Brunswick mourning president Ron Sahlberg while two club greats retire

Brunswick is mourning the loss of long-standing president Ron Sahlberg while club greats Liam Murphy and Leigh Brennan have retired.

Brunswick retirees Liam Murphy and Leigh Brennan. Picture: Hamish Blair

It’s the end of an era at Brunswick.

Wicks captain Liam Murphy and Leigh Brennan announced their retirement at the end of the Subbies season and on Tuesday night the passing of president Ron Sahlberg was confirmed.

Sahlberg died on Monday, aged 88, and is remembered as a legend of Brunswick and Sub-District cricket having joined the club in 1956 and served as president since 1999.

Together with John Swanson, Sahlberg is honoured with the Sahlberg-Swanson Medal awarded to Brunswick’s best-and-fairest, which on Tuesday night was won by Luke Giblet and Jacob Sutcliffe.

Meanwhile, the Wicks must also replace retiring stalwarts Murphy and Brennan.

Murphy captained Brunswick for four seasons and was captain-coach for two, playing 65 matches and scoring 2357 runs across five seasons.

He crossed to AG Gillon Oval from Balwyn where he captain-coached the Tigers to the 2016-17 VSDCA South-West premiership and scored 1682 runs in 40 matches.

The classy top-order batsman started at Elsternwick and spent a decade at Premier Cricket club Prahran where he scored 2674 runs in 134 First XI appearances.

He’ll look to spent more time with his family but won’t be lost to cricket as he continues as CEO of Victorian Premier Cricket.

“It has to come to an end at some point and I’ve got two kids, so that’s where the focus is for me at the moment,” Murphy said.

“I’m 38, everything moves a little bit slower, but the reality is with work commitments and the like it becomes challenging to fit it all in.

“It was a lot of fun, it was always enjoyable, I got to play with some cool people from Elsternwick as a junior to Brunswick and Prahran and Balwyn in between.

“The game has given me way more than what I’ve given it.”

Murphy said winning the premiership with Balwyn was the highlight of his career and playing the Tigers in his last match – not a washout against Kew – was a perfect way to go out.

“For me personally, winning the flag at Balwyn is absolutely a highlight,” he said.

Brunswick batsman Liam Murphy. Picture: Steve Tanner

Brunswick paceman Leigh Brennan. Picture: George Sal

“Being able to work with a group that was relatively homegrown (at Balwyn) … and then playing in consistent finals at Brunswick.

“Playing in Subbies you get to play against some really high-quality cricketers and it’s all played in the right spirit.

“There’s an element of playing at Gordon Barnard against the old team being the perfect way to go out.

“I spent a fair bit of time after the game with a few of those guys so in some respects it was a nice way to finish off.

“It would have been great to have gone on a finals run (with Brunswick) but we weren’t able to win enough games and it will be a great contest between Kew and Strathmore.”

Brennan departs with 240 wickets and 1084 runs to his name in 122 appearances.

The reliable opening bowler took 30 or more wickets in a season twice.

Murphy said his one-time rival turned teammate was one of the rare cricketers liked and respected across the competition.

“He’s one of the better blokes of Subbies cricket and that would be said across the comp,” Murphy said.

“His skill set was really challenging, a really good opening-first change bowler for us and was also able to make some handy runs.

“Just generally a really good guy to have in the rooms.”

Despite he and Brennan’s departure, Murphy was confident Brunswick was well placed for the future.

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“I think they’re in a really solid spot,” he said.

“We had some opportunities for kids to play this season and start to cement spots, which is really exciting.

“Guys like Henry Robertson and Aiden Purcell and a few others of that nature, a really good core group of cricketers.

“There’s a good crew of senior cricketers as well with Louis (Cameron), Doz (Matt Doric) and Simon Hill, so it’s a pretty well rounded club.”