Back in the day...

50 years ago…

Warragul rover Ted Baldry won the Warragul Football Club best and fairest award, capping off a scintillating season with 163 votes. Ruckman Eddy Valena finished runner up on 117 votes followed by Malcolm Birch and Graeme Cook who tied for third on 110 votes.

Over 300 children took to the track once again as Warragul Little Athletics got underway. There were athletes from several clubs including Longwarry, Warragul West and Drouin in attendance at the Warragul Technical School oval.

Drouin won two premierships at the Drouin Badminton Centre, with the club claiming the pennant and A Reserve sections in front of a large home crowd. Fans packed into the twotiered seating to see their side claim victory in thrilling contests.

Yarragon opened its club greens for the first time, with plenty of players on hand to roll the first bowls of the season down in sunny conditions. A wonderful afternoon tea was also put on for spectators and players following the matches.

30 years ago…

The Drouin Dragons made it to the Express Shield Cup final after defeating archrivals Warragul. In a total team effort, the Dragons prevailed 3-2 in a tightly contested game that could have gone either way at halftime. They would play Morwell for the title the next week.

Three of the six Mid Gippsland Badminton Association preliminary finals were extremely close, with the Warragul Vikings taking victory over Drouin White in section one, Labertouche defeating Warragul in section two and Ellinbank Blue defeated Tetoora Road by 7 aces in their section three contest.

Philip Adams claimed the Gleeson Trophy, winning with a final score of +3 in the tournament from Grahame D’Arcy, Garry Crowley and Lindsay Rippon. The par event afterwards was contested by 104 players, with Doug Scott claiming victory.

Peter Kilday again signed on to guide the Yarragon Cricket Club in their 1990/91 season endeavours. The club included four senior teams and a junior side, as well as completing preparations for the second ground at Dowton Park.

10 years ago…

Brenton Jones looked like a Ferrari among Holdens in the 32km Warragul Cycling Club race. Despite giving up a 30-minute head start, Jones reeled in the field and rode past Andrew DaBona just before the finish line to claim victory.

Warragul United captured the Division 2 shield in a thrilling 2-1 victory over Churchill that required extra time to decide the result. They had to fight back from a goal down after Churchill took the lead just 15 minutes in but strikes from Craig Black and a chip in winner from Paul Sheehan saw the side claim the trophy.

Local boxers Leigh Taylor, Adam Mazza and Luke Talbot all had strong showings in their competition held in Lilydale. Both Taylor and Talbot won their events, while Mazza finished second in his bout, showing promising signs. Leigh went on to claim another title at Brunswick a week later.

Geoff Hewson claimed victory in the stableford round at Warragul as many golfers stayed behind to watch the drawn grand final between Collingwood and St Kilda, causing the next week’s competition to again be brought forward to an 8am tee off to give those a chance to watch the replay.

Warragul junior star Vinnie Caia displays his medal as he claimed the Gippsland Fourths’ league best and fairest award last season. Right - Warragul supporters flock to the fences to support the Warragul C Grade netball side in their grand final last season.

Drouin Devils Divas coach Cory Smith shares a laugh with the team before they started their Grand Final at the Warragul Leisure Centre last year.

Drouin Dragons’ Alex Benson is under pressure inside the box as his Phillip Island opponent gets back to defend the goals.

Contesting the tip off in the 12A Grand Final are Kaiden Walmsley from Drouin and Charles Kilmartin from the Gladiators.

Supporting the Bunyip U14A Reserve team are (back left) George Edwards, Heather Fitzgerald, (front left) Ruby Dalzell, Takaya Keefe, Jasmine Fitzgerald and Brianna Purvis.

Grace Radford does her best to defend this ball from getting to her opponent in last years Gippsland league grand final.

Drouin’s Caleb Hermansen took out the league leading goal kicker for his age group in 2019.

Under 14 grand final winners for Drouin were (back left) Dennis Pilikidis, Charlie Tsuchida, Aleksandr Tabensky, Finley Lock, Conor McCluskey, Dylan Sotiropoulos, James Short, Thomas Dennis, Ethan Hall (front) Calvin Langford, William Payne, Beau Joiner, Darcy Spencer and Tahj Osseweyer.

The Drouin Dragon seniors were among three Drouin sides to win premierships in 2019. They defeated Phillip Island 3-2 in a thrilling match.

Rhys Galvin gets his kick away just in time against Traralgon, he was named best on ground for the Gulls in their loss in 2019.

Despite a gallant effort, the Warragul fourths’ side contemplate what might have been as they watch Traralgon receive their premiership medallions after falling to the Maroons by 34 points in the grand final last year.

Warragul Industrials Under 11 team participation awards went to Voilet Dodd, Tyra Jensen, Chelsea McDonald, Nicky McDonald (team manager), Maya McDonald, Ella Clarke, Tiffany Walsh, Brielle Thexton, Liza Pharoah (coach), Ashby Sibson and Lily Huggins.