West Gippsland first to pull on boots
Not only has the region a new football/netball competition this season – West Gippsland – but it was the first country or suburban league to pull on the boots.
Formed from a combination of five teams each from last year’s Ellinbank and District and Alberton leagues it promises a high standard and competitive competition.
It was quick out of the blocks with a season opening night game last Saturday between last year’s EDFL premiers Cora Lynn and Alberton runner-up Inverloch-Kongwak at Cora Lynn.
The West Gippsland football netball competition was the major outcome of an AFL Gippsland review into league structures across the region.
It is comprised of Bunyip, Garfield, Koo wee rup, Nar Nar Goon and Cora Lynn from the EDFL and ex-Alberton clubs Korumburra-Bena, Kilcunda-Bass, Dalyston, Phillip Island and Inverloch-Kongwak.
All 10 clubs will be in action next weekend with local “derbies” between former EDFL rivals Cora Lynn and Nar Nar Goon and Bunyip and Garfield.
Traditional rivalries will also be renewed when Korumburra-Bena host Inverloch-Kongwak.
All clubs have put huge effort into attempting to boost playing stocks to have a big impact on the competition’s inaugural season.
But it will be weeks if not a few months before the sides sort themselves out.
Over the past three years the Cobras have added another three premiership cups to its already impressive trophy cabinet and is not leaving any stone unturned it its quest for a fourth in a row.
There’ll be a couple of familiar faces missing this year but coach David Main and his football department have again dug deep into its main recruiting area – the south-east suburbs – to bring nine or 10 new players to the club.
It is something of déjà vu for Inverloch-Kongwak coach Ben Soumilas, a premiership coach with Garfield in the former West Gippsland league, although this year is an unknown quantity.
The Sea Eagles have lost some from last year’s grand final line-up but have some quality recruits headed by Tom Hams from Bairnsdale and Shem Hawking (Leongatha).
They also have some emerging talent from last year’s premiership winning thirds.
In next Saturday’s round Cora Lynn at home to Nar Nar Goon, a decades long neighbourhood rivalry, is sure to draw a big crowd and The Gooners are primed for the challenge.
Coach Kris Fletcher has added a few newcomers to an otherwise stable line-up, former Gippsland Power and Drouin player Todd Beck a major inclusion.
There are very few rivalries in the region as keen as Bunyip versus Garfield. Their round one clash at Bunyip will be a beauty. The Bulldogs, EDFL runners-up to Cora Lynn last year, have no intention of dropping standards and while it has lost four or five from the grand final side has more than replaced them with pick-ups, including five from Pakenham.
Garfield had, for it, a down year in 2016 missing finals but has recruited Jarryd Drew (Warragul), Sam Cougle (Moe) and Dean and Daniel Johnson (Warragul Industrials).
Adam MacGibbon, Jamie Ferguson and Darcy Payne are back at the club which will be without a couple of premiership players and stalwarts over many years, Ben Marsh and Brett Reid, who have retired.
Koo wee rup appear to have built on last year when they finished fourth in the EDFL.
The Demons have lured key players Anthony Guliano and Nathan Muratore from Cora Lynn and Luke Walker from Pakenham among more than half a dozen additions.
Ex-Collingwood player Brent McAffer heads a huge influx of new faces at Kilcunda Bass, Koo wee rup’s first-up opponent.
The clash is definitely one in the “wait and see” basket.
Dalyston and Phillip Island, two regularly strong clubs in the Alberton league, go head to head at Dalyston on Saturday and in a night game KorumburraBena, boosted by some recruits from Alberton league clubs, will be put to the test at home by InverlochKongwak.