TWO of the biggest storylines in Sunraysia winter sport involve three central characters who possess similar qualities.
Wade Hancock, Amanda Edwards and James Madigan are each full of passion, pride, belief in their teams, and a drive for excellence.
The Wentworth Roos’ rapid rise in 2022 has been remarkable.
Their senior football and A-grade netball teams are marching to finals glory as they remain unbeaten in their respective SFNL competitions.
This success can in large part be attributed to leadership of playing coaches Hancock and Edwards, as they bring their players along on a magical journey.
About the only thing that could trump their possible double premiership in September is the Cinderella story that is developing with the Mildura Heat women’s basketball team.
Madigan’s Big V Division 1 outfit were gone for all money after losing their opening five games.
Nothing was going right for Madigan at that stage.
Try as he might, staying awake half of the night dealing with overseas-based player agents, he couldn’t jag an import.
During this period, the locally produced women suffered a couple of heartbreaking overtime losses in their tough run.
And Madigan was struggling to get enough numbers to fill a sedan to hit the road with, let alone a strong starting five and solid bench.
The 58-year-old is one tough cookie, though, riding out the storm. How else does a coach last 400-plus games in representative basketball?
I’ve observed Madigan closely during the Heat’s past two home games at the Hothouse.
He communicates very effectively with the players. There’s plenty of passion, but there’s also clear, concise tactical points made in the huddle.
He lifts the players, who are now on a tear towards the finals as they sit just outside the top five with a 5-7 win-loss record.
The same goes with Hancock and Edwards. They lead by example as they put up huge individual numbers.
The 30-year-old Hancock has kicked 38 goals in his team’s opening six games, including a 10-goal haul last week and nine in round 2.
Edwards also sets high standards for herself. The strongly built 35-year-old is relentless at goal attack or goal shooter. A highlight was a 50-goal game against Irymple last month.
Like anything in life, people will get behind good leaders.
The trio of Hancock, Edwards and Madigan fit into this leadership bracket.
And, above all else, they are quality people off the sporting field.
Hancock and Madigan are a reporter’s delight for reviewing their games.
They take the time to educate and explain where their game plan worked, or didn’t, along with dissecting the key moments.
As Hancock says: “I’m big on moments that inspire the team during games”.
They also know and appreciate the value of a good working relationship with the media.
You see, it’s not just the reporter they are talking to. The messages they are delivering are for those most interested: their club’s supporters who read Sunraysia Daily for a game wrap-up.
Many of the readers will know the scores from Saturday’s games by the time Monday’s edition comes out. They want to know what the coaches, or key players, said about the game, along with a reporter’s analysis.
There are wonderful stories playing out at George Gordon Oval and the Hothouse this season.
Hancock, Edwards and Madigan are the lead script writers and among the central characters in their respective teams.
With a strong support cast, who have bought into what they are trying to achieve, it’ll be fascinating to see how the remaining chapters play out in their 2022 book of conquest.
It’s time to talk
Well, there’s been no great improvement in the AFL’s new PlayHQ system since it was introduced this season.
As I wrote last month, club volunteers are still battling the technical hiccups in the system, including game-day crashes.
The back-wash of this is that it makes the media’s job tough on a Sunday to find out scores where the many holes exist.
Sunraysia Daily is about to engage an independent company for a month-long trial in pulling together all the results, ladders and leading goal kickers for the Sunraysia, Millewa, Central Murray and Golden Rivers leagues.
I made another request on Tuesday to AFL Victoria for one its highly paid chiefs to talk with me about the many issues and challenges facing country footy.
But there was no reply by deadline yesterday. It’s the third time I’ve been brushed by them in the past month.
Why won’t the ruling body put up a manager up for an interview?
Is it because there are too many inconvenient truths to talk about it?
The downturn in volunteers and players at footy clubs is not isolated to north-west Victoria. It’s happening right across country footy.
Seriously, some of the leagues are on death row.
When will the AFL recognise this?
