Loddon Valley Cricket Club

Superoos, Bears to fight for fifth position

With Superoos lose Calivil United on Saturday and the Bears to defeat Newbridge in a thriller, both sides are locked on 28 points each ahead of their Round of 18 meeting in Mitiamo.

The scenario is simple. The winner will play the final, while the season is over for the loser.

The bear - who have not played finals since 2006 - held on to defeat Newbridge by four points in their game at Serpentine.

The Bears were again plagued by poor kicking as they won 14.22 (106) 16.6 (102).

Today it is 11 times in 15 games this season, the Bears have launched over the butt ends.

The game was tight all day, with the largest margin in each of the 15 break points in the Bears led by half.

The Bears had 14 shots to score more than Newbridge, but their inaccuracy kept the Maroons in the game.

"Poor kicking allows the opposition to stay in the race," Bears coach Damien Featherby said.

"It's like cricket, where catches win matches.In footy, goals win games and if you do not remove them, then you make it difficult for yourself.

"All we wanted to do at the beginning of the game was still earn just give us that chance in the final.

"We got the win after we were and we will work on the store a few things during the week before the game against Mitiamo, which is a big challenge for us."

Best players for the Bears to their victory were midifelders Rohan Nolan (two goals), Thomas Cartledge rover (two goals) and the center of the half-back Andrew Gladman.

Saturday's thriller was the second consecutive year the Bears have played in after losing to the Pyramid Hill by two points the previous week.

They play well for the Maroons - who have now lost five in a row - were Tyson Holt, Chris Ryan and David Belz.

"With the injuries we have at the moment, we have 13 guys who played in today's seniors who qualified for the finals in the reserves," Newbridge coach Phil Birchmore said.

"The boys played very well today, and something we've focused on is to finish the year off really well and represent the rider.

"We could not have been better, but we just made mistakes at crucial moments."

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The Maryborough District Advertiser » Football » Milestone

Twenty-eight years. Twenty two senior seasons. Four different leagues. Three jumper changes. A broken collarbone and fractured wrist. Two losing grand finals.

These are just some of the statistics Wayne Lanfranchi has amassed during his time with the Dunolly Football Netball Club.

Tomorrow, he’ll add one more.

The man known by Eagles supporters as “Woosa” will lace up the boots for his 400th appearance in the club’s blue and gold colours — a club record.

While his club of choice was never in doubt — his father Bernie is a DFNC life member and captained the club to their last premiership back in 1969 — Wayne said he never expected to hang around quite so long.

“I suppose you don’t really think of those sort of things when you’re starting out, do you?” he said.

“I haven’t missed too many games through injuries or anything like that.”

Seemingly blessed with more time to think than your average player, a trait which he says helps counteract his “lost yards of pace” nowadays, Wayne’s career has seen him line-up in almost every position on the ground, starting his junior career in the backline, then shifting to centre half-forward, before returning to the backline at the beginning of his senior career.

As his experience at senior level grew, Wayne shifted into the midfield, but now finds himself back where it all began, holding down a half back flank in the Eagles’ reserves side at age 37.

His career with Dunolly has also seen him play in the Lexton, Lexton Plains, Loddon Valley and Maryborough Castlemaine football netball leagues, yet has never been able to emulate the success of his father, who won six flags during the club’s “golden era”.

“I’m still chasing my first flag,” he said.

Wayne has played in two grand final defeats, the first a junior grand final in 1989, going down to Natte Bealiba, and the Eagles’ 1997 clash with Avoca, where they went down by just 16 points, largely thanks to the efforts of former Richmond centre half forward, Jim Jess, who Wayne rates as the toughest opponent he’s faced during his lengthy career.

With his surname making him Dunolly Eagles royalty, he says his love for the club never wavered, not even during its darkest days when it won just nine senior games in four years and went 11 years without a finals appearance.

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