Rumour mill: Rising star suffers setback

A VFL-bound local footy gun has reportedly suffered an injury setback after lighting it up this pre-season. All and more revealed here.

St Paul's McKinnon’s VFL-bound talent Matt O'Brien has suffered a setback. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Season 2024 is just around the corner – and the rumour mill is back.

All the latest whispers revealed here ...

SETBACK FOR RISING STAR

Emerging state league talent Matt O’Brien has copped a setback on the eve of the season, suffering a knee injury.

It’s understood the injury is not an ACL but will sideline the star Southern league midfielder for a significant period.

O’Brien, St Paul’s McKinnon’s best-and-fairest winner, had signed at Collingwood VFL and had impressed through pre-season at the Magpies.

He is expected to make his way back to local footy at the back end of the season in what could be a major boost for the Bulldogs.

COMEBACK?

“Never say never”, VFL/AFL games record-holder Brent Harvey declared late last week of his playing future.

The 45-year-old was sidelined for all bar one quarter last season after suffering a broken leg in Round 1 while playing for North Heidelberg and later retired.

He signed with the Northern league outfit in 2017 soon after the curtain fell on his 432-game AFL career, winning a premiership at the local club alongside younger brother Shane.

Harvey, who turns 46 in May, said he still harboured a love for the game after last season’s lay-off.

“I’m not 100 percent sure how that (a return) all looks at the minute. Having 12 months off of footy has made me realise how much I do love the game,” Harvey said.

“I do have a saying I like to go by which is ‘never say never’ so we might stick with that. I know there’ll be opportunities for me to play games here and there so we’ll see what happens.”

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

A top-line Southern league recruit turned heads in an early-season practice match.

Playing against a side from his former competition, it’s understood the recruit fired off seven goals in a quarter.

They were only 25-minute periods and the game was just an early hit-out, but there are signs this recruit is in for a big year.

Could he be the missing piece for this Southern league side in 2024? We will see.

TRAINING THE HOUSE DOWN

Tyrone Vickery is a man on a mission in the MPFNL this year.

The former AFL Tiger and Hawk has already made a big impression at his new club Edithvale-Aspendale with his level of fitness and worth ethic.

He’s been running half-marathons at a good clip and is said to be one of the fittest players at the Eagles.

Vickery will be exciting up forward for Edi-Asp in Division 2, and good luck playing on him – he’s big, fit and can run.

New Edi-Asp playing-coach Kris Pendlebury is also burning up the training track, setting high standards.

DOUBLE DROP DENIED?

Rumour has it a battling Eastern league club requested to drop two divisions at the end of the 2023 season following two barren campaigns. But the proposal reportedly fell flat, with the request said to be denied by the league, which released its 2024 fixture in November – reflecting no club had been relegated more than one flight.

UH-OH ...

One WRFL club could be set to suffer a mid-season blow with several key players expected to miss a large part of the season. The club in question is genuinely considered a regular finals contender and among those missing will be a leading goalkicker from last season and important midfielder.

LAPPIN IT UP

He has one of the famous surnames in footy, and he’s now set to take the reins at one of the country’s most famous football factories.

Jason Lappin, older brother of former Carlton and St Kilda star Matthew, and a former long-time development coach and head of performance at North Melbourne, is about to take on the task of coaching a school footy team which has produced countless AFL stars over the years.

After a nasty broken leg curtailed a promising AFL career in the late 90s, when he was recruited by the Western Bulldogs under Terry Wallace, Lappin now finds himself working in education as director of sport at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

And in 2024 our sources say he is set to take on the task of coaching the school’s 1st XVIII football team for the first time, following the departure of former Lake Wendouree coach Gavin Webb who had been in charge for the past six years.

A perennial powerhouse in school footy, St Patrick’s College is eager to retain its mantle as Herald Sun Shield champions in 2024 after last year missing the grand final for the first time in memory.

Thankfully, Lappin will have the support of St Pat’s legendary former coach Howard Clark who still retains a role as director of football at the school.

In recent years the college has produced several AFL stars including number one draft pick Aaron Cadman, West Coast Eagles co-captain Liam Duggan, Richmond stars Jacob Hopper and Dan Rioli, and the Butler brothers, Dan at St Kilda and Sam at Hawthorn.

HOUSE OF STARS

Could a regional Victorian boarding school with a long and proud football heritage be about to take a giant leap into housing the future stars of another sport?

Last week the consortium behind a proposed massive tennis academy at Modewarre, on the outskirts of Geelong, suggested that an as yet unnamed boarding school would also partner up with the project which is being spearheaded by Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

We suspect the plan is for an established boarding school to operate a new campus on the site to provide education to the best young tennis players from across Australia and the Asia Pacific who will be expected to live there.

Mouratoglou expects the new facility, now known as the Cape Otway Road Australia (CORA) development, will mirror his revered complex in Nice on the French Riviera.

Our understanding is that one regional boarding school in particular, which has had success trawling small Victorian towns in the past for football stars such as Hugh McCluggage, Jarrod Berry, Willem Drew and Ben Hobbs, may now be aiming to ace the opposition with the tennis partnership.

Our spies in the south of France suggest to us the Ballarat Clarendon’s College former principal David Shepherd and chairman of the board Mark Patterson (a former chief executive officer of the North Ballarat Football Club) were spotted touring Mouratoglou’s Nice facility during the Easter holidays in 2023 with an eye firmly on being the education and boarding provider at CORA.