With the 2024 season very close, let’s look back at what happened in the opening round 28 years back.
Two of the big clubs of the mid-Nineties played a cracker to open the 1996 season at Dower Park.
Kyneton downed home club Kangaroo Flat by 10 points in a Dower Park clash where 45 goals were landed for the day.
There was a restrained mood in the Roos’ rooms after the game as a loss wasn’t an ideal way to celebrate champion midfielder Ron Wicks’ 200th game.
The other big highlight of Rd. 1 28 years ago was Steven Oliver’s astonishing 19-goal haul against Northern United.
Yes, that’s correct. Nineteen snag rolls in Castlemaine’s 48.19 (307) to 7.5 (47) 260-point slaughter of the Swallows.
Maryborough wore down South Bendigo at Princes Park and marched home to a 46-point win with big men Jamie Bond, Ross Cuthbertson and Richard Peart on top in the marking and ruck hitout battles.
And Golden Square landed an astounding 10 last quarter goals at Canterbury Park to bury home side Eaglehawk by 66 points.
First gamer Mark Fulton from the VSFL Southern Stingrays finished with seven goals for the Wade Street Dogs while Damien Wingrave nailed five for the Hawks.
But back to the big Dower Park season opener.
Kyneton unearthed a new forward of real potential in Wayne Eve as the Tigers gradually wore down a spirited Flat.
Eve booted seven goals in a dazzling display at the spearhead and even though a total of 45 goals were landed for the afternoon Eve grabbled the spotlight with his match-winning effort.
Mind you, the Tigers had other great attacking targets in Bendigo Pioneer Luke Beattie (5 goals) and Rohan Larkin (4) while the Roos relied on Barry Pitson and David Lancaster (5 each) as their main goal scorers.
After a stunning first term in which 14 majors were landed, the last few minutes of the second quarter proved the most pivotal of the contest.
The Roos had slipped out to a handy break close to time-on in the second period with only about five minutes left on the clock.
But a couple of turnovers and a line-ball 50m penalty against Flat defender Steve Whitty, all of which resulted in Kyneton majors, lifted the Tigers within a point by half-time: 13.7 to 13.8.
Coach Derrick Filo and veteran on-baller Tony Kelly lifted the Tigers in the all-important third term with Kyneton outscoring the home side 5.7 to 3.3 to establish a valuable last change buffer: 18.14 to 16.11.
Eve bagged three of his seven goals in the ‘premiership quarter’ including one right on the three quarter time siren when he marked a Rohan Larkin pass and goaled from 50m out.
And then Larkin nailed two of his four goals for the day in the final stanza and even though the Roos added 6.3 to the Tigers 5.4 they couldn’t quite bridge the gap.
At Princes Park Maryborough fans were anticipating a day of high marking and big ruck tap-outs with Bond, Peart and Cuthbertson matched up against South’s big men John Hill and Brad Day.
Incredibly the Bloods had only six players from its 1995 grand final day squad of 22 on the field for Rd. 1.
The Princes Park Pies were inaccurate in the opening stanza landing only five goals from 12 scoring shots (5.7) while South kept in touch with a 4.1 first term.
As the match wore on Gordon Sumner and Geoff MacIlwain continued to dominate the inside ball count while Phil Hetherington provided the Bloods with an important focal point.
He sank three of South’s first term majors from limited opportunities to keep the Bloods in touch.
Maryborough’s eventual Michelsen Medallist Matt Aston continued his run right throughout the game as did the nippy Bryce Delidio, the Addy’s reporter-at-the-match Barry Denner reported.
“For South Frank Burke tried valiantly across his half-back flank, but had to lower his colours late in the second half to young Magpie wingman Aston.
“Aston took a spectacular mark on Burke’s shoulders to set up a Maryborough goal to mark his influence on the Magpies’ win,” Denner noted.
And he stated that Maryborough’s pacy new small men in Jim Moniz from Carisbrook and Bryce Delidio from Echuca had bolstered Maryborough’s speed across each line.
At Canterbury Park Square notched 13 goals to Eaglehawk’s five in a dominant second half although Addy writer Peter Harrick noted that two Blues recruit James Voutier restricted match-winner Fulton to just two second half goals.
The Dogs had best afield Bowden Hamilton, who alternated between half-back and half-forward, and he set up attack after attack for the Square and when in the back half combined well with teammates with accurate passes to Fulton.
Darren Moorhead and Peter Garner created drive from the tap-outs and boundary throw-ins for the Square while Brad Giri was prominent across the Dogs’ half-back line.
The home side had Damien Wingrave as their spearhead although Rowan O’Hara could have been more of a problem for the Dogs had he held onto more marks.
Harrick noted that Eaglehawk, with eight new players in the side, would improve “when players get to know each other a bit better after a few more matches.”
“And Danny O’Shannessy who had his wrong kicking boot on will be a good player for the Hawks as the season continues on.”
For the record down at the Camp Reserve Castlemaine nailed 14 majors in the first term, eight in the second, 12 in the third and wound up with another 14 in the last stanza.
Final scores: Castlemaine 48.19 (307) def. N. United 7.5 (47); G. Square 22.19 (151) def. E’hawk 12.13 (85); M’borough 20.18 (138) def. Sth. Bendigo 14.9 (93) and Kyneton 23.18 (156) def. Kang. Flat 22.14 (146). Bye: Sandhurst.
Main goalkickers, Round 1, 1996: Steven Oliver (Cm) 19; Mark Fulton (GS), Kel Stevens (Cm) and Wayne Eve (Kyn) all 7; Brett Fitzpatrick (Cm) 6; Luke Beattie (Kyn), Steve Heincke (GS), Barry Pitson (KF) and Dave Lancaster (KF) all 5.
I know it’s a bit further down the track, but by mid-June in 2005 Ollie had booted 967 goals in 202 games.
Ladder: C’maine 1 win, 0 losses, 0 byes, 653.19%, 4 prem. pts; G. Square 1-0-0, 177.65% 4; M’borough 1-0-0, 148.3%; 4; Kyneton 1-0-0, 166-85%, 4; Sandhurst 0 games, no losses, 1 bye, 0 per cent, 4 points.
Outside Top Five: Kang. Flat, South Bgo, E’hawk, Nthn United.
Netball results, A grade: Kang. Flat 34 def. Kyneton 13; Maryboro 60 def. Sth. Bgo 32; E’hawk 55 def. G. Square 45; C’maine 84 def. Nthn. Utd. 17. Sandhurst, bye.
B grade: Kang. Flat 52 def. Kyneton 29; Maryboro 66 def. Sth. Bgo 31; G. Square 34 def. E’hawk 28; C’maine 58 def. Nthn. Utd. 10.
Gazetted Rd. 2 footy and netball draw for 13th April 1996: Northern Utd. vs. Sandhurst; Kang. Flat vs. C’maine; G. Square vs. Kyneton; South Bendigo vs. Eaglehawk and Maryborough bye.
Footnote: Northern United officially went into recess on 12th April 1996, a few days following the Maine match, with the Swallows’ committee calling in BFL officials John Walsh (chairman) and Kevin McNaughton (CEO) after meeting behind closed doors for 75 minutes.
Clearly the BFL draw had to be re-arranged swiftly with Rds. 2 and 3 looming, so a club meeting was called for early the following week.
Although Castlemaine’s ladder percentage boost from the Camp Reserve game wasn’t allowed to accrue for the Magpies there was one other important ruling.
Oliver was allowed to retain his 19 goals so the chase for the ’96 goal-kicking medal was virtually all over before Rd. 2 even began. Including six majors in the finals he ended 1996 with 90.
