The more I talk to local football people the more I worry that the game is heading for a collision with its own mortality. Push will come to shove sooner rather than later and officials will have to decide the model they want to build their club on. Do you throw money at blokes who won’t be there should the money dry up? Or do you build using home-grown talent and perhaps not win a flag for a few years but eventually reap the benefits? In the latter process, you build a club with a solid, sustainable foundation that you can build on. The quick-fix dollars solution means you may as well put a turnstile in front of the change rooms, because players will come and go at a Flinders Street Station rate. Suburban clubs have big dollars to throw around, and good on them for that, and the players will reap those rewards. Half their luck, too. But I just wonder if a premiership means as much to today’s players and whether we’ll see the bond and camaraderie in 20 years that we saw for premierships of 20 years ago. Interested to hear your thoughts.
■ Steve Thom tells me the WRFL interleague squad is training well under coach Brett Jacobs and is looking forward to the clash against the more highly rated EFL on March 28 at Ikon Park, which is what we used to know as Princess Park in Carlton. The final squad will be named and presented to the clubs, sponsors and officials at the WRFL season launch at the Yarraville Club on Wednesday, March 25. It would mean a lot to the WRFL boys to knock over the silvertails of the EFL, who boast many former AFL players and clubs with player payment budgets that are the envy of many leagues. And I don’t just mean suburban competitions. I’m happy to see the WRFL clubs have embraced this event and it’s pleasing that self-interest has been put aside for the betterment of the competition. I look forward to reporting on this on SEN from 1pm on matchday. Good Luck, boys. Do us proud.
■ My dad, Phillip Eugene Hillier, passed away last week and I mention it not to be indulgent but to inform those in the west who might have known him. Dad spent a good part of his youth living in Benbow Street, Yarraville, and played footy for Spotswood in the FDFL and Yarraville in the VFA. He was also based at the RAAF Laverton in his days as a motor body builder. Dad played in the 1946 Spotswood under-19 team that went through the season unbeaten. He also told me he coached Laverton Football Club for one forgettable season.
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