Before he sunk his former team Benalla with an 11-goal onslaught on Saturday, Smith hit rumours on the head he could be on the move next year with an emphatic ‘‘Why would I leave Kyabram. I just love it here.’’
In a memorable 100th game milestone with the club, Smith finished with 11 goals and five behinds for the game. He also had direct assists in two or three more goals on the day for the Bombers.
Smith was a member of Benalla’s premiership side which beat Kyabram for the 2015 GVL flag and switched to the Bombers the following season and again savoured premiership glory. He was also in Kyabram premiership sides in 2017 and 2019.
Trial by video
A trial by video has cost Kyabram veteran Kayne Pettifer a two-game suspension.
Pettifer had to face the tribunal last week after the match review panel booked Pettifer for engaging in rough conduct against Echuca’s Andrew Walker in the game at Echuca on July 30.
The Bombers decided not to appeal the penalty and Pettifer missed Saturday’s game against Benalla and will also sit out this Saturday’s vital clash against Mansfield at Mansfield.
Goal-kicking ace Kyle Mueller, who copped two weeks suspension from a striking charge in the recent clash against Seymour, has served his suspension and will be available for the Mansfield game.
Winless team in finals
I’m not sure when but it has probably happened before — a side which has gone through the home-and-away season winless — will still play finals.
Undera’s under-18s lost all their 14 games in the Kyabram league this season but as there were only eight teams in the competition it has qualified to play finals.
I say good luck to Undera under-18s for at least fielding a side when six other sides couldn’t. Sadly this illustrates just how tough things are at present in country footy.
Formosa’s tough job
Country football’s toughest job has been filled.
Longwood Football Club has appointed a new coach for the next two seasons and he is under no illusions of the task confronting him.
Jordan Formosa has got the tick ahead of several other aspirants willing to take on the job after a club social media campaign to fill the position.
Formosa replaces Mick Galvin who took on the job prior to 2019 when the club’s player ranks were decimated with the departure of 19 senior players.
Galvin, who is given a lot of the credit along with tireless club president Ricky Shiner for keeping the club afloat, has stepped down due to personal reasons.
Formosa is currently playing for Bendigo League powerhouse Stathfieldsaye.
He has had coaching experience, leading Heathcote League team Huntly’s under-18 side through an undefeated season last year.
Formosa’s willingness to take on the job and develop its young talent and realisation of how much a football/netball club means to a community tipped the job in his favour.
And another big plus is he is working on getting some quality recruits — up to 15 — to the club which it probably needs to become competitive and provide some wins for the first time for the success-starved club since 2019.
Goodbye ‘Garnet’
Those former footballers of my era in the GVL would know of Garnard (‘‘Garnet’’) Boyd who left us last week.
Garnet was a silky smooth player with Shepparton United in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
Coaches re-appointed
Murray Football League clubs Moama and Numurkah have reappointed coaches for next season.
Moama is sticking to former Kyabram premiership player and ex-Brisbane Bears utility Sam Sheldon who is in his second stint as coach of the Magpies and has taken them to the finals which start this weekend.
Numurkah has stuck with Shaun Harrop who coached Shepparton to the Goulburn Valley flag in 2018 when it ended Kyabram’s Victorian record streak of 64 successive wins.
Cleeland Waaia coach
Picola Football League club Waaia has appointed Mitch Cleeland as its new coach.
It was no big surprise as Cleeland has been an assistant to Mark Meyland this season and was in the club’s coaching succession plans.
A Waaia legend, Meyland has played over 250 games with the club and is in his third year as coach.
With only one loss for the season, Meyland and Cleeland are occupied now in focusing on a serious tilt at this season’s flag qualifying final against Strathmerton at Blighty.
Cleeland is also a fine all-round cricketer with the Waaia club in the Cricket Shepparton competition and a son of Mick Cleeland, whose booming goal after the final siren landed Waaia the 2005 premiership — the club’s last flag — etched into country football folklore.
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