Country footy: Weekly Times names its best team for last 25 years
With the best teams from the best leagues since 2000 selected, the best team from all of Vic Country has been named.
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After selecting the best teams from the best country footy leagues since 2000, the next challenge has been accepted — picking the greatest Victorian Country team of the last 25 years.
Close to 300 players from the Ballarat, Bendigo, Central Murray, Geelong, Gippsland, Goulburn Valley, Hampden, Murray. North Central, Ovens & Murray, Sunraysia and Wimmera leagues came under consideration.
Premiership champions, multiple league and club best and fairest winners, prolific goalkickers and defenders who kept the star forwards in check, were all in the mix.
But only a starting 18, four interchange players, a coach and assistant coach have been named in the greatest Vic Country team assembled since the turn of the century.
The coach wasn’t dispute.
Horsham won an incredible 13 flags between 2003 and 2018 in the Wimmera league including 10 premierships on the trot.
Stuart Farr was an assistant coach in the first three and then coached the next seven.
A serious knee injury late in the 2012 season denied him the chance to play in all 10.
The criteria for initial selection was a player must have played five years or played 100 matches in one league since 2000 and the same rules applied for the “very best” combined line-up.
BACKS
Daniel Lovick (St Joseph’s, Shepparton Swans)
Dual Mathieson Medal winner in the Geelong league, who was also a star in GV with Shepparton Swans.
Terry Arnell (Horsham)
Mainstay of Horsham defence in the club’s dominant run in the Wimmera league.
Sam Murray (Wodonga Raiders, Wangaratta Rovers)
Best player in the O&M presently who led Wangaratta Rovers to a drought-breaking premiership last year.
HALFBACKS
Tye Hourigan (Traralgon)
Modern-day star of the Gippsland star who has won four best and fairests with the reigning premiers.
Dan Leslie (North Albury)
Star player at either end of the ground in a 300-match career for the one club in the O&M. Regular performer when Vic Country games once existed.
Hayden Burgiel (Maffra)
Class act across 13 seasons for Maffra including seven flags with two as coach. Also a dual Trood Award and Rodda Medal winner.
CENTRES
Ben Goodall (Koroit)
Eight-time premiership player with the dominant team of the Hampden league since 2000. Also won the 2013 Maskell Medal.
Tim Sheringham (Bell Park)
Four-time club best and fairest, Mathieson Medal winner, premiership player and long-serving coach rounds makes a highly impressive.
Chris Hyde (Albury)
Star player in a star-studded team who played and or coached in seven premierships and won a Morris Medal. Recent inductee into O&M Hall of Fame.
HALFFORWARDS
Rhys Archard (Echuca, Moama)
Superstar in Echuca’s back-to-back GV flags in 2001-02 before winning the Morrison Medal in 2003. Also won two O’Dwyer Medals in the Murray league with Moama.
Paul Newman (Kyabram, Tongala)
Superstar of the GV for many years who kicked close to 1000 goals for Kyabram and also kicked a century of goals for Tongala.
Brodie Filo (Eaglehawk, Koondrook-Barham, Wodonga Raiders, Wangaratta Rovers)
Burst onto the scene in a flag alongside his dad Derrick in 2007 and been a country footy star ever since. Still going strong with Wang Rovers.
FORWARDS
Saad Saad (Seymour)
Excitement machine in a team that won three flags in a row in a strong GV era. Best return of goals was 117 in 2012.
Lachlan Sharp (Strathfieldsaye)
Four-time premiership player who played massive role in club’s rise to prominence. Booted more than 1000 goals with a best of 142 in 2017 when he also won the Michelsen Medal.
Dan Jordan (East Point)
Ballarat league Hall of Famer who between who booted 774 goals in eight years from 2006. Henderson Medallist in 2006 and runner-up a year later.
FOLLOWERS
Ryan O’Sullivan (Tooleybuc-Manangatang, Swan Hill, Sea Lake-Nandaly)
Central Murray league ruck superstar who won four Jack Betts Medals and five club best and fairests before winning the Feeny Medal in the North Central league.
Jarrod Edwards (Redan, North Ballarat)
Won four Henderson Medals in a row from 2006 with Redan in an era which included four flags. Six-time Lions’ best and fairest winner also.
Craig Ednie (Yarrawonga)
Five-time Yarrawonga best and fairest winner who also won a Morris Medal in a premiership year. Matchwinner who played a huge role in three flags for the Pigeons.
INTERCHANGE
Joe McLaren (Koroit)
Following stints in the AFL and WAFL, McLaren won the Maskell Medal in his return to the Hampden league where he was part of six flags with Koroit as player and coach.
Tom Marriott (Leongatha)
A cornerstone of Leongatha’s sustained time at the top with four flags either side of Covid and two-time Trood Award and Rodda Medal winner.
Don Falvo (Robinvale)
Brilliant Robinvale rover is a four-time McLeod Medal winner including three victories in the 2000s in a Sunraysia league career spanning 450 matches.
Ashley Gemmill (Nathalia)
Big part of the Purples’ run of flags in the Murray league. Triple premiership player and four-time best and fairest who also won an O’Dwyer Medal.
COACH
Stuart Farr (Horsham)
No team dominated since 2000 more than the Demons in the Wimmera league in winning 10 flags on the trot from 2003 and another three for good measure. Farr played in the first three as assistant coach before taking over the top job leading the club to the next seven.
ASSISTANT COACH
Adam Dowie (Terang-Mortlake, Warrnambool, Koroit, North Warrnambool)
Coached six flags at three Hampden league clubs — Terang-Mortlake in 2004 and 2005, Warrnambool in 2010 and Koroit in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before premiership success eluded him at a fourth.
More Coverage
Originally published as Country footy: Weekly Times names its best team for last 25 years
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