FOOTBALL
MID GIPPSLAND
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
PAST players from Morwell East Football-Netball Club’s last senior flag gathered at the weekend during the Hawks home bout against Foster.
The 2005 premiership holds a special place as not only the last time the club saluted on the final day in September, but also due to their journey and the opponent they took down.
Yinnar entered the grand final unbeaten on the year, which included defeating Morwell East three times throughout the course of the season (with a 29-point victory over the Hawks in the second semi-final), and were presented the opportunity to go back-to-back for the first time since the ’70s.
In the Express’ Grand Final preview that year, the eight other Mid Gippsland senior coaches all tipped the Magpies to win.
The Hawks defied all expectations however, claiming their first senior premiership since 1980 in a 27-point decider at Moe’s Ted Summerton Reserve.
Despite the naysayers in the lead up to the game, playing coach Danny Millar still had his side enter the day full of confidence.
“I know every coach is paid to say about belief… but it was genuine belief that if we got everything right on the day and we got our opportunity on the day that we could definitely create our own history,” he told the Express, reflecting on the occasion.
“It was really getting to that last day in September that was the mountain.”
It was Millar’s second year at the club (arriving after years spent coaching Morwell in Latrobe Valley Football league), after leading the Hawks to a preliminary final in his first season.
They would succumb to Mirboo North on that day, which then followed quite the shake-up leading into 2005.
“The year before we actually probably had a better team (in 2004), we had Anthony Pavey, Leo Galea, and John Noblett, just to mention a few,” Millar said.
By the time the Hawks had gotten over the hump and made the grand final, they’d sustain further loss, with players unavailable due to injury or suspension, including assistant coach and runner-up best-and-fairest Luke Hopman absent for the finals series.
Through some tough selection deliberations, Morwell East arrived on grand final day, for the first time since 1985, ready for anything.
Here’s how the game played out.
Proceedings, including the weather, started well enough for the last game of the season, and Morwell East nailed the first punch from James Street, taking a strong grab and sent through the goal.
Hawks skipper Dave Walker added another shortly after to extend the lead to 10 points, but the match began to even itself out, and Yinnar’s Liam Visser brought the margin back closer.
Midway through the opening stanza, the skies opened up and heavy rain made conditions slippery, bringing anyone’s soccer skills to the table.
Millar and Yinnar’s Rick Galea went goal-for-goal (Galea indeed had a soccer background), but the Hawks entered the first break with a nine-point edge.
As the second quarter arrived, so too did the hail, and the scoreboard as such began to halt, only for Galea to arrive once again and put the Magpies ahead for the first time.
The Hawks refused to give in, applying mountains of pressure, with Ben Stoertebecker replying and handing Morwell East back the lead heading into halftime.
Realising what was at stake, Yinnar returned to the ground after the main break with an entirely different attitude, and playing coach Tim Darby led the troops with a goal off the bounce to see the Magpies hit the front for the second time.
Despite the third quarter perhaps being the tightest of the game, Morwell East began to taste victory, something they hadn’t seen or even given themselves an opportunity to do so in two decades.
Brad Gibson sent the Hawks back ahead before heavy rain reintroduced itself, but Morwell East also missed two shots for goal late in the term to give themselves a more comfortable lead.
While a two-point difference heading into the final quarter brought great anticipation, the Hawks blew past the Magpies when it mattered most, nailing four goals to none in the last half an hour of the season.
Backman Richard Te Paa sprinted through the middle of the ground to finish off the sealer in red time and see the Hawks celebrate.
Midfielder Phill Pavey was awarded the VCFL medal for best-on-ground, while Hawks coach Millar capped off his time at Morwell East the best way possible with a premiership.
“I knew once we won it that was it, I was done – if we had lost, who knows, I may have went around again,” he said.
It still wouldn’t have been an easy decision for Millar, whose family holds deep roots at Morwell East, with his father Lou being a founding member of the club, coaching juniors early in the clubs history before they even featured a senior side.
“He helped build the club that stands today… so, for me to come back after my career had finished in Melbourne and at Morwell, to get a flag at Morwell East was personally just amazing,” he said.
“It was good for a lot of people who had been at the club for a long period of time with little success and was very rewarding for them.”
Millar was drafted to North Melbourne in the 1990 AFL National Draft, however never played, and after his time at Morwell East, would go on to coach Gippsland Power and Thorpdale.
The standouts for the Hawks on their special day included Pavey, defender Simon Cauchi, vice captain Brandon Mahoney, and Anthony Caile, while Gibson led the scoring charge with three goals.
