Omnia   

avenelThe Avenel Football-Netball club, which is a member of the Kyabram and District league, has already had a September to remember.


Last Sunday the Swans' senior footy team won their first finals match in more than a decade with a narrow victory over Lancaster in the elimination final.

The result was a significant milestone for a club that has been through many ups and downs since winning its last senior premiership 21 years ago.

"The jubilation and genuine excitement in the rooms after the game was something to see," said Avenel president Daniel Boote.

When it comes to senior footy, Avenel's most recent glory days were in the late 1970s, '80s and early '90s. The Swans won consecutive premierships in 1978 and '79, and two more in 1984 and '85.

More flags followed in 1989 and '94 (that year the club also won the under-18 premiership, and former Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs star Barry Hall was a member of the team).

But after finishing in the top five in 2004, the senior side didn't feature in another final until last season.
"Country footy, especially in the lower tier, can be a fickle thing from one year to the next," said Boote. "If you're not doing the right things, and haven't got a good culture and a good bunch of people to keep it going, it can drop off pretty quick."

The rebuilding of Avenel's senior football team began when Tim Muir was appointed senior coach prior to the 2011 season.

Muir helped the Swans bring in a number of new players, and that translated to steady improvement on the field.
"Unfortunately, we just fell short of playing finals during his time at the club," Boote said.
Muir stepped down at the end of the 2013 season and was replaced by Cameron Gillett.

A journeyman player and coach, whose footballing resume includes stints at various country and metropolitan clubs and a pre-season with the Fremantle Dockers, Gillett brought with him a mindset geared towards success.
His first goal was to get the Swans super-fit.

"The pre-season for last year was quite horrendous for the boys. It was very much a shock to the system," Boote said. "To their credit, the majority of them embraced it, took it on board and directly benefitted from it."

Thanks to Gillett's coaching and an influx of recruits, some of whom were former Avenel players who had been plying their trade elsewhere, the Swans last season finally climbed back into the top five.

They took on Murchison in the elimination final, and a boilover was on the cards when they led five goals to one at quarter-time. But Murchison proved far too strong from there.

Keen to go at least one step further this season, Avenel embarked on another recruiting campaign last summer.
"We had to spend some money," Boote said. "When you're saying to prospective players, 'We haven't played finals for 10 years, but we'd really like you to come on board because we know we're going places,' it's a tough sell.
"There aren't too many guys that say, 'Great! I love the story. Let's go.'

"So the financial side of things does come into it. But we feel we've been fairly smart about what we've been doing.

"We didn't want go out and buy a premiership. We wanted to try and build something year-by-year so that it's sustainable."

After another solid pre-season, Avenel recently completed an impressive home and away campaign.
The Swans' only losses were to Nagambie, Merrigum and Stanhope, the three teams that finished above them on the ladder.

Their efforts earned them a berth in last Sunday's elimination final against Lancaster (a club that has the nickname "The Wombats") at Undera.

Avenel was 11 points up at half-time, then scores were level at three-quarter time, before the Swans kicked five goals to four in the last quarter and won by six points.

"It was a great contest between two quality sides," Boote said. "There was nothing untoward, but it was a brutal contest."

Now the Swans' supporters are desperate to see their boys go a step further.
And on Sunday afternoon they get the chance to do just that when they take on Stanhope, the loser of last weekend's qualifying final, in the first semi at Nagambie.

The winner of the game will find themselves within reach of a berth in the grand final.

"Our players are very excited," Boote said. "And I know that if they play like they did last weekend, there aren't too many sides above us that we can't beat.

"We're rapt to be going into the second week of the finals, with a spot in the preliminary final up for grabs. We don't need any more incentive than that."

Avenel FNC
* The Avenel footy club was formed in 1913. However, it has not been a stand-alone club for its entire history.
* Avenel merged with Longwood in 1956 to form the Avenel-Longwood FC. The clubs split and reformed on their own after the 1976 season.

By Adam McNicol

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