Lara old boy holds out hope for team
MICHAEL Sodomaco feels a sense of guilt that he did not return to Lara.
Having to find a “home” club after the axing of the VFL’s development league, Sodomaco made the agonising call to start afresh at St Joseph’s.
Given the Cats’ struggles in recent years, and the threat of relegation, he admitted it made his decision all the more harder.
“It’s tough to see, to be honest with you,” the Werribee skipper said of Lara’s battle to avoid a bottom-two finish and exile to the Bellarine Football League.
“I’ve got so many good memories there and I made a lot of friends growing up in Lara and playing there.
“That was my childhood, going to school and then knocking around with the blokes on the footy field and on weekends.
“It’s just a tough spot for the club and it’s hard to see any short-term solution to it.
“Obviously they’re playing a lot of young guys at the moment and that’s the best way they can go about it . . . build up their juniors and do what Torquay and Leopold have done as one-club towns.
“That will take time, but it’s the best way to go for them.”
The Cats claimed a monumental win over St Albans on Saturday, a result that gives them a glimmer of hope of remaining in the GFL.
But irrespective of where the Cats play in 2019, Sodomaco said he would remain a Tiger, with St Joseph’s his feeder club.
“I made the call to sign with St Joeys this year as my senior club and it was one of the toughest things I’ve done,” he said.
“I rang around six or seven blokes who have known me since I was knee-high and it was a tough conversation to have because you do feel like you’re walking out on them a little bit.
“But at the end of the day, of all the guys I came through with, none of them are there at the moment.
“They’ve all gone here, there and everywhere.
“So it came down to me wanting to play with my mates at Joeys.
“I’d love to see them go really well because there’s a lot to like.
“It’s a great club with great facilities, it’s a one-town club and the people are great, so hopefully there’s a bit to play out with the promotionrelegation and they can be in a position where they can win a few games and build on the back of that.”
Sodomaco, in his fourth season as Tigers’ skipper, said it was unlikely he would suit up with Joeys this season.
“I was really honest with them and said, ‘the only way I’ll play a game is if I have a 10-week injury and I’m coming back to footy and Werribee has a bye’,” Sodomaco said.
“I signed there because I had to sign with a local club. We don’t have a development league any more, but my mindset is on playing at Werribee for a few more years yet.”