WHEN Howlong signed former Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans forward Daniel Bradshaw, club president Steve Leathem set his expectations low. Given a chronic knee injury had forced Bradshaw to end his short stint at the Sydney Swans halfway through last season, Leathem thought it would be a great result if he played a handful of games for the Spiders this year.

But Leathem and his fellow Howlong committee members became more excited after the Spiders played a practice match against Mulwala at Corowa during the pre-season.
''Daniel was down at full-forward and he'd played three-quarters of a six-quarter game,'' Leathem recalled. ''The coaches turned to him and said, 'Mate, you can have a break now if you want'. But he wanted to stay out there for another quarter. He genuinely just loves his footy.''

Since then, Leathem has been stunned by how much Bradshaw, who grew up in nearby Wodonga, has embraced and enjoyed his first season back in bush footy.

Not only has Bradshaw's knee held together well enough for him to play in 16 of the Spiders' 19 games, the 33-year-old has been a dominant force in most of those matches. Last weekend he took his season's tally to 100 goals when he booted 11 in Howlong's 46-point victory over Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock in the Hume league's first elimination final. And today he's aiming for another big haul when the Spiders take on Holbrook in the first semi-final at Walbundrie.

''I actually didn't think I'd play as much as I have,'' Bradshaw said. ''My knee wasn't up to AFL footy anymore. But here I usually only train on a Thursday, so I haven't had so much load going through it. That has saved it, I think. And there's not as much running in the Hume league as in the AFL, so I can plant myself a little closer to goal and not run as much.''

Living in the big smoke was never Bradshaw's style, so he and his big family - he has four children - wasted no time relocating to Wodonga after he parted ways with the Swans.
Bradshaw found a new week-day career when he bought a line-marking business from former Swans player Bernard Toohey.
Finding a new footy club was a bit more complicated.

Bradshaw's brother Darren, a burly full-forward who played one game for the Brisbane Lions in 2002, was already at Howlong, but another of his siblings, Matt, had spent the 2011 season at Tallangatta league club Dederang-Mt Beauty. In the end, the brothers agreed to have a Bradshaw reunion at the Spiders (their cousin Steve Bradshaw plays there as well).

The Bradshaws started the season in blazing fashion on Good Friday. Darren booted nine goals and Daniel kicked 6.6 as Howlong thrashed Jindera in front of a huge crowd.
''We had the local radio station at the game and they were saying, 'Bradshaw passes to Bradshaw, who chips it up to Bradshaw'. It was a bit of a giggle,'' Leathem said.

Both key forwards, Daniel and Darren found themselves often competing for the ball during the first couple of rounds. But their partnership suffered an early setback when Darren dislocated his elbow during Howlong's game against Culcairn in round three. While Darren was recovering (he ended up missing 12 matches), Daniel booted some big bags of goals and won over plenty of people. ''Daniel's just been fantastic for our league and our club,'' Leathem said. ''He's not a token recruit for us. He's a fair dinkum Howlong footy club player.''

Rather than his knee being an issue, it was a mishap out on the road that sidelined Bradshaw for a brief period during the middle of the season. He had been marking lines on a highway when his truck was smashed into by a semi-trailer.
''It was a lucky escape,'' he said. ''A big grain truck hit me from behind. I could see him coming and I just had to brace myself for the collision. No one was seriously hurt, which was amazing.''

A back problem kept Daniel Bradshaw out of Howlong's last two home and away matches, and his absence allowed Darren to kick 13 goals against the Murray Magpies. But Daniel returned in style last weekend, not that his brother minded. The last of Daniel's 11 goals against Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock came courtesy of an unselfish pass from Darren.

Now Daniel has his sights on adding a Hume league premiership medal to the two he won while playing for the Lions. ''At our best we can beat anyone,'' he said.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age, September 9, 2012

THREE months out from the start of the 2011 season, the Violet Town footy club was at the crossroads. The Towners' senior side had made the Kyabram District league finals in 2010, but the club now found itself without a senior coach and facing a shortage of quality players.

''We were chasing coaches all over the place,'' recalled Violet Town's fourth-year president John Trotter.

He and his committee eventually managed to secure the services of former Melbourne player Hayden Lamaro, who grew up down the road in Euroa and was a star with the Magpies in the Goulburn Valley league after he left the AFL.

Lamaro not only brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Towners, he also coaxed a host of talented recruits to join him at the club. As a result, Violet Town finished last season's home-and-away rounds in second place on the ladder.

It seemed Lamaro was set to match the achievement of his father Ray (widely known as ''Daffy''), who coached the club to a premiership in the 1980s. But Violet Town suffered a rude reality check when it lost both its finals matches.

Stung by those losses, the Towners have come back bigger and stronger this season. Lamaro's men will enter their finals campaign undefeated and their full-forward, Craig Whelan, is the leading goalkicker in the VCFL. Whelan, who is one of three gun recruits from Melbourne suburban club Heidelberg, has slotted through 152 majors at an average of more than nine a game.

''It's fair to say he's exceeded our expectations,'' Trotter said. ''He's a champion bloke and a very good footballer as well. We're very lucky to have him.''

It all means Violet Town is on course to take home its first senior premiership since it won the flag in the now-defunct Benalla and District league back in 1990.

''I can't remember us going through undefeated before, so it's probably a bit of a shock that we've done so well,'' said Trotter, who had two stints as Violet Town's senior coach before taking on the presidency.

''I suppose it all stems back to the signing of Hayden. Everyone loves him and he's been massive for our footy club,'' he says.

''The success has created a bit of a buzz around the place. There's a fair bit of expectation building now, so everyone's got their fingers crossed. We haven't got there yet, but we're hoping this might be our year.''

Violet Town has a population of about 700 and is best known for being the home town of musicians Jesse and Ella Hooper, who found fame as Killing Heidi. The local footy club has won a dozen senior premierships since it was formed in 1880, most of them in the first half of the 20th century. Its most recent run of success came when it won three Benalla and District league flags between 1982 and 1990.

Making the finals hasn't been the issue; winning them has. Since entering the Kyabram and District league for the 2006 season, the senior side has made the top five three times but is yet to win a finals match. In 2007, when Trotter was coach, the Towners finished second on the ladder, yet they lost the qualifying final and the first semi by a combined margin of 106 points. They returned to the finals in 2010, only to suffer a seven-goal loss to Stanhope in the elimination final.

It was hoped the arrival of Lamaro and his band of recruits would change things. Yet Violet Town's September curse struck again last season when the Towners went down to Rushworth in the qualifying final and again in the first semi.

If the same things happens again in the coming month the Violet Town supporters will be calling for a Royal Commission. The Towners' average winning margin so far this season has been 88 points, although that figure was inflated by their 341-point victory over Ardmona in round 12. That was the day Whelan charged to the top of the VCFL's goalkicking ladder by slotting 34 of Violet Town's 56 goals, including 12 straight in the final quarter.

The closest Lamaro's men came to losing a match during their undefeated home-and-away campaign was when they held off a fast-finishing Murchison side by just four points in round 14. ''I'm a big believer that winning form is good form,'' Lamaro said. ''I don't think we're under any pressure going into the finals at all. Maybe the outside world thinks that, but we don't.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age September 2, 2012

WHEN former Richmond defender Will Thursfield took on the role as Leongatha coach late last year, he hoped his new gig would be far less challenging than trying to stop star forwards like Lance Franklin or Tom Hawkins in the AFL. However, the 26-year-old's first season in charge of the Parrots has been anything but easy.

Thursfield and another of Leongatha's gun recruits from Richmond, David Gourdis, have both spent a long period on the sidelines after hamstring tears during a home game against Maffra in early July. Gourdis should recover to take part in the Parrots' finals campaign, which begins next Saturday; Thursfield won't play again until 2013.

But their problems pale into insignificance compared with the plight of the club's reigning best and fairest, Beau Vernon, who was left a quadriplegic after suffering a neck injury in a match in late June.

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''A lot has happened, and I suppose there's nothing you can do about it,'' Thursfield said before the Parrots' round-16 clash with Bairnsdale. ''I just hope it eases up in the years to come.''

Thursfield could still be running around in the AFL. He overcame some injury problems and poor form to feature in the last nine games of Richmond's 2011 campaign, and he was offered a new contract for this season. But after 77 games for the Tigers over seven years, he decided it was time to do something else.

''I just lost the spark a bit,'' Thursfield said. ''I was always injured and I just wanted to enjoy footy again. Also, my old man's a landscaper and I'd been doing a lot of work with him on days off and in the off-season. The business was growing, so I was keen to jump on board with him.''

The connection between Richmond and Leongatha, which resulted in Thursfield continuing his footy career in Gippsland, started when former Footscray forward Brian Royal coached the Parrots to a premiership in 1995, then got a job as an assistant coach with the Tigers.

Around the same time, one of Leongatha's favourite sons, Billy Clarke, found he required a heart transplant. Clarke, who had played alongside Royal in the '95 grand final win, had to move to Melbourne so he could be monitored. Royal invited him to Richmond, where he worked as a property steward. Royal moved on after a couple of seasons, but Clarke stayed at Punt Road until he returned to Leongatha as reserves coach in 2009. He is now the Parrots' football director.

''Billy told us during the season that he thought Will was looking to get out of the AFL, so we had a chat to him and he seemed quite keen,'' said Leongatha vice-president Terry Ginnane. ''All of a sudden he was back in Richmond's seniors, so we started looking elsewhere. Then Billy rang one day and said Will wanted to know if we were still interested. We followed it up and away we went.''

Having grown up in Melbourne, Thursfield ''always wanted to play country footy at some point''. And although the two-hour drives from the big smoke to Leongatha for training, and the trips of up to four hours for matches at far-flung Gippsland centres such as Sale and Maffra, have worn him down at times, he has no regrets about signing a two-year deal with the club.

During the build-up to the season he helped lure Gourdis and Tas Clingan, who was on Richmond's rookie list in 2007, to Leongatha.

''When I first met Will down at the Tigers he was pretty quiet and enjoyed having a joke around, so I never thought I'd see him in a coaching role,'' said Clingan, who had been playing back at his home club, Wangaratta Rovers. ''But he's learning how to give the boys a bit of stick when he has to.''

Leongatha's high-profile recruiting drive meant the Parrots, who lost the Gippsland league elimination final in 2010 and 2011, began their campaign aiming to win their first senior premiership since 2001.

The early rounds went to plan, as Thursfield's men warmed to his encouraging coaching style and won their first eight games, including 100-point wins over lowly Bairnsdale and Moe and the club's first away victory against Maffra since 1999.

The Parrots suffered their first loss when they succumbed to top side Sale in round nine. A week later tragedy struck when Vernon, the son of former Richmond player Daryl Vernon, was injured in the last quarter of the clash with Wonthaggi Power. Everyone at the ground knew the 23-year-old's health was in grave danger when the game was halted and the air ambulance called. In the following week, Thursfield and his teammates, a group that includes Beau's brother Zak, learnt that only a miracle will allow him to walk again.

''It knocked everyone around and it knocked me around,'' Thursfield said. ''I gave the players the option that if they didn't want to play any more that was fine. I didn't feel like playing myself.

''But then you think that these things rarely ever happen, and you get so much joy out of playing, so you just want to go out there and have fun again. And that's what Beau wants us to do. He's just so positive that it has helped make the club stronger and tighter.'' Thursfield has marvelled at the way people have rallied to support Vernon. There have been countless donations to the Beau Vernon Appeal, set up soon after the accident. Morwell footy club's decision to hand over its entire gate takings when it hosted Leongatha last month is just one example. Vernon has his sights on being well enough to attend the Gippsland league grand final if Leongatha makes it. ''So there is a fair bit of extra motivation for our boys to perform well in the finals,'' Ginnane said.

Thursfield is just happy to be involved in a finals campaign. ''I never got to be part of a final in seven years at Richmond,'' he said. ''So it's very exciting.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age, August 26, 2012

WHEN the final siren sounds at Melville Oval next Saturday, bringing to an end the Western Border league match between Hamilton and North Gambier, you can be sure that many of the people in the crowd and on the field will be struck by a feeling of melancholy.

It will be that way because, barring a major drama during the next couple of months, the battle against North Gambier will be the 138-year Hamilton football club's last game as a stand-alone entity.

The Magpies' fate was sealed early last week when the club's members backed a VCFL recommendation that it should merge with its cross-town foe, Hamilton Imperials, and seek admission to the Warrnambool-based Hampden league. A day earlier, Imps members had led the way by also voting in favour of a merger.

Depending on results, Hamilton Imperials' final stand-alone season might yet end during the finals. But regardless of how long Imps manage to keep their campaign alive, the rivalry between Hamilton's two football clubs, which has been renowned as one of bush footy's fiercest, will soon be consigned to the history books. ''Basically, 65 years of civil war has just come to an end,'' said Hamilton Spectator reporter Danny Warren. ''It's a massive topic of conversation here. Everyone is talking about it.''

The story of how Hamilton's football community became split down the middle is quite a tale.

The drama began early in the 1947 season, when the Hamilton FC was languishing near the foot of the Western District league ladder. The club's administrators decided to sack the coach, Ken Block, and replace him with former Melbourne ruckman Jack O'Keefe, who was appointed caretaker coach for the rest of the season.

O'Keefe worked wonders with the team; Hamilton not only made the finals, it won the premiership with a one-point victory in the grand final. Ted Kenna, who had won the Victoria Cross two years earlier for his bravery during a Second World War battle in Papua New Guinea, booted the winning behind.

Not surprisingly, O'Keefe, who had originally declared he would not be returning to Hamilton in 1948, changed his mind. But during the season Hamilton's vice-president, Pat Condon, had approached star Melbourne full-forward Fred Fanning, with a view to him being appointed the Magpies' coach for their 1948 campaign. Fanning had married a girl from Hamilton and was planning to set up a business in the town. He was promised £12 a game, a big increase on the £3 a game he had been receiving at the Demons.

But O'Keefe's success resulted in Condon also having a change of heart. Three days after the grand final, he proposed that O'Keefe be reappointed coach. Condon's push was summarily dismissed. The key reason: Fanning had been promised money to play, yet the rules at the time stated only the coach could be paid. So enraged by the situation was Condon that he decided to start a new club, Hamilton Imperials, which set up its base on the opposite side of Melville Oval to Hamilton's change rooms. O'Keefe was appointed the inaugural coach. It didn't take long for the rivalry between the Imps (nicknamed the Bulldogs and regarded as the Catholic working man's club) and Hamilton (regarded as the club of the Protestant graziers and toffs) to spark up.

''It was incredible,'' three-time Melbourne premiership player Ian Ridley, who played for Imps in 1953, told The Age some years ago. ''Barrackers didn't talk to each other ... it was 'pull down the curtain' in the week before that game.''

Hamilton remained strong in the early years following the split, winning premierships under former Geelong player John Hyde between 1957 and '59. But in the past three decades, Imps have spent more time near the top of the ladder than their ''establishment'' rival. The Bulldogs didn't win their first flag until 1977, but they backed up and won another the following season. Since then they have regularly made the finals, although they last won a flag in 2001.

After a few years in the wilderness, Hamilton turned the tables by winning a long-overdue premiership in 2004. And the Magpies looked set to win another one when local legend Billy Picken, the former Collingwood defender, coached them into another finals campaign the following year. But they crashed out in straight sets.

Hamilton's senior side last made the finals in 2008. In the same year, Hamilton Imperials made the grand final but lost to Portland by 21 points.

Since then both Hamilton clubs have struggled to maintain healthy playing lists and bank balances, and each has harboured dreams of remedying the situation by transferring to the Hampden league. Imps, in particular, have actually wanted to get out of the WBFL for more than decade. They've applied to join the Hampden league on five occasions.

''Once the VCFL's review into footy in south-west Victoria turned around and said, 'If you decide to merge and become one, you've got a golden ticket into the Hampden league', the clubs realised it was the best way forward,'' Warren says.

The VCFL wanted to receive all responses to the review by last Wednesday, so the Hamilton clubs responded quickly. Country football's governing body, which will soon go through a shake-up of its own when it becomes a department of AFL Victoria, is quietly chuffed that things have gone smoothly so far.

''I can't say it's definitely going to go ahead just yet, but you'd think it would be pretty right,'' the VCFL's south-west area manager, Brett Anderson, said on Wednesday.

Back at Melville Oval, the hard work has only just begun. After more than 60 years of passionate rivalry, making Hamilton a one-team town again will be anything but easy.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age August 19, 2012

ON THE field, recent years have been grim for the North Shore Football Club. Before taking on lowly St Albans yesterday, the Seagulls' senior team, which is coached by former Geelong wingman Peter Riccardi, had recorded only nine wins since the start of the 2008 season.

But as Ron Watt, who led the club to four Geelong league premierships in the 1990s, knows only too well, North Shore has enjoyed a rich and successful history since its formation in 1927.

Watt's desire to ensure the club's success is not forgotten in these tough times is the key reason why he has spearheaded the creation of the North Shore Hall of Fame. And he was a proud onlooker last night when the first 16 inductees were announced during a gala function at the Geelong Racing Club, which was hosted by Coodabeen Champion Ian Cover and attended by more than 300 people.

''I think it has created a fair bit of excitement and a lot of talk about what the club means to people,'' Watt said when Grass Boots caught up with him before the event. ''As far as how it's perceived in the wider community, we'd like to think that people will see that we've got a really healthy heartbeat, and that we're a vibrant club. We don't want people to think we're just accepting what is happening on the field. We're a bit too proud for that.''

The process for deciding who should be admitted to the hall of fame began with the formulation of the criteria for eligibility.

''We based a lot of our criteria around what the AFL does, and also looked at how one of our local clubs down here, Bell Park, went about theirs,'' Watt said. ''We put a bit of our own spin on it and went from there.

''We came up with a number of things, but the more games you had played, the less of the other criteria - things like winning best and fairests and playing in premierships - you had to meet to be eligible. Anyone who had played 300 games was automatically eligible to go into the hall of fame. That said, it wasn't just about players. It was about recognising anyone who has made a significant contribution to the club.''

After some research was carried out, it was discovered that 31 people met the criteria for admission, which included having not played for four years. The selection panel - made up of two North Shore stalwarts and two Geelong football identities from outside the club - then whittled it down to 16.

The inaugural inductees are a who's who of North Shore. Some, like Frank Fopiani and Simon Riddoch, who both played in all of the Seagulls' six senior premierships between 1995 and 2000, made their names on the field. Others, like the club's president David Milsome, who played in four senior premierships during the 1990s and has run the club's administration since 2007, have been recognised for their work on and off the park.

And it wasn't only people from the Seagulls' recent history that were honoured last night. Pat Cahir, who won the senior best and fairest four times between 1937 and 1948, was inducted, as was Max Evans, who was the mascot for the 1938 premiership team and went on to play for the club, serve as its president and fill a countless number of other roles around the place.

But there is no bigger name at North Shore than Gordon Hynes, who was one of four men to be inducted as a ''Legend''. Hynes is to the Seagulls what Jock McHale is to Collingwood.

A member of Geelong's 1963 premiership team, Hynes gave up on his VFL career when he was only 24. However, the Cats' loss was certainly North Shore's gain. Hynes ended up coaching the Seagulls for 12 seasons (11 of them as playing coach), and during that time they never finished lower than third.

In all, Hynes led North Shore to six premierships, won the senior best and fairest seven times and later even served as the club's president.

''Uncanny reading of the game and sure ball handling, constant talking, non-stop running and deft or penetrative disposal were the traits of Hynes' playing style,'' was how the Geelong Advertiser summed him up when he stepped down as North Shore coach in 1984.

While there was never a chance that Hynes would be left out of the hall of fame, there was much discussion last night about others who were not part of the initial induction.

''All the committee members were given bullet-proof vests for the night,'' Watt joked. ''There will be plenty of ongoing debate. I didn't sit on the selection panel, but as someone who was close to the process, I can understand why people will think some people were unlucky to miss out.

''But you've got to draw the line somewhere, and I don't think too many people will argue with the people who have been inducted.''

These days Watt is the player development manager at the Geelong footy club, but his ties to North Shore run deeper than just organising the hall of fame function. At the age of 49, he still runs around in the reserves on his free weekends because ''I love it and I love being involved in the club''. He even managed to play a senior game, alongside his son Dylan, two years ago.

Desperate to see North Shore fight its way back up the ladder, Watt is confident that the positive publicity generated by the hall of fame function, which will be repeated in three or four years, can give the club a much-needed boost.

''We want to try and get some of our former players and members to make that effort to come back and see that it would be easy for them to have a little bit more involvement in the club than they do,'' he said. ''We want them to see that we actually do things well and that we think we can have a really positive future.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age,August 12, 2012

Former AFL star Nathan Thompson is helping put his old Kyneton club back on its feet. WHEN Nathan Thompson headed off to Hawthorn in late 1997, his home club Kyneton was the powerhouse of the Bendigo league. Under the guidance of superstar midfielder Derrick Filo, the Tigers had won two premierships from three consecutive grand final appearances between 1995 and '97.

But by the time Thompson returned to play four games last season, Kyneton was the league's whipping boy. Despite the guest appearances from one of the club's favourite sons, who played almost 200 AFL games with the Hawks and North Melbourne, the Tigers' senior side ended its 2011 campaign without a win. ''It was when I went back to have a kick last year that I realised exactly where the place was at,'' Thompson says. ''I thought that the club was going to die.''

Given his burgeoning profile as a public speaker and media performer, Thompson could easily have turned his back on Kyneton. But his attachment to the club is far too strong for that to be an option. So the 34-year-old decided to take on the role as playing co-coach, working alongside Filo, who had returned to the Tigers for last season.

When he rocked up to oversee his first pre-season training session late last year, the challenge ahead of him and his many helpers was immense. Kyneton's senior team's average losing margin last year had been 127 points.

The Tigers' problems ran deep off the field as well, with a large debt threatening to sink the club. ''We had to slash our budget and start from scratch,'' Thompson said.

Fast-forward eight months and Kyneton remains near the bottom of the ladder, yet there are signs a genuine revival is under way. The key on-field breakthrough came in late June when the Tigers, led by six goals from their coach, beat Castlemaine by 13 points and ended their 30-game losing streak.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age August 5, 2012

WHEN he decided to head back to Bell Post Hill before the 2008 season, former AFL player Brent Grgic had high hopes. But given the club had not won a senior premiership since first taking to the field in the Geelong and District league in 1977, he was far from certain the drought would be broken.

But his timing could hardly have been better. Bell Post Hill has made the grand final each year since its most successful export, who played 90 games for Melbourne and Geelong, came home. Although they lost the first two, the Panthers have claimed successive flags since Grgic took over as coach for the 2010 season. And they are short-priced favourites to make it three on the trot later this year.

''To play and coach premierships at the club where I played my junior football has been a brilliant experience,'' said Grgic.

The Bell Post Hill club was only a decade old when Grgic started his progression through its junior teams. Based at Myers Reserve, on the eastern fringe of Geelong, the club had been formed after a swathe of new housing developments brought many young families to the area.

The Panthers boasted strong junior teams from the start, and soon made their presence felt at senior level, making grand finals in 1983 and '88, although they lost both. Their senior team then spent the following two decades hovering around the middle rungs of the ladder.

It wasn't until Grgic and a number of his mates returned that Bell Post Hill was able to mount another serious assault on the premiership. Grgic, who had spent the previous four seasons running around with Geelong league club Bell Park, initially came home just to play. But after senior coach Rob May stepped down following the consecutive grand final losses to Thomson and East Geelong in 2008 and '09, he was handed the reins.

Desperate to lead the club to its first senior flag, Grgic decided it was improved fitness that could make the difference. ''A lot of the hard work had already been done, and the team was looking really good, but I just wanted the boys to be a bit more professional,'' he said. ''To not win a flag in 30-odd years probably showed the club hadn't been very professional in the past.

''I didn't know how full-on our guys would want to be, but they decided to take it really seriously. The majority of them train twice a week and go to our recovery sessions on Sundays. A lot of them have joined up at the gym. I reckon we're probably now the fittest side in the comp and probably the strongest as well.''

Bell Post Hill finished second on the ladder after the 2010 home-and-away season, but when it came to the finals the Panthers' superior conditioning made the competition a one-horse race. They beat top side Werribee Centrals in the second semi-final and grand final by a combined margin of 171 points.

For Graham Lewis, who has been involved with Bell Post Hill since it first fielded a senior side in 1977, that first flag was particularly special.

''It was [a] magnificent reward for a lot of hard work,'' said Lewis, who previously served as the club president and is now the treasurer.

Last season Bell Post Hill ended its home-and-away campaign on top of the table, having lost just one game. But the grand final against North Geelong was a heart-stopping affair. The Panthers were slow out of the blocks and by the middle of the third quarter trailed by 25 points. Yet all that hard work on the track paid off when they booted seven goals to one in the final term to win by 27 points.

''My first game in the AFL is a good memory,'' Grgic said. ''I also played in an AFL grand final with Melbourne and a VFL premiership with Geelong. But to win that grand final last year was right up there with anything I've done in footy.''

Bell Post Hill's premiership teams have largely been made up of local boys. But the Panthers' success in senior ranks is being undermined by a lack of youngsters. This season, Bell Post Hill's only junior team is an under-12s side. And if it wasn't for the hard work of Grgic and a couple of others, the shortage of youngsters would be even worse.

''We spent the summer going to primary schools in the area, holding clinics, and that's how we got the under-12 team together, which I am coaching as well,'' Grgic said. ''I coach the under-12s in the morning, then help out the reserves and coach the seniors in the afternoon.

''It's a lot different to when I was in the juniors. Back then we had too many kids. But we've got a soccer club right next to us, and when you look over there they've got about 200 kids playing soccer on a Saturday morning when we're struggling to get one junior team on the park.''

There's little doubt that the shortage of juniors will hurt the Panthers at senior level in the not-too-distant future. But even though a chronic back injury has restricted Grgic to two appearances in the reserves this season, things are rosy for now. Last weekend Bell Post Hill beat second-placed Thomson by 46 points. Yesterday it was aiming to overcome third-placed East Geelong.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appears The Sunday Age July 29, 2012

THE past 4½ years have been very tough for the loyal band of players and volunteers who have kept the Royal Park Football Club, which is based in the central Victorian town of Maryborough, in operation.

Since the start of the 2007 season, the Tigers' senior team has won just seven games. But even by recent standards, last weekend's outing against Avoca was a particularly grim affair. Royal Park not only lost to the Bulldogs by 209 points, it failed to kick a goal.

''When you're in the last quarter and you're getting beaten by 30 or 40 goals, it's pretty tough to keep going,'' the Tigers' 28-year-old president Justin Broad lamented. ''We've probably played sides that are better than that this year and have kicked goals, so it was a bit demoralising. But, at the same time, when you get beaten by a lot, I don't think a goal makes a hell of a difference.''

Royal Park's firsts haven't won a premiership since 1982 or made a grand final since 1993, but the Tigers were once a dominant force in the Maryborough Castlemaine District league. Between 1967 and '82 they won eight flags, and in the years they didn't take home the silverware they almost inevitably finished in the top three. ''It was a real family club,'' Broad said.

Royal Park made another four grand finals during the '80s and early '90s, only to lose them all. Since a 15-goal loss to Newstead in the 1993 decider, the club has slowly fallen away. It last made the finals in 2006.

The Tigers suffered a big blow last summer when they lost their coach and ruckman, Justin Perry, and their reigning best and fairest winner, Brendan Birch. The departure of the star duo, who both moved away for work opportunities, has had a big impact on the field. Royal Park conceded 39 goals against Trentham in round eight. A week later it was beaten 44 goals to one by Navarre. Before taking on Newstead yesterday, the Tigers were at the foot of the ladder, with a percentage of less than 20.

''It's been a struggle,'' Broad said. ''Our league has gotten so much stronger over the last year or two [due to the admission of Lexton, Navarre and Natte Bealiba from the old Lexton Plains league]. You've got to be spending a lot of money or you're not going to do too well.''

A lack of young players coming through the ranks is another problem. Where Royal Park once had a very successful thirds side, this year it has been unable to field an under-17s team, while its under-14s have won just one game.

The issues that have brought Royal Park to its knees have also afflicted cross-town rival Maryborough Rovers, whose senior side scored just one goal in its 103-point loss to Carisbrook last weekend.

Today's gloomy situation is a far cry from the glorious afternoon in 1991 when Rovers and Royal Park played off in the senior grand final, which the former won by five goals.

''There is a real air of despondency around football in the town,'' admitted Ballarat league chief executive Rod Ward, whose administration hub oversees the Maryborough Castlemaine District league.

The poor form of the local major-league club, the Maryborough Magpies, who play in the strong Bendigo competition, has added to the sense of gloom. The Magpies' seniors, reserves and under-18s all lost to lowly Kyneton last weekend.

So what can be done to breathe new life into football in Maryborough? Engineering a merger between Royal Park and Maryborough Rovers has become the first priority for the region's administrators and the Victorian Country Football League.

Informal merger talks have been held in recent years, but earlier this month the first official discussion was instigated by Ward and VCFL area manager Brett Anderson.

The idea of calling the new club Maryborough United was tabled, as was a process for deciding whether home games would be held at Royal Park's ground or the one used by Rovers. Those are among the many points to be discussed when the parties meet again in the coming weeks.

''We're going to form a working party and push to get the two clubs' members voting on it at the end of the season, with a view to implementing it in 2013,'' Ward said.

Although Rovers president Dennis Hedger has come out in support of a merger, voting 'yes' will be anything but easy for everyone involved.

For now, both Rovers and Royal Park are aiming to round out the season with some competitive displays.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age July 22, 2012

WALLA Walla football club president and local farmer Garry Mickan could hardly believe his luck when the Hoppers signed former Richmond duo Relton Roberts and Troy Taylor on the eve of the Hume league season.

''Troy is such a freak of a player that people were coming through the gates just to see what he was going to do,'' Mickan recalled.

But although he had no doubt about their prodigious on-field talents, Mickan was worried that Roberts and Taylor - both from the Northern Territory - might return home once the weather turned cold.

Four months on, some of those fears have been realised and some have not. Taylor, who twice walked out on the Tigers during his troubled stint in the AFL, went home to see his family when Walla had a weekend off in late May and never returned.

In contrast, Roberts has been a revelation, kicking 30 goals in nine games and establishing himself as a local cult hero.
''He's got explosive pace off the mark and he does some spectacular things,'' Mickan said.

Talented footballers were once in plentiful supply in Walla Walla, a farming town with a population of about 550 and located 370 kilometres north of Melbourne (and 40 kilometres north of Albury). During the 1970s and '80s, the Hoppers' senior side qualified for the finals 16 times and won six premierships.

But the club has found the past two decades much tougher. Walla Walla last made a senior grand final in 1996, and in the past couple of years even wins have been rare. After only two victories in 2010, the Hoppers were winless last season.
''I'd never seen the club so low,'' said Mickan, a life member who ran out in nine grand finals in his playing days.
The catalyst for Walla Walla's on-field revival in 2012 - the Hoppers had recorded five wins and a draw before taking on top side Osborne yesterday - was Merv Neagle's decision to move his family to the outpost where his wife, Donna, grew up.

On his arrival, Neagle secured work as a truck driver with Hehir's Transport, a business based in nearby Rand. The Hoppers' committee members then hounded the former Essendon and Sydney Swans centreman to take over as senior coach. Neagle accepted the challenge, although his busy work schedule has made it tough.

''They've been getting me home on Thursday nights for training, and I get all my weekends off, but during the week I can end up anywhere. I'm sitting at Portland at the moment waiting to tip a load of wheat off at Graincorp,'' he told The Age on Wednesday.

Neagle's footballing resume is almost as long as the giant machine he drives up and down the highways of eastern Australia.

Since retiring from the VFL/AFL, after playing 147 games with the Bombers and 56 with the Swans, the 54-year-old has coached at grassroots clubs right across the nation, including Merbein and Sale in Victoria, Balranald, North Albury and Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes in New South Wales, St Mary's in Darwin and Mount Barker in Western Australia.

It was through his many footy contacts that he was able to recruit Taylor, Roberts, three others from Darwin and a lad from Geraldton in northern Western Australia.

Taylor made a brilliant start to his short stint with the Hoppers. Using his skills, leap and height - 192 centimetres - to great effect, the 20-year-old ran the Murray Magpies ragged in round two, finishing with 10 goals as Walla Walla won in a canter. Two weeks later he kicked another seven in a best-on-ground day against the Billabong Crows.

Memories of those performances make Neagle even more disappointed that Taylor, who was still on Richmond's list last year, decided to pack his bags after just five games.
''And our centre half-forward, Brody Harris, left a week after Troy because of the lack of work in the area,'' Neagle said. ''He'd come from Merbein and he ended up going back there. Then my centreman, Jake Munro, only a 20-year-old and a very good player, broke his bloody leg, so he's gone for the year.

''But, look, we're still competitive. Even with our full side we were never going to match it with the top sides. It was all about just trying to win a few games of footy.''
Amid the turmoil on and off the field, Roberts, 26, has been a model of consistency, kicking two bags of five goals and one of six.

''He's been terrific for us, and he's thinking about coming back next year. He likes the little town,'' Neagle said. ''He's carrying a bit of weight, but he's still playing pretty good footy. Hopefully he'll go home and play a season in Darwin over the summer, then come back a lot fitter next year.''

Roberts lives in Walla Walla with several other interstate recruits.

''Work's fairly scarce,'' Neagle says. ''One of the farmers takes them out to do a few odd jobs every now and then, but I don't think they're too worried about work. They go to footy training and cruise around and they seem to be enjoying it. They've been out roo shooting and fishing and all that sort of stuff.''

With his work and family commitments taking up so much of his time, Neagle won't be coaching again next year.

''I'm going to stay involved,'' he said. ''I'll sit on the bench for them next year and help them out with recruiting. But I've told them to go out and find a playing coach.''
For now, Neagle is hoping to end this season on a high. The Hoppers were tipped to cop a heavy loss against Osborne yesterday, but there should be some happier days then. ''In four of our last five games we play sides below us, so if we can win three of them we'll finish with eight wins, which would be a really good year and mean the club's headed in the right direction,'' Neagle said. ''It's a terrific little club, mate, and the social side is really strong. We play the game, and I yell at them if we get beat, then we all walk over to the pub, forget about it and have a beer. It's as simple as that.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age,JUly15 2012

TWO years ago, Rosedale went on a barnstorming run through the last month of the North Gippsland league season, winning the elimination, first semi and preliminary finals by an average margin of 78 points.

Having come from fifth on the ladder, the Blues remained rank underdogs in the lead-up to the grand final against a powerful Sale City side. Although they put up a brave fight, they were eventually beaten by five goals.

Despite the failure to negotiate the final hurdle, Rosedale's supporters look back on the club's 2010 campaign with pride. But if the Blues make the grand final this season there won't be the same ''it's just good to make it'' attitude, for this year they have established themselves as the benchmark side.

With the business end of the season looming, they sit proudly atop the ladder, just above Sale City, which has won the past two flags. Given Rosedale has won just one senior premiership since 1965 (and has never won a reserves flag), these are heady days.

''We're a very unified club at the moment, with a lot of people who've been very loyal,'' said the club's president, Mark ''Digger'' Power. ''And our netballers are also going very well. Our A-graders are on top of the ladder, and they didn't lose a game last year.''

Situated between the Gippsland cities of Sale and Traralgon, the Rosedale footy club was formed in 1884 and enjoyed its greatest period of success not long after what became the North Gippsland league (it was originally known as the Sale-Cowwarr league) began in 1955.

The Blues won four premierships between 1958 and '65 and lost another grand final in 1967. The '58 team was coached by the late Max Cordy, father of former VFL players Graeme, Neil and Brian Cordy and grandfather of Western Bulldogs forward Ayce Cordy.

The Cordy family's involvement with Rosedale goes back almost a century, as Max's father Joseph played in a premiership for the club in 1922.

During the 1970s, '80s and '90s, Rosedale's fortunes fluctuated, with the Blues spending more time in the lower half of the ladder than the top. But in 2001 the club finally made it back to the top, breaking its 36-year premiership drought with an 11-goal win over Traralgon-Tyers United. ''Our 2001 side was fairly special, that's for sure,'' said Power, who was in his first stint as club president at the time.

Two members of the 2001 team, Chris Lowe and Nick Diamond, are still playing for Rosedale, while the captain, Cameron Mayne, is now the club's chairman of selectors.

The Blues have been consistent finalists during the past decade. Their best chance to win another premiership came in 2006 when they finished on top of the ladder after the home-and-away rounds. But Cowwarr proved too good in the big game.

Rosedale's latest surge to the top of the table is partly a by-product of the club's focus on junior development. A number of players in this year's senior side were members of the under-18 teams that won flags in 2004, '05 and '07.

Power also directs much credit towards senior coach Damien Birss. A four-time premiership player at Heyfield, one of Rosedale's fiercest rivals, Birss came to the Blues after a series of knee injuries forced him into retirement.

He initially led the club for three years from 2008-10 before opting to take a break last season.

Birss came to back to Rosedale for this season after his replacement Brad Caldwell, who coached the Blues into last year's finals despite losing a host of players from the 2010 grand final side, moved to Wonthaggi to work on the desalination plant.

In a twist of fate, Caldwell lost his job prior to Christmas and decided to can his idea of playing with Wonthaggi Power in the Gippsland league. He subsequently returned to Rosedale, where he is now the club's assistant coach, working under Birss.

''The two of them work really well together,'' Power said.

''Damien has got a great knowledge of the game, and the guys play for him, they respect him, there's no doubt at all. He doesn't mess around with them. There's no bullshit.''

After a recruiting campaign resulted in a number of former players returning to the club, Rosedale began its 2012 campaign with a bang when it beat Heyfield by 120 points. An upset five-point loss to Glengarry in round five - the Blues booted 11.19 that day - has been the team's only slip-up so far.

Three weeks ago, the Blues were expected to encounter another stern test when they confronted Heyfield, which had recovered from its pasting in round one to sit third on the ladder. However, Rosedale prevailed by 80 points.

Yesterday, the Blues were aiming to make it 11 wins from 12 games when they hosted Traralgon-Tyres United. Power hopes the players will gain some more inspiration for the battles ahead when the club holds a 50-year reunion of its 1962 premiership team next weekend.

Things are going to plan off the field as well. In April, Rosedale received grants from the state government and Wellington Shire Council totalling more than $600,000, which will enable the Blues to upgrade the football and netball facilities at their home ground.

''It's huge for us, especially the new social club,'' Power explained. ''Our Rec Reserve committee had to raise $50,000 to get it over the line, before works can start, and we've managed to get that to the shire. Between the cricket club, football club and generous donations from members of the community we were able to raise the money.

''The support from the community has been terrific, and the more money we raise the better facility we'll have.''

With construction set to start after the season, Power would dearly love the first sod to be turned during premiership celebrations.

''But there's a long way to go,'' he said. ''We think that Sale City are a bit of a sleeping giant. They're getting along all right without much fuss or fanfare.

''We think we've got the cattle to get us over the line, but it's a fairly tight competition up this way, so you never know.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age July 8, 2012