MPNFL 2019: Dromana climbs the mountain to Division 1 premiership glory

The rise and rise of Dromana has seen the Tigers claim back-to-back premierships in MPNFL Division 2 and Division 1. But they haven’t always been a dominant force.

Dromana coach Rikki Johnston and captain Terry Wheeler lift the MPNFL Division 1 premiership cup. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Dromana is basking in premiership glory for the second season in a row, but it wasn’t all that long ago the club was stuck on the bottom.

In 1997, Dromana lost every game by an average of 47 goals.

The Grasshoppers — as they were known back then — hit rock bottom in Round 14 that season when they were walloped by Pearcedale, 63.27 (405) to 1.2 (8).

The future looked grim and the township nearly lost its century-old football club.

“Yep, 1997 was a terrible year for us,’’ long-serving Dromana committeeman Graham Stelling said.

“We really struggled to field a reserves side.

“Most of the year we had about four Dromana blokes playing, the rest were Frankston YCW leftovers.’’

Celebrations get into full swing at Frankston Park. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Stelling, who was president at the time, said the tough times forced crunch decisions to be made.

“In ’98 we decided, right, we’re going to run the club more like a business,’’ he said.

“We decided we needed to change our name, and we went back to being the Tigers. We were originally the Tigers….it gave the club a bit more bite.’’

From Grasshoppers to Tigers, Dromana took the field in 1998 and made gradual improvement.

In 2003, an athletic young bloke named Rikki Johnston joined Dromana.

Rikki Johnston in his last game before retiring.

He was 23 and had never played senior football.

But he had worldly experience — he’d just returned from a six-year professional baseball career in America.

From Detroit to Dromana, Johnston lobbed wanting to have fun, make new friends and challenge himself in a new sport.

His football career amounted to one season — in the Under 10s at Mt Eliza.

“At that time I’d gone to Dromana because I had a couple of mates down there having a kick,” Johnston, who grew up in M Eliza and signed a US baseball contract at 16, said.

“I didn’t really understand what it was all about. I guess it shows friendships and being part of a good club that I thought was full of good people it kind of kept me there 17 years later.”

Johnston remembers his first game for Dromana — a practice game at Padua College in Rosebud.

Champions: Dromana players show off the premiership cup. Picture: Valeriu Campan

At half time, with the Tigers getting thrashed, the opposition president approached him and said something along the lines of, ‘why are you wasting your time playing for Dromana?’

Johnston said it never crossed his mind to leave.

“I’d come from baseball, where it was all very serious, to just wanting to transition back into everyday life and do things that were social and footy was one of those things that allowed me to build a friendship group and just enjoy it and have fun,” he said.

While Johnston’s first game for Dromana was inglorious, his last was exhilarating.

Last Sunday at Frankston Park, Johnston lifted the MPNFL Division 1 premiership cup, completing back-to-back flags.

He’d taken Dromana to the top of the mountain. Extraordinary.

Stelling said Steve Hamill’s influence as coach betweem 2006-08 was also profound — he began building future success.

He said Johnston continued in the same vein.

“The core of them (the current players) came through the 2015 under 19s grand final…they were good footballers who stayed together and we’ve added younger blokes to them,” Stelling said.

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“That’s been Rikki’s thing, we haven’t bought in a lot of older blokes.

“We’ve bought in younger blokes, we saw potential in them and they’ve gelled into the side and got the Dromana feel and then progressed from there.”

Dromana’s 2019 flag men: Josh Bateman, Rohan Bleeker, Beau Cosson, Sam Fowler, Matt Gahan, Sam Geurts, Billy Geurts, Jake Hiep, Ben Holmes, Andrew Howison, Jay Hutchinson, Rikki Johnston (playing-coach), Ethan Johnstone, Dane Leyden-Kozikas, Daniel Marchesani, Beau McMurray, Zac Muschialli, Billy Quigley, Ryan Smyth, Dean Waugh, Terry Wheeler (captain), Reece Wilde.