THE tension was so great during the last quarter of last weekend's Alberton league game between neighbouring clubs Devon Welshpool-Won Wron Woodside and Toora & District that it became too much for some to handle.

''I think the secretary, Gary Farley, locked himself in his office and wouldn't watch,'' Devon Welshpool president Phil Vicino said. ''I was just trying to keep myself busy. Every now and then I'd hear a roar and I'd look up to see who'd kicked the goal or the point, and then I'd find something else to do so I wouldn't have to watch it.

''Our drinks man, Rick Beckwith ... decided it was too close, so he left the water bottles by the boundary and went for a walk up the road in his gumboots. He wasn't game to watch it.''

The reason for the tension was that both sides had gone into the match without a win to their name. In the case of Devon Welshpool, known as the Allies, the club was attempting to end a 51-game losing streak that stretched to July 2009. Toora & District had not won since defeating the Allies in April last year.

When the siren sounded last weekend, the Allies had won by 15 points. For their players and supporters, it was akin to winning a premiership.

''It was a day to remember, especially for everyone who's worked so hard during the last few years to keep the club going,'' said Vicino. ''For all the diehard supporters and long-suffering committee members, I suppose it just meant that we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

''We've been battling all year to improve our performances. Our thirds have won a few games and our reserves are winning quite a number of games. We've managed to get the average age of our reserves back from about 45 to around 25 or 26. That's made a hell of a difference.''

For Toora & District, the result was heartbreaking. Given they don't play the Allies again this year, it is likely that the Magpies will finish the season on the bottom of the ladder, with a zero in the wins column.

''A couple of the players have taken it pretty hard,'' said club co-president and dairy farmer Dan Knee. ''A few of them reckon they've taken most of the blame, so they reckon they're going elsewhere.

''It's been pretty tough. But I've got one of the young players working for me and he's still positive. A lot of them are still positive. They want to keep playing football together.''

It is little consolation, but Toora & District is by no means the only club staring at the prospect of a season without a victory. Before yesterday's matches, there were 27 winless senior teams in the Victorian Country Football League.

Some of the struggling clubs are perennial battlers. Kyneton looks set to take home its second Bendigo league wooden spoon on the trot. The Tigers have made the finals just once in the past decade. Hampden league club Port Fairy has endured a similarly lean run since it contested a preliminary final in 2005.

A number of the other battlers have fallen rapidly from the top. Mathoura played in the Picola league's North West division preliminary final last year but is yet to win a game this season. Ten months ago, Western Border league club West Gambier was celebrating its second premiership in a row. Now it finds itself on the bottom of the ladder.

For all the struggling clubs, including Toora & District, the winter slog is hard.

''I can tell you, it's pretty tough to keep going,'' said Knee, who has been lining up in the reserves to ensure the Magpies can field a team. ''A few of us would probably rather be standing on the sidelines supporting than playing.

''A lot of weeks we've had players in the seniors who probably should be in the seconds. Then we're scraping the bottom of the barrel for the seconds. But we're carrying on, we're searching for players, and that's about all you can do.''

How long Toora & District can survive without an on-field turnaround, or a change of leagues, remains to be seen.

And although they won last weekend, the same applies to the Allies. They have won only a handful of games since the club was split by a dispute over whether it should play its home matches at Alberton West (home of the old Devon-Welshpool FC), or at Woodside. The fracas ended when the Woodside people packed their bags and formed a new club. Now both are locked in a battle for survival.

''I believe that unless we have some type of enterprise or industry start in this area, like a coalmine or a deep-sea port, it's not sustainable to have Woodside, Yarram, us, and even Toora, drawing from this region. There's just not enough kids,'' Vicino said.

''I just reckon that somewhere along the line, whether it's in five years, 10 years or 20 years, there'll probably only be one team here, and it will have to be based in Yarram, because the major town in the district must have a footy side.

''But we've got great facilities at our ground and we're not about to let that go. We've got plenty of community support and sponsorship, plenty of money, and we'll keep battling on. We often knock over 100 to 110 main meals on a Thursday night after training, whether it's blowing a gale or a nice evening.''

''If our club was to close in the future, it wouldn't be for financial reasons. It would just be the fact that we had run out of player numbers. I hope that doesn't happen for a long, long time.''

Despite the threat of extinction, the Allies, inspired by their win last weekend, are thinking big.

''We've got a four-year plan in place to win a flag,'' Vicino said. ''Like I say, we've got plenty of money; it's a matter of getting the right cattle on the track.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age July 1, 2012

TWO months ago, Daniel Needs wore a broad grin as he sat in the St Arnaud change rooms after the Saints, who had won only three games in three seasons before this year, scored a morale-boosting victory over Boort.

''It's a real good feeling,'' the key forward said as he adjusted the ice-packs on his knees. ''Now the winning feeling's back, you don't want to go back to the old ways.''

Five weeks later, the six-time club best-and-fairest winner broke Barry Michael's long-standing record for most senior games with the Saints when he lined up in his 269th match.

Needs kicked two goals in his record-breaking appearance against Donald on June 2. Afterwards, he was named among the best players and feted as one of St Arnaud's favourite sons. At that stage there was little doubt the 33-year-old was committed to helping rebuild the club. Nothing changed the following weekend, when Needs booted another three goals against Wedderburn.

But in the days after St Arnaud's loss to the Redbacks, a proverbial hand grenade landed in the email inbox of the Saints' first-year president, Shane Ciurleo. It was a clearance form from the Macorna footy club, near Kerang and which plays in the Golden Rivers league. Ciurleo's heart sank when he saw Needs' name on the form.

''I'm still struggling to find the right words to use to describe how I feel,'' Ciurleo said on Wednesday. ''I didn't even know what to say to Needs, really. I'm furious. Needsy and I are mates, we played footy together, so there's a personal side to it as well. We're still mates. We live in a small town. He still lives and works in the town, we've got kids in the same class at school. Our wives are friends. But I've got to stick up for the club, and from the club's point of view, it's bloody terrible.''

Players swapping clubs in the middle of the season is nothing new. But to the people of St Arnaud, Needs, who lives and works in the central Victorian town, is no ordinary player. He is a local legend, who, before last weekend, had never played for another club.

A teenage member of the St Arnaud teams that won the North Central league premiership in 1998 and '99, Needs became a bloke that the Saints' players and supporters could rely on. When the club was battling, Needs usually bagged a few goals and put on a decent show. He was so resilient, and his form so consistent, he has never played in a reserves match.

Needs was first tempted to defect to Macorna - a club that is 150 kilometres from his home - when the Tigers contacted him during the summer. The man most keen to sign him was Macorna coach Wayne Mitrovic, who had played against him during a stint with Wycheproof-Narraport.

But after training with the Tigers a few times, Needs decided to stay at home when the Saints signed a number of high-priced recruits, including former North Melbourne star Shannon Motlop. Having previously been paid on a per-game basis, he also agreed to take part in a new incentive scheme for local players. Under the scheme, the best local player in each match receives $300, while the second-best gets $200, and so on.

Many St Arnaud people believe that Needs had planned a mid-season defection all along. But the man himself insists the situation changed when Macorna put a revised offer to him. ''It was too good an offer to refuse,'' Needs admitted. ''That was a main reason I went. I haven't heard too much [from St Arnaud supporters]. I think there's been a bit of bitching behind my back, but no one's come up to my face and said anything. But, look, in the end I wasn't even starting on the ground. I wasn't in the first 18. I was playing in the ruck and off the bench. I thought if I could get a chance to play permanently as a key forward then it was worth taking it.''

In contrast, the Macorna backers are rubbing their hands together. ''He's been a pretty good servant of the St Arnaud footy club for a long time, so I guess life goes on, doesn't it?'' said Macorna president Greg Whinfield.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age June 24, 2012

SUCCESS breeds success, as the saying goes. And that has certainly been the case for the Lockington-Bamawm United footy club, which is situated in the dairy farming region between Echuca and Bendigo.

Before merging with Bamawm, Lockington won six Echuca District league premierships (including four in a row) between 1977 and 1987. Now, many of the players involved in that era are watching proudly from the sidelines as their sons enjoy triumphs of their own.

Last September, the town of Lockington celebrated its first senior flag since '87 (Bamawm hadn't won one since 1969). Among the key performers in the six-point victory over Heathcote were Nathan O'Brien, whose father Shane was a local superstar three decades ago, and Brodie Collins, whose dad Peter played 337 games and was a member of five premiership teams.

Peter Collins' two brothers, Daryl and Graeme, also had sons in last year's premiership side, while numerous other sons of guns were members of the reserves and under-17 teams that won their respective Heathcote District league grand finals.

''Being a farming community, a lot of those blokes that I went through the grades with - and we had great success in juniors as well - stayed around and took over their family farms. Their kids are the ones that are coming through now,'' said Peter Collins, a dairy and beef farmer who these days is the LBU president.

LBU is among the strongest clubs in central Victoria right now, yet the Cats have endured their share of turmoil during the past 25 years.

Following that great run of success in the 1970s and '80s, there was expected to be more of the same when Lockington was strengthened by the merger with its arch-rival, Bamawm, in 1990 (Bamawm had absorbed another nearby club, Bamawm Extension, two years earlier).

Instead, the Cats were derailed by the Victorian Country Football League's decision to disband the Northern and Echuca league after the 1996 season. Some of the clubs joined the Murray league, while others headed to the Central Murray.

But the LBU committee, inspired by the fact the Cats had made two grand finals in the last three seasons of the Northern and Echuca FL, elected to think big. To the surprise of many, the club accepted an invitation to join the powerful Bendigo league.

The decision seemed justified when the Cats made the BFL finals, at their first attempt, in 1997. But although they secured North Melbourne premiership player Ian Fairley to be their coach in 1998, they soon found it tough to compete with the big boys in Bendigo. It was hardly surprising. Not many more than 1000 people live in Lockington, Bamawm and their surrounding districts, while Bendigo has 92,000.

LBU reached it lowest ebb when its senior side failed to win a game in 2000. After much debate, the members voted to step down to the Heathcote District league. The move has proven to be an inspired one. The Cats' senior team has made the finals in 10 of its 11 completed seasons in the HDFL. Its under-17s have enjoyed an even greater run, winning the past five premierships. They were undefeated in both 2008 and '09.

''I do give a lot of credit to the fact we started Auskick in our own town about 15 years ago,'' Collins said. ''It wasn't with our most talented kids that it made the big difference. It was the bottom 20 per cent, the ones that might not have played footy or been any good at footy, who were suddenly kicking with both feet, handballing with both hands, and doing all the basics right from prep to grade 6. And we haven't just had one good group of kids. When you win five in a row there's a lot of kids coming through.''

Those juniors formed the backbone of the senior side that finally broke the club's premiership drought last year.

''We don't pay them, the poor buggers,'' Collins stated. ''The best player gets $100 each week and the second-best gets $75. Our captain, who is one of the best footballers in this league, is not getting paid a cent. He plays footy because he loves footy.

''But the issue we're finding this year, because we've had success, is that our players are getting approached. And they're getting offered up to $1200 a match. So I don't know how long we can keep going the way we are, because country footy is just out of control.''

Nevertheless, there were smiles all round when LBU raised its three premiership flags when one of the club's fiercest current-day rivals, Elmore, visited in round one.

''Our community went through a really tough time during the drought,'' Collins added. ''We lost so many families. It was really that tough. So what winning the [senior] grand final last year did for our community was just unbelievable. It was a big party.''

So far this season LBU has shown it is again likely to play a major role when the finals begin in mid-August. The senior side, which is coached by key forward Kahl Oliver, a dairy farmer from Bamawm who spent a few seasons in the Goulburn Valley league with Rochester, was second on the ladder before yesterday's round of matches (LBU has the bye this weekend). The Cats' under-17 team was also second on the ladder before yesterday's games.

As for the future, the travails of the dairy industry don't bode well for the club. ''That's our biggest worry,'' Collins said. ''A lot of our kids are going away. None of them want to be dairy farmers any more. In my age group, we just about all came home. But that's all finished now. Getting young people back on the farms is so hard. It's just so tough to make a living out of it now that you don't want them to come back anyway.''

For the moment, LBU's loyal players and supporters just want to enjoy their time of success while it lasts.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age June 17, 2012

Max Rooke returns home to try and breathe life into his beloved Casterton Cats. AS a spindly 17-year-old, Max Rooke helped Casterton make the 2000 Western Border league grand final, although the Cats were beaten by South Gambier, which had also won the previous four flags.

But Casterton, which draws on a local population of about 1600, has done it tough since then.

The club's senior side hasn't made the finals since 2007, and before taking on Hamilton Imperials yesterday it had only one win from six matches this season.

Rooke, now a development coach with Geelong, where he played 135 AFL games between 2002 and 2010, has followed Casterton's struggles with a sense of sadness.

But next weekend, when Geelong has the bye, Rooke, 30, is hoping to breathe some life back into the club by playing one last senior game.

''It's a huge bonus for us,'' said Casterton president Greg Bright. ''Since Max got drafted he's kept in contact with the club. He's always been a bloke who has given something back to people that have looked after him.

''His parents John and Jo still live here. They are both schoolteachers and are very well respected people in the community.

''John is helping out with coaching the under-18s and the senior side this year. He's also on the recruiting committee for the club.''

Formed in 1875, the Casterton footy club's heyday was in the 1960s when it won four consecutive Western District league premierships.

The club regularly recruited big names from the VFL. Former Footscray player Don Whitten (brother of Ted) coached the Cats to the 1960 premiership, while former Essendon wingman Reg Burgess guided them to a hat-trick of flags in 1961-63.

''I was 26 when I went to Casterton. [They] paid me about five times what I received at Essendon,'' Burgess told the Casterton News last year.

The Cats also sent plenty of talented lads to the city. The best of them were Barry and John Gill, who both had distinguished careers at Carlton.

Things changed at Casterton, which is 360 kilometres from Melbourne, when the Western Border league was formed for the 1964 season.

Now forced to take on powerful clubs from Mount Gambier, the Cats held their own initially, winning the flag in 1969, but they have won just one premiership - in 1990 - since then.

By the time Rooke started progressing through the club's junior ranks, Casterton was already struggling to cope with what is now its most pressing issue - keeping some of the town's youth near home.

''We've got a really strong junior set-up,'' Bright said. ''Last year we had two under-16 teams, which had rarely happened in the past, and our under-18s played off in the grand final. But we had 13 kids come out of our under-18s this year and we kept one.

''That's where we run into trouble. They have to go away to Melbourne or Geelong or Adelaide for university, and it's too hard to expect them to travel home. We're only 65 kilometres from Mount Gambier [population 24,000], but there's no tertiary education there. If there was a college or a university in Mount Gambier, I'd say we'd be a hell of a lot stronger.''

Rather than move to study or work, Rooke left home to play footy. A very shy lad in his youth, he was rookie-listed by Geelong after his father sent the club tapes of him playing for Casterton.

''He was never a standout in the juniors, but he just worked that hard,'' Bright said. ''He used to live and breathe football, and that's why he ended up where he did.''

Known as Jarad when he began his AFL career in 2002 (he decided he wanted to be referred to as Max, his middle name, in 2006), Rooke developed into a courageous and skilful half-forward. A member of Geelong's 2007 premiership team, he was among the Cats' best players when they defeated St Kilda in the gripping '09 grand final.

But while Rooke was at Geelong, Casterton's footy club began to suffer badly from south-west Victoria's declining population.

After winning only four games in 2010, Casterton launched a recruiting drive that netted SANFL player Brad Vassal. Last season Vassal flew from Adelaide each weekend to play with the Cats, and he performed so well he won the WBFL best and fairest award. But Casterton finished its 2011 campaign with only two wins, both over lowly Heywood, and Vassal quit the club.

Casterton is again languishing near the foot of the table this year, but Bright is confident that Rooke's return for next weekend's clash with North Gambier will lift spirits.

Despite the fact he's still troubled by the knee problem that forced him to retire from the AFL at the end of the 2010 season, Rooke is hoping to put on a decent show for the crowd.

He is also bringing some off-field help. Geelong's midfield coach, three-time Brisbane Lions premiership player Nigel Lappin, will help out on the bench.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age June 10, 2012

Sandhurst Football Club will next weekend mark a special milestone in its history. WHEN the 50th anniversary of the Sandhurst Football Club's formation came around in 1911, the club, then nicknamed the Cardinals, was in recess. It had not fielded a team in the Bendigo league since 1900 and would not do so again until after the First World War.

A century on, however, it's a very different story. Next weekend the club will be abuzz with activity when it celebrates its sesquicentenary with a home game against Kangaroo Flat at the Queen Elizabeth Oval, and a gala ball at the All Seasons Hotel.

''We're a bit scared because we've got about 700 people coming at the moment,'' said former Sandhurst player and long-serving committeeman Danny Ellis. ''We thought we might have got 500, but to get that many is massive. We're very close to having to knock people back, which would be a bit of a bugger. It'll be just massive.''

Sandhurst has achieved plenty since it came out of recess. Its tally of 26 Bendigo league premierships is second only to Eaglehawk, while the number of VFL/AFL players it has produced - 63 at last count - is believed to be unsurpassed by any bush footy club.

The list includes some modern-day stars such as Geelong captain Joel Selwood and St Kilda midfielder Nick Dal Santo. It also features Carlton premiership defender Michael Sexton and ex-Cats rover and AFL talent guru Kevin ''Shifter'' Sheehan. Sexton and Sheehan are among the many former Sandhurst players heading back to Bendigo in six days' time for the big party.

The Sandhurst Football Club was formed on June 3, 1861, which makes it the fifth-oldest Australian rules club after Melbourne (1858), Geelong, Castlemaine (1859) and Ballarat (1860). It also means the club is actually celebrating its 151st birthday this year.

''Basically, the QEO was being redone last year and we thought we might have been off it for the whole season,'' Ellis explained. ''So we thought we'd put it back a year until our home ground was back in action and we could celebrate properly.''

Sandhurst's era of glory came not long after it emerged from recess. Under the leadership of Bob McCaskill, who headed to the club after playing 36 games for Richmond, it played in 12 grand finals, winning nine. McCaskill's coaching stint, which ran from 1926 to 1940, included a run of six consecutive premierships from 1929.

Around the same time Sandhurst developed a strong connection to Marist Brothers College (now part of Catholic College Bendigo) and the affiliation provided the club with a bounty of talented youngsters. Graham Arthur, who went on to captain Hawthorn during most of the 1960s, and Geoff Southby, who became a star defender at Carlton, were among the players who followed that path.

A fitness fanatic who specialised in passionate pre-match speeches, McCaskill left Sandhurst to head back to the VFL where he helped turn around the fortunes of both North Melbourne and Hawthorn.

In McCaskill's absence, Sandhurst lost four straight grand finals in the 1950s - one by a point to South Bendigo - before it re-emerged as a power in the '70s after stealing gun full-forward Ron Best from Golden Square. Best led Sandhurst, by now known as the Maroons, to the 1973 and '77 flags. The success continued until the early 1980s, but the past three decades have been much tougher. The Dragons, as the club is now nicknamed, have won one premiership since 1983. That came in 2004 when they survived a dramatic finals series that included a double-extra-time win over Gisborne in the second semi-final. Since then Sandhurst has often made the finals but competing with such clubs as Golden Square, which had won 30 straight games before it lost in round two of this season, has proved beyond its reach. ''If anything, it comes down to finances,'' said Ellis. ''We've always had really good juniors, but our capacity to raise money and top up our list [isn't great].''

Under the guidance of Tony Graham, Sandhurst's senior team began this year poorly. The Dragons narrowly lost their opening game but won their next five matches, in the process boosting the morale of everyone around the club just in time for its biggest party.

Yesterday Sandhurst made it six straight wins when it defeated bottom side Kyneton, which has this year improved greatly under the coaching of local hero and former AFL star Nathan Thompson.

A huge crowd will be on hand for next Saturday's clash with Kangaroo Flat, and the Sandhurst boys will be sporting their heritage jumper, specially produced for this season. The guernsey features an old-style SFC monogram and a list of the club's premiership years running down its left-hand side. ''One of our young blokes did the design and we might wear it ongoing it's come up so well,'' Ellis said.

Then it will be off to the All Seasons, where every surviving football and netball premiership player will be presented to the 700-strong crowd. The oldest expected attendees are Jack English and Max Elliott, both aged in their 80s, who were part of the club's hat-trick of flags in the late 1940s. Sandhurst will then induct 20 people into its new Hall of Fame. To avoid offending anyone, no best team of the past 150 years will be named, although there will no doubt be many informal debates about such matters.

Next Sunday a museum that pays tribute to both the club's footballers and netballers will be opened by long-time supporter Richard Jones. The star attraction will be the club's premiership photos, which have been restored thanks to a $20,000 grant from Heritage Victoria.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age June 3, 2012

FOR more than three decades, the people of Queenscliff bemoaned the little-used basketball stadium that stood beside their footy ground and wondered if one day it might be put to better use.

''We used to call it the 'white elephant','' recalled Bill Comerford, president of the Queenscliff Community Sports Club, which oversees the facilities used by the town's football, netball and cricket clubs.

Comerford has spearheaded the charge to have the brick stadium, known as the Monahan Centre, redeveloped into something that would be a true community asset. Now, after 15 years of negotiations, discussions and squabbles, his dream is being realised.

By the start of the 2013 footy season, the Monahan Centre will house new change rooms for footballers, netballers, cricketers and umpires, along with a canteen and a function room. ''We believe this is the greatest thing that's happened for the town for many, many years,'' Comerford said.

The Monahan Centre was built in 1976. In contrast to the respected sporting family that it was named after, the centre attracted little love from the locals. ''What happened was the footy club needed new change rooms,'' said Keith Cohen, a local teacher who has been a Queenscliff football player, coach and committee member. ''The council decided the best way to go was to build the change rooms and an indoor stadium at the same time. They had an American architect come over and he made an under-sized everything.''

Added Comerford: ''It was done through the public works department in Melbourne. An ex-councillor told me that when they saw the plans they weren't happy with them. It was going to cost $3000 to change them, and they didn't have the money, so the government just built it.''

The basketball court was so small that it was practically useless, while the change rooms were no better. ''The footy club said, 'This is crap','' Cohen explained. ''So they built new club rooms next door one year later.''

Those hastily constructed facilities weren't ideal then and are rustic at best now. The changing areas are tiny.

Comerford learnt about the white elephant not long after he and his wife Peg moved to Queenscliff. Having decided he should try and resolve the situation, he soon realised it was going to be tough.

A breakthrough came when the local state MP, Labor's Lisa Neville, became involved not long after she won the seat of Bellarine in the 2002 election. Neville lobbied the then-sports minister Justin Madden, who encouraged the locals to prepare a grant application. In 2007 the Queenscliff Community Sports Club was awarded $500,000.

''Lisa is the one who has really helped us get where we are,'' Comerford said. ''For years we had governments at all levels put up so many barriers. We've had so many changes of council; some were supportive and some weren't. That's why it's taken so long.''

The redevelopment of the Monahan Centre began last year when the old basketball floor was ripped up and the accompanying squash courts dismantled. Since then some impressive progress has been made. With footy club president and local builder Merv Godfrey leading the way, the former stadium has been converted into a two-storey building. A spacious change room for Queenscliff's footballers is among the many facilities under construction on the bottom floor, along with a much smaller room for visiting teams. Upstairs, the function room is edging towards completion.

''There'll be seating for almost 200 people,'' Cohen said proudly.

Godfrey estimates that if an outside contractor was brought in to complete the Monahan Centre redevelopment, the total cost would be around $3 million. At the moment, the Queenscliff Sports Club has only $1 million to spend (on top of the $500,000 from the state government; it has received $250,000 from the local council and another $250,000 from the footy, netball and cricket clubs).

As a result, the project is being done in stages. Godfrey and another builder, Steve Clark, have worked hard to ensure the supply of cash will be enough to finish stage one, which includes the various change rooms and the function room.

''We say, 'It's a community project, can you help us out?' And they've done it,'' said Godfrey. ''The scaffolding was a $30,000 job; the guy did it for half-price.

''A previous club president, who runs a doors business in Geelong, has provided all the door furniture.''

Thousands of hours of volunteer labour have also been contributed by people such as Godfrey's son, known to all as ''BJ'', who has done much of the plumbing. ''He didn't have a lot of choice,'' Merv joked. ''But seriously, we're going to have the biggest donations plaque on any building you've ever seen.''

The second stage will feature community meeting rooms and a coffee lounge with outstanding views of the Rip. Plans for stage three include a spa, sauna and a community gym.

Comerford and his committee are planning to enact some big changes outside the Monahan Centre as well. To make room for footy fans to congregate in front of the renovated building, the oval, which sits amid a caravan park, will be moved a couple of metres north once this season is finished. Better training lights are another much-needed improvement. Until now, the club has been barred from installing lights on the northern side of the oval as they would shine towards the Rip, making them a shipping hazard. But now that ships are guided by GPS technology, rather than lighthouses, such rules are being reviewed.

Godfrey has no doubt that Queenscliff's recent success on the footy field has helped boost local support for all the work. The Coutas last year won their first Bellarine league flag since 1975, and right now they're undefeated and on top of the ladder after seven rounds.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age May 27, 2012

LEIGH Ramsdale almost fell off his chair when he looked at the rankings for the VCFL's 2012 country championships. He couldn't believe the south-east division of the Picola District league, which he will coach next weekend, had been ranked 31st out of the 32 teams taking part in this year's competition. And what riled him even more was the fact that the PDFL's north-west division was ranked five places higher.

''We're very disappointed with our ranking,'' Ramsdale said before putting his men through their paces on Wednesday. ''I know a couple of other leagues are above us and ... I really don't know how they've come up with the rankings.''

Ramsdale's reaction is proof that the ranking system has breathed new life into representative footy in the bush, which appeared in serious trouble just five years ago. Where once interleague footy was seen as a bit of a joke, especially at district league level, every game now has meaning. ''It certainly gives people something to talk about,'' Ramsdale added. ''And for us, it's definitely a big deal. We rate ourselves higher than being the second-bottom league in country Victoria at the moment. We're definitely using that as an incentive to climb the ladder over the next couple of years.''

Having coached Rennie to the premiership in the south-east division of the PDFL last year, Ramsdale has taken offence at the competition being placed second last on the rankings ladder. And he's not the only one. So he and a number of his usual adversaries have committed themselves to setting things straight, starting next Saturday against the Kyabram District league at Barooga.

''The Picola league hasn't played in interleague games for five or six years,'' said Ramsdale. ''Because of that, everyone's really keen and we've had a really good response.''

The idea of the rankings system was thrown up by the VCFL's training and education manager, Dean Rice (the former St Kilda and Carlton utility), after a range of other formats, including lightning premiership-style carnivals, had failed to take off. Under what his workmates began calling the 'Rice Model', it was proposed that one-off interleague matches would be held each season. The winners would move up in the rankings; the losers drop down.

In 2010, Rice's idea became reality when 18 leagues took part. After previous performances in the country championships were used to formulate the rankings table, all eyes were on the marquee clash between the top two leagues, Ovens and Murray and Goulburn Valley. A big crowd turned up to see Goulburn Valley knock their arch-rival off its perch. Similarly good turnouts were reported at other games around the state.

The idea was expanded last season when a further six leagues entered the competition. Goulburn Valley once again secured the No. 1 ranking when it defeated Ballarat in Shepparton by 38 points.

This year the championships have grown again. ''We're really proud, because we've got 32 of our 42 leagues playing,'' said VCFL football operations manager Brett Connell. ''There's a genuine interest in wanting to compete, and the leagues are really encouraging their better players,'' he said.

In six days, Goulburn Valley will be aiming to stay at the top for a third season when it hosts the Mornington Peninsula Nepean league. The MPNFL earned the right to contest the big game when it beat Ovens and Murray by two points last May. That loss resulted in Ovens and Murray - for many years regarded as the strongest league in the VCFL - being demoted to fifth place. Ovens and Murray is now preparing to take on the sixth-placed Hampden league at the neutral venue of Visy Park in Carlton next Sunday. Ballarat will host Geelong at Eastern Oval. Geelong is hoping three-time AFL premiership player Brad Ottens, who is running around with Newtown & Chilwell this year, will line up in its team.

Down the bottom of the rankings ladder, Ramsdale's men will be desperate to avoid the wooden spoon.

It was the addition of eight new leagues to the championships this year that led to the debates over rankings. But the VCFL has a relatively simple explanation for why the rankings towards the bottom of the table appear a bit out of whack.

''We actually liaised with the leagues, because we wanted to keep the games local for the ones that are new to the competition,'' Connell said. ''So we're not really worried about their rankings at this stage; we're more worried about who's playing who. Looking to the future, we have a few other issues, like the fact that the Hume and Tallangatta leagues play each other every year. We don't want to disrupt that if they want to keep going with it, but we'd also love them to be involved in the championships.''

As part of the effort to promote local derbies, the two strongest newcomers, the neighbouring Casey Cardinia and Nepean leagues, were slotted in at No. 17 and No. 18 so they could play each other.

But what will happen next year if the promotion-relegation system throws up a clash between leagues that are hundreds of kilometres apart? ''In a couple of weeks, I'll probably be tearing my hair out,'' Connell joked. ''But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Mind you, I think the players love getting away on those trips.''

Next year's scheduling is the least of Ramsdale's concerns. He has two simple aims next Saturday: win the game, and give the best players the chance to show off their skills.

And there is a big prize on the line for those players who stand out. The best performers in the country championships will be given the opportunity to represent Victoria in the national bush footy carnival in Wagga in July. ''I think for too long clubs have been the ones saying, 'No, our boys are not playing'. But I think players are really standing up for themselves now,'' Connell said. ''I know guys down in the Alberton league who have written into their contracts with their local clubs that if they're good enough to be selected for the league or for Victoria then they're playing and that's that.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age May 20, 2012

NOT long after he accepted the position as Merrivale Football Netball Club's senior coach, Todd McLean began to doubt his decision. ''I got a bit nervous and started second-guessing myself about whether I could do it,'' he said.

It was no wonder that McLean felt that way, as he had ascended to the top job in the most trying of circumstances.

A former Merrivale junior, who returned to the club before the 2011 season after three years at Koroit, McLean was appointed coach on April 24 this year. Two days earlier, the Tigers' previous coach, 41-year-old father of five Stephen Kelson, had died after suffering a heart attack.

''I knew it was probably going to be the biggest challenge I'll ever face in footy,'' McLean said.

Everyone at Merrivale says that Kelson, a much-admired figure in Warrnambool's football community, would have wanted the club to get on with the job.

So, at the age of 24, McLean is helping the Tigers do just that. And after recording two wins in two weeks, including a seven-goal victory over the highly rated Timboon Demons, his initial concerns are beginning to subside.

''Everyone at the club has been fantastic, and I've got plenty of good support around me, so I should be right,'' he said. ''I've just got to try and make sure we keep things positive.''

Kelson's popularity was demonstrated by the huge crowd that turned out at his funeral. At his wake, countless stories were told about a man whose life was dominated by football and fun. One of those yarns involved a footy trip to Adelaide in the early 1990s.

''We thought him and his mate had missed the bus,'' Kelson's former teammate Russell Gleeson told The Sunday Age. ''But we found them leaning on a signpost on the outskirts of town, with no clothes on. It was broad daylight. They had no bag, no clothes, nothing. They were just standing there, in the nude, waiting for the bus to come past.''

As a child, Kelson idolised his father, Jack. Kelson snr, who remains a keen supporter of Merrivale, is also the club's senior games record-holder, having made 278 appearances for the Tigers.

Kelson jnr - himself nicknamed Jack - grew up to become a tough-as-old-boots centreman. Yet it was coaching that appealed to him more than playing.

''He was only 21 when he was appointed coach of Merrivale in 1993,'' said Gleeson. ''Coaching was his dream. In the summer of '93, he just wouldn't let it go. He wanted to coach Merrivale by hook or by crook. Everyone said he was too young, but he wouldn't take no for answer. He told us how good he was going to be and within two years he had the team in a grand final.''

The team that Kelson helped Merrivale put together in the mid-1990s is regarded as one of the best sides to play in the Warrnambool District league. Although the Tigers lost the 1995 decider to East Warrnambool by 143 points, they didn't lose a game the following season.

But injuries kept Kelson out of the team that won the '96 flag. ''He was just worn out, and we had a really powerful side,'' said Gleeson, who was club president at the time. ''It was very selfless of him not to pick himself in a forward pocket or take a spot on the bench.''

A year later, Kelson guided Merrivale through another undefeated home-and-away season, and the Tigers were still undefeated before the grand final. But the club's 39-game winning streak was broken when Panmure pulled off a sensational upset in the big game.

''They won the toss of the coin and it was one of those northerly winds blowing straight down the middle of the ground,'' Gleeson said. ''They kicked seven goals in the first quarter and we couldn't get back in it. Panmure keep having a reunion whenever we play them, which is a bit cheeky.''

In the following years, Kelson coached one of Merrivale's rivals, Old Collegians, then had a stint at Hampden league club South Warrnambool, where he led the under-18s to a premiership before taking charge of the senior side.

Kelson completed the circuit when he returned to Merrivale for the 2010 season. Having played alongside blokes such as Gleeson, he now coached their sons - three of them, in Gleeson's case.

In the lead-up to last season, Kelson enticed McLean to return to the club. Having been appointed the Tigers' assistant coach, the talented forward revelled in the extra responsibility, finishing the year as the Warrnambool District league's leading goalkicker.

The club's plan was that McLean would spend a couple of seasons learning the ropes from Kelson. ''I was hoping to step into the coaching role in the not-too-distant future,'' McLean said. ''But I'm starting to get used to the idea that I've had to take over now.''

Kelson's death, which came only hours after he had guided the Tigers in a match against Russell's Creek, affected many people in many ways.

''My youngest lad is only 15, he found it really hard to handle,'' Gleeson said. ''On the Sunday, when we all came back down to the club for a beer, he just burst into tears.''

Less than a week after experiencing such a shock, the Merrivale players suited up for their round-four match against Deakin University. A big crowd turned out for the game, and a minute's silence was observed before the opening bounce. With their emotions running high, the Tigers won by 182 points.

McLean led the way by booting eight goals, and he kicked another four last week when Merrivale toppled the previously unbeaten Timboon Demons.

''To bounce back after the emotional week we'd had, and to play like we did, was just great,'' he said.

Things won't get any easier on the field for the Tigers in the coming weeks. Having played top side Panmure yesterday, they face Allansford next Saturday. But McLean and his men have things in perspective.

''Stephen's brother, Jade, is still playing with us and he had a talk to the senior group about it,'' McLean said.

''He told us that Steve wouldn't want us to go out and win a premiership for him. He'd just want us to put in a good, solid effort each week.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age May 13, 2012

THE new head of the St Arnaud Football Club, Shane Ciurleo, was left in no doubt as to how far the Saints had fallen in the eyes of their peers when he attended his first North Central league presidents' meeting late last year.

''Traditionally, everybody hated St Arnaud,'' Ciurleo said before last weekend's clash with Boort. ''But by the time I went to that meeting it had gone past the point of other clubs hating us; they were feeling sorry for us. It was embarrassing.''

The Saints had won just three of their previous 48 games and it was clear to the region's footy fans that the 135-year-old club was battling to survive.

The St Arnaud club draws upon a bigger local population than all of its NCFL rivals. Almost 2500 people live in St Arnaud, whereas 1600 reside in Donald and only 800 in Wycheproof and Birchip.

But while that numerical advantage had helped the Saints win plenty of premierships in the junior grades - six of the past 10 thirds flags - it hasn't translated into success at senior level. In more than six decades as a member of the North Central league, they have won only five flags. Wycheproof-Narraport has won 17.

St Arnaud enjoyed its most recent success when Bendigo-based coach Simon McLean guided it to the 1998-99 premierships. The Saints continued to regularly make the top four until 2003, when they lost the grand final to Charlton.

Their drop down the ladder was initially slow. But by 2009 they had lost so much talent to nearby district league clubs such as Navarre and Natte Bealiba that they failed to win a game. They went winless again last season. ''If we had kept going the way we were, we would have folded,'' Ciurleo said. ''We had eight blokes under the age of 30 that were living in St Arnaud but playing at other clubs.''

To encourage people to return to the club, the new president decided he needed some gun recruits and some funding to pay for them.

He tapped into the relationship between the Saints and some key people at Nissan after St Arnaud trainer Christine Goode won the Hidden Heroes competition last year. Nissan came on board as major sponsor and its logo is now displayed on the back of the Saints' jumpers. Around the same time as that deal was being sorted out, Ciurleo and a few key helpers, including former forward and now local publican Alistair Egan, scoured central Victoria for a coach who could act as a bit of a pied piper. They eventually went after James McNamee from Maryborough who had just finished his third season at the helm of Dunolly.

McNamee is only 26, but his footy resume features experience at all levels of the game. A talented junior player, he spent time at North Ballarat before beginning his coaching career at Natte Bealiba at the age of 20. In 2009 he took on the challenge at Dunolly, which had won only nine games in four seasons.

Prior to joining Dunolly, where his brother was the president and his father was the treasurer, McNamee had spent a couple of summers playing for Wanderers in Darwin. He made plenty of friends there, which enabled him to take a few Territory boys - North Melbourne premiership player Shannon Motlop was one of them - to Dunolly with him. As a result, the Eagles made the Maryborough-Castlemaine league grand final in 2009.

The chance to try to lift St Arnaud off the bottom of the ladder was a tough new challenge for McNamee, who continues to spend a large part of the summer in the Territory (he won the NTFL's best and fairest for the 2010-11 season).

''It was a little bit daunting,'' he explained. ''But I knew where the club was at. Basically, I was pretty keen to take it on.''

After St Arnaud signed Motlop and a number of other talented Territorians during the summer, hopes were high when the Saints ran out for their round-one clash against Wedderburn. A reality check, in the form of a 106-point loss, was the outcome.

But a week later, McNamee and his mates became local heroes when they led St Arnaud to an eight-goal win over Charlton. The victory broke a losing streak that stretched back to August 14, 2010.

Last weekend, a good crowd turned up at Lord Nelson Park to see the Saints host Boort. Ciurleo wore a tense expression at half-time, as they trailed the Magpies by seven points. If not for some dynamic play from McNamee, who played in the midfield when his team had the wind and in the back line when kicking into it, the Saints would have been further behind.

But St Arnaud came to life in the second half. Ruckman Ryan Smith and midfielders Daniel James and Lee Stewart, all of whom had flown down from Darwin for the game, led the way as the Saints turned the tables in the third term.

When Motlop slotted a monster goal from near the boundary midway through the last quarter, the result was beyond doubt. The siren sounded shortly after six-time best and fairest Daniel Needs took a pack mark about 40 metres out. He hit the post, but a 35-point win was more than enough to have the St Arnaud supporters celebrating. Following a boisterous rendition of the club song, Ciurleo reminded everyone in the packed change rooms that it was the first time the Saints had recorded consecutive victories since April 2008.

Needs wore a broad grin as he sat on a wooden bench with ice-packs on his knees. Barring an injury, he will break the club games record when he makes his 269th senior appearance against Donald in round seven. ''It's a real good feeling,'' said Needs, who was a teenager when he played in the 1998-99 premierships. ''In the end I sort of got used to losing, so it didn't worry me. But now the winning feeling's back, you don't want to go back to the old ways.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first The Sunday Age May 6, 2012

ASKED during the week if he knew when his footy club's senior side had last been on top of the ladder, Mallee Eagles president Gordon Bennett delved into the members' handbook to try to find the answer.

''I'd say it was probably 1996, when we had a double premiership; seconds and seniors,'' he replied a few minutes later.

The question was pertinent because after the first round of the Central Murray League season the Eagles were perched at the top of the table. ''There's just a fantastic feeling around the place,'' Bennett said, three days after the club, which is coached by former Melbourne defender Daniel Ward, had begun its 2012 campaign with a 229-point thrashing of Balranald.

''We've been getting good roll-ups at training. In the past, we've had to drag some of the old farmers off their tractors and make them play in the seconds, but we have a full list of reserves players this year. We actually had to leave a couple out of the team a week ago.''

Until last year, the Mallee Eagles were known as Lalbert, as the club is based in the tiny town of the same name, around 40 kilometres south of Swan Hill. Until last year, the Eagles also boasted one of the poorest recent win-loss records in the VCFL. But the name change has coincided with an uplift in fortunes on the field. If round one proves a reliable guide, the club's senior team might just be on its way to its first finals appearance since those glory days in the mid-1990s.

The town of Lalbert, which these days has an official population of 197, was once a thriving centre of commerce that served the surrounding grain and livestock farmers. But like so many other outposts throughout regional Australia, Lalbert's population has decreased steadily over the past four decades.

''I was at school in the early '70s, and there were 70 kids at the Lalbert Primary School then,'' Bennett recalled. ''Now there are only four or five. A lot of our families have shifted in to Swan Hill because the facilities weren't here for them any more.''

The local football club has followed a similar pattern. Its teams were once filled with the sons of locals; nowadays most of the young men on the Eagles' list live in Swan Hill, Bendigo or even 330 kilometres away in Melbourne.

The declining population and the decade-long drought that gripped eastern Australia between 1997 and 2006 were key factors in the Lalbert footy club's tumble down the ladder. The drought hit hard because it meant the farmers had little money to give, so the club found itself heading deeper into debt to survive.

Things became so bad for Lalbert that the Eagles' senior team lost 37 consecutive matches. The losing run, which began in round one of the 2007 season, was broken when Lalbert beat fellow battler Nyah-Nyah West United in round two, 2009.

In the interim, the club had copped countless 30-goal hidings. As Bennett remembered: ''The players did a fantastic job to keep coming back week after week even though we didn't have a hope of winning. We used to honk our horns when we scored a point.''

During those dark times in 2007 and '08, the club's future was discussed on many occasions and merger discussions were held with three nearby district league clubs, Ultima, Nullawil and Quambatook.

The Eagles were eventually led out of the wilderness by Shaun Warburton from Swan Hill who took on the role of president in his mid-20s.

Warburton worked tirelessly to bring new ideas to the club. In one inspired move, he organised for the old canteen to be turned into a glass-fronted corporate box, replete with lounge chairs, heating and a flat-screen TV. Groups of footy fans were soon paying $1000 to watch the Eagles go around while indulging in an unlimited supply of food and drinks.

Warburton and his helpers rejuvenated the Eagles' supporters and balanced the books at the same time. After recording two wins in 2009, Lalbert's senior team was bolstered by the recruitment of Ward for the 2010 season. Ward helped the Eagles double their return to four wins, although he missed a number of games as he sought treatment for his well-publicised gambling addiction.

Ward took such a liking to the Eagles that in late 2010 he took on the role as senior coach. The decision to appoint him raised a few eyebrows. After all, he lives in Melbourne. But Ward embraced the job and guided the senior team to nine wins in 2011. There was no consternation when the 34-year-old was reappointed for 2012.

''He usually comes up on a Thursday afternoon and takes training that night,'' Bennett said. ''During last year, he would stay in Swan Hill on a Friday night and take some of the under-15s for a run. So he was heavily involved in the juniors as well. If we had a club function on a Saturday night, he always stayed for that then headed home on the Sunday. I think talking to us rough old farmers has been good for him, and he's playing bloody good footy.''

The Eagles' ability to bring in paid recruits such as Ward is one reason for their revival. Another is the recent merger with Swan Hill-based junior club, St Mary's. Lalbert had been aligned with St Mary's for years, but the relationship wasn't formalised until the lead-up to the 2011 season.

The Lalbert-St Mary's Football Netball Club was subsequently formed. But the new name was such a mouthful that an alternative was sought and the members voted to go with Mallee Eagles.

Times are good for the Eagles. With a bye this weekend, Ward and his men will be back in action against Tooleybuc-Manangatang on Saturday. They'll be in the top five before taking on the Saints, and the way things are going they might still be there come September.

■ Former AFL star Brendan Fevola helped gate takings for the opposition but hurt it on the field with 12 goals for Yarrawonga in its 52-point win over Myrtleford in the Ovens and Murray Football League yesterday.

Fevola, who has still kept his public profile alive in Channel Seven's Dancing With The Stars, finished with 12.7 but is believed to have attracted $11,000 in gate takings for home team Myrtleford in front of more than 3000 fans at McNamara Reserve.

Clubs are cashing in on the presence of the former Brisbane and Carlton bad boy, who is expected to take out the competition's leading goalkicking award in his debut season at the Pigeons.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age, April 29, 2012