Sport
‘This year we are playing for the jumper’: Tocumwal footballers and netballers gear up for Murray league jump
Expect anything.
For country footballers and netballers across Victoria, this is a way of thinking they have had to embrace during the past three years, as the impacts of COVID-19 still take hold on community sporting clubs.
But nothing could have prepared those involved with Tocumwal Football Netball Club for the dramatic script that ruled its off-season.
Initially handed a provisional suspension by the Picola District Football Netball League in October, the club found itself in the wilderness for most of the summer, before the ban was lifted two weeks ago.
The Bloods still found themselves in a position where they were in an unaffiliated league — which came after the PDFNL broke away from governing body AFL Victoria in November — and decided the best course of action was to find a new organisation to call home.
Hence, after nine years away, Tocumwal officially rejoined the Murray Football Netball League last week in a move that completely changes the complex of the season for all the club’s competing teams.
Set to make the steep jump in competition from the PDFNL to MFNL with five weeks’ notice, Bloods senior football coach Kade Rowe was honest in his expectations about how his team might perform.
“It’s no secret that it’s going to be tough,” Rowe said.
“Yes there are going to be weeks where we are right up against it and, to be honest, we are going to be on the end of a few floggings, but as a playing group we know this is what’s best for the club.
“We have all banded together as a result and this year we are playing for the jumper, we’re not playing for money or to win premierships, it is all about the jumper and that is going to be our mindset leading into the season.”
The situation surrounding this season is not all doom and gloom for the Bloods.
Set to sport a relatively young senior football list, the steep rise in quality the Murray league offers will give players such as Tom Barker, Ray Sutton, Harvey White and Zander Griffin a chance to develop at a much faster rate.
“It is going to be great for their development and I have spoken to our younger group we’ve got coming through about that,” he said.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for them to test themselves and find out where they are at.
“It’s going to be a great test for these young fellas because they are going to be playing on really good players every week and that will only make them grow as both people and players.
“So it’s a win-win in that regard and it will really define the next generation of our club.”
On the netball court, there is a bit of an air of optimism around the move.
Former star talent Liz Mehmet, who relocated to Tocumwal last year, has picked up the coaching reins.
Mehmet, who played for the Bloods during the twilight years of Tocumwal’s first stint in the Murray league, said she was excited by the shift back to the league.
“This is my first year coaching and it’s been really enjoyable. It’s been a new learning curve for me, but I love it here — it’s such a beautiful club,” Mehmet said.
“I wasn’t complaining when I heard about the Murray league move. It doesn’t change much for us; we don’t matter about what league we’re playing in.
“We’re well prepared and we can’t wait to play at that higher level.”
So all in all, while some short-term pain is expected for the Bloods, the long-term benefits of this move have all involved with the club itching to get out on the field and court in 2023.