MARYBOROUGH defended its decision to play six district players on permits against Kyneton in mid-season 2005.

The BFNL Magpies took advantage of the general bye in the Maryborough-Castlemaine DFL halfway through June 11 years ago and brought in six players from the district league on VCFL-sanctioned day permits.

Despite the fact the move was above board it didn’t stop criticism from Kyneton senior coach Neville ‘Wrecker’ Massina.

And that was despite the Tigers notching a 10.10 (70) to 6.8 (44) victory at the Kyneton Showgrounds.
Massina’s criticism was offset by a lengthy explanation from Magpie committeeman Kelvin Noonan.
“The implication from the Kyneton coach’s comments were along the lines that we (in Maryborough) have some sort of exclusive league to choose from.
”That’s not the case. Kyneton can do exactly the same as what we did,” said Mr. Noonan.

The Magpies used Justin Tapner, Lachlan Woodward (now at Golden Square), Glen Wills, Carl Moser, Trent Bursill and Brad Hunt.

“We selected Moser who is a 16-year-old from Avoca, Woodward who’s an 18-year-old from Rovers and Tapner --- an 18 or 19-year-old, also from Avoca like Moser.
“We also played Glen Wills who’s probably closer to 30 than 20, but he’s our joint under-15 club coach.
“And we also played Trent Bursill from Carisbrook. He was a seconds player when he left us and probably to be fair to Trent at the moment he’s still a seconds player until he learns to train properly,” Mr. Noonan added.
“So it’s not as though we’ve gone outside the spirit of the permit system.”

Just as had been the case in 2014--15, players leaving the club had decimated Maryborough. Mr. Noonan said the mid-2000s exodus could be laid directly at the foot of poor policy-making and terrible decision by previous coaches and administrators.

“We already had Jamie Bond, Adam Hurse, Stewie Crameri (out again for the AFL’s Western Dogs in 2016 as a wash-up of the Essendon saga) and Ben Kick missing leading into that Kyneton clash.

“So if they hadn’t been out we would not have needed to use the permit players,” Mr. Noonan explained.

CLEARED from Princes Park over the summer of 2004—05 were Stephen Ross to Natte-Bealiba along with Scott Sellers, Jamie Elliott and Glen Bardsley to Maryborough Rovers, based nearby at Jubilee Oval.
Mr. Noonan described those four as “top of the list players” in their various leagues.
“And we deliberately didn’t select those types of players for the Kyneton match last weekend,” he added.
Maybe the decision didn’t resonate too well with the Maryborough list, however.

Selection of the MCDFL six caused some unrest with one Magpie lodging an immediate clearance to leave Maryborough. There was still almost a fortnight to go before 2005 clearances closed.

“It’s certainly not all beer and skittles for us as a club when we make a decision like this (to play players on permits). What we do is actually alienate some of our own players who get leap-frogged by these district league players,” Mr. Noonan explained to the Advertiser.
“We can see we’ve suffered already. There’s been a clearance application put in which is an example of where it gets to with some of these things.
“But the player concerned and other players we did go over have certainly played senior footy this season and they’ve been given an opportunity.

At some stage you just have to try others.
“The Kyneton experiment was probably greater (in numbers) than what we’d done before but that was simply because Bond, Crameri, Hurse and Kick were all out for the same fixture.
“If you throw those four players back in the Maryborough side there’s no way we’d have used six district players. We would have used maybe one or two and then one or two the next week which is what we’ve been doing most rounds this year,” the Magpie spokesman said.

OUT on the park in Round 8 2005 and Castlemaine’s Steven Oliver brought up his 969th BFL career goal.
It wasn’t a huge afternoon for Ollie, though. He speared home just two majors as the Maine accounted for Kangaroo Flat by almost 100 points.

No fewer than 11 Magpies hit the scorecard with Scott Carson leading the way with six. Mark Austin was the Flat’s leading scorer with five of their 12 majors.
By half-time the Maine had built up a massive lead: 16.9 to 6.0. They’d banged home a remarkable 11.5 in the opening quarter alone.

Maryborough put behind it all the previous round’s stress and anxiety around the permit player situation and bounded home by 26 points over South Bendigo.
Reed Wills rammed home nine majors for the Magpies with Matty Aston and Stewie Crameri adding two each.
Danny ‘Breeza’ O’Bree nailed seven goals for the Bloods and Alex Galea two.

Jordan Barham also nursed home seven goals as premiership favourites Gisborne belted Kyneton by 68 points.

With Jason Duff-Tyler in command of the ruck and boundary line throw-in tussles the Bulldogs led narrowly at each of the first three quarter breaks.
It was by just 14 points at lemon time, however: 10.15 to 9.7.

But a burst of nine last quarter goals saw the Graveyard Dogs comfortably home. Steven ‘Bundy’ Reaper was held to just two goals for the Tigers with Cameron Medica and Marcus Barham in charge of the Dogs’ back half.

IN THE closest game of the round Eaglehawk held off a hard-charging Golden Square to win by eight points.
The Two Blues led 17.7 to 12.12 at the last change before the Bulldogs unleashed a four-goals-to-one last term.

Midfielders Daniel Rankin and Brad Rogerson had to work really hard in the final 30 minutes to hold out the Square. With Matt O’Toole (5 goals) and current coach Nick Carter (4) on fire in attack the Hawks defence marshalled by Ben Hynes and Brady Herdman were under huge pressure.

Phil Lobb (6 goals) and Derrick Filo (3) were the pick of the Eaglehawk forwards.

Final scores: Eaglehawk 18.11 (119) def. G. Square 16.15 (111), Maryborough 18.11 (119) def. South Bendigo 13.15 (93), Gisborne 19.17 (131) def. Kyneton 9.9 (63) and Castlemaine 25.22 (172) def. Kang. Flat 12.5 (77).
Top Five: Gisborne 7 wins 1 loss, 1 bye, 32 prem. points; Castlemaine 6-2-1, 28; Golden Square 5-3-1, 24 (130.3%); Eaglehawk 5-3-1, 24 (116.09%) and South Bendigo 4-4-1, 20 premiership points.

ELMORE and White Hills played out a thrilling draw 11 years ago as we go around the traps.
The Hillies sat unbeaten atop the HDFL ladder after 11 rounds with a game-and-a-half break to second placed Mounts.

Final scores: Elmore 11.11 (77) drew White Hills 12.5 (77).

It was also close between Lockington Bamawm United and Heathcote with the LBU Cats home by seven points: 13.12 (90) to 13.5 (83).

North Bendigo and Broadford scored more comfortable victories, though, with North victorious by 57 points over Colbo while Broadford downed a hard-working Huntly by 25 points.

Winners in the LVFL were Mitiamo, Marong (over Pyramid Hill by 17 points), Bears and Calivil United.
In the MCDFL winners were Harcourt, Royal Park, Rovers (who booted 30 goals against Trentham), Newstead and Carisbrook. Maldon had the bye.

Wedderburn, Wycheproof-Narraport and Charlton won their matches in the North Central F.L.

JUST as was the case in December last year, two new faces had joined the BFNL board heading into the 2006 season.

In early March exactly a decade back Collin Brady and Chris Richards stepped up to fill two board vacancies.
The vacancies were created by the departures of Bert McIvor (still a member of the BFNL Hall Of Fame committee) and Brett Fitzpatrick (Sandhurst senior coach 2014—15) who had won a 2006 position on the then VCFL board.

Brady had spent 18 seasons playing with Ultima in the Golden Rivers F.L. and was a former Ultima president and league delegate.

He had put in the 2004—05 seasons coaching the St. Francis under-12s team and won a 2005 regional award for his efforts.

“Everyone involved with football seems to get more out of putting something back in than what they got out of actually playing,” he said.

Richards spent 25 seasons playing with various clubs across Victoria including Drysdale, St. Albans, Thompson, Hadfield and Golden Square.

“I’ve got a fair amount of experience in football and combined with my administrative abilities in business it’s a good opportunity to put something back into the Bendigo community,” said Richards, who was making his first foray into footy administration.

Then BFNL chairman Damian Drum was enthusiastic about the acquisition of his new pair of board members.
“Colin and Chris both showed at their first BFNL board meeting they had the ability to work through issues and areas such as strategic planning. Between them these two guys are bringing genuine skills to the board,” Mr. Drum said.

Richard’s tips for 2016’s Rd. 10: Eaglehawk by 19 points, South by 31 (at Harry Trott), Sandhurst by 44, Golden Square by 50 and Strathfieldsaye by 71.
Running tips total for 2016: 38