THERE is a famous video that every once so often does the rounds on YouTube. In it, Curtis Strange interviews a young Tiger Woods about what he wants to achieve at his first tournament, with Tiger telling Strange “I want to win”. Strange, essentially shrugging aside Tiger’s ambition, replies: “You’ll learn”.
History goes on to tell people that Tiger becomes arguably the greatest golfer of all time. Eighty-two PGA Tour wins; 15 major championship wins and a hall of famer to boot. Indeed, he learned.
Over at Broadford, the Kangaroos know they won’t become an overnight sensation like Tiger. Rome wasn’t built in a day. But, similar to Tiger, they have their open doubters.
Those ambitions to learn, get better and put together a solid footprint in its first season in the Bendigo Football Netball League similarly being met with ambiguous, metaphorical “you’ll learn” statements from people outside the inner circle.
Broadford knows there will be tough days ahead on the field as it starts back up.
But Broadford’s faithful aren’t shying away from the challenge, either.
The club, through a very-welcoming president Bonnie Cavanagh-Welch, has had a unique challenge – and opportunity – to rebuild after two years in recession.
Cavanagh-Welch has worked hard to bring Broadford back to life, bringing together a policy of driving youth through the club both at junior level and senior level.
Former AFL player and Bendigo Football Netball League coach Nathan Thompson is in charge of the seniors, while a recent appointment – former Calder Cannons talent ID Ian Kyte – will be the Kangaroos’ Head of Development and Pathways.
Clearly, the club has identified the need to keep the juniors around long-term to succeed first and foremost – the future of the club.
Talk to anyone around the club, and they know it’ll be a long build, but they’re just excited to come back to Saturday afternoon football and netball at Harley Hammond Reserve.
Thompson is seeing first-hand the impact of bringing the community back its Saturday afternoon winter pride and joy.
“The club and the community have been so welcoming. It’s a passionate thing for me to be involved in community football, especially a small community like Broadford,” he said.
“They are very much a footy town, a sporty town and it’s something that I think is very important to make sure we have this hub, this network and this sporting club as a big part of their town, and we know that everyone from a community point of view is excited to come down.”
Thompson acknowledges there are off-field challenges on top, particularly trying to ensure there’s enough to keep the Broadford community playing sport.
“There’s infrastructure being worked on, the town needs it. We will need more grounds. It’s been so hard to find a ground to train on, but with the amount of junior football clubs, cricket, soccer, the town does need more grounds. It’s not just about footy, it’s about all sports, getting the kids outside, getting players outside to train on,” he said.
“It’s amazing to see the kids train before us, plenty of under 12s, 14s, 16s becoming a part of it. It’s what it’s all about, small clubs will not survive without the kids coming through, and what we need to provide is an enjoyable, fun, healthy environment for them to come and play sport and enjoy themselves. That’s the bigger picture.”
Cavanagh-Welch’s husband, Jayden, is excited about the prospect of pulling on the blue and white stripes once again.
“It’s good to finally get here. A mountain of work has been done behind the scenes over the last couple of years,” he said.
“It’s been big around the town. You run into people down the road and they’re always talking about it. The town’s missed it, we’ve missed it.”
Jayden put into perspective the challenges Broadford face, compared to established Bendigo powerhouses such as Sandhurst and Eaglehawk.
“To implement a game plan to 60-70 blokes on our list, structures, it’s been a mission. Most teams are teaching four or five players structure, but we’re teaching 60-70. It’s a big job. We won’t have it downpat from day one, it’ll take half a year to get it right,” he said.
The new-look Broadford have made an impact on new recruits too – one that is headlined by gun recruit, and former AFL player Quinton Narkle – while also luring a number of local football stars from within and out of town too.
Take Seymour local Oliver Lubeck, who made the move from Northern Football Netball League club Banyule over the off-season.
“I’m originally an out-of-towner from Seymour, moved to Melbourne for a year, but I came back to the local area and it’s awesome to see the community. It’s not my community, but to put smiles on faces of the local legends you’ve heard about growing up, it’s inspiring and pushing the group to do it for them and the town. It’s greater than just the 22 out there on gameday,” he said.
Lubeck has been won over by the community in quick time.
“In a strong league like the Bendigo Football Netball League, it’s inspiring and it gives us a real pleasure to put on for the locals. It’s a special feeling to wear the jumper with pride and showcase what the team has been working on week-to-week,” he said.
“For me, there’s no limit. It’s the first year, it’s the unknown, so it’s scary, but for us, we’re buying into that.”
Newly appointed team manager Graham Milner is one of many who’s just excited to see Saturday afternoon footy back at Harley Hammond.
“We know things will be tough in this league, but you have to make a start somewhere. But they’ve made their start and we hope the players put up a reasonable performance, maybe a few wins,” he said.
“The exciting thing is that the town has their football club back, and it’s the talk around the town, that they can’t wait to come over and see the opening game as they have their football back. It’s been open since 1890; there’s a lot of history behind it and a lot of premierships.”
It’s not just the footballers and community who are benefitting from the town getting to enjoy the club’s return as well.
After two years of playing on Friday nights as part of the Northern Football Netball League, the club gets to enjoy Saturday afternoon netball at home once again.
A grade coach Jaimie Hooper says the club is ready to challenge what is a strong competition.
“It’s fantastic. The league has been good and supportive. We feel supported, our teams are ready to rock, and they’ve been training since November with a lot of conditioning and strengthening,” she said.
“It was exciting the Northern Football Netball League (NFNL) gave us the opportunity to continue playing when the club went into recess. It was hard times for the club as a whole, but working with them was great. We had multiple teams in finals, we won a premiership, we even played over summer.
“I’ve been at the club 21 years this year. To have new courts and the new ones coming up, plus the progression at Harley Hammond itself, the committee of management are doing a brilliant job with the council.
The netball side of the club have also confirmed they’ll remain affiliated with the NFNL throughout summer as a means of keeping fit.
So, on to March 28.
The club plays South Bendigo first up – a team that finished fourth with 11 wins on the football field last season as it shot up the ladder with smart recruiting, while also managing to finish fourth in the A grade netball competition as well.
So sure, Broadford might have to learn in the early days. But they are certainly hoping they will offer a point of difference very soon to prospective recruits who want to challenge themselves in the Bendigo league.