Unlocking the secret of success

Every club aims for sustained dominance but few achieve it.

Like other powerhouse VCFL clubs, the ingredients in Moyhu’s success over a decade has been a strong committee, even stronger culture, wise recruiting, good coaching and loyal sponsors.

In that time, the club has averaged a flag every two years.

And once it grabs the prize it hates to let it go, with back-to-back flags in 2005-06, 2002-03, 1959-60, 1933-34, 1929-30 and 1909-1911.

It won its 19th premiership last year and is favourite to go back-to-back again.

Former president Damien Sheridan, who spent 15 years in two stints at the Hoppers after crossing over from Wangaratta in the 1980s, credits success to the club’s hard-working committee and the contribution of families such as the Bakers, Balfours, McDonalds, Hills, Hancocks and Annetts.

“Every club’s strength is its committee and the ability of its players and coaches,” Sheridan said.

“If the committee is not active nothing gets done.

“We had new changerooms built seven or eight years ago. And we improved the light towers for training, the visitors rooms and the netball courts.

“Those improvements keep people involved and once we get blokes out there we were able to keep them. We rarely play against players who have been at Moyhu.”

The Hoppers, who haven’t missed the finals for more than 10 years, faced a mini crisis in recent years as their “golden generation” of Gerard Nolan, Scott Douglas, Darren Gephart, Mark Higgs, Lionel Schutt and Shane Moore were no longer permanent fixtures in the senior team.

And with coach Gil Ould, who landed three premierships, also gone, the club lost its air of invincibility.

Club legend Shane Wohlers took the team to the finals after replacing Ould before John McNamara put the icing on the cake last season.

The former Wangaratta Rovers coach, who is also a former Moyhu player, came on board in 2010 and injected young talent such as Jaimon McGeehan, Nathan and Ben Waite, Ryan Craig and Jeremy Wilson into the team.

The result last year was a grand final win against Tarrawingee, an event this year’s president and three-time premiership midfielder Justin Schultz said was ahead of schedule.

“That flag came about with recruiting Johnny Mac three years ago,” Schultz, 38, said.

“He settled in in his second year and recruited about 10 kids aged 21-24.

“Last year was a surprise — we hoped to finish top four and lost only one game.

“There’s still improvement in the young guys.

“Players we get know they will play in finals.”

Key players such as skipper Andrew Balfour, Marcus Lloyd, Schultz, Jon Hyde and Scott Van Der Heyden remain, reinforcing the club’s strong culture.

Moyhu, which has about 200 members, has been fortunate that many footballers and netballers — the club has two grades of football and four of netball — have also been on the committee — senior stars McGeehan and Jon Hyde are part of this year’s board.

“There’s just good people around the club,” said Schultz, who is one of five on the executive.

“When we recruit people, we recruit good people and also look at their families.

“We pride ourselves on being a family club.

“We build that on respect.

“Even though they could be a star player, if they don’t suit the club we don’t tend to go down that path.

“It’s pretty simple but since I’ve been there that’s the way it’s been done.”

Moyhu’s dominance hasn’t been limited to football.

In an unprecedented era of dominance, the club won seven A grade netball flags in the 2000s and won last year’s B grade title.

But Sheridan said success had not come easily.

“One of the hardest things being a small town is we’ve always struggled for help around the club,” he said.

“We rely on players and once we get a player they tend to stick around.

“People like Fred and Helen Baker, the Balfour family and Alex McDonald have given great service.

“There’s also been younger men and women who have given us some great ideas.

“Des Smith was a great coach and introduced a lot of blokes to the footy club.

“Gil got a lot out of some of the blokes who were already at the club.

“Anthony Welsh came to the club and was a fantastic player and he might have been the difference in a couple of grand finals against Whorouly.

“When you lose grand finals in 1999 and 2000 — that in itself might be the reason why the club has been so strong since.

“The group didn’t get the reward for its effort but stuck at it after that and the reward came.”

It hasn’t stopped coming.