THE buzz about the upcoming Sunraysia Football Netball League season is not just exciting the players and coaches.
Reporters, editors and commentators are also salivating at the prospect of former AFL players Sam Kerridge, Matt Dea and Jarrod Brander colliding on the footy fields with a galaxy of other stars around the district.
The Sunraysia Daily team of footy and netball writers are already preparing for our big season-preview liftout next month.
We’ll have unrivalled print coverage right throughout the season, including a bumper Monday liftout that wraps up all the SFNL and Millewa action.
The highly respected Ben Ridley will return as our footy analyst and I’m in talks with a former elite coach to be our netball analyst.
There’ll be weekly awards for footballers (senior and rising star) and netballers, along with the return of live scores and coverage of the hot issues and personalities in the game.
On the broadcasting front, things are going to ramp up with a second radio station to join Hot FM in covering games.
River 1467 (formerly 3MA) will be broadcasting SFNL games from 2pm-6pm on Saturdays when the season kicks off on April 22.
Its commentary team will be led by Damion Bradshaw, who is better known for his speedway commentary.
‘Damo’ will be joined in commentary by Antony Parr, Geoff Lucas, Patty Irwin, Louie Bulzomi and Zoey Andrews.
I spoke with River station manager Joe Cavallo this week about why it’s partnered back up with the SFNL this season after an absence of more than a decade.
“We are very positioning ourselves as live and local,” said the boss of River 1467, which kicked off as 3MA back in 1927.
“We want to further entrench ourselves in the local community, and what better way to do it than through local footy?
“But it won’t be just senior footy. We’ll also have junior footy and netball updates throughout the week.”
River’s sports program, Sideline View, will move to the noon-2pm broadcast slot during the SFNL season.
Cavallo was at pains to point out that this wasn’t a case of ‘radio wars’ in coming up against Hot FM, whose coverage is led by the Daily’s Mitch Rodd, and Sammy Smythe’s live-streaming broadcast.
“It’s more about building up the league,” Cavallo said.
“Hot FM and Sammy do wonderful work, but we want to come in an enhance the league to an ever bigger listening audience.
“We’ll be broadcasting different games to them, so it will give listeners a choice of who to tune into.”A CROC ROCK
THE SFNL connection in the Southern Districts team is primed to lead the Crocs after their shock semi-final loss last week against Waratah in the Northern Territory Premier League.
The Crocs, who finished as minor premiers, will play St Mary’s in the preliminary final tonight.
Ouyen United stars Kaine Stevens and Dean Staunton return to the Crocs line-up, joining Imperials duo Matt Mazzini and Ben Galbraith.
Dallas Willsmore (Ouyen United) has also made brief appearances for the Crocs this season, but he hasn’t qualified to play in the prelim.
For reigning McLeod Medallist Stevens, it will be his fifth outing for the Crocs over the summer.
He gave a nod to the influence of Mazzini and Galbraith, who have both been Croc regulars.
“Matty and Benny are bloody awesome. Every time I’ve gone up to play, they’ve been two of the best players on the ground,” Adelaide-based Stevens said.
“It’s pretty hard footy up there. If you don’t live up there and train every week, it’s a bit of a shock to the system.
“It’s hot. Every game I’ve played has been high 30 degrees and really humid. All of sudden it rains and cools things down for 20 minutes, but then it gets really hot and humid again.
“This is my first season playing up there. I wasn’t allowed to do it when I was playing in Adelaide. But I’m glad I’ve done it now.
“Hopefully we can get the job done this weekend and get into the granny (grand final).”
KEEPING FOOTY FUN
During a visit to Mildura this week, Bendigo Pioneers coach Danny O’Bree spoke about how football needs to keep innovating to retain and attract kids to the sport.
In Sunraysia, junior basketball numbers are booming while football registrations remain stagnant at best.
Bendigo-based O’Bree stressed the need for football clubs and the governing body to make sure kids were enjoying the game.
“It’s an interesting comparison. If you look at the other regions (across Victoria), it’s probably the other way (with football growing more than basketball),” he said.
“Basketball at a junior level is still quite strong in our region (in Bendigo) and so is soccer. But we’re seeing strong numbers for football.
“Can we improve on what we do in attracting more kids to footy? Yes, absolutely.
“The more fun we can make it, the better.
“At our level (Coates Talent League), we’re trying to push the kids to play at AFL level. It requires a hell of a lot of work, but jeez, we have some good fun along the way.”TONS OF QUALITY
Sunraysia Daily had a piece earlier this week on Mildura West star Chris Williams and the remarkable facts surrounding his outstanding innings of 157 last Saturday.
Like a good onion, though, there are even more layers to the story.
Williams and workmate Denny Fox were both in Melbourne for an awards ceremony the night before the game and something was in the drinks as Fox also notched a ton the next day, an unbeaten 106 for West’s Fourth Division side.
Here’s cheers, gents.
