Mallee league’s Donnan brothers take to field together for first time

IT WAS one of those days where you would swear someone was moving all the pieces into place.

Donnan quartet a mighty combo

IT WAS one of those days when, if you believe in a higher power, you would swear someone was moving all the necessary pieces perfectly into place.

Woomelang Lascelles’ four Donnan brothers — Joel, Trent, Kane and Wade — ­finally lined up for the first time together, in the Cats’ 53-point win against Ouyen United in the Mallee league.

Saturday coincided with the 15th anniversary of the death of their grandfather, Stan, after whom the club’s senior best-and-fairest award is named.

Joel and Trent have both won the medal, and their father Andrew, a 300-game veteran at the club, was a three-time winner before it was renamed.

The collective appearance almost didn’t happen when Wade, 15, was injured in an earlier junior match and Trent, 21, rolled his ankle early in the game before Joel was on the ground.

Trent, a former Bendigo Pioneer who won the Mallee league best-and-fairest in 2013, returned full-time to the club this year from the defunct VFL outfit Bendigo Gold.

Joel played a role in securing that move — and he was the key to the family reunion at the weekend.

The 25-year-old injured his knee during last year’s preliminary final, which kept him out of the grand final loss to Sea Lake Nandaly and the first half of this season.

Then the impending arrival of his daughter, Leni, caused a further delay.

Joel had declared himself fit to play in the weeks prior, but his teammates told him to wait until his wife, Lauren, gave birth.

“I’d been telling them ‘It’s OK to play’, but they were saying ‘No — wait until you have your baby, you don’t want to be in a wheelchair trying to get your wife to hospital’,” Joel said.

“They were doing the right thing as well and I was being impatient.”

Joel said he was “chuffed” to play with his three brothers, and agreed the timing was “a bit eerie”.

Meanwhile, it promises to be a big week in the Mallee league, with the final report from the northwest structural review scheduled for release.

The initial report recommended the league disband next year.

Bottom side Walpeup-Underbool has also announced former Richmond champion Shane Tuck will play for the Kangaroos against Ouyen United this week.

That means Walpeup-Underbool will have former AFL players Tuck, Shane Birss and Kane Munro in its side, while Laurence Angwin plays for the Demons.