Ovens and Murray - Pre Season 2010

[s1bbald]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Micheal Stevens gave one of the best and fairest bumps I've seen for some time. Merkel was the recipient, neither player shirked the contest, but stevens definitely came off the better. Merkel was out cold and taken to hospital later, so hopefully he comes out of it all in decent shape.

Boy did he! That was one of the heaviest hits I've seen in my time. So glad to see a great game of footy, and as per usual, O&M GF Day brought the first real spring-like day. Wouldn't miss that day for the world, and today just affirmed that.

 

[Hornie]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

I wonder if that has something to do with the $17 dollar entry fee for adults!! Its getting a bit steep these days, especially if you have a family.
Perhaps moving the game to the Saturday and lowering the price to $14 - $15 would have an impact on crowd numbers

Doubt the move to Saturday would as their are other games in the region but you may well have a point with the price. When did it go to $17.00?

The ground looked fantastic and the crowd noise late in the game was electrifying.

 

[The General 1]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Albury 10 point winners today in the GF.

Couple of comments

The crowd was poor considering the weather. I'm no good with estimates but I'd suggest 6000-8000 would be about it. It'll be interesting to see the official figures in tomorrows paper.

Yarra will look back on today's game with lots of disappointment. They were definitely good enough, but they missed too many opportunities in front of goal. Some were from the goal square or very close to it. I don't think they were ever in front, all square at 42 a piece at one point, but they couldn't manage to get ahead.

Micheal Stevens gave one of the best and fairest bumps I've seen for some time. Merkel was the recipient, neither player shirked the contest, but stevens definitely came off the better. Merkel was out cold and taken to hospital later, so hopefully he comes out of it all in decent shape.

Once again, the highlight of the day. The half time match between the O&M jets. If that is ever taken off the agenda, it'll be a sad day for the league.

Finally, the umpiring. The seconds was well umpired, Matt Thomas and Robbie MacKinlay only blew the whistle when needed and did a really good job. The seniors was a complete different story. The game was continually over-umpired and one umpire in particular kept paying free kick after free kick with several resulting in important goals early and late.

I'm not going to say it would've impacted on the result because that's something you can never know. I'm more interested in finding out how they select which umpires get to do the Grand Finals. I doubt there is any player, coach or club input into the selection process and possibly for good reason. But I'd think clubs could probably give some feedback as to who perhaps should or shouldn't take control of the most important match of the season. In my opinion, that one umpire should not have been using a whistle today. Surely some people, whether they are tigers, pigeons or other will agree with me in some way on this. I don't want it to become an umpire bashing forum, but i think some fair criticism of the process or other is a healthy thing.

I think it was an absolute disgrace that the BIGGEST game of football in country Australia was umpired in such an appalling manner. With all due respect to the 3 men in orange NOT ONE of those 3 should have been given the nod to do the GF. The young umpire was so far out of his depth it was embarrassing and the 2 older guys did a poor job. What is wrong with contacting AFL Victoria and requesting 3 VFL umpires that would be sitting down in Melb scratching their arse ???? Let the local guys do the boundarys and goals but for christs sake the O&M really need to lift their act in this area. I am in no way, shape or form a Yarrawonga follower but to me it seemed as if they were 'more harshly' umpired than the opposition in critical areas of the ground. Might be drawing a long bow but is that the reason that the Yarra team and its supporters didnt hang around to watch Albury lift the cup ? I know its not fun to watch but all the GF's ive been to the loosing team has always stayed out on the ground til the end of the cup ceremony. If they felt a tad hard-done-by by the men in orange i would have to agree with them there. I dont want to take anything away from Albury though, they are a magnificent team and deserved their 16th premiership.

 

[Michael Scarn]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

With dwindling umpire numbers, I think we need to get used to umpiring not being quite as good as we hope. Until people join up and help out, quality may be down a bit. It's good to give the local umpires the gig rather than bringing in VFL umpires.

 

[Whereitallbegan]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

I think it was an absolute disgrace that the BIGGEST game of football in country Australia was umpired in such an appalling manner. With all due respect to the 3 men in orange NOT ONE of those 3 should have been given the nod to do the GF. The young umpire was so far out of his depth it was embarrassing and the 2 older guys did a poor job. What is wrong with contacting AFL Victoria and requesting 3 VFL umpires that would be sitting down in Melb scratching their arse ???? Let the local guys do the boundarys and goals but for christs sake the O&M really need to lift their act in this area. I am in no way, shape or form a Yarrawonga follower but to me it seemed as if they were 'more harshly' umpired than the opposition in critical areas of the ground. Might be drawing a long bow but is that the reason that the Yarra team and its supporters didnt hang around to watch Albury lift the cup ? I know its not fun to watch but all the GF's ive been to the loosing team has always stayed out on the ground til the end of the cup ceremony. If they felt a tad hard-done-by by the men in orange i would have to agree with them there. I dont want to take anything away from Albury though, they are a magnificent team and deserved their 16th premiership.

And considering one of the umpires was from Yarra, they really must have copped the rough end of the pineapple.

But when it's all said and done, Yarra had their chances, and couple of the big guns choked in front of goal.

 

[up da middle]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

And considering one of the umpires was from Yarra, they really must have copped the rough end of the pineapple.

But when it's all said and done, Yarra had their chances, and couple of the big guns choked in front of goal.

i only watched it on the net, but too true. as they say in cricket catches win matches and in footy we must kick goals. Not sure what sort of year keenan has had but he was the reason that they lost . harsh but true. 2 goal 4 and the ones he missed my grandma could have kicked. wonder if he put out his hand for match payments after that one

 

[MelbOMsupporter]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

I wonder if that has something to do with the $17 dollar entry fee for adults!! Its getting a bit steep these days, especially if you have a family.
Perhaps moving the game to the Saturday and lowering the price to $14 - $15 would have an impact on crowd numbers

I always have a chuckle when people whinge about the price to country footy grand finals. I travel up to the o&m at Easter and for the GF and never leave disappointed. I also attend the GV grand final where I think their price is $14 but then you pay $3 for the weekender so it’s $17 the same as the o&m. The o&m just package the critic in. I suggest if you’re worried about the price then go and watch a movie. Country footy is worth every cent, especially when you get a game like Sunday. Bad luck yarra, well done Albury and the o&m. Even got a kick out of seeing my uncles name in the critic honour boards

 

[Hornie]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

I always have a chuckle when people whinge about the price to country footy grand finals. I travel up to the o&m at Easter and for the GF and never leave disappointed. I also attend the GV grand final where I think their price is $14 but then you pay $3 for the weekender so it’s $17 the same as the o&m. The o&m just package the critic in. I suggest if you’re worried about the price then go and watch a movie. Country footy is worth every cent, especially when you get a game like Sunday. Bad luck yarra, well done Albury and the o&m. Even got a kick out of seeing my uncles name in the critic honour boards

Good call. Was a great days entertainment and the O&M to be congratulated on presentation of day although taking the presentations off the ground and into the grandstand, ala GV, loses atmosphere and takes some supporters futher away from the action. The trailer is great in earlier games and should be used in the big one. Surely its about the club and their passionate supporters and not the suits in the stand.

Whose your uncle?

 

[krusty123]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

I think it was an absolute disgrace that the BIGGEST game of football in country Australia was umpired in such an appalling manner. With all due respect to the 3 men in orange NOT ONE of those 3 should have been given the nod to do the GF. The young umpire was so far out of his depth it was embarrassing and the 2 older guys did a poor job. What is wrong with contacting AFL Victoria and requesting 3 VFL umpires that would be sitting down in Melb scratching their arse ???? Let the local guys do the boundarys and goals but for christs sake the O&M really need to lift their act in this area.

The grand final umpires are theoretically the best umpires getting around in the O&M this season. There are people who coach and observe the umpires particularly in finals who make the decision on who gets the big gig.

I didn't see the game so I can't comment on the umpiring standard on the day. But I can tell you that a request for VFL umpires would be (a) very unlikely to be granted; and (b) counterproductive to what should be the league's long term aim of improving the standard of umpiring in the O&M.

No player would go into a season, let alone a career without the prospect of gaining the ultimate prize. It's the same for umpires. Grand Finals are a major part of the reason for being out there.

It’s been a while since I‘ve had a spiel about this but here goes anyway. Have a read and hopefully I can stimulate some thought on the issue.

My tip: Recruitment! I'm sure there are many of you out there who are in a position to improve umpiring by being part of it yourselves. Increasing the number of participating officials will improve the standard at the top end.

I'm not just talking about retired players although they hold the key to short term improvement. The ENTIRE footy community must encourage kids in junior teams to have a go at umpiring BEFORE they give up playing. It is common knowledge that there is a natural attrition in numbers of players as they grow up so why not try to recruit a few of those drop-outs?

I accept that not all kids will take to it but there will be some who find they are good at the skills, enjoy the fitness and love the game enough to continue their umpiring career.

I know because that's what happened to me.

And the chances are that you won't be robbing your club of a senior player because, if they're like me, they're never going to make it past underage footy anyway.

If you've read this far you might already think that I'm crazy but I think that the people who have the greatest chance of improving umpiring standards are football coaches. They are the ones that kids (and parents) listen to when it comes to footy after all.

Consider this...

Imagine that all O&M clubs asked all of the players in their Under 16 teams to umpire just one Under 13 game in a season (preferably with some guidance). You only need 1 or 2 kids from each team to decide that they wanted to umpire some more (less than 10% strike rate) and all of a sudden you could have twenty or so 17 year old kids regularly umpiring footy in the next season.

If this happened every year - even allowing for attrition - 5 years down the track the O&M could conceivably have at least a dozen or so young (20 y.o. plus), fit umpires who can keep up with the game, be in the correct position, do a decent job of umpiring senior footy and compete for Grand Finals.

As I mentioned, this kind of plan would require the support of the entire footy community to work but I know its possible. If umpiring is considered everyone's problem then everyone in the game might be motivated to help.

 

[wizards]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Dan Leslie Strongly Linked to Albury, i have read the paper today but i do know Joss was offering him the painting contract and personally dropped a $1000 Bunnings Voucher not sure if he took it or not!! Old Jossy is Starting to destroy the O&M pretty sad really, no club can match it. A team like North, not much money there club is in debt how is anyone going to compete with that!!

 

[greg the egg]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Dan Leslie Strongly Linked to Albury, i have read the paper today but i do know Joss was offering him the painting contract and personally dropped a $1000 Bunnings Voucher not sure if he took it or not!! Old Jossy is Starting to destroy the O&M pretty sad really, no club can match it. A team like North, not much money there club is in debt how is anyone going to compete with that!!

Would be a sad sight to see Dan Leslie leave North Albury, as he is the face of that club. Couldnt fault the bloke for trying to look out for his career outside of footy, but if Albury had him running around in the black and yellow they may as well stake their claim to enter a higher league.
Will be interesting to see what unfolds, as a player of his calibre must receive ridiculously good offers each year, and so far he has stayed put, but will the lure of out of football career opportunities sway him.
The Canberra offers must also be good, but lets be honest, who wants to live in canberra.

 

[yeee_haaaa!!!!!]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

the grand final was my 1st o&m game of the year. usually get up to a couple more but couldn't this year. i thought it was a cracker and certainly didn't think the umpiring was as bad as someone on here posted earlier. both teams had their chances and yarra just fluffed a few of theirs in front of goal which could have made all the difference. great standard of footy still in the o&m though judging by that game. were those 2 just miles ahead of the rest in standard all year?

bit of a snippet looking forward to next year too, mate of mine who has a bit to do with footy out sunbury way reckons a couple of blokes playing there this year mick hooper and jesse smith are a big chance to be heading back to wangaratta magpies for the 2011 season

 

[Hornie]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

the grand final was my 1st o&m game of the year. usually get up to a couple more but couldn't this year. i thought it was a cracker and certainly didn't think the umpiring was as bad as someone on here posted earlier. both teams had their chances and yarra just fluffed a few of theirs in front of goal which could have made all the difference. great standard of footy still in the o&m though judging by that game. were those 2 just miles ahead of the rest in standard all year?

bit of a snippet looking forward to next year too, mate of mine who has a bit to do with footy out sunbury way reckons a couple of blokes playing there this year mick hooper and jesse smith are a big chance to be heading back to wangaratta magpies for the 2011 season

Would be handy for Judd's boys.

Hooper played for Oak Park last season and was a good contributor.

 

[The Crumber]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Dan Leslie Strongly Linked to Albury, i have read the paper today but i do know Joss was offering him the painting contract and personally dropped a $1000 Bunnings Voucher not sure if he took it or not!! Old Jossy is Starting to destroy the O&M pretty sad really, no club can match it. A team like North, not much money there club is in debt how is anyone going to compete with that!!

Hear lots of whinges about Albury/Jossy in the general footy populace.

Yes, it's tough to compete against the $, but when it flowed like <insert pithy saying here> at Lavy when Craig Smith et al were there it didn't help that much.

The message is that the $ has to be half decent to attract interest, but more importantly a club's culture has to be excellent to (perhaps) make up a talent shortfall or provide sustainability. Geelong only got 9 years out of Ablett before he saw a new challenge and went for it

Regardless, there's a shitload of satisfaction waiting there for the club that can beat Albury on merit.

Yarra showed that, although I suppose my argument may be marginally undermined in that it probably cost them a few bob to come a gallant second!

Anyway, suck it up, that's the situation at the moment. Deal with it or GTFO.

 

[Bourky23]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Yep, gotta agree.

Sure, Albury has got the coin but at the end of the day they have players missing out on a game in the two's every week.. players want to play there, coin or no coin.

 

[Hitman01]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Would be handy for Judd's boys.

Hooper played for Oak Park last season and was a good contributor.

Hooper is not going to Wang. Oak Park got him an apprenticeship, not to mention the abundance of coin he is getting from them.

 

[T.Perry]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Drew Barnes and Chris Kennedy named co-coaches of Yarrawonga..

What are your thoughts boys?

 

[greg the egg]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Drew Barnes and Chris Kennedy named co-coaches of Yarrawonga..

What are your thoughts boys?

Should be interesting to see how co-coaches go. I would imagine Kennedy would do most of the coaching game day with Barnes to lead by example on the field. Not too sure who will take the reigns throughout the week, but if done properly cant see any reason why the co-coaches cant succeed.

 

[up da middle]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Should be interesting to see how co-coaches go. I would imagine Kennedy would do most of the coaching game day with Barnes to lead by example on the field. Not too sure who will take the reigns throughout the week, but if done properly cant see any reason why the co-coaches cant succeed.

Are they local players. i dont recall the names ?

 

[half time raffle]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Where do Albury get off!!! Luke Garland is returning to the area, was a Lavington junior that came good and played senior football there, Lavington give their support to him trying to better his football at a higher standard and now he is returning to the border and Albury are trying to poach another one.

Football in the area is losing its town versus town, club versus club tribal heart and soul because of clubs like Albury thinking it is ok to go after players that have an obvious connection to a club. I hope Luke Garland is politely declining to listen to any offers and heads back to the club that helped develop him and make him the player he is today.

 

[Massive Merv]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Where do Albury get off!!! Luke Garland is returning to the area, was a Lavington junior that came good and played senior football there, Lavington give their support to him trying to better his football at a higher standard and now he is returning to the border and Albury are trying to poach another one.

Football in the area is losing its town versus town, club versus club tribal heart and soul because of clubs like Albury thinking it is ok to go after players that have an obvious connection to a club. I hope Luke Garland is politely declining to listen to any offers and heads back to the club that helped develop him and make him the player he is today.

You're spot-on there "raffle". Dan Leslie must have faced a huge dilema with the offers being thrown at him....not many blokes would have had the courage to knock back that sort of offer....I hope young Garland is made of similar character traits.

 

[no orange peeler]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Luke Garland has signed with Lavington as has Jay Banks with Jay Koehler reportedly tossing up between Lavington or Albury

 

[Hitman01]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

You're spot-on there "raffle". Dan Leslie must have faced a huge dilema with the offers being thrown at him....not many blokes would have had the courage to knock back that sort of offer....I hope young Garland is made of similar character traits.

Perhaps you guys should ask these players if the other clubs approached them or they approached the other clubs before having a go. Time to get the facts right boys.

 

[Run Straight]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

Where do Albury get off!!! Luke Garland is returning to the area, was a Lavington junior that came good and played senior football there, Lavington give their support to him trying to better his football at a higher standard and now he is returning to the border and Albury are trying to poach another one.

Football in the area is losing its town versus town, club versus club tribal heart and soul because of clubs like Albury thinking it is ok to go after players that have an obvious connection to a club. I hope Luke Garland is politely declining to listen to any offers and heads back to the club that helped develop him and make him the player he is today.

Luke was a North Albury junior, before he went to Lavington.

 

[Viking Boy]

Re: Ovens and Murray Part 3

The point I was trying to make is that hosting such a prestigeous event should be considered an honour, and every effort should be made to showcase the facilities of your club (as Albury did on Sunday, and Lavington does every year). It may seem trivial to some, but I think it reflects poorly on the club & committee at raiders.

With Albury Footy Club hosting such a prestigeous event as Powderfinger & Jet which should be considered an honour every effort should be made to showcase the facilities of their club but I was still standing in 3 inches of water !

It may seem trivial to some, but I think it reflects poorly on the club & committee at Albury.

Or is it a point that weather is the great unknown ??????????

Some things just bite you on the ass, dont they ??????????