WEDNESDAY, 15 APRIL, 2026
Derby to roll back to the west
WestSide Roller Derby members Liza Mean Elli (Lis Shorten); Hell Cat (Catharina Havridis) and Bleeder Of The Pack (Mel Buttigieg) are ready to roll for the 2026 season launch at RecWest Braybrook on 18 April. (Damjan Janevski: 544934)
The unique sport of roller derby will roll back into Melbourne’s west as WestSide Roller Derby launches the 2026 season on Saturday 18 April. Following the success of last year’s inaugural competition, the season opener will again bring together roller derby clubs from across outer Melbourne for a high-energy, family-friendly day of action at RecWest Braybrook. WestSide Glory co-captain Mel Buttigieg (aka Bleeder of the Pack) said the league was excited to bring the action back to the west. “After the amazing support we saw from the Footscray community last year, we’re so excited to showcase the sport again in Braybrook,” Ms Buttigieg said. “Whether you’re a long-time fan or have never seen a roller derby game before, get ready for a fun afternoon that the whole family can get behind. “It’s a physical full-contact sport so expect some big hits, and there’s nothing quite like the atmosphere of a live derby crowd,” she said.
Sign of confusion By Cade Lucas Altona North resident Tamara Gilliland was walking her dog at the end of Freemans Road next to the West Gate Freeway (WGF) last November, when she noticed something odd. A tall barbed-wire gate, secured with no less than four padlocks, blocked access to the freeway service road. This in itself wasn’t strange, but the large Hobsons Bay council sign behind it, giving directions to nearby attractions that were impossible to reach, certainly was. “Truly one of the most head scratching
moments I have come across,“ Ms Gilliand recalled of when she first encountered it last year. “It points you towards Grieve Parade and one of the sporting reserves, but it’s literally pointing you onto a road you cannot access. It’s a service road behind a barbed wire fence.“ Thinking it must’ve been placed there by mistake and would soon be removed, Ms Gilliland thought nothing more of the strange service road sign until recently, when passing by for the first time since, she found it still there. “It’s obvious that no one can access behind
that gate unless you have the padlock keys because the weeds are now taller than the sign and covering it,” Ms Gilliland said of the sign which was clearly intended for a footpath or somewhere at least accessible. “Instead we have what may be the most useless sign in Melbourne behind a four-padlock-gated fence for a service road for the WGF.” Even if the gate were unlocked and the sign accessible, Ms Gilliland said some of the directions were laughably wrong. “It points to, quite frankly, the wrong
direction for the (Altona Gate) shopping centre. “If you turn 180 degrees from the sign and walk in that direction, you would hit Altona Gate.” Despite its logo being emblazoned across it, Hobsons Bay council said the location of the sign was the responsibility of West Gate Tunnel Project (WGTP). In response to inquiries from the Star Weekly, a WGTP spokesperson confirmed what Ms Gilliland had long suspected. “The sign has been incorrectly installed and will be removed,” the spokesperson said.
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