By RUSSELL BENNETT
FROM their third straight Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League (YVMDFL) Division 1 grand final appearance in 2012, Gembrook Cockatoo has had a clear fall from grace being relegated to Division 2 battlers in 2014.
But 2004 premiership captain and favourite son Craig Clarke has returned to the Brookers as a playing senior coach and hopes to bring with him some former gun team mates with the aim of getting the club back to powerhouse status as quickly as possible.
But Clarke, as well as president elect Damian Kee and reserves coach Darrell Maher are under no illusions – the Brookers can’t be a sustainable force unless their juniors, seniors and netball sides are all up and going.
Speaking to the Mail outside their Orchard Road clubrooms recently, the trio – as well as new netball co-ordinator Penne Asling – were clearly excited about what the future holds for their rebuilding club.
The 2014 season might have just finished but a rolling stone gathers no moss. The earlier they appointed Clarke, the earlier they could work on getting some other club favourites back in the green and white.
“You’ve got to get onto it early, talk to all the players and try to get as many back involved as we can,” Clarke said.
“I felt that was a thing I could do to help the club – getting back on board and trying to bring back the blokes who left.
“We had 20 players leave at the end of last year (2013) and everyone’s seen the impact that’s had on the club.
“We really thought if we could get a few of them back and start to rebuild a core, we could work from there.”
There are few players more respected in YVMDFL circles than Clarke, and even fewer as accomplished at the ruck craft. The big man has plenty of footy miles under his belt now but his body is feeling good after 12 months away from the game and he can’t wait to get stuck back in.
Rick Causer is also signed on to return to the Brookers as a playing-assistant to his great mate after a year at Montrose in the Eastern Football League.
Clarke and Kee both agree that Causer is the sort of player others would follow back to the club.
But it’s not just the seniors that the Brookers need to keep an eye on.
“The other thing for us is getting the under-18s back, or under-17s if it (the restructure) goes that way,” Kee said.
“And not having netball has probably gone against us as much as not having kids around because if the girls aren’t involved, no one hangs around the club.
“We’re trying to make it a stronger football-netball club, not just a stronger senior footy team.”
Kee said the Brookers wanted to be a sustainable force, but to do so they needed to reignite their netball presence, which was non-existent in 2014.
The Brookers’ junior and senior football clubs have recently come back together and that’s already made a huge difference, but there’s still plenty of work to do yet.
“We just want to get the club right with the netball and the kids so that when we do come back into Division 1 we’re ready for it,” Kee said.
The Brookers are after both footy and netball players, junior and senior, to sign up to the club for their march back to Division 1. They’re also after a netball coach – either playing or non-playing. For more information, call Craig Clarke on 0409 603 210 or Penne Asling on 0438 684 787.
The Brookers will hold a ‘Meet the Coach’ day up at the clubrooms on Thursday 30 October from 6pm.
