Distance sets challenge
There are a few major difficulties for Gippsland League to overcome in its inter-league campaigns.
The distance spread across the league – from Bairnsdale in the east to Drouin in the west and Wonthaggi in the south-west – is one, impacting the ability of squads to get-together at pre-match training.
Two sessions are about the limit and those often affect players’ availability due to work or time limitations.
And there is the issue of long travel to some away venues, Cohuna on Saturday a good example.
Bairnsdale players had to travel to Traralgon to catch the team bus at 3.30 p.m. on Friday that also had pick-ups at Trafalgar, Warragul, Officer and in Melbourne.
It was about 8.30pm by the time the bus arrived for dinner and an overnight stay at Bendigo and another 1 hour and 45 minutes from Bendigo to Cohuna on Saturday morning for the game.
The bus home arrived at Warragul around midnight and it would have been well into the early hours of Sunday before many of the more distant players made it home.
There were several in Saturday’s team that went the “extra mile” to take their places in the team.
One that was working last week at the Mitta Mitta River, about 45 minutes drive north of Omeo, drove more than six hours by himself – via Mount Hotham and Bright – to join the team in Bendigo late in the night.
Another two, unable to get on the bus because of their finishing times at work, drove to Bendigo late Friday and then on to Cohuna.
Good to see a good number of parents, friends and families of the players travel to Cohuna.
Quite a few took the opportunity to spend a few days either side of the game visiting the attractive area on the Murray River.
And some good news for the Gippsland League clubs from Saturday.
None of the players were injured and should be available for the return of club games next Saturday.