Weekly Times |
AFTER four years in the wilderness, a change of leagues has brought about a reversal of fortunes for Tocumwal Football Club.
The Bloods are about to embark on their first finals campaign since their premiership in 2009, but much has changed since achieving the ultimate success.
The most notable difference has been the shift to the Picola and District league’s North West division after the club severed its 82-year association with the Murray league at the end of last season.
The Bloods’ senior team, which went winless last year, had won just nine matches in its previous three seasons and the club’s reserves, under-17s and under-14s won three games between them last year.
According to club president Ashley Crawford, the shift was made with a degree of trepidation, but was necessary to secure the club’s future.
“We didn’t know how we were going to go this year,” Crawford said.
“We didn’t recruit all that well and we have had to rely largely on bringing through our under-17s and the players already here.
“It was a really difficult decision (to leave the Murray league) and some older stalwarts at the club weren’t all for it, but I think now they are just happy we are competitive again and that they can watch the red and white stripes running around.”
On-field the move has been a success. The Bloods have won 10 games and finished the home-and-away season in third position.
They will face Strathmerton in the qualifying final on Saturday and, despite losing both encounters with the Bulldogs this season, Crawford said the club was looking forward to being part of the finals action.
“We played them in the last home-and-away game last week and it really was a dead rubber; at stages it didn’t even feel like a real game,” he said.
“Both teams had a few out, so with some good players returning, it will be interesting to see how this week goes.”
Crawford also paid tribute to Scott Baldwin, who played his 350th senior match for the Bloods on Saturday.
“It’s such a good effort to play out his whole career as a one-club player — you don’t see that a lot in country football these days,” he said.
“He went about nine or 10 years in a row without missing a game, so it just goes to show how durable a player Scott has been.”