Michael Newton on his AFL Mark of the Year and returning to his home club Whorouly
Michael Newton soared into the AFL’s history books in 2007. Almost two decades later, the former Demon is back doing what he does best — kicking goals — for his beloved Whorouly.
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Michael Newton is back on the land and back at the little country club where he began his football.
He’s back at Whorouly, in north-east Victoria.
What is unchanged for him is his capacity to take marks and kick goals.
Twenty years ago those skills took him to Melbourne and the AFL when he was drafted from the Murray Bushrangers at the age of 17.
Now they’re helping Whorouly win games in the Ovens and King league.
It’s been a thin few seasons for the Lions but they’ve improved and are well placed to finish in sixth position and play in the finals.
And soon they should get to celebrate a century of goals from their coach: after 12 games, Newton has 87 goals, including a bag of 13 and another of 10.
On and off the ground, it’s been a happy homecoming for the high-jumping forward who answers to “Juice’’.
Newton always had the idea of returning to the club where he started in Vic kick and was an Under 13 and 15 player of great promise in the Myrtleford junior league.
He was 15 when he played his first senior game for the Lions.
“It’s a great club,’’ he says.
“Comparing it to an Ovens and Murray club, it’s a completely different feel. On any given Thursday night there might be 20 or 30 kids running around, all under the age of 10. It’s about families and community. Whorouly is a small town – there’s about 300 people, I guess – and it’s more or less run by Eddie (Costenaro) and his wife, Ruth. They’re the backbone of the community. They have a function centre where Ruth’s food is unbelievable.’’
He went back and kicked the goal, too. pic.twitter.com/GvscqNt2Z8
— Melbourne Footy (@MelbourneFooty) July 22, 2023
He’s speaking from experience: Newton and his wife, Issy, were married at the Costenaro property.
Eddie is in his tenth year as president of the football club and Ruth is secretary of the recreation reserve committee.
Her cooking is on show with meals in the clubrooms on Thursday nights and in the canteen, which is renowned for its chicken schnitzel burgers (they’re made from scratch; Ruth butterflies the breasts and crumbs them for hungry supporters).
The Newton family’s association with the Lions is immense.
Kerry Newton, Michael’s mother, played about 500 games of netball for the club, winning more than a dozen best and fairests.
Her daughters Sarah and Kristy followed her on to the courts (which have been redeveloped and are a source of pride to the locals).
When the football team won its most recent premiership in 2007, it was the first time a Newton hadn’t figured in a Whorouly flag.
“My dad (Rodney), my uncles, my grandparents, my great uncles were all involved,’’ Newton says.
“So rich history for us. Both my cousins play footy there and I’m in business with one of them (Andy).’’
That business is the farm that has been in the family’s hands for five generations. They have 700 dairy cattle. “It’s a decent-sized operation,’’ Newton says. “It’s definitely keeps both of us busy.’’
Especially since both have welcomed children this year, in Michael’s case son George William.
******
“Long to the centre corridor … Newton! Michael Newton with a tremendous launch! Oh what a grab that was!’’
Anthony Hudson was in the commentary box for the Melbourne-North Melbourne match at Marvel Stadium in 2007 and to judge from the excitement of his call he almost fell out of it as Newton soared over teammate David Neitz for what was later judged the mark of the year.
It was the day Newton defied the law of gravity.
In more ways than one it was the high point of an AFL career that produced 28 games from 2005 to 2011.
Newton was selected with pick No. 43 in the 2004 national draft. His first game as a player was Neale Daniher’s last as Melbourne coach.
“It sort of defined my career, that one mark,’’ Newton says.
“Which is unfortunate, but at least I’m remembered for something decent. I do take a lot of pride from that one moment.’’
Asked what he recalls of it, he replies: “I remember almost dropping it! The surface that day was pretty slippery. I was trying to take off and the wheels were spinning. I wasn’t really moving far. Then I took the mark and all I was trying to do was not look at the big screen, because I thought, ‘Well, that felt all right’. It was my fourth game, I think. I just wanted to kick the goal. I knew the camera would be on me so I didn’t want to be caught looking up at the big screen and taking a peek at it.’’
He nailed the goal. And, at season’s end, he nailed the mark of the year. It won him a year of driving a Toyota. Whorouly received $5000, which went towards a new irrigation system.
Injuries held Newton back at the Dees.
“I never really got a clean run at it,’’ he says. “Just had weird injuries pop up.’’
He was even hurt when he pushed his great mate Lynden Dunn, who was having a dip at Sam Blease at training.
“He was a defender and I was a forward, so I had to go and protect Sam,’’ Newton says.
“I ended up breaking a bone in my wrist. That was going into the season. That put out for six weeks. It was just little things like that … plantar fascia, I had some Achilles issues, soft tissues. Never anything major that required surgery, little shitty ones. Then a combination of form, I guess, being at Melbourne when we weren’t overly strong. There were games when we’d get 28 to 30 inside 50s and get pumped. The obvious choice to drop was someone who didn’t get a kick in the forward line. It was frustrating.’’
But, he says, there were things he could have done better.
“I would have done a bit differently. But it is what it is. When you’re drafted 17 and not knowing a whole lot about life, you get thrown down the big smoke and expected to float … yeah, took me a while to adapt.’’
After being delisted, Newton set off for the SANFL, joining Norwood.
Early in his first season he did have a major injury, an ACL that kept him out for 2012.
Coming back from the knee injury, he was doing extra goalkicking at training when he tore a tendon in his quad. It cost him another eight weeks of football and he was unable to force his way back into a strong side.
But his 2014 was more prosperous. He kicked 57 goals and played in the premiership as Norwood made it a three-peat.
*****
When Michael Newton returned from South Australia at the end of 2016, he decided to join Wangaratta.
It was a surprise; his father had played at fierce rival Wangaratta Rovers, as did his cousins Andy and Josh.
But a lot of his school mates were at Wangaratta.
“Outside of the family, I didn’t really know anyone at Rovers,’’ he says. “It was the lure of the mates, I guess. It was a big decision and it paid off.’’
Asked how it went down with the family, he laughs: “It didn’t! It didn’t go down well. My dad was pretty supportive. He just said, ‘You’ve got to make your own decisions, don’t wait for me to tell you what to do’. It was a bit icy with the cousins for a couple of years!’’
He had immediate success at “Wang’’, winning a premiership.
Newton came back from successive hamstring injuries to kick four goals in the first quarter and finish with eight as his team upended powerful Albury.
Wangaratta lost the next two grand finals.
In the 2022 decider, the Magpies nosed out Yarrawonga by three points. But they later lost the premiership after going over the salary cap.
Newton took it hard.
“I lost a lot of love for the game of footy with the way we were treated with that situation,’’ he says. “It took a lot of joy out of it. I went from loving footy – footy’s always been my life – to not enjoying it. My body wasn’t enjoying the demands of Ovens and Murray footy any more and I guess there was some mental fatigue when all that shit went on.’’
When he reached his 50th game for Wang, it was the first time he had reached the milestone for any of his senior clubs.
In time he decided to get to 100, which delayed his return to Whorouly.
“It was just something I wanted to tick off,’’ Newton says.
The Lions scraped together only three wins last year. Newton’s appointment as coach created a buzz at the club and in the town.
It was enough for past player Jim Sutherland to contact CODE Sports urging a write-up on Whorouly, which he described as “one of the best little clubs I’ve been with – and I’ve played at 10 and coached at another three’’.
“It was huge,’’ Eddie Costenaro says of confirmation that Newton would be returning.
The president had been at him about it for some time.
Costenaro played football with Rodney Newton and, like most people in the district, tracked Michael’s path to the AFL.
“I’ll coach Whorouly one day, but not just yet,’’ Newton told him.
“He never backed away from those words,’’ Costenaro says. “Every time we quizzed him, we got that answer. But last year he decided he was ready.’’
Sutherland went to the past players’ day at the start of the season and saw the senior team defeat Bonnie Doon and complete a 220-point turnaround from the last time the teams had met.
Newton booted six goals. He hasn’t stopped booting them.
“If I don’t kick ‘em our team doesn’t score very much,’’ he says with a laugh. “After me the next best is 11.’’
Costenaro reckons the coach would have at least 20 goals more if the umpires gave him “just a little bit more of a go’’.
Newton says coaching a club involves a lot of work – “a lot of preparation and expectation’’ – but he has strong support around him and the players have a “good will’’ to get better.
“Trying to get around and give feedback to 45 blokes is one thing I’ve struggled with,’’ he says.
“Some guys at that level don’t really want the feedback. They’ll train and go in and have a beer whereas in the Ovens and Murray they’ll train and then go and do some recovery. It’s a different landscape. But it’s been very enjoyable. I’m trying to bring a standard in that guys can relate to. When I signed there they were keen to get better and had good energy around them. It’s still there.’’
And so is Newton’s ability to soar.
Earlier in the season he rose for a grab apparently every bit as good as his AFL mark-of-the-year effort.
Whorouly videos its matches, but it just happened the battery was flat when Newton launched into the air.
“Michael was devastated,’’ Costenaro says, chuckling.
“It was a cracker but we missed it. He’ll get another one.’’
Originally published as Michael Newton on his AFL Mark of the Year and returning to his home club Whorouly
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