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The magnificent seven
You’d be hard-pressed to get a better line-up than this. Former Traralgon AFL players Graeme Cordy, Brian Cordy, Rick Kennedy, Geoff Jennings, Kelvin Templeton, Neil Cordy and Jim Silvestro returned home last Saturday, for their home club’s celebration of the last quarter century. MORE - VALLEY SPORT
Photograph: Liam Durkin
Busses from tomorrow
BRACE yourself. Major disruptions on the Traralgon Line will be felt by tomorrow (Thursday, June 19). The Gippsland Line Upgrade is set to take place over the next two months, with scheduled works to be completed at the very end of August. Once complete, the Gippsland Line will enable extra services and, according to the state government, trains will run every 40 minutes along the Traralgon Line. Before then however, busses will replace Traralgon and Bairnsdale line trains for all or part of the journey. Passengers are advised to allow extra travel time. East Pakenham station will act as an interchange for Gippsland passengers. Temporary timetables are available from V/Line outlets, and via: ptv.vic.gov.au/gippsland. For more information, phone 1800 800 007. Gippslanders shortchanged, Nats - Page 3.
Gormy great guns bottom few rungs on the ladder was in order. The Tigers have been accustomed to such positions the last three seasons, finishing second-last or last every year since 2022. However, Gormandale has now already won more games this year than it managed between 2022 and 2024 combined (six). Leading the turnaround has been A Grade coach, Greta Douch. A life member of the club, Douch returned to the Tigers this season following a stint with Mid Gippsland FNL club Boolarra. A no-nonsense operator, and wife to late local horse trainer, Garry Douch, Greta said even she didn’t see such a strong first half of the season coming. “I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, first year back that we’d get results like this,” she told the Express. Douch has been able to add a few handy players to the team, bookending the court with goal shooter Maddy Dark and goal defence Carly Jennings, while Natasha Watson and Jaclyn Price
By LIAM DURKIN
WHO said Gormandale Football-Netball Club was struggling? While the much-maligned Tigers senior football team are still searching for a first win in more than 50 games, the club’s A Grade netball side is giving supporters plenty to cheer about. Gormandale are currently fourth on the North Gippsland Football-Netball League A Grade ladder after nine rounds, and in the midst of a six game winning streak. “We really didn’t expect it to go so well and perform so well," A Grade player Chelsey Sadler said on last week's episode of the club's newly released podcast PoddChubb. The run of victories has seen the Tigers defeat traditional powerhouse Woodside and predicted finalists Heyfield so far this season. The recovery has been equally incredible. Gormandale dropped its first two games of the season, leaving many to assume another year occupying the
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(Greta’s daughter) have filled the wing defence and goal attack spots. “Experience, a couple of older players, and then we’ve got younger players in the middle with speed. I think it’s been a good mix,” Douch said. “We take a lot of teams by surprise and I think that’s one of our biggest strengths this year; they go in expecting us to be the same team as last year, even though our names are different, they don’t know what we play like," Sadler added. “We really shake things up in the first quarter and that’s one of our strengths - we go out hard and we go out strong and it really sets the tone for the whole game." With the team now firing, the coach was quietly confident about the weeks ahead. “When I first started I wasn’t too sure what would happen, usually takes a few years to sort out what’s there (players, game plan etc), but I hope to make finals,” Douch said. Should Gormandale qualify, it will be
the first time the Tigers have featured in either senior football or A Grade netball finals since 2014. Incidentally, Douch coached Gormandale that season, and was named NGFNL A Grade coach for the Team of the Year. Jennings was also picked in the team. The small town club has staved off a litany of existentialist threats in recent years, as the sometimes blinded quest for senior football success can distort the true concept of a football-netball club. As podcast host and Gormandale senior player and former senior coach, Chris Potalej explained, the Tigers were looking at the bigger picture. “The club’s not in a spot where we’re about to shut the doors or anything like that," he said on the podcast. “There’s money in the bank, there’s good numbers on the ovals, there’s a lot of good things happening. Gormandale officials met recently and put together a strategic plan. Continued - Page 29
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