Gormandale’s spirits high despite losing streak going past the 50-mark

It’s been a rugged few years for North Gippsland club Gormandale but the proud and historic Tigers, the focal point of the local community, are fighting on despite more than three years without a win.

Gormandale coach Shane Duncan.

The “Tigers Tune’’ is set out on the wall in the Gormandale changerooms.

It’s a familiar song in football.

“Oh we’re from Tiger Land, a fighting fury we’re from Tiger Land…’’ it goes.

It has been a long time since Gormandale’s senior team and supporters have been able to sing it.

The North Gippsland league club is experiencing a long run of outs, having last won a match in Round 1 of the 2022 season.

The following year it was 0-16 and with a percentage of a tick over 20.

Last season the Tigers again finished winless and their percentage dropped to 13.61.

This year, under new coach Shane Duncan, they at least have two points: their Round 1 match against Sale City was abandoned when a player was seriously injured.

Shane Duncan addresses his Gormandale players.

Last Saturday, Gormandale hosted Glengarry, which had one win from four games.

It was a significant day for the Tigers: they were having a 30-year reunion of their last premiership team and inducting more club greats into their hall of fame.

They were also playing Glengarry for the Lang-Onley Cup, named after stalwart families of both clubs, the Onleys of Gormandale and the Langs of Glengarry.

The trophy has been up for grabs for 25 years.

“It’s steeped with tradition,’’ Gormandale president Benn Thexton was saying before the match.

“We want to win it, because Gormandale hate Glengarry!’’

As his players warmed up in the changerooms, Duncan said he was expecting a good showing from his young team. “Both sides match up well and have some kids who are really energetic,’’ he said. Thexton thought the side a “bit of a chance’’ to end a 51-game losing streak.

Gormandale president Benn Thexton in front of the club honour board.

Thexton, 43, is in first year as president but his family’s ties with the club go back six generations now that his daughter Ebony is playing netball for the Tigers.

His grandfather, Jim, played in three premierships and was president of Gormandale, a small town 20km from the regional centre of Traralgon.

The main street has a general store, a hall and a primary school; the garage on the corner has been closed for quite a few years.

The football-netball club serves as a gathering point for the locals, plating between 85 and 120 meals in the rooms on Thursday nights.

In the absence of a pub in the town, the bar does brisk business too, in and out of the football season.

“We’ve got a massive number of families involved,’’ Thexton says.

“You just have to walk in the doors and it feels like home. The pride that comes with this joint … the local people have a passion for it. They’re proud to wear the colours.’’

The entrance to the Gormandale ground.

Thexton, a dairy farmer whose 84-hectare property has a fence line adjoining the Gormandale ground, says the Tigers are in good shape off the field, with money in the bank and a full committee.

The club recently spent $80,000 upgrading the football and netball home rooms, helped by a Tiny Towns grant.

“We’ve got strong netball sides,’’ Thexton says. “What we have to do now is focus on the football and build a bit of momentum.’’

Gormandale has seniors, reserves and thirds football teams, with most of the players drawn from the Traralgon district.

As Duncan found ahead of the season, recruiting is difficult, particularly when the team has been bumping along the bottom of the ladder. Competition for players is fierce, and salary and points caps are in play.

“With our short-term history, it’s a challenge,’’ Thexton says.

“It means we’ve got to build slowly. But none of us on the committee are going anywhere over the next four or five years. We’ve made a commitment as locals and we’re going to see this through to success.’’

Captain Chris Potalej takes a kick for Gormandale.

He believes Duncan is the right coach for the Tigers, noting his skills in developing young players. There are plenty of them at Gormandale – 23 of the 25 players on the senior list are aged under 22.

Thexton says it’s about “building the process’’. “If we can keep a core of them together over the next three or four years, they’re going to turn into solid players,’’ he says.

Gippsland football is abuzz with talk of clubs wanting to transfer leagues. But not Gormandale. “North Gippy is a great comp for us. We’re one of the originals,’’ Thexton says.

The club was formed in 1898 and took part in various district leagues, including the Traralgon and District Football Association, the Morwell District Football Association and the Sale-Cowwarr Football League.

Locals established Gormandale Recreation Reserve more than a century ago.

Gormandale locals had bought five acres of land for 25 pounds per acre for a ground.

The move to North Gippsland came when the competition was formed in 1968, and the Tigers won senior flags in 1986, 1989, 1991-92 and 1995.

Thirty years after they defeated Churchill, the 1995 premiership players coached by Brett Szabo gathered for a reunion in a room above the social club.

Brendan Murray was one of them.

He recently moved to Lakes Entrance after spending 20 years in Queensland but he’s always followed Gormandale’s results.

Murray said the past two or three years had been “a bit sad’’ for the Tigers, but the club had great history, support and resilience.

“A lot of the people who watched us are still around here,’’ Murray said. “It’s a shame they’re not doing so well but there’s a lot of young blokes out there. They need a few more senior blokes around them. Then lots can happen.’’

Gormandale president Benn Thexton in the changerooms.

*****

Before the match against Glengarry, Shane Duncan gave his players one last wind-up, saying they had a “massive opportunity’’ to perform well in front of hall-of-fame members and the premiership players.

But the Magpies jumped them, leading 8.4 to 0.0 behind at quarter time.

At the huddle, Duncan seethed at how his players allowed their opponents to “walk’’ out of packs.

“Not good enough! You need to start using your body and push them around a bit. Get some prick in ya! Sit ’em on their arse,’’ he said.

He tried to lift his team by declaring Glengarry had the advantage of a “seven-goal breeze’’, which made one or two onlookers wonder what a wind would be worth.

It was clear Glengarry was in a for a good day when it started a run of play in the backline and in the blink of an eye finished it with a goal.

Former VFA coach Steve Barnes was among the spectators and nodded in approval as the ball whipped from one end to the other.

At half-time the score was 15.7 to 1.0.

Gormandale coach Shane Duncan.

Duncan remained positive, but said: “We’ve got to lift, we really do. This quarter, we’ve going to have to bust our arse.’’

The Tigers battled away in the second half but in the end the margin widened to more than 100 points: 21.17 (143) to 2.4 (16).

It’s Duncan’s first senior coaching job, working to it after time at Traralgon as thirds coach and a senior assistant.

He stepped away from football last year but missed it.

Duncan says coaching is an “outlet’’ from the demands of running a small business.

“The club needed help. Being a past player, I thought it was time to take it on,’’ he says.

Duncan, 48, says he and the players don’t talk about the losing streak because it’s a negative and “we’re always trying to stay positive’’.

“They know a win’s around the corner. They’ve got to put it all together on the day.’’

He describes Gormandale as a “tough little side and we won’t give up and we’ll get there.’’

That’s what the president thinks too.

“The Tiger spirit is still strong here,’’ Thexton says. “It’s not going anywhere.’’

Originally published as Gormandale’s spirits high despite losing streak going past the 50-mark