ONE of the Warrnambool and District Football Netball League’s most popular characters will be honoured for the first time on grand final day. Michael Dawson, who served as the league’s clearance officer for 17 years while a member of the independent executive, will have a medal named in his honour for the best player on the ground in the reserves grand final, as judged by the umpires. Dawson, who also served as Old Collegians’ delegate for a number of years before joining the league hierarchy, retired from the executive in 2003. League president Justin Balmer said the Michael Dawson Medal would be an annual award in the reserves grand final. “He is one of nature’s true gentlemen,” Balmer said. He is hoping a member of the Dawson family will present the medal tomorrow, with Michael sidelined through illness. Balmer said the Don Grossman award, which had been a medal, would become known as a memorial trophy and awarded to the reserves best afield as judged by media.
WESTERN Border glamour club Heywood maintains its experiment to fly in ex-AFL players Courtney Johns, Mal Michael, Brad Fuller and Brad Smith was a success, despite missing the finals and sacking coach Brad Sinclair before the last home-and-away game. Club president David Gordon said the Lions had “learnt a lot” and were now more aware of the positives and negatives associated with the move. “I think it was a success,” Gordon said. “Especially when we hadn’t won a game of footy for a long time (three years). To win nine games, 50 per cent of your games and be close in two or three others was highly successful. It might not be (successful) from everyone’s perspective but from the club it was. It’s not very often you miss out on finals winning half the games but that is the luck of the draw, it was an even competition.” He said the support from volunteers, supporters and sponsors had been huge. “You have to do things,” he said. “We know what the positives are and we know what the pitfalls are.” He said the interest the recruits had brought to the town and club had been beneficial. Gordon said all had been paid in full, putting to bed talk the club had suffered financially. “We will be no worse off or better off than last year,” he said. Gordon said the club needed to keep building its young list and had advertised for coaches in all grades for next season. He was unsure if he would remain president after his third year at the helm, saying if someone else wanted the post, he would not seek re-election.
WHILE 200cm ruckman Jordan Dillon is trying to build strength, the fitness program associated with his move to North Ballarat Roosters has led to him dropping five kilograms this season. The 20-year-old university student, who returned to the field with his home club South Warrnambool in last Saturday’s qualifying final at Mortlake, revealed he was playing at 95kg and his fitness level was “the best I’ve ever been”. Dillon received first-hand experience of the importance of his weights program when he was promoted from the reserves for senior VFL games with North Ballarat Roosters against Geelong and Port Melbourne, coming off the bench to encounter “bigger bodies”. However, he proved a more than adequate replacement for South’s injured ruckman Tom Crosby (hand) against Terang Mortlake, taking on Xavier McKinnon and Stephen Staunton. “I just enjoyed getting back out there and running around,” Dillon said. Before moving to Ballarat to undertake a commerce and management course, he completed most of his pre-season with South Warrnambool and returned earlier in the season to play against Camperdown when North had a bye. With Crosby a doubtful starter tomorrow at Port Fairy in the second semi-final against Warrnambool, Dillon is again poised to shoulder the bulk of the ruck duties.
THE Hampden league may have become a nursery for senior footballers this year but this week it took another step forward in promoting young people. The league signed up three school-based trainees who will work alongside chief executive officer Stephen Soulsby in sports administration/management roles. The trio, who start next week, will work one day each week for 12 months as they complete their certificate three sport and recreation (majoring in administration) qualification. The three are Terang College year 11 student Troy Logan, who has interests in footy with Terang Mortlake, basketball, volleyball and cricket, Hawkesdale College year 11 student Chris Edwards, who is involved with the Hawkesdale-Macarthur club, and Cobden Technical School year 11 student Lachlan Green, a Cobden member who also plays cricket and golf. Soulsby said the trio had a “strong passion” to work in sports management at the end of their schooling. “The league sees this as a fantastic opportunity to continue to promote its work within the community and sees this as an advantage to both the league’s operations and to the trainees who walk out of school at year 12 with Certificate 3 Sport & Recreation, Level 2 First Aid, paid work placement and increased access to employment,” he said. “By bringing the real world into VCE studies and linking classroom theory with hands-on industry practice, traineeships can give the student a chance to see what’s in the future now.” The league worked with Westvic Staffing Solutions and South West TAFE on the initiative.
PETER Umbers is finding teaching slightly tougher than usual this week. The South West TAFE teacher’s classroom has been hit with finals fever as five of his building apprentices are set to soak up some September action this weekend. Jordan Greene will line up in the WDFNL grand final for Dennington, while Koroit duo Tim Martin and Ben Dobson are aiming to stay in the Hampden premiership race when they tackle Terang Mortlake on Sunday in the first semi-final. Allan Johnson is aiming for a grand final berth with South Warrnambool, which takes on Warrnambool in tomorrow’s second semi-final. Classmate Nathan Murfett is part of the Blues’ reserves side, which has advanced to the first semi-final on Sunday. Umbers understood that the apprentices’ minds were most likely elsewhere this week. “It’s pretty hard to keep them on the job,” he said.
ALL Hampden league players will wear blue armbands this weekend to raise awareness of prostate cancer. League chief executive officer Stephen Soulsby said the initiative followed a similar move in round five to raise awareness of breast cancer. This weekend’s blue armbands were a result of the work the league had been doing with the E.J. Whitten Foundation. “We encourage all players and supporters to assist the league in raising awareness in a show of support for men and their families who are affected by prostate cancer,” Soulsby said. He said the league wanted to spread the message that men over 40 needed to get a check-up at least once a year. Excluding some types of skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, with about 20,000 new cases diagnosed and about 3300 deaths each year in Australia.
DARTMOOR teenager Jeremy Cameron, who played two games with Heywood in breaks from the TAC Cup competition with North Ballarat Rebels, is widely tipped to be drafted by an AFL club. Speculation has Cameron linked with the AFL’s newest franchise, Greater Western Sydney. He is already an AIS-AFL scholarship holder. On the topic of young talent, Rebels regional manager Phil Partington confirmed AFL clubs had asked after North Warrnambool Eagles’ Marcus Darmody. Another Eagle Billie Smedts, who has been playing with Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup, has already been invited to the draft screening camp at the AIS later this month. Smedts, a medium-sized defender or forward, and Cobden’s Daniel Semmens, a small forward, have been invited along with 98 other teenagers to the September 28 to October 1 camp, now known as the national draft combo. A further 60 players will attend a state screening camp in Melbourne on October 2.
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