Exodus not so Noble

By Paul Pickering
NOBODY at Noble Park thought the word ‘rebuilding’ would be uttered so soon.
But that was the talk at the Bullring this week after the departure of two more established stars.
The Bulls last week reluctantly approved transfers for key defender Daniel Rigg and hard-running wingman Daniel Norman.
Rigg, 30, has accepted a playing-assistant coach role with Devon Meadows in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League, while 25-year-old Norman became the latest blue-chip recruit for Yarra Valley Mountain District League powerhouse Silvan.
Rigg and Norman join an off-season exodus from Moodemere Street that began with the retirements of skipper Daniel Donati and Adrian Little, then escalated with the on-then-off signing of ex-AFL star Heath Black.
Next to go was on-ball duo Ramy Melhem (to Mulgrave) and Robbie Ferraro (Corowa Rutherglen), who had been pencilled in alongside Norman in Noble’s emerging midfield unit.
Last year’s playing-coach Kris Barlow, who had already handed the coaching duties to Alan Ezard, has also parted ways with the club after suffering a recurrence of his knee injury this summer.
He is likely to accept an assistant coaching job with either Blackburn or Leongatha for the 2009 season.
Bulls president Kevin Wright admitted that the departures had rocked the club, revealing that the players would be addressed at a meeting tonight (Thursday).
“We’re calling it a ‘new generation’ meeting,” he said.
“We’re getting the younger players together to run through where the club is at and what the future holds.”
Wright said Norman’s defection was the hardest to swallow.
“Normy was in our leadership group and he was touted as a future captain of the club,” he said.
“We could have built the club around guys like Normy, Ramy and Robbie, but unfortunately the mighty dollar got through to them.”
The Bulls, who bowed out in the preliminary final last September, will now make a philosophical shift, opting to blood some younger players in the seniors this season.
And while Wright conceded that a flag is probably beyond them, he was keen to note some promising additions to the Bulls list.
Young guns George Angelopoulos and Ziggy Alwan have returned from Box Hill (VFL) and Norwood (SANFL) respectively, while former Frankston Dolphins big man Glen Manson has arrived to share the ruck duties with Andrew Gilbert.
The Bulls have also recruited emerging midfielder Paul Fermanis, who won the best-and-fairest for Oakleigh Districts in the Southern Football League’s Division Two last year.