Border Mail |
THE Hume league has suffered one of its dirtiest days in representative football after being trounced by 97 points against the Tallangatta and District league at the Albury Sportsground on Saturday.
A second-rate Hume league outfit was embarrassed from the outset and was trailing by 75 points to one mid-way through the second term before eventually losing 23.14 (152) to 8.7 (55).
A host of big-name former Ovens and Murray players withdrew from the clash, including Trent Storey, Dean Murphy, Darryn McKimmie, Andrew Robinson, Jarrod Twitt, Brett Doswell and Josh Walker.
The side was further hit after Shannon Terlich and Dylan Kerr withdrew from the selected side with work commitments.
Hume league coach Daniel McAlister said while it was disappointing to lose he couldn’t fault the passion and commitment of the players willing to represent the league on Saturday.
“To the guys who committed to the concept I was very proud of them,” McAlister said.
“But to Tallangatta’s credit they were outstanding and absolutely blew us off the park.
“Before we could actually get any system in place it was half-time and it was 17 goals to four.
“Even if we did have a side comprising more of the marquee players than what we had, I don’t know if the result would have been much different.
“In the end we fielded a side that were committed to the concept and they never gave up and never dropped their heads.
“We were just beaten by a superior outfit.”
With the Tallangatta league joining the Victorian Country Championships next season, McAlister feared for the future of representative football in the Hume league.
“If you don’t have representative football it will be to the detriment of the league,” he said.
“There is a lot to discuss at board level.
“From what I can understand Merv Wegener (Hume league president) is going to take a pretty strong stance on the commitment levels.
“He has copped a fair bit of backlash from the result.
“We are all interested to see what happens.
“The marquee players aren’t committing for whatever reason and the league is keen to try and come up with a solution.
“I guess there will be a bit of experimentation for the next couple of years to see what works and what doesn’t.”
Despite the result, McAlister said he would be more than happy to coach again next season.
“I would jump at the opportunity to coach again if I was offered,” he said.
“The blokes we had in were a terrific bunch of guys and it was a privilege to meet them and get to know them off the field.
“It was also great for my coaching development.
“I have always maintained you get more insight into the character of a side that gets flogged than one that wins.
“The character they showed and to never give up was the most pleasing aspect.
“There were no big egos, just a bunch of guys having a go and representing the league.”
