So now the mountain goats are out of CENTRAL DIV can we stop talking about them and move onto CENTRAL DIV related matters. Surely there is a bit of gossip floating around at the moment regrading who going where etc.....

Finding it a bit rich from one Andrew Jarman talking about how player payments in country football are getting out of control on radio recently. You can't tell me that both Marlon and Daniel mot lop would be travelling up to the sandpit for peanuts. Also David Krause is a darwin boy who played with them at Wanderers, that would not have come cheap either. Let's see how far it gets them.

Not only won the A's at Lobethal (first time in 9 years) but won the A'2s, the U17's and the U13's, lost the U15's after leading all day except when it counted. Pretty good crowd with a well supported 'Ladies Day" for the Jane McGrath Foundation. Looking forward to the rest and lining up against Echunga, tip against us if you dare.
Settle down FD, it's round 2 there is definitely a long way to go yet....

the_grinch wrote:Are Lobey going to peak in May again this year?

Are Birwood ever going to peak Grinch?

Depth will always be a problem for a town with a small population which Echunga is.

It is noticeable though that Echunga is starting to find its feet with respect to the speed and style of play in Central.

Legs man pls.... Echunga suffered its worst defeat since being back up in Central on the weekend and you're here sprucing around saying they are finding their feet?? They got ran off their feet by Lobethal on the weekend and quite simply could match the pace of the game, yet you believe their pace is okay? Their style of kick long down the line doesn't work in Central, defends lick their lips when long balls fly in. They whinge and carry on like country div footballers because they aren't getting everything their own way. Sam Cranna is severely over rated. Cheer man!

Stribling already have one hand on the league medal?

hey bomber what's the rea$on$ half the Hamley fellas are playing
in the A grade, solly not the only one grabbing cash :shock:

I dare say the 21 blokes picked to play A's that run on the field would be playing with the aim to win games and play in a flag, so that's the reason these guys wanted to play at Hamley. And some may get paid in $, petrol money or in meal vouchers depending on their with to the team. Stribling gets paid in dollars and I get paid in meal vouchers. Everyone's happy.
On Solly. The bloke is a serious playa. He will kick a big bag soon enough.
You must eat a lot then Thachy ;)

Can confirm that both CAREY and LINDSAY both withdrew, they trained once and loved it then both no shows last night. Coach must have got in their ears IMHO. Doesn't matter though the HFL squad is looking very strong indeed.

The last part is just stupid! Not to mention these blokes have never previously been considered good enough to get an invite to the central division squad before but now all of a sudden they're needed...? They jump at the chance and attend training and still get bagged?! Injuries are just that at least their hats were in the ring.
The Hills haven't done an inter league game in 5 or so years Champ, so not sure what central division squad you're talking about mate. Can you tell us their injuries then? Not sure how you know so much when you're stated club is Gawler Central. :?

So there has been NO interleague or representative football played or attempted in the last five years in which HFL players were invite to or participated in? Thank you for your compliment, I do know a lot for a Tigers man.

I can tell you their injureies yes but then I'd have to kill you.
There has been NO interleague in the past 5 years, there has however been zone footy which the central div have a bye for hence why those players are nominated. So tell me what interleague or rep footy you have witness in the past. 5 years?
Hahaha mate you're a twit, go troll on the Barossa Forum

Is the whole interleague concept still well sorted in your league? I am involved with the Hills and we had our first IL game in nearly five years on the weekend beating River Murray by 5 points. There was a huge crowd down at the bridge and some serious footy was played, and speaking from Hills people I think the concept was welcomed back with opened arms. This being the case, just want to get a few opinions on here with the old Lovelock Shield all our Leagues were once involved in. How do you think your league would take to the idea of re forming it? I think you'd get a few more guys keen if you actually had something to play for after a solid weekend of good football played. Just thought I'd open it up and see what you guys are thinking

It was a case of spot the grass and pick the smell. Love hearing all the old blokes saying that is what they played on every week, but we are now in 2014 and it is substandard and unacceptable.

Not to mention there being no hot water for the visitors 3 showers and hot water for the home 3 showers. Seen Lobethal players leaving in their cars still covered in mud to presumably go back to Loby for showers?
Also very disappointing from a Torrens Valley forward, I won't name names (juice head with stupid looking tattoos all over him) in the way he yelled and abused a young goal umpire on the day. The young lad volunteered to do it after Torrens Valley couldn't supply a goal umpire ( think he was suspended for cheating) and the mouthful of inappropriate language hurled at this 14 year old lad was discussing. I hope some action is done after this, because it is volunteers like that would keep those money hungry gorillas getting a game. Second rate club with second rate facilities and people. Enough said.

It would be an absolute Joke should Echunga be relegated after what they have achieved this year - particularly taking into account they couldn't even plan for Central until so late in the piece.

The points weight given to B grade and Senior Colts is too high considering the finance involved in competing in Central A grade.

I hope it doesn't come down to this match after all the great work we have done.

There are some people who are talking "legal" if it does and they are very passionate plus well equipped. (certainly as good as TV had when they secured a 2 year guarantee - watch this space)

The competition doesn't need another saga like last year - and I am sure the HFL doesn't want to see another clubs junior program decimated (which will happen if Echunga goes down).

Would the HFL let it happen with no feeling of guilt - my guess is they would after their attitude at the end of 2013.

Rules are rules Legs Man, simple as that. Just tell your blokes to pull their fingers out this weekend. Would much rather read your biased/annoying post about how good Echunga are week in week out than run around at Mt Torrens again.

Hey Chop - I haven't said how good we are too much - just how good it is for other sides getting to play at Echunga.

Surely you agree it would be a travesty if we are forced to go down and are juniors are destroyed after 1 year without ample planning for all grades?

The HFL hasn't done us any favours and seem unlikely to in the future.

I have everything crossed that we can beat TV but it shouldn't come down to this when we are firmly entrenched in the finals race.

We appreciate your support and the support of the other fair minded clubs and supporters.


Yes LM, I do think it wouldn't be correct if Echunga went down seeing as their As will play finals, but we all knew the rules coming into the start of the season. Will be a very tough game in the mud pit. Long way back to Echunga for showers.

"But hey...who would have thought...the club has the lowest $$$ spend on players in the league has had a long period of poor results. Surely even you can see the direct correlation?"



Surely you are having a lend here Elmer....
I know for a fact in 2011-12-13 you blokes were spending plenty.
Luke McLean, Matt Fosdike, Brad Devries, Ben Eckermann, Stuart Bown...... Could keep going mate. Those 5 alone were on 700+ and that's straight from their own mouths.

Rob Prime has done a great job with the club and it is in the right direction, especially with some senior colts success.

Amen bookie. Libertel have done nothing since the late 90's! Can't comment on the Echunga juniors but lofty had to fight tooth an nail to keep juniors t the club and it has paid dividends. The bottom line is Echunga should be in central and the lower grades (both b grade and juniors) will continue to improve the infer they stay up. I have a close source at Echunga, yes they pay money, but no more than any other club! Any idiot that comments on money has no idea. The majority of clubs spend similar amounts. It's how you spend that cash that counts. Mt lofty did it well, uraidla have done it better than anyone and it seems Echunga have done well too! Maybe yellow and black you should have a look at how Loby spend their money, there are handful of players there that are not playing for peanuts!

Well R.White, care to name the handful playing for just the money at Lobethal? Think you would be surprised at how little the Tigers pay.

The relagation will end up going to a vote, and I know Echunga have already approached clubs to vote for them to stay up for next year. Well done to them on yesterday, but why would any other club in central vote to keep the premiers up next year... It's one less challenger for the flag!

If you got a spare couple of minutes jump on the Echunga Football Clubs Facebook page and read the disgusting disrecpect directed towards the HFL and country division. Threatening to leave the league, will win the flag by 40+ goals, players thinking they will kick 150 goals each through the year..... I'd be speaking for a lot of people I think but if you want to leave the league then go and walk out the door and make sure it doesn't hit you on the way out. What makes you think the HFL are going to support you when all your club has done is constantly abused them for the past 3 months? Couldn't care if your oval is managed by the golf course, couldn't care if you serve wine at the bar, couldn't care if your goal posts are adult sized... It's the people inside your club that has spiralled you into this mess. I can't believe the president hasn't put a ban on people posting on here because it has made everything so much worse for Echunga.

Legsman if you are so passionate about your club then why don't you reveal who you are?

Cannot wait to see how Bridgewater go back in country ----the last couple of seasons have seen the premiers being undefeated , what chance Bridgewater being undefeated 2015. Nice photo of the pub, see you there for a beer or two ,might even pick up a point or two about being a premier club.

1 A grade Div 1 in 105 years and you wanna start dishing out points to win flags??
Get over yourself ya spook.

Should be a ripping competition this year with most teams improving, thought id do a review of each team to see how there lining up for the year, (bare in mind I dont know all ins and outs).

Echunga- My tip for the flag and to go back to back, highly talented and quick side plus the additions of guy, montgomery, wilson and as RD mentioned another midfielder they will be even better then last year. Going to be hard to beat and hopefully with those additions there B grade will improve, plus their juniors will continue to improve so hard to see a relegation battle this year.

Uraidla- Lost daniel ebert to kersbrook and vidic retired plus kluvanek to sturt but they still have a lot of class with ivens and delvins staying around so you can never rule them out. Also they have a lot of depth in their B grade which helps but i dont think their quick enough to keep up with the likes of echunga and lobethal now and will struggle to beat them but you never know what that grand final loss will do to a proud and highly competitive group. Cant wait for their first game against echunga this year will be a ripper!

Lobethal- Losing johnson hurts as he was a big key for them last year, Luccon will offset that loss if he decides to quit norwood and play for them. Either way though with baust returning they are my tip to play echunga in the GF as they are highly talented led by nitchske and the jenkin brothers. Im excited to see them play echunga also as there is plenty of bad blood between the two sides.

Mt Barker- Havent heard much out of the barker camp but its hard to imagine they havent been recruiting, to cover the loss of pope (out for most of the year with an ACL). Had a horrid run with injury last year with block, hughes and pope missing big chunks of the year, but with a fully fit side they are still one of the better sides in the comp and there is no doubt they will be up there again this year as they have a a lot of talented players.

Blackwood- Lost eagle, Karkouer and Ahmat-Watkins but have two big ins with Bricknell and Thompson. I can see them improving as there recruits are upgrades over last years especially bricknell who will be one of the best players in the comp, they also have so much depth with their b grade being miles better than any other B grade which helps offset injuries. I reckon another middle of the table finish for them though as they lack the class of the upper echelon of teams.

Ironbank- Kept Motlop and added Hitchcock and De Visser but lost Mcgahey who is an underated loss even though his football ability isnt what it once was, he added a lot of experience and composure to the midfield. In saying that though Hitchcock is a big pick up and will kick a lot of goals, giving more support to motlop which was lacked last year. Its about time they moved up from the constant 6-8 position and made a splash in the finals as they continuously under perform.

Torrens Valley- Gained Hanna from Gums and Boras from Broadview (I'd hate to see how much they paid Boras as that bloke asks for a lot of cash) but i believe they lost dale ellis and the Jordan Brothers. Keeping O'sullivan was key as once he arrived they improved significantly and were one of the better sides in the second half of the year. Boras will just take over Dale's spot and kick a lot of goals meaning they wont miss dale to much. Will be interesting to see if they play on the shit hole of an oval all year round also as that gave them a big advantage.

Onka Valley- Gained Grocke for the second half of the year and obviously Mcgahey will play as well as coach, not sure if they have lost any players but i reckon they will improve on last year as Mcgahey will get them super fit and even last year once they got all their players back from injury they improved significantly. Will be much better than last year but still middle of the road for mine.

Hahndorf- Gained hourigan and Wittwer whilst losing big Dan roberts with some older guys retiring. Will be better than last year as im assuming most of their players wont be travelling overseas again but hard to see them improving so much as to make the finals. They will just keep geting games into all their talented youngsters and will get better in the years to come. Hankin being back also helps and they will have a highly talented forward line but their lack of depth will hurt.

Mt Lofty- Lost Gordan and peterson-gray ( Hardly played last year tho) and have gained no one to my knowledge. If they havent gained anyone they will struggle as it will repeat of 2013 in central div where they just relied on miles, nielsen and burch. They have high class top end talent but there bottom few are weak and thats why they will struggle, also lack talls even though Oheril was really good last year and will be very important for them this year but need a few more Nielsens to be a genuine threat. I know people will say look at what echunga did last year but they had some high class talls in Carey, Edmonds and Cranna whilst added two guns in Lindsay and Aish, whereas lofty this year have lost players not gained any, so i find it hard to see them doing an Echunga of this year.


Won't need to wait long for the Loby v Echunga clash as I believe it is set to take place rd 1.
Good write up though mate, finally some decent footy talk.

Toby Stribling to Kaniva?

The Echunga Football Club is delighted to advise club members and sponsors that our 2016 Senior Coach will be Jessie Aish.
Jessie follows a family tradition with his Magarey Medal winning father Michael having coached Echunga in the late 90’s. We are hoping for history to repeat with Michael leading the Mighty Dee’s to a premiership win during his tenure.
While Jessie has been a welcome recent addition to our senior playing ranks where his 6 goal haul in the 2014 Grand Final strongly influenced our premiership success, some might not be aware that Jessie’s association runs a little deeper than that having played his Junior Footy with Echunga where he was part of the 2001 Junior Colts premiership season.
The Club is also very excited to announce that we have been able to retain the services of Lindsay Bassani for 2016 who has been appointed as the Senior Assistant Coach. Lindsay will play a vital role in mentoring Jessie as he takes on the challenge of his first senior coaching role. Nick Cook is also continuing with his support role within the coaching panel as is Ben Hull who will again be leading our B Grade side.

So basically they appoint one of their best players as coach to dodge to salary cap drama meaning can still get the $$$ and play and Bassani stays on as coach?

Salary cap won't work, too many ways around it like this for example. There will be a huge number of player coaches getting around in the next few years I believe. Brian Fenton is another one down at Menegie already appointed this year.

Any clubs after a trail game on the 2nd of April? Div 1 hills club in need

Can we get back to talking about the bloody footy???
I'm sure there is plenty of players out there that have done worse that Matty Jaencsh in the league (one Onkas player has done something a million times worst and served his time and no one brings that up at all)
Obviously he has got some demons in his head and if being back in his home town of Hahndorf helps him get through it then by all means let's support it. Embrace it and enjoy the challenge, but let's remember one player isn't a whole team.

I hope Dave Hankin has his cheque ready to replace the door in the Lobethal changerooms that he decided to put his fist through!!

Agree that it is completely disgusting that a supporter/offical pushed a player over in the post match celebrations, he is lucky he didn't wear a Hankin punch to the face for that type of pathetic behaviour!!
Goodluck to Blackwood, they will continue to be one of the most hated clubs in the Hills with those types of actions!