On Saturday young talent Nic Jephson was among several additions to the Kyabram reserves side for its clash with Mansfield which it won handsomely.
Jephson has missed most of the season due to a persistent quad injury, but last season was a regular in the Kyabram senior side as a key forward early in the season and made a big impression.
Jephson took some telling marks in his return on Saturday which no doubt caught the eye of senior selectors.
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Kyabram Football Club lost a reserves premiership player with the recent death of Ken Croft.
Ken was in the Greg Caldwell-coached Kyabram side which claimed the 1971 GVL reserves flag, beating Shepparton United 10.18 to 7.10.
Caldwell remembers Ken as ‘’a goer who got the hard ball’’.
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The son of former Kyabram footballer Daryl Pate is making a name for himself as a future star.
Daniel Pate has just represented Queensland in the Australian Under-12 Football Championships on the Sunshine Coast.
He was selected by his teammates as Queensland’s Player of the Carnival.
Daryl was a young football talent with Kyabram in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but moved away from the town before reaching his peak.
Obviously he has passed on some footy genes to his son.
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Two Kyabram footballers chalked up personal game milestones against Mansfield last Saturday.
Goal-kicking forward Charlie Barnett and lock-down defender Jack Sheldon played their 50th senior game with the club.
Both have been consistent players in the current rebuild of the young Bombers team.
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Kyabram trots trainer Mick Blackmore has been contemplating a raid on a Friday Wagga meeting for some time.
The generous prizemoney on offer has been the main temptation to make the eight-hour round trip.
After current stable star Hooray Philtra was placed at recent Shepparton meetings, Blackmore decided it was time to go to war with this pacer at Wagga.
That was last Friday and his judgment was spot-on with the four-year-old son of Betterthancheddar winning a hectic early battle for the lead – and the race — with a nice $8.50 payout for the win.
With star Shepparton reinswoman Tasmyn Potter in the sulky, his winning mile rate of 1:54.1 for the 1740m trip was a PB out of his five wins from 33 starts.
A blistering 56.4 last half gave his rivals little chance of running him down once he found the lead.
Bred and owned by Mount Scobie’s Wade family it seems a safe bet last Friday’s trip to race a horse at Wagga won’t be the last for Blackmore and probably Hooray Philtra.