Before yesterday's game against Poowong, the Cobras sat atop the
Ellinbank league ladder. Membership is now 380.
Located 80 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, amid endless
green pastures, the town of Cora Lynn has always been small, a
challenge for the local football club since it was founded. Given
this, its 88-year history includes only two premierships. The most
recent came in 1986, when Cora Lynn defeated Pakenham to win the
West Gippsland league flag.
Local legend Ray "Windows" Payne coached the Cobras to a grand
final appearance in 1991, before hard times returned.
By 2004, something had to be done. Cora Lynn was still taking on
clubs like Pakenham, Beaconsfield and Warragul, drawing upon
growing populations of up to 20,000.
As part of a Gippsland football restructure, Cora Lynn and
fellow battler Nar Nar Goon were subsequently transferred to the
Ellinbank league, where they could tackle towns their own size.
Andrew Burgmeier, a local primary school principal, assumed the
presidency and began working on a survival plan. His first job was
raising money to keep the club solvent.
From a brainstorming session emerged the Cora Lynn Country Car
Show. To be held for the fourth time in October, the show now
attracts such a crowd of vintage car enthusiasts, it has become one
of the club's greatest annual earners.
The improved bank balance has powered the Cobras' on-field
improvement. Their first key appointment was non-playing coach
Chris Toner in late 2005.
A former Narre Warren player, Toner signed after persistent
calls from his uncle Bill, a passionate Cora Lynn supporter. "I
hadn't seen Bill for 10 years," Toner recalls. "He rang up out of
the blue. I think he thought I'd come cheap because they'd been
broke."
Boosted by a number of key recruits, Toner guided Cora Lynn into
the finals in his first season.
"The people are fantastic," he says. "We've got no town, no
nothing really. Sometimes, I think they're just thankful they have
a side on the park. To have a good one is bonus."
Last year, Toner pulled off a coup by signing full-forward
Darren Sheen, a 2006 Narre Warren premiership player under former
St Kilda star Austinn Jones.
Aged 18, Sheen kicked 136 goals in 2007 as Cora Lynn made the
second week of the finals. He later began training with the Box
Hill Hawks, before the rigours of a VFL pre-season proved too
much.
"I wasn't committed," Sheen admits. "It was my own fault. I just
got lazy."
He happily returned to Cora Lynn and has dominated again. He was
the first player to bring up a century of goals in the Victorian
Country Football League this season, reaching the milestone against
Buln Buln in round 14.
Sheen's greatest weapons are huge hands, tree-trunk legs and a
sturdy backside that makes its presence felt in body-on-body
contests.
Sheen kicked six goals last weekend against Lang Lang, raising
an arm in a Buddy Franklin-style celebration after each one.
"Like all full-forwards, he's got a bit of arrogance about him,"
Payne says. "He loves kicking them."
While recruiting players such as Sheen has helped bring good
times, the need for juniors hasn't been forgotten.
When Toner took over as senior coach, the Cobras had only seven
players for its under-18 team. Each week, they would have to borrow
numbers from the opposition or forfeit. In an inspired decision,
Cora Lynn began recruiting juniors from larger towns, where many
were missing out on a game.
Such was the interest, Frank Ramsdale, now the thirds team
manager, convinced the club to buy its own bus and transport the
kids to matches. A smoke-belching machine painted in club colours,
the bus has become a local icon.
Cora Lynn now has a full side in the under 18s and also under-15
and under-13 teams. "On different days, we'll have up to 30 on the
bus," Ramsdale says. "Sometimes, senior players will catch it.
Saves them paying for petrol."
While Burgmeier insists more work is needed to make the club
sustainable, a premiership would be reward for the effort put in to
date. Last weekend's tough victory at the picturesque Cora Lynn
oval kept the Cobras on target, ensuring them a double chance in
the finals.
But key injuries mean winning the flag will be far from easy.
The loss of vice-captain Dan O'Hara, thankful to be alive after a
recent car accident, has been an especially traumatic
situation.
Gun recruit Ryan Donaldson is also unlikely to play again this
year after injuring his finger. Donaldson kicked 167 goals for
Ellinbank league rival Longwarry last season and was expected to
play alongside Sheen in an all-star forward line. Instead, Sheen
now carries a community's hopes. Arch-rival Nar Nar Goon and
defending premier Nyora present the biggest threat but the
19-year-old plasterer is promising to give his all.
"To come here and find out what they've been through, I can tell
what it would mean to these blokes to win it," Sheen says. "They
really want it. Everyone from the president down."
By Adam McNicol
Article first appeared The Sunday Age, August 3, 2008
Media Articles 
IF NEW Melbourne chairman Jim Stynes needs some inspiration as
he sets about trying to resurrect the red and blue, he would be
well advised to look beyond elite football. Out in West Gippsland
is a club that has well and truly come back from the dead.
