FOOTBALL
NORTH GIPPSLAND
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
PREMIERSHIP players from Gormandale Football-Netball Club’s last senior flag gathered at the weekend to celebrate their victorious 1995 season.
The Tigers’ success near 30 Septembers ago capped off a golden era for the club in which they won six premierships between 1982 and 1995, with many more arrivals on grand final day.
Gormandale featured in five straight grand finals from 1991 through 1995, including 11 appearances from 1981 up until the club’s final day of success, which came in a 13.13 (91) to 12.11 (83) defeat of Churchill in the 1995 North Gippsland Grand Final.
The Tigers entered the day with a far more experienced side, having played in the previous four grand finals, winning back-to-back in 1991 and 1992, before succumbing in the latter two, which would have only added further fuel to the fire.
A new voice was sensed, so in arrived Moe footballer Brett Szabo as playing coaching, taking over from former Footscray player Allan Jennings.
“We had a lot of experience, we had some good kids, but we had a lot of experience too, so it was a really good mix,” Szabo said.
On the other hand, the Cougars had that season re-joined North Gippsland from Latrobe Valley Football League (previous Gippsland League) after a decade in the premier competition.
Despite what had become expected at Gormandale, Szabo knew an all-in approach had to be taken on the day.
He admitted his fret over the big day given he was one of a few on the team who had yet to achieve that premiership pedigree.
“Coming up to the grand final, I was that nervous, because I’d never played in a grand final before, and I was actually working with Shane Hollingsworth as a carpenter, and he was really supportive because he’d been there a few times himself,” he said.
Here’s how the game played out.
Rudi Bence and Jim Dear faced off in the ruck, with the former coming out on top early, leading to Andrew Wisely and Hollingsworth booting the opening two goals for Gormandale.
The Tigers rattled on three late goals to end the first quarter, establishing a 27-point lead at the break.
Churchill began to come into the game, mounting a second term of five goals to two, which brought the margin back to seven points by halftime.
Beginning the second half, Gormandale applied worlds of pressure on their opponent, and were afforded breathing space after Anthony Bloomfield snapped truly to push the margin back out to double digits.
When Manny Gelagotis bombed a 50-metre goal on the run, in a flash, the Tigers were back ahead by 20 points, with confidence starting to rise again for the Gormandale faithful.
However, the Cougars broke the lines to boot the next three majors, bringing the margin back to five points, despite the Tigers still being noted for playing with intense desperation.
A late goal from Hollingsworth along the boundary line close to the 50-metre arch gave Gormandale a 10-point buffer heading into the final turn.
Playing in three finals prior to the grand final was starting to take a toll on Churchill, as the Tigers began to open up as the last quarter played out.
In a match-winning move, Szabo swung Peter Winter into full forward, which then saw him play a hand in the next three major scores for the Tigers, with two coming off his own boot.
The agile ruckman in Bence showed his old legs could still propel when he took a high flying mark late in the piece as Gormandale and all others in attendance had realisation of the result at hand.
The Cougars didn’t fold however, booting the final two goals of the match to bring it to a respectable score line.
Geoff White won the VCFL medal as best-on-ground in what was his first year at Gormandale.
In a show of reverence for the veterans of the club, Szabo beckoned Bence, Jennings, and Hollingsworth (who kicked a game-high three goals) onto the dais to accept the premiership cup alongside him.
The three were expected to hang up the boots at season’s end – Bence would eventually return as Tigers coach in 1997.
“We knew Jenno and Hollingsworth were going to retire, but Rudi was a bit up in the air, so that’s why I got them up there because they deserved it just as much as anybody else, getting up there the senior statesmen they were,” Szabo said.
So much was their impact, Gormandale lost over 1000 games of experience entering the next season.
Noted to play well on the day were White, Bence, Latrobe cricketing legend Bloomfield, and Jennings.
Szabo has been busy this year, as he recently celebrated the reunion of Heyfield’s 2005 premiership, where he was playing coach as well, and also played in the Kangaroos reserves flag in 2015.
