DAVE: Hi boys, welcome back to Let’s Talk Sport and what a glorious day of football and netball we had on Saturday. I was at Cora Lynn for a function and if there’s one place that brings you back to what grass roots sport is all about…it’s that joint. It just reeks of character and history.
Marcus, you can kick things off mate. What was the best sporting action you saw on the weekend?
BEST FROM THE WEEKEND
MARCUS: At local level, I was watching Wandin against Narre Warren at Wandin. They put on a really good display did Wandin, and it was highlighted by a piece of play from a boundary throw in near their forward-50 line…it was almost like a set play. Jordan Jaworski grabbed the ground ball and flicked over his head to Patty Bruzzese, who was running past and slotted the goal from 40 on his left foot. It was a sensational bit of play that looked like it was drawn up on a whiteboard at training. That was the best thing I saw at Wandin, a lovely ground with a grandstand on one side that overlooks the hills and the mountains.
DAVE: That sounds impressive mate.
MARCUS: One more thing, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything better than the chicken-strip roll from the canteen at Wandin.
DAVE: Two words for you Marcus…Catani and chips! Jonty, the best thing you saw on the weekend at a local level.
JONTY: Would you like a familiar name or a new name?
DAVE: Hit me with the familiar one first.
JONTY: Marc Holt. (Dave and Marcus laugh).
DAVE: What’s the champ done this time?
JONTY: He turned into a crumbing forward on Saturday, that’s what he did! The first quarter was a bit of an arm-wrestle, then the ball went into the Cranbourne forward line and was contested in the air and then Holty hits the pack front and centre, picks it up clean below his knees and kicks a sausage roll from the goal-square. Holty’s not supposed to do that type of thing. It was a big win from Cranbourne, under lights at Bentleigh who put on quite a spectacle…off-field moreso than on-field.
DAVE: And the new name?
JONTY: Lochie Benton from Dingley took the absolute P155 on Saturday, he had nine scoring shots. Dingley had the league medallist last year, Lucas Walmsley, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Benton wins it this year, he could be playing VFL footy.
DAVE: High praise from you young man. The best thing I saw was the aerial dominance of Cora Lynn full-forward Nathan Gardiner, who was just too big and too strong on his way to seven goals against Kooweerup’s young defence on Saturday. Kooweerup hit the front, five minutes into the final term, then the Cobras kicked six unanswered goals to run away with the victory. Kooweerup moved the ball really impressively at times, but every time it went deep into Cora Lynn’s forward line Gardiner loomed large. Big Nath gets the tick from me, followed by a bruising but fair hit by Jai Rout, that set the scene early in the last quarter.
Boys, what about big-time sport…anything tickle your fancy before Jonty and I rave on about the Pies?
MARCUS: I knew that was coming, I’ll get mine done and let you two blokes go to town. I think I’ve increased the Denver Nuggets content on this page by a very large percentage since I joined the team, and the NBA playoffs are just ridiculously good for a basketball lover like me. I watched my team yesterday, and Jamal Murray absolutely cooked the Phoenix Suns. A series that has so many intangibles linked to it, a bit of a rivalry developing, it was just sensational. It’s game one in a seven-game semi finals series, so I’m not getting ahead of myself…but we’re winning the Western Conference.
JONTY: ‘Not getting ahead of myself, but’…
DAVE: I like Marcus’s passion. Now speaking of passion Jonty, you’ve come into the office today wearing a Collingwood beanie and you’ve got a scarf wrapped around your neck. How good were the Pies yesterday?
JONTY: That was my favourite Pies win under Craig McRae, and possibly the best Pies home-and-away win of my life. I’ve never reacted the way I did on the final siren and so many things were against us. On the road, five-day break, Pendlebury out, no height, Daicos quelled.
MARCUS: How did you react when they won?
JONTY: I just started laughing out loud; it was just ridiculous that we led for 21 seconds for the whole day. The (John) Noble goal in the last quarter, the Johnson goal…it was just incredible.
DAVE: Marcus, Jonty and I are Collingwood, but from an outside perspective have you ever seen anything like the ride the Magpies have taken their supporters on over the last 15 months?
MARCUS: Not to the same extent, but I remember Port Adelaide in 2013-14, they played that run-and-gun high-intensity football and became everyone’s second favourite team for about 18 months. Let’s hope for your sake that Collingwood can sustain it longer than they did.
DAVE: I think there are actually a lot of weaknesses in the Collingwood team…
JONTY: (Interrupts) But that’s the beauty of it, that they find a way of overcoming it in last quarters.
DAVE: You’re right Jonty, the reaction was different yesterday. I was on the couch watching with the family and none of us were seated for the last two or three minutes…we were jumping around like clowns. I was conflicted in the dying stages, I had $10 on the draw at odds of $51 and scores were level with 90 seconds left to go. I’m happy with the result though…glad ‘Sidey’ kicked the point!
JONTY: To all our readers – please gamble responsibly. (Dave and Marcus laugh).
CASH OR NO CASH?
DAVE: Boys, I was talking to a few old timers on the weekend about the good old days, and it got me thinking. What would it be like if the players of today didn’t get paid to play football, and just played for the passion and love of the game?
JONTY: The first thing that came to mind when you said this was that the bigger clubs would be able to draw bigger names because they would be able to pour the money that they get from the canteen and bar into magnificent facilities, rather than having to pay their players. The gap between the bigger and smaller clubs might open up a bit more. I think we would see retirements at a younger age, with injuries affecting work and things like that as well. They’re the two that came to mind.
DAVE: Marcus, a lot of players play football to supplement their income, and they get paid handsomely to do so. If you were a gun footballer, getting $700 a week to play footy, would you continue to play if the money wasn’t forthcoming?
MARCUS: I’d ask for a bit more than $700 to start with…(boys laugh). I think footballers at this level are naturally competitive so I think they need that competitive outlet. It also distracts them from whatever else is going on in their lives, family, work, and connecting socially, which we found out was so important when we didn’t have it through Covid-19. Footballers just loved being back with their mates again and didn’t care so much about the wins and losses. The quality would suffer, the lesser players would be called on more, but I’ve got no doubt that footy would continue if there was no money being played.
JONTY: I suppose the thing we could look at, a prime example of this, it the VAFA. Technically they don’t get paid, but they do through jobs through their clubs, and that competition still thrives. There’s also the risk of injury, just have a look at what happened to Jojo at Keysborough last week. That was frightening.
MARCUS: To your point Jonty, the passion is still there in VAFA if the numbers are anything to go by.
DAVE: I understand that clubs still need to raise money even if they weren’t paying players. Insurances would have to be paid to keep their players safe, fees would be paid to leagues, and do umpires get paid…that’s another topic of conversation. Would umpire numbers drop to the point where footy couldn’t be played anymore, or do clubs provide umpires? There’s a lot to unwrap.
My basic point here is, it doesn’t feel right watching grandparents fork out $10 each to watch their grandkids play footy or netball each week, and a majority of that money is going to the payment of players….it just doesn’t sit right with me. I understand footy is a business these days, but some very ordinary footballers are getting two or three hundred bucks a week to play footy, that’s the current market we’re in. The pressure on volunteers is enormous; to raise these funds to keep clubs afloat and it would take the pressure off everyone and make it more enjoyable if that wasn’t the case.
It’s not going to change, we’re too far down the track, but the balance in community sport is just totally wrong to me at the moment. Anyway…that’s my rant…I’ve probably put a few players off side.
JONTY: I was going to say, this is reminding me a bit of Vol-Kane-O on Footy Classified on a Wednesday night.
DAVE: It’s an interesting conversation, but let’s move on.
REALITY CHECKS
DAVE: Premiership teams from last year, Narre Warren and Tooradin-Dalmore both suffered losses on the weekend. Were these reality checks or just a blip on the radar?
MARCUS: I wouldn’t go so far to say it was a reality check for Narre Warren. Firstly, full credit to Wandin, they look the benchmark of the competition, but from a Narre Warren perspective there’s plenty of room for improvement. Kurt Mutimer and Will Howe were both missing; both in their top five players, and Declan Brown and Rhys Dempster are really important defenders who weren’t playing as well. They’ve lost a few stars from last year’s premiership team and they know where they’re at. They’re calling on their depth at the moment, that’s for sure, but it’s not a reality check.
DAVE: Good for the competition?
MARCUS: Yes, certainly. Wandin played well but Narre were able to address momentum swings at various times as well. It’s shaping up as a good contest.
DAVE: Jonty, Doveton, what’s going on with them?
JONTY: I would echo Marcus’s sentiments and say a similar thing is happening to Doveton. They’ve just played two very strong teams and they’re still missing a lot of soldiers…it’s not panic stations just yet. I know I mention his name a lot, but when they get (ruck) Dylan Chapman back they’re going to be a completely different side out of the middle. They just need a couple of wins to regain some confidence.
DAVE: Tooradin got towelled up by Phillip Island in the second quarter on Saturday, and while that was a little surprising it sort of summed up the Seagulls start to the season. The Dusties got closer than most people expected last week, and the Gulls had a second-half fadeout against Kilcunda-Bass that was very much unlike them the week before that as well. They’ve definitely come back to the pack just a little bit, the loss of Jimmy Trezise and Blake Grewar is probably the cause for that…but they’re still right in the premiership race up to their ears. Lachie Gillespie is a really good communicator. He kept them out on the park for quite some time on Saturday, and I think they were just resetting after learning a valuable lesson. They’ve got a week off this Saturday and I think we’ll see a revitalised Tooradin back to their high-standards after the break.
Good chat boys…Marcus has the Mother’s Day edition next week.
