With the 2023 football season just weeks, who better to take an in depth look at who’s in, who’s out, and who’s the team to challenge Kerang, than the 3SH Central Murray Live commentary team. The results might even surprise you.
Shane Fleming (SF) – Ok, before we get started, I think we should probably welcome the new guys who are joining our call team full-time this year – Matt and Choco, welcome boys!
Matt Curran (MC) – Thanks Flemo.
David Alderuccio (DA) – Cheers mate.
SF – Righto, the new season is upon us finally. The big question is, can anybody outside of the big three (Kerang, Cohuna, Woorinen) actually win it?
DA – Yeah, I think Balranald can challenge them.
MC – Balranald definitely can.
Glenn Stewart (GS) – I think Balranald and Lake Boga are a chance to push up definitely. Woorinen have got (Doug) Beames coming back, ‘Warby’ (Lachlan Warburton) is coming back, too.
Noel Watson (NW) – The only one outside of that top three for mine is Balranald and only if they can hold it together, because I think their biggest problem will be their depth.
SF – Having spoken to Jydon Neagle over the pre-season, he said they’ve picked up a few very handy players and have only lost one.
NW – That was the only question I had on them.
MC – It’s usually your bottom six players that win you the flag, not your top six, because the best players in most sides are all pretty even, let’s be honest.
GS – Kobe (Lloyd) comes back in for them too and then they have both Drew (Lloyd) and Ben Fuller down forward as well. We know how important Fuller is to their team, so they need to keep him fit because if he’s not there, they will really struggle to score against the better sides.
SF – We saw what happened to Balranald last year when Fuller hurt his hamstring in the warm up of their Round 1 game against Tyntynder and they didn’t win a game for the first month because he wasn’t there. You can’t underestimate how important a key forward like him is to a side.
GS – Their back half is pretty solid too, then you’ve got the Neagles in the midfield.
NW – Cohuna have a bit of a question mark over them for me, because they’ve lost Archard and they’ve lost Toma as well. I know he’s only one player, but he was clearly they’re best player – and the big fella in the ruck, he was a really dominant ruckman for them.
GS – Didn’t Cohuna pick up a ruckman though?
SF – Yeah, they’ve recruited Jake Hammond’s brother Nathan, but he’s more of a key defender and a back-up ruckman I believe.
GS – Yeah ok. I think Archard will be hard to replace, when you lose a ruckman like him, it’s tough.
SF – What about Woorinen, surely they’ll be thereabouts again?
GS – Yeah, I don’t know, I’ve got them sliding.
NW – Really?
GS – It’s not because they aren’t a good team still, I just think a few others will go past them. Balranald will clearly improve, I think Boga get better and I think the Saints might be a bit of a smoky as well.
DA – What are these recruits like at Boga, Stewy?
GS – Pretty good apparently. From all reports, they’ve lost as many as they’ve gained, but the ones they’ve picked up are better than the ones they’ve lost. They had the best ruckman in the competition last year in Simpson. He was that good he should have won the Jack Betts last year in my opinion.
DA – I think the couple of key forwards that they have picked up will be the biggest assets for them.
MC – If Monfries is their number three forward, then that’s a pretty strong forward line.
NW – It’ll straighten them up though too, which will put a lot of pressure on a lot of sides, because a lot of teams don’t have those big key defenders anymore. The sides they’re going to smash, like Koondrook-Barham, Swan Hill, maybe the Mallee Eagles, that’s because they’re just going to be too big up forward and those teams just won’t have the cattle down back to compete.
DA – Tooley-Manang?
NW – I don’t know about them. It will be interesting to watch how Tooleybuc-Manangatang are going to go. They have brought in a lot of players.
SF – Having spoken with Dean (Helmers) a few weeks ago, the sentiment was that he’s expecting them to play finals. Every guy they’ve picked up either has VFL experience or the equivalent standard, so they’ll improve, no worries.
GS – Well, let’s do a cross examination. Woorinen or Cohuna Kangas, because I think Kerang are there.
SF – So you’ve got Kerang over the line, have you Stewy?
GS – Kerang will finish on top. Something would need to go wrong for them to not finish on top. Ok, they’ve lost Curnow, who was an exceptionally good player.
NW – On Curnow, he went forward when they needed him too, he went back when they needed someone to stop the bleeding. I’m not saying they won’t be thereabouts at the finish, but don’t worry, they’ll really miss him.
GS – Cohuna would have won the grand final if it wasn’t for Curnow.
SF – Will Kerang improve though?
GS – Their best is still very good – and I think their best is the best.
NW – What about Tyntynder? They’re a side that are all about our size, they’re the side that might slide for me.
MC – Haven’t they lost Marcus Wattie?
SF – They have.
MC – Wasn’t he one of their key midfielders last year? You don’t replace them too easily, do you.
DA – Tom Sala has gone too, I think.
NW – I reckon, for me, if you’re looking at the teams that will slide, Tyntynder is probably the one. Because a couple of the others, like Swan Hill, are already down there.
SF – Where are Swan Hill at Noel?
NW – Absolute rebuild. The coach (Cal Beasy) they’ve got is a good bloke to have in charge. He’s coached some of these kids on the way through, he knows what each of them are capable of doing and what they aren’t, so he’s the right coach for them to have for the moment. I don’t know if he’s their next premiership coach, but he’s the right coach for the moment.
SF – They’ve picked up a couple though.
NW – Yeah, but a lot of their depth has gone straight out to Ultima.
MC – They’ll going to be a very young side.
NW – Absolutely they will be, with Matt Wade and Xavier Moloney holding them together. But again, who are their big guys? Lake Boga’s picked up a couple, but Swan Hill haven’t. Anyway, where do United sit Matt?
MC – Good question. They’ve picked up a lot of names, so it’ll be interesting to see them get on the park and see how they all gel together.
NW – It will be interesting all right. I think with a lot of teams we’re not really going to know where they sit until after the first five rounds.
MC – These early games are really going to be eight-point games. Bank early wins, because it’s amazing how often you need them later on in the year.
NW – Who’s the best recruit coming into the league Shane?
SF – Well, from what I’ve heard, the two Neagle boys, especially Matthew. Apparently, he’s every bit as good as his brother Jydon, if not better, and he won the medal last year so that’s good enough for me.
NW – They’re definitely in my top five.
MC – They play half their games at Balranald too, so that will help as well.
SF – The only team we haven’t spoken about Choco is the Mallee Eagles. I don’t think anyone knows what’s happening out there do they?
DA – Not really no. I’ve heard they’ve picked up a couple of good Melbourne players, but that’s about it.
SF – They’ve lost a heap though.
DA – Yeah including their full-forward Dunstan, who kicked most of their goals last year.
SF – Tom McGregor is an equally big loss for mine too.
GS – I really rated him highly Tom. Not only that, he’s a local and a one point player too.
NW – It’s hard to see them playing finals. Surely not.
DA – They did have a lot of injuries though.
GS – Can Koondrook-Barham bounce back with their new coach?
SF – I think they’ll definitely improve, but they are coming from a really long way back.
GS – So are Tooley-Manang.
SF – Yeah, but again, the players they’ve picked up have pretty good CVs. I’m not too sure the Raiders recruits are at the same level. Plus, they’ve also lost a few more players than the Saints too.
NW – Whatever happens, it’s going to be a bloody interesting year.
GS – Absolutely, cannot wait!
Central Murray Live Top Tips
Noel Watson
Premiers – Kerang
Runner’s-Up – Balranald
Finalists – Cohuna Kangas, Woorinen, Tooleybuc-Manangatang
Biggest Slider – Tyntynder
Jack Betts Medallist – Jacob Simpson (Lake Boga)
Glenn Stewart
Premiers – Kerang
Runner’s-Up – Balranald
Finalists – Lake Boga, Cohuna Kangas, Tooleybuc-Manangatang
Biggest Slider – Woorinen
Jack Betts Medallist – Jacob Simpson (Lake Boga)
Shane Fleming
Premiers – Cohuna Kangas
Runner’s-Up – Kerang
Finalists – Balranald, Woorinen, Lake Boga
Biggest Slider – Mallee Eagles
Jack Betts Medallist – Joel Helman (Cohuna Kangas)
David Alderuccio
Premiers – Balranald
Runner’s-Up – Kerang
Finalists – Lake Boga, Cohuna Kangas, Tooleybuc-Manangatang
Biggest Slider – Tyntynder
Jack Betts Medallist – Arnold Kirby (Woorinen)
Matt Curran
Premiers – Kerang
Runner’s-Up – Balranald
Finalists – Woorinen, Cohuna Kangas, Lake Boga
Biggest Slider – Tyntynder
Jack Betts Medallist – Brad Pay (Kerang)
