By Sean Cusick

By making junior football a priority, South Warrnambool has made a habit of producing some of the AFL’s most intimidating players.

There’s something different about footballers who hail from the South Warrnambool Roosters.

It’s almost as if something unique has been drilled into their mindset that makes them fearless.

You see it every time Brisbane’s Jonathan Brown busts a pack open with a signature diving chest mark.

It was evident when Matt McGuire’s eyes never left the ball as the rugged Saint cannoned head first into Richmond’s Chris Hyde.

Or whenever Brent Maloney, the Demon with the devil-may-care attitude, refuses to take a backward step.

Former St Kilda enforcer Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale is another hard-nosed player who hails from South, as is uncompromising North Melbourne and Sydney game-breaker Wayne Schwass.

What is it in the water down there at the South Warrnambool Roosters? Are they pumping diesel into their drink bottles?

South Warrnambool, of the Hampden Football League, lay serious claims of producing Australia’s toughest footballers.

The club has strong working-class roots, and this is reflected in their headquarters.

The not-so aptly named Friendly Societies Park (considering how many bruising and spiteful encounters have taken place there), while full of character, is no-frills.

The oval is located in the industrial area of Warrnambool, flanked by a waste management plant and the greyhound racing track.

It’s reminiscent of the way South Warrnambool play the game. Tough, honest and no-nonsense.

So how do the Roosters produce so many gutsy, intimidating players?

The answer, according to those at the club, is the focus they put on junior player development.

“The feature of the club is providing junior footballers with the best possible coaches,” club president Gary Walsh explains.

For example, two esteemed former senior coaches, Noel Mugavin and Peter Umbers, have returned to the club to coach juniors.

“By having these champion players and coaches come back to promote and help our juniors, everything starts to fall into place,” Walsh says.

Mugavin, who coached the Roosters senior team to five grand finals in six years and is current chairman of selectors, agrees with the notion that a great club is built on a solid foundation of junior football.

“It’s easy for a club to focus on just what’s happening with the senior group, on just winning senior games,” he says.

“(Developing the junior players has) been a strength of the club, we’ve had terrific people involved with the juniors over the years,” he says.

There is no better proof that this policy is working than Brisbane powerhouse Jonathan Brown, and he is eternally grateful to the club that invested in his talent.

“They’ve put a lot of emphasis on junior football, and to really bring the juniors through the ranks who hopefully will be the players of the future,” Brown says.

“It’s a hard working, a very loyal club. I had a great time there and it’s obviously a major part of my development.”

“I think I’m fortunate (having played for South). That’s given me a good grounding and to be able to step into senior AFL footy pretty quickly, and not have that three or four year wait of development ... I was fortunate enough to be able to get straight in there, and in my second year I was able to play in a premiership.”

There is no better training ground for the South stars of the future than to line up against their cross-town foes, the Warrnambool Blues.

As with all great sporting rivalries, the Roosters and the Blues are poles apart. They invariably seem to always rub each other the wrong way.

Where South embraces their working-class background, Warrnambool is undoubtedly the glamour club of the Hampden league.

The Blues (or ‘bluebloods’, as they are sometimes labelled) have the high class facilities, enviable bank balance and power to recruit top quality players.

However, there isn’t a hint of jealousy in the South camp.

Former player and reserves coach Les Bailie believes that the Roosters have a camaraderie that money can’t buy.

“I think that’s why you see that (at South Warrnambool) players here have their heart in the club, whereas you’ll quite often see at other clubs where … (imported players) will come in, take the money and run. They’ll be gone in two years time, and quite often they do let you down when the chips are down.”

Ron Hoy, a true Rooster legend with three Hampden League best and fairest titles (the Maskell Medal) to his name, believes that South has contributed more to the code than their cross-town big brothers.

“Warrnambool has always felt they were the stronger club, you could tell that,” he says. “But South have turned out many more better players.”

Some of Jonathan Brown’s strongest football memories were the clashes with Warrnambool.

“I remember my first season of senior footy, I missed out on the South Warrnambool and Warrnambool game, and I was absolutely shattered not to be playing.

“In my second year of senior football I got to play against Warrnambool, and it was a sensational feeling. I think we beat them by a couple of goals, I managed to play pretty well myself, it was just a great experience. I think watching it as a young fella, watching the rivalry, and then being able to play in those games, it was huge.”

Today, in the modest club rooms at South Warrnambool, two solid young men are wildly sparring with boxing gloves. They both display that trademark South Warrnambool aggression in their punches; that classic Rooster bravado in their eyes.

One is Timothy Brown, Jonathan’s 18 year-old little brother, who currently playing in the TAC Cup. The other, Jeremy Mugavin, is Jonathan’s 16-year-old cousin.

“Be careful, you don’t want to get in the middle of those two,” Walsh warns.

When the fists are flying, who would dare step in between two young bucks with that sort of pedigree?

And so, the next generation of South Warrnambool hard men continue to roll off the assembly line.

---

It was a major feat when a 15-year-old Jonathan Brown forced his way into the South Warrnambool senior team like a battering ram.

“The Hampden League has always been renowned as a tough competition,” Brown says.

“They didn’t do you any favours when you’re a young bloke down there, it was pretty tough and you got a few whacks behind the ear.”

“I think in my second game against Camperdown it was a bit of a bloodbath, and there was plenty of punches thrown, and a couple of broken noses I think and a few send-offs. It was a pretty big eye-opener.”

Noel Mugavin, who himself played 43 games for Fitzroy and Richmond, had the pleasure (and pain) of watching Brown develop into a superstar.

You see, Mugavin is Brown’s uncle.

However, he was also the coach of Koroit at the time.

And while Mugavin was proud as punch of his sister’s son, he was unfortunate enough to be coaching Koroit against South Warrnambool when Brown took his first match by the scruff of the neck.

“The game was going exactly how we (Koroit) thought it would go,” Mugavin remembers.

“Then Jonathan came off the interchange … and as a 15 year old, he was not afraid to challenge our best player at that stage, Jason Mifsud, who is now the assistant coach at St Kilda.

“He took on our best, and most experienced, and strongest player.

“It got a little bit willing there at one stage … it was a little confrontation they had, I think there were words, amoungst other things.

“Challenges never daunted Jonathan at all.”

Brown also has vivid memories of the day he squared off against both his uncle and a country champion in Mifsud.

“I was playing in the forward line, and I think Jason played on me, and obviously he is probably one of the best country footballers to ever pull on a jumper down there,” Brown recalls.

“I think I kicked four goals in a quarter, and we won by a goal. And I had to baby sit (uncle Noel’s) kids that night, which was a pretty funny story,” he laughs.

The rest is history.

Mugavin believes his nephew is a great role model for the next generation of footballers.

“He’s such a fine young man. Sure, he gets into a little trouble, but that’s just because he’s just so passionate about his footy. He’s such a great reflection on his parents, his club.”

Founded: Late 1800s (Earliest photographic records 1903)

Competition: Hampden Football League

Guernsey: White with red vee

Nickname: The Roosters

Home Ground: Friendly Societies’ Park

Premierships: 9 – 1940, ’54, ’64, ’69, ’74, ’90, ’91, ’94, ‘96

HAMPDEN FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN 2006:	RECENT WBFL PREMIERS:
Camperdown Cobden Koroit North Warrnambool Port Fairy South Warrnambool Terang Mortlake Warrnambool	2005 – Terang Mortlake 2004 – Terang Mortlake 2003 – Koroit 2002 – Warrnambool 2001 – Warrnambool 2000 – Camperdown 1999 – Camperdown 1998 – Cobden 1997 – Cobden 1996 – South Warrnambool

Games: 256 for St Kilda

Goals: 301

A robust competitor, Neale played as both a backman and forward with great success. His ferocity at the ball (and the man) made him a hero to Saints supporters, and often the villain that opposition fans loved to hate. Led the St Kilda goal kicking on four occasions.

Games: 253 (172 with Footscray/Western Bulldogs, 81 with Richmond)

Goals: 108

A sublimely skilled running midfielder/backman, who was equally talented on both sides of his body. Had the creativity to turn defence into attack with relentless running and long kicking. Cameron is currently an assistant coach at the Western Bulldogs, and one of the architects of their exciting run-and-carry style. Won the 1993 Footscray Best and Fairest.

Games: 93 for St Kilda

Goals: 34

Playing on the wing, in the centre and in defence, Watson was extremely fast with a penetrating kick. Despite being relatively small, he was hard at it and never skirted a confrontation. Left St Kilda after winning the 1925 Brownlow Medal, returning to South Warrnambool. Was coaxed into returning to St Kilda and named as captain after a seven year absence.