FOOTBALL

GIPPSLAND LEAGUE

By LIAM DURKIN

 

IT was always going to happen.

Traralgon Football-Netball Club will host this year’s Gippsland League Grand Final.

The Maroons are expected to open a new facility in coming weeks, with the long-awaited multipurpose pavilion nearing completion.

Traralgon has been without proper change room facilities for the best part of five years.

Major floods left the previous structure unusable after June 2021.

Since then, it has been an ongoing battle to secure funding and agree on concept plans, not to mention bureaucratic nonsense that could only fit the bill of ‘world’s gone mad’.

Moment: Leongatha players Ben Willis, Col Sanbrook and an unidentified player stop in disbelief, while Maffra’s Jack Johnstone scoots away during the last Grand Final held at Traralgon. Photograph: Liam Durkin (been waiting seven years to publish this)

Somewhat bizarrely, Traralgon Recreation Reserve is only considered a ‘local’ facility by the powers that be, this coming despite the venue hosting AFL preseason games and Big Bash League cricket matches in the past.

The new raised facility, sitting alongside the wing of the oval, is flood-proof, and accommodates football, netball, cricket and boxing.

The $6.2 million redevelopment also boasts four change spaces, two first aid rooms, social/meeting space, kitchen, elevated timekeepers and media rooms, as well as a new netball court, and game day public amenities.

Parking is not an issue at Traralgon, with plenty of grass space on the eastern wing, while the ground has some of the best lighting in the league.

A common, yet rather trivial, criticism is that spectators viewing from ground level on the wing cannot see ‘the other side’.

Traralgon last hosted the Grand Final in 2019, when Maffra held off Leongatha to win the senior decider by eight points.

The game ended somewhat controversially, after a mark was not paid late in the match to Leongatha interceptor Chris Verboon.

All Leongatha players around the ball stopped, while the the Eagles went forward and kick a decisive goal.

Over on the netball court, Morwell won the A Grade flag that season, while Moe finished third in both football and netball.

Jokes are already doing the rounds in league circles about the Lions doing the same this season.

Moe senior coach Leigh Poholke couldn’t help himself when Traralgon was announced as host.

Jury’s out: Were the Parrots robbed? This mark was not paid to Chris Verboon late in the 2019 Grand Final between Leongatha and Maffra. Photograph: Liam Durkin

“If only there was a new facility that you could watch netball and football at the same time,” he commented on the league’s socials, referring to Ted Summerton Reserve, Moe’s soon to be completed Commonwealth Games upgrade.

The Gippsland League (wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who), going well against what is usually seen, responded.

“Good news! Traralgon is preparing new netball courts next to the new multipurpose pavilion, allowing spectators to enjoy both football and netball for this year’s Grand Final!”

Parochialism aside, given all the Maroons have been through in the last five years, it seems reasonable they are given hosting rights this year.

MOE has played practice matches against Mornington-based clubs Rosebud and Hastings over the last fortnight.

Keep tabs on Rosebud if you are a local footy junkie – they are very, very good.

Traralgon meanwhile is still not even training on its home ground due to issues with the lights. The Maroons have relocated (again) to Duncan Cameron Reserve up the road.

Infrastructure works are also continuing at Morwell Recreation Reserve, completing the trifecta.

The most important item – a new bar – is being installed outside the social rooms.

Moe, Morwell and Traralgon have rotated as Grand Final host for most of the Gippsland League’s history.

Elsewhere, just how long a season it will be for Sale was again thrust into the spotlight, after the Magpies lost to minor league side Warragul Industrials by 100 points in a practice match at the weekend.

At last count, Sale has lost at least 15 senior players, and replaced them with only around a quarter of that.

The current price of fuel could also mean less cars make their way through the gates of Gippsland League grounds for the first few rounds of the season.

Players will likely arrange lifts with each other, although hoping not to draw the short straw all the same.

One does not simply drive to Bairnsdale without stopping at every pub on the way home.