Recruitment Drive Pays Off For West Gambier

The Age

Saturday July 8, 2006

By PAUL DAFFEY

A GLANCE at the Western Border Football League ladder going into today's matches indicates that clubs from Mount Gambier tend to fare well in the competition that straddles the border of Victoria and South Australia. Mount Gambier's four clubs are in the top five, behind the Victorian club of Portland, but there hasn't always been full representation of Mount Gambier's clubs at the top of the ladder.

West Gambier, the club known as the Kangaroos despite wearing Melbourne jumpers, traditionally has struggled.

Mount Gambier's best juniors typically go to the three powerful clubs, North, South or East. West Gambier has risen up the ladder this year after recruiting from the South Australian National Football League.

Full-forward Anthony Matthews, from Port Adelaide, and midfielder Cameron Hall, from West Adelaide, have performed strongly. Ruckman Josh Krueger, a former West Gambier junior and listed player with AFL club Adelaide, is about to play a handful of matches with West Gambier on permit from Glenelg.

Clubs from the Victorian side of the border also have recruited SANFL players. Casterton centre half-forward Dylan Kent, who was picked up from West Adelaide, was the competition's standout player over the first month of the season. Then he broke his arm and Casterton's fortunes suffered accordingly.

Portland is undefeated after recruiting North Adelaide pair Mark Jefferies and David Niemann, among others. Jefferies, the playing coach, is a midfielder, while Niemann, at 105 kilograms, is a powerful forward. Heywood, based north of Portland, recruited five players from Darwin with only fair success. The population of Heywood and Casterton - both fewer than 3000 people - mitigates against finals appearances, whereas the success of the Mount Gambier clubs is in large part explained by the town's population, which is 23,000. Portland has a population of about 10,000, as does Hamilton.

The two clubs from Hamilton, the Imperials and Hamilton Football Club, share Melville Oval and form one of country football's great rivalries. This season is rare as both are struggling.

Hamilton won the premiership in 2004, but had an exodus of players before this season.

The Magpies recruited Koroit playing-coach Jason Mifsud before this season, only to have Mifsud recruited to St Kilda to be an assistant coach under Grant Thomas.

Former Horsham Saints coach Glenn Doyle took the Hamilton job at short notice, but has struggled because of a lack of experienced players. The Imperials' coach is full-forward Jason Muldoon.

The glamour team of recent weeks is Millicent, which lost its opening seven games then won three in succession. The Saints' unlikely percentage of 95 indicates their losses have been by narrow margins.

Millicent today has another chance at victory at Casterton's Island Park, so called because the centre of the oval generally remains above water-level when the nearby Glenelg River floods. The round's best match is between powerhouses South Gambier and Portland at the Blue Lake Sports Park, Mount Gambier.

© 2006 The Age

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