WHEN the Lexton Plains Football League was wound up at the end of last year, after being in operation for only 12 seasons, there was no outcry. Sure, the two clubs that had dominated the competition, Carngham-Linton and Skipton, enjoyed being big fish in a small pond (located close to Ballarat, they won 10 of the 12 flags), but the league's boundaries made no sense, and its northern-most clubs, Natte Bealiba and Navarre, were happy to see it go.
The Natte Bealiba Swans and the Navarre Grasshoppers are based in towns closer to Bendigo than Ballarat. But due to footy politics and historical anomalies, their players and supporters had to regularly make trips of up to 150 kilometres to play clubs like Rokewood-Corindhap and Illabarook, which are south of Ballarat.
Not surprisingly, the situation made it tough to recruit players. Natte Bealiba suffered the most, winning only 11 games between 2008 and 2010.
But the VCFL's decision to do away with the Lexton Plains league, as part of a restructure of footy in the region, has resulted in the tables being turned. None of the clubs that were ushered into Central Highlands league - Carngham-Linton and Skipton among them - made the finals this year.
In contrast, all three clubs that entered the Maryborough Castlemaine league - Lexton, Natte Bealiba and Navarre - have made it through to this weekend's preliminary finals (the competition now has a top eight).
Yesterday, Lexton and Navarre did battle for the first spot in the grand final, and today, at Princes Park in Maryborough, Natte Bealiba will take on Carisbrook for the second berth in the big one.
''The change has really helped create a buzz around the club, and a bit of excitement,'' Natte Bealiba president Alan Mills says.
The Natte Bealiba Football Club was formed in 1962 when Natte Yallock and Bealiba joined forces. The new entity enjoyed a successful first decade, qualifying for five consecutive senior grand finals.
After a 24-year premiership drought, the Swans won their third flag when Alistair Egan, from nearby St Arnaud, led them to victory over Avoca in the 1994 decider. They backed it up by defeating Navarre a year later. ''Other than Alistair and a couple of others, those sides were basically all home-grown players, so we didn't need any imports,'' Mills says.
These days, however, Natte Bealiba relies on imported players to remain competitive, which is why the merger of the Lexton and Western Plains leagues, in late 1998, proved such a problem. Seeking a resolution to reduce the onerous travel burden that resulted from the merger, the Swans tried to change competitions.
''We got knocked back by the [Maryborough Castlemaine] league because they'd taken on Dunolly and Avoca at that stage,'' Mills says. ''They didn't want to go taking too many in as they wanted to see how the others went. We had to bide our time in the Lexton Plains league until it became untenable.''
A group of Ballarat boys helped Natte Bealiba finish third in 2006 and make the grand final in 2007. But when talented coach James McNamee moved on, it fell back down the table. The club's senior side was rarely thrashed in the last three seasons of the Lexton Plains league, but wins were scarce. The Swans' fortunes began to improve as soon as the VCFL allowed them to join the league that they should have been in all along. By last Christmas, Natte Bealiba had capitalised on its move by recruiting a number of players from Bridgewater, near Bendigo. Among them was Alexander Collins, who has booted 97 goals so far this season, including a haul of 17 against Royal Park in round three.
''We got onto a good coach, Noel Jacobs, and he's got a lot of contacts in the Bendigo area,'' Mills says. ''It would've been nearly impossible to get those players when we were in the other league. Bendigo was never in the equation for recruiting before. It was just too far for them to travel.''
Under the guidance of Jacobs, who returned to the club after not playing for a couple of seasons, the Swans were very competitive in their first 10 games. They easily beat strugglers like Campbell's Creek and Royal Park, although they couldn't quite knock over top sides Lexton, Carisbrook, Navarre and Maldon. Natte Bealiba received a big boost midway through the season when, just before clearances closed, it successfully raided the Bendigo region again, signing Sandhurst duo Mark Fitzgerald and Zachary Perez. With their star recruits gathering plenty of possessions, the Swans won their last six home-and-away games and finished fifth on the ladder.
Local farmer and 36-year-old club captain Brent Mortlock was best on ground when Natte Bealiba thrashed Maryborough Rovers by 101 points in the first elimination final two weeks ago. (There were no upsets on that opening weekend of the finals, but there was a sensation the following week when Dunolly, coached by McNamee, was booted out for fielding an ineligible player in its elimination final win over Harcourt.)
Mortlock was again among the Swans' most important contributors when they edged out Maldon by 12 points last weekend.
This afternoon, when Natte Bealiba takes on Carisbrook for a berth in the grand final, Mortlock has a special reason to lead his team to another victory. His brother, Craig Mortlock, who won a swag of best-and-fairest awards during a decorated career with the Swans, is these days heavily involved with Carisbrook. In fact, Craig led the Redbacks to a premiership in 2008 and continued to coach the club until he stepped down at the end of last season. Now that Natte Bealiba and Carisbrook are finally in the same league, a friendly intra-family rivalry has been ignited.
''I think it would've been a fairly tense time on the farm this week,'' Mills jokes. ''Their father Phil was a champion at our club as well, so they're a fairly legendary family around the place.''
Carisbrook beat Natte Bealiba when the teams met earlier in the season, so the Redbacks, who finished second on the ladder, will start today's contest as warm favourites. But given they're on an eight-game winning streak, the Swans will go in with plenty of confidence and plenty of support. ''We've got a strong tradition of being a family club and that attracts a lot of people,'' Mills says.
''We've got a very loyal supporter base. It doesn't really worry them if we're on the top or the bottom of the ladder; the atmosphere around the place doesn't change much, and our membership stays at around 150 every year. But there's no doubt morale is just that bit higher when you're near the top.''
By Adam McNicol
Article first appeared The Sunday Age, Sept 10 2011
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