In like Finn for the AFL grand final
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FORMER Kyabramite Aaron Finn will feature in the half-time entertainment at this Saturday’s AFL grand final in Brisbane.
A helicopter pilot who has been based in Cairns for many years, Aaron had the job of transporting former Brisbane Lions star and Brownlow medallist Simon Black and some indigenous children to an island off Cairns for a film shoot with the premiership cup.
The resulting footage will be shown on the TV coverage at half-time of the grand final showdown between Richmond and Geelong.
Freak finals fairytale
●There is a quite a story – and a strong Kyabram and district link - to the appearance of the Nhulunbuy Saints Football Club side in the recent finals in the Gove Australian Football League in remote Eastern Arnhem land in the Northern Territory.
Former Kyabram footballers Locky Dillon, brothers Ben and Ricky Shellie and Matt Elborough were in the Saints team which bowed out in the first week of the finals.
Rushworth boy Travis Perry coached the team in which former Rochester ruckman Sam Brennan also played.
Nhulunbuy Saints looked no chance to make the finals with two home-and-away rounds remaining in the season.
But in the second last round the bus transporting their rivals crashed forcing the cancellation of the match with the premiership points being shared.
Then in the last round their opponents forfeited, allowing the Saints to slip into the final four.
Umpires in demand
●While Goulburn Murray Cricket is on the hunt for more umpires, Cricket Shepparton believes it won’t be a problem for the coming season.
It has similar umpire numbers to last season which will ensure paid umpires for the two grades and also some for the C grade competition.
GM Cricket is seeking A grade level umpires for the coming season and will welcome both male and female applicants.
Umpires handling A grade clashes are paid $140 a day in the GMC competition and around $120 a day in Cricket Shepparton, depending on their accreditation.
Anyone who may interested in umpiring should contact GMC operations manager Jamie Stokes on 0488 720 200 or at goulburnmurraycricket@gmail.com
Cricketers on the way to a Hundred
●Cricket Shepparton is keeping up with the times as usual and is planning to run two 100-ball competitions during the season.
The competition would be similar to English County Cricket’s ‘The Hundred’ format with consists of 50 deliveries (10 five-ball overs) from each end.
Plans are for both an open competition and an over 40 competition over the December-February period with many games as possible to be played under lights.
Cricket Shepparton president David D’Elia said there had been expressions of interest from several clubs but nothing had been locked in at this stage.
Duncan splits time between rivals
●Kasey Duncan is going to be a busy man in the next 12 months.
Duncan has unfished business as coach of the Avenel Football Club and has committed to leading the Swans again in 2021.
Duncan has also signed on to play cricket this season with Cricket Shepparton club Nagambie, traditional enemies of Avenel on the footy field.
Nagambie made last year’s Haisman Shield final in the top tier of competition in Cricket Shepparton, but had to be content with being runner-up to Numurkah when COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the season-decider.
Numurkah was awarded the flag as it finished higher on the ladder than Nagambie.
Nagambie cricket captain Mark Nolan is looking forward to Duncan bolstering its upper order batting.
Goalkicking machine goes to Town
●Noted goalkicker Josh Mellington is on the move, joining the ranks of Kyabram District Football League club Violet Town for the 2021 season.
Mellington played with Murray League side Echuca United last year where he kicked 130 goals and won its best and fairest award.
He is a former Benalla premiership player and a 100-goal performer in both the Goulburn Valley and Ovens and Murray football leagues.
He played six games for AFL club Fremantle between 2011-13 and will be the second former AFL player to join the Towners ranks for next season with former Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions veteran Jarred Brennan also committing to the Towners for next season.
He also has links with Violet Town, playing there as a junior which influenced his decision to make the move.
Football world mourns loss of champions
●Former Bendigo goalkicking machine Ron Best wasn’t the only the champion footballer we lost week.
Jim Read, who played 76 games with St Kilda between 1962-67 and also coached Mooroopna, and former Carlton rover Leo Brereton also passed on.
Jim Read, 76, suffered a massive stroke.
He played on the wing in St Kilda’s one and only premiership team in 1966 and was also a member of the side that played in the 1965 grand final the previous year.
After his days at St Kilda he coached GVL side Mooroopna in 1968 and 1969.
Leo Brereton was a Cohuna Football Club product who died four weeks short of his 84th birthday.
A rover, he made his senior debut with Carlton in the same game as club legend John Nicholls in 1957.
Basketballer turns Purple
●Former Women’s National Basketball League player Caitlin McLachlan will join the Purples (Nathalia Football Netball Club).
McLachlan has played for Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL and is currently a member of the Melbourne University Lightning Victorian Netball League squad.
Footballers on the move.
●Echuca Football Club has lost one of its 2019 GVL grand final players.
Clever small man Noah Wheeler, who won Bendigo Pioneers best and fairest award in 2018 before joining Echuca, has committed to playing with Bendigo Football League side Eaglehawk in 2021.
Rochester’s Jackson McEwen is another player on the move, re-joining his old coach at the Tigers’ James Flaherty who has taken charge of another Bendigo League side, Kangaroo Flat.
Shepparton Swans have also suffered a blow with reigning best and fairest winner Tom Preece heading for East Malvern, coached by former Shepparton player and Numurkah coach Brent Chapman, in Melbourne’s Southern Football League.
Shield debut on hold
●Former Moama cricketer Troy Murphy will have to wait a bit longer if and when to make his Sheffield Shield debut for Victoria.
Murphy was recently named in the 18-player squad for the first time but Victoria’s first match against NSW was rescheduled because the Vics would have had only two days to prepare after emerging from quarantine due to COVD-19.
Trots owners always ready to celebrate
●Kyabram trots owners have enjoyed another win recently with their star trotter Always Ready.
Always Ready notched his tenth career win in just 15 starts when he saluted at Melton last Saturday week in his second start back from a spell.
Trudi and Phillip Plumb, Stewart Laidlaw, Terry Gregory and Geoff Berry are part owners of Always Ready, who has already banked over $132,000 in prizemoney earnings.
The Brendan ‘IQ'-led Ryan clan also celebrated when their talented pacer Hesty won at the Echuca meeting on October 6.
Merrigum mentor Luke Bryant has had his moments with talented trotting mare Lexington Queen but it all seemed worth it at last week’s Shepparton meeting
The six-year-old CR Commander mare finished strongly to take the Barastoc Trot in impressive style in her second start in this campaign.
Lexington Queen has had just the 10 race starts which have produced two wins and four minor placings.
VFL lad back at the Rams
●Deniliquin Rams Football Club will regain one of its former star junior players for next season.
Jack Henderson, 21, has returned to the family farm at Blighty after stints with VFL side Werribee and with the South Australian Football League club Sturt this year after the VFL season was called off.