FOOTBALL/NETBALL

By LIAM DURKIN

 

IF only you could be in two places at once.

Or three.

Local sports consumers will be spoilt for choice this weekend, as all three football/netball leagues in the Latrobe Valley catchment get set to stage epic finals.

Just where do you begin?

There are two Grand Finals and a major league Preliminary Final.

Stories will unfold at every venue, as another lot of heroes are crowned and villains remembered.

Mid Gippsland and North Gippsland have their Grand Finals, the former at a ‘new’ venue, and the latter at one that hasn’t hosted a decider for more than 40 years.

You have to go back almost two decades as well to find the last time those preparing to compete in the Gippsland League senior Preliminary Final faced off.

A game of football is all that separates Valley rivals Moe and Traralgon from the Grand Final, and emotions are sure to run high for whoever wins through.

On one hand, you have a town of battlers, and on the other, a town that has battled hard.

Traralgon Football-Netball Club has made do with ramshackle facilities since floods swept away much of the community infrastructure just over three years ago, and victory this Saturday may indeed provide motivation for the generations to come.

Moe won’t have to look far for motivation. Grand Finals aren’t something that come around all that often for the Lions – only once this century and twice in their history with success.

That record reiterates a harsh reality of football.

You have to take your opportunities.

Speak to Moe people in the know, and they will tell you their 2001 team that finished fourth was actually better than any of the sides that played in grand finals the two years previous.

The Lions already have one team through to the Grand Final – its B Grade netball side, who could yet play Traralgon should the Maroons win on their home court.

Moe will hope its A Grade team can follow suit, after dropping their first game for the season in the semi-final.

Finals are always good for a shocking surprise.

Morwell also has the chance to make a netball decider, with its C Grade contingent taking to the Preliminary Final court.

A little further down the road, Churchill will host the North Gippsland Football-Netball League Grand Final.

It will be a Grand Final rematch in the seniors, while a bevy of Bulldogs will take over the netball court.

Social democracy meets local netball, with Sale City represented in every division from A Grade right down to 15 and Under.

Watch for the Express’ own Blake Metcalf-Holt, who is playing in the reserves football decider.

If you are feeling adventurous, perhaps a drive to Meeniyan for the Mid Gippsland FNL Grand Final is on the cards.

The South Gippsland town is hosting its first-ever Mid Gippy decider, in what will be an event tinged with irony given the very name of the league itself.

That being said, times have clearly changed, and a great spectacle between the top-two teams in the senior football competition is on the cards.

Perhaps fittingly, one of the state’s most successful clubs by way of senior premierships in Fish Creek, is taking on one of the most successful clubs of the ‘old’ Mid Gippsland in Yinnar.

The Kangaroos won the flag last year, and the Magpies the year before that.

Yinnar has another busy Grand Final day ahead, with its seniors, reserves and thirds all on the big stage.

The co-operative model of Yinnar is to be applauded, as it seems the entire town comes out to support the Magpies every Grand Final day.

Mirboo North enjoys similar support, although this year will be the first in a long, long time the Tigers won’t have a single team represented.

You would probably have to go back to the days when Mirboo North wore purple jumpers for this to be the case.

The absence of Mirboo North might not be the only noticeable thing come Saturday.

There will be a Burgess playing for Newborough.

This a Burgess whose father and grandfather spent most of their playing days for Trafalgar in sheer opposition to the Bulldogs.

Yes, times have certainly changed. Maybe for the better.

Newborough is taking what looks to be a strong team into the reserves Grand Final, and a few people with familiar surnames to the club have the chance to enjoy some reward for loyalty.

Such sentiments are perhaps most pertinent for Josh Whittaker, the unfortunate senior captain of yesteryear when Newborough lost three consecutive grand finals all by under a goal, and who was injured when the Bulldogs finally broke through in 2016.

That Newborough’s one premiership in their five Grand Final appearances between 2012 and 2023 came with arguably their weakest side speaks to the fleeting nature of sport.

You can have your best team but not always at the best time.

You can have the right team at the right time.

All it takes is a wet day or for a few players to have a blinder.

Some of those blokes who played for Morwell in 2013 have never played better than they did in that Grand Final.

With that, best wishes to all lucky enough to be taking part in grand finals.

Events of this weekend may live or leave you depending on what takes place within a two hour window.

Setting up for my 30th birthday recently, a fairly demoralising moment occurred when it came to displaying some photos.

You never realise how many photos you don’t have from your footy career when you haven’t played in a premiership.