2023 Pre Season President’s Report
LET’S GET THE PARKLEA 2023 SEASON UNDERWAY
I can barely wait for the Parklea EDFNL season to start. It was terrific to get through the 2022 season without any interruptions and provides me with comfort the Covid disruptions are well behind us. It was great to see the premiership cup held aloft across all grades of football & netball last year and for the first time since 2019.
This year we will again field an 11 team competition and have a 20 round season with two byes. Our final series again be a top five starting on 26 August with the grand final is on 16th September.
It now looks like we will field nine football teams at U16 level and eight at U18 level. Not perfect but our junior arm is still strong and in a far better state than many other country leagues. Really pleased that Nilma-Darnum will field at U/16 team this year. Congratulations to all at Darnum who helped get this team up. To give our juniors every opportunity to play as many matches as possible we will again produce a ‘make up game timetable’. Thanks to our Junior Development Officer Steve Pratt for the time put in with this challenging task.
I’d like to welcome the newcomers to the league, firstly our EDFNL Sub & General Committee members Tim Cosstick (Play HQ) and Tanya Helliar (IT, Social Media and Play HQ back up). Tim will help clubs navigate the Play HQ requirements and later this year Tanya will be tasked with our social media and to get our new EDFNL website up and running. They come to the league with vast experience in their fields and confident both will be a real asset. Also it would be remiss of me if I did not bid farewell to my EDFL Vice President Ken White. Ken has stepped aside after 25 years on the football Board. For those who may not be aware Ken also received an Australia day OAM honour for service to the Cardinia Shire, due to 50+ years with Longwarry Football Club and 25+ years as a vice-president of the Ellinbank and District Football League. Good luck Ken in your future endeavours and retirement.
Around the footy clubs, six clubs have new Presidents, Grant Williams (Catani), Kristian Bingham (Ellinbank), Dean Turner & Stuart Casey (Lang Lang), Steve Tuite (Longwarry), Jassy Batrouney (Nyora) & Dave Snelling (Neerim Neerim South) while three clubs have new Secretaries Tracy McIntosh (Lang Lang), Annie Van Der Heyden (Longwarry) and Bryce Grimshaw (Trafalgar). We also welcome five new coaches Luke Young (Catani), Jake Harper (Ellinbank), Daniel Fry (Lang Lang), Rod Gundrill (Poowong) and Jordan Wyatt (Yarragon). Good luck to all and enjoy the season!
Around the netball courts we’ll see live scoring with the new Netball Connect platform in full use at club level after its testing during finals last year. This is a great advance, decreasing the time score secretaries and volunteers will need to input scores and information post-match.
Development of umpires and coaches is high on the agenda this year and we look forward to our clubs supporting these initiatives. As we know, we can’t run netball or sport for that matter without them and we are keen to ensure all players get the best experience both on and off the court, especially after a few disrupted seasons. Players experience often comes from their interaction with coaches and umpires, so hopefully we see development across the board keeping more people engaged in netball.
Encouragingly we are getting far more transfers coming in than going out and while not good at crystal ball gazing last years football grand finalists Neerim South and Buln Buln must surely be hard to beat and hearing positive reports that Catani and Nilma Darnum should improve.
In the netball, no doubt everyone will be chasing Neerim South who have maintained their undefeated premiership year team. Nilma Darnum, Trafalgar and regulars Ellinbank will be keen to lift their performance to challenge the Cats, while the likes of Lang Lang, Catani and Buln Buln will be vying for a spot and will need to knock off some of the strong competition to keep their seasons alive towards the back end of the year.
Pleased to report the preparations are well underway for the Netball Association Championships to be held at Moe on 4 June this year. A big thank you all the officials who have volunteered their time, however we still need more! Good luck to all players seeking league selection – we know you will represent us with distinction.
We understand there will be no AFL Vic Football Championships in 2023 so no senior Interleague.
On a positive note we will field an U18 team at the proposed Gippsland Junior Carnival but it appears for the second successive year there will be no U16 carnival. To give our U16s every chance to develop we are currently looking at another East v West Intra-league match after last year’s match was a big success and in talks with the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition to arrange an U16 Interleague match.
Very pleased to notify the EDFNL – the merger between EDFL and EDNA is now complete having received our certificate of incorporation from Consumer Affairs Victoria in February. I wish my inaugural board members Karen Porter (Netball Director), Meaghan Newitt (Netball Operations Manager), Chris Behrendorff (Football Director) & Ken Moore (Football Operations Manager) all the best in their new roles.
We are also delighted to announce that our league naming rights sponsor Parklea is back on board again. Parklea is an Australian owned company leading the way in property development in Victoria.
We are also happy to announce we have renewed our partnership with radio station SEN 91.9FM who will again broadcast an EDFNL match every week. Big thanks to our other sponsors John Duff & Co, Quality Site Welding, Physioworks Health Group, the Warragul Gazette, Warragul Downtowner, Hip Pocket, Body Fit Training Warragul, Robin Hotel Inn & AG Warehouse. We have three new sponsors; C&R Strength & Conditioning, Relink Consulting and Intersport Warragul whose logo will be on the league footballs this season.
We are indebted to all our sponsors and encourage all clubs to show their support for these businesses. If recent years serve as a guide there will be plenty of competitiveness among all our footy and netball grades. Not every team can win on the last Saturday of our season but hope your clubs can achieve their goals. Bring on the 1st of April.
Roger Gwynne
President
EDFNL Board of Management
