MPCA: Old Peninsula premiership players John Forrest and Glenn Prendergast suffer injuries

Reigning MPCA champions Old Peninsula has lost two players from its premiership side. But they have a back-up plan.

Peninsula Old Boys spinner John Forrest is recovering from a ruptured Achilles.

Old Peninsula faces a challenge even before the first ball of the 2023-24 MPCA season is bowled on Saturday.

Serious injuries over winter have ruled out champion spinner John Forrest and all-rounder Glenn Prendergast.

Both played vital roles in the Pirates grand final win over Langwarrin in March.

Forrest, who took 28 wickets at 12 last season, snapped his Achilles while, as he says, “stupidly” filling in for the Pirates in senior footy a couple of months ago.

Prendergast injured his knee in an accident, and required a reconstruction.

Old Peninsula shows off the 2022-23 MPCA Provincial flag. Picture: Anthony Pearce

“Three minutes to go,” Forrest recalls of his footy injury.

“I took off in the goal square, heard a massive pop and looked around and thought ‘who just kicked me’, went to get up and realised.”

He said his Achilles was sore for the whole of the last quarter so he went and “sat in the goal square just to finish off the game”.

“Even my young fella said ,‘dad, just get off if you’re injured’, and I said, ‘nah we’ve got no bench, I’ll be right, the ball’s not going to come down’. Two minutes later it came down and I snapped my Achilles.”

Forrest underwent surgery four days after sustaining the injury and holds some hope of playing cricket in late January.

“If I can’t play by then, I just wouldn’t bother at all,” he said.

Old Peninsula batsman Zak Bauer.

Pirates skipper Justin Grant.

Forrest said Old Peninsula, which has won the past two MPCA Provincial flags, was lucky to have good depth, with a raft of young players ready to step up.

“We look at it and say, ‘righteo, what opportunities does it provide everyone else?’” he said.

“At the end of the day I’m 46 and we shouldn’t be relying on blokes like me and Prendy, at 46 and 47, to still be playing ones so I think it’s brought forward some of our development plans by probably two years, which I think is really good.

“We’ve got the likes of Zak Bauer, Bailey Payze, who are really good up and comers.

“We’ve got a couple of guys in the twos like Sammy Ede, who’s going to be a really good all rounder, we’ve got a Will Forrest, a Matty Stone who are under 16s and they’re all going to be future first XI players, and a Leo Steenholdt.

“So we’ve got a heap of youth and if anything I think it’s a good opportunity to bring forward some stuff, and it will be a good changing of the guard.”

Old Peninsula also has a new playing-coach this season, with former Melbourne University batsman Elias Karageorgiou taking charge.

“Elias is 32, really mature and has a teaching background,” Forrest said.

“He’s more sound upstairs more than anything, he knows his game, a really solid bat.

“He might bat three, he can hit the ball really hard but can also play a really patient knock, so he’s got multiple gears to his batting.”

Champion all-rounder Justin Grant will again captain Old Peninsula, with key men Wade Pelzer, Dylan O’Malley and Tom and James Labrooy saddling up again.

OLD PENINSULA

Coach: Elias Karageorgiou

Captain: Justin Grant

Ins: Elias Karageorgiou (Doncaster), Josh Westwater (Moorooduc)