. “They’d been with me in my three previous years at the club (2001-03) when we had so much success.

“They warned me that this time no-one was talking premierships. It was all about survival, not for them, but for all the kids at the club and there are 150 of them from the Under 10s through to the Under 18s.

“We’re thousands of dollars in the red. Our club sponsor went into receivership and with the drought, we’re only able to train once a week. It has made it pretty hard.”

Neagle says it is a long, slow road back for Merbein but he insists positive better times are just months away.

“After we went back-to-back, the presidency changed and the people running the club changed. They were the wrong people. Some of them reckoned it had cost too much getting the side onto the ground when we did win our flags.

“Yet every player who came to the club had to first be okayed at committee level so some of those bitching actually were also part of the decision. Everyone in country footy expects to be paid now.

“We had a debt of $70,000 which is now $30,000 but there is a new sponsor on the horizon that will help us wipe that out and allow us to once again get on with it and start to recruit again.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel. Had we kept going the way we are right now, we might have been forced to close our doors within two years and no-one wants that – not when you have all those kids involved.”

Neagle says Merbein is probably one of the biggest single parent towns in Victoria and football is imperative in the rebuilding of the community.

“If there is no football club, what do the kids do?” he says. “Just walk the street? That’s no good for anyone. We want them here, playing with us.

“Our Under 18s haven’t won a game for four years, but the coach and those supporting him are all still as keen as mustard. A couple of the boys have come up this year and they have a future. More will get a taste of it before the year is out.

“You have to keep the club up and running for them to be able to come through and mature. Without good kids you’ve got nothing.”

Being in the centre of one of Victoria’s biggest drought-ravaged areas, Merbein’s senior team is allowed to train on its ground only once a week, making it difficult for Neagle to implement and fine-tune all his coaching plans.

“With everything that goes on in their lives and with their work responsibilities it’s hard to get them here any more than that one night,” he says.

“But a lot of them do extra fitness training with John Hollywood, who owns some gymnasiums in the area and come match days they are always keen as to do well.”

While Merbein went win-less in the first 10 rounds, Neagle says the Magpies “aren’t too far off” and could easily have beaten Red Cliffs in the opening game, but for kicking 4.7 in the last quarter to lose narrowly.

“There were big expectations when we played last year’s premiers Mildura and while we were beaten by eight goals we still had good patches in the game.

“What followed was a horror stretch, unfortunately and we were being beaten by 90 and 100 points but the last four or so weeks we have been better and could easily have beaten Irymple. Just a quarter here or there is letting us down.”

“We need four or five quality players to come into the side and we won’t be far off it again.”		 Visit cricketbooks.com.au
As a former country boy who went to the city and played at the highest level, Neagle says he feels a responsibility to keep contributing to help keep country football alive.

“The drought has really complicated things for everyobdy,” he says. “Mildura is really battling with a lack of water and it rebounds into every area, especially with jobs and rising prices for just about everything.

“Kids have little choice but to work in the big city and it means there are less players to go around.

“Twenty five years ago there was something like 5500 footy clubs in the bush. Now, with amalgamations and clubs going under, there are less than half.

“Four of our boys are 13 and under. I want them to be able to play footy just like their big brother (Jay, who is at Essendon). You worry about what it is going to be like in 10 years.

“When I was growing up (in Dimboola) it was all footy and cricket. That’s all we ever wanted. But now with computers and so on it’s so different.

“We were in North Albury and one of my mates at Walla Walla asked me to fill-in in the reserves, so they wouldn’t have to forfeit. I was 42 or 43 and ended up playing three games for them. After one of the games I went off to buy a pie at the local café and there were six or seven 17 or 18-year-old boys just lounging around not doing anything.

“I told them how they should have been over the road playing. It shouldn’t have been up to me to help make up the numbers. But they just didn’t have the interest. Their Saturdays were spent hanging around the café. Full stop.

“If my Dad had caught us lounging around the local café back home in Dimboola when we were the same age, he would have kicked our backsides all the way home. Now they just do what they want to do.”

Neagle says he still loved football as passionately as he did throughout his illustrious 14-year, 200-game career at Essendon and Sydney.

“If I wasn’t 50 years old I’d still be playing,” he said, “I loved every minute of it.”

“The places we’ve seen and the people we’ve met. It has all been very enjoyable.”

As a player Neagle was coached by Kevin Sheedy for eight years, Tom Hafey for three and Colin Kinnear for three and he says he uses a littlke from each in the way he coaches his teams.

“There is a little bit of everyone in there, he says, “There is stuff I learnt from (Kevin) Sheedy, especially the discipline side of it. Also there is a bit of Tommy Hafey and plenty of one of my favorites Col Kinnear. Col was terrific to me up in Sydney. I really rated him.”

Neagle says the side still revolves around two or three of the older ones like star ruckman Riordan and nuggetty captain Burns, both members of the back to back premiership teams from 2002-03.

He says others in the side are also very talented including Paul Jenkins who kicks beautifully on both ides of the body, Andrew Davis who is very fast, Damien Spicer, Brad Congress, Josh Longeri, Colin Keatch and Mark Duscher who kicked nine in a half against the Wentworth Magpies on his way to 10 for the day.

“Young Mark had nine of our 10 goals to half-time yet we still got beat,” he said.

By Ken Piesse
 
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